Small business with prestigious ‘family connection’ lands major GSA contract

The Veterans Corp of America, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business which is led by two grandsons of deceased Vietnam War-era Army General Earle Wheeler, the longest serving Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has won a contract from the General Services Administration to supply CBRN equipment to DoD and DHS which could be worth as much as $200 million.

The company, based in Fairfax, VA, will be asked to supply commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear equipment, sets and kits produced by 22 different manufacturers during the next five years.

“The Veteran Corps of America (Veteran Corps) is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business that is certified by the U.S. Small Business Administration as an 8(a) Program Participant and Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) through September 2017,” explains the company on its own Web site. The firm doesn’t hesitate to parlay its family connection to the late General Earle Wheeler, who was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and supported the expanding U.S. military role in the Vietnam Way during the mid-1960s. He died in 1975.

“The Veteran Corps of America was founded on a family legacy that includes six year Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Earle G. Wheeler (1964-1970) and more than a dozen other decorated military veterans who served the United States in the Navy, Army, Air Force and the Marine Corps,” says the company’s Web site.

The late general’s grandsons are William Wheeler, who serves a president of Veterans Corp of America, and John Wheeler, who serves as the company’s executive vice president.

Included on the roster of 22 potential suppliers under the new contract are well-known companies such as Canberra, ICx, RAE, Smiths, Dupont, MSA, Pelican and Motorola, as well as a host of less-familiar companies.

The indefinite-delivery / indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, which was announced on July 23, will be administered by the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service’s office in Boston, MA. Further information is available from Siobhan Frongillo, a contracting officer, at 617-565-5770 or siobhan.frongillo@gsa.gov.