Portal links to DHS hiring, contracting efforts for military vets

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) marked Veterans Day with a new Web portal to inform veterans of job and business opportunities with DHS components.

The Web site, located at www.dhs.gov/veterans, informs veterans of hiring opportunities to become a civilian employee of the department, which employ roughly 47,000 veterans, or 25 percent of its civilian workforce.

"This new website reflects the shared commitment across the department to hiring American veterans," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. "Veterans play a vital role in the Department of Homeland Security's mission to protect the nation, and this website will help us build our veteran workforce to more than 50,000 department-wide by 2012."

The Web site also links to overviews of veteran contracting and to opportunities for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs). Federal law requires DHS and other agencies to award 3 percent of its annual contracts to SDVOSBs--a mark that many federal agencies regularly miss.

The veterans site also refers those who would like to volunteer to participation in Citizen Corps, the community-based emergency response and recovery organization sponsored by DHS.

Napolitano attended a White House ceremony Monday as President Barack Obama signed an executive order to increase the US veteran workforce at federal agencies, to emphasize recruiting and training opportunities for veterans, and to provide more assistance to veterans in adjusting from military to civilian service.

The secretary also met with several veterans service organizations Oct. 29 to solicit input on recruitment efforts for veterans and the involvement of veterans in other DHS initiatives.

The same veterans service organizations accepted several apologies from Napolitano earlier this year over an intelligence analysis released by the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis that warned military veterans could be susceptible to efforts to recruit them into terrorist activities. DHS later withdrew the report, which was not properly vetted internally.

Earlier in October, Napolitano attended the first meeting of the DHS Veterans Outreach Steering Committee, which consists of officials from across DHS who meet regularly to advise the department on improving veteran outreach. The secretary discussed plans to streamline DHS veteran outreach efforts and to launch the new portal at www.dhs.gov/veterans.

In June, DHS awarded 35 SDVOSBs seats in its Program Management, Administration, Clerical and Technical Services (PACTS) contract, which DHS agencies can use to hire for services other than information technology support. The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract has a maximum value of $1.5 billion over a two-year base with three one-year options.

In addition to 47,000 veterans in its civilian ranks, DHS employs about 42,000 active-duty military service members in the US Coast Guard.