Registration is open for the 2026 National Veterans Small Business Engagement conference, scheduled for Dec. 8 to 9, 2026. Veteran entrepreneurs and other small business owners can register for the Cleveland event.
The conference will take place at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio. Organizers describe it as an opportunity to learn about federal contracting and meet people working in that marketplace.
National Veterans Small Business Engagement Opens Registration
The National Veterans Small Business Engagement brings small businesses together with federal representatives, acquisition professionals, industry partners and business-resource organizations. Its theme asks participants to show up, connect and own the opportunity.
VA’s conference registration announcement emphasizes preparation before arrival. It encourages owners to identify their strengths and decide what they want to understand about federal customers.
The announcement also describes the scale of contracting opportunities already available to small firms. It cites U.S. Small Business Administration figures for fiscal year 2025.
Small businesses received more than $179 billion in federal prime contracts that year, according to those figures. Service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses received $32.5 billion of that total.
VA reports $10.1 billion went to service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses through its own prime contracts. That represented about 21.7 percent of its prime contract dollars.
More than 2,200 such firms received awards, VA says. The announcement cautions that these figures do not promise an outcome for any individual company.
Related coverage examines how Robins AFB connects local vendors with federal contracting. That report concerns a separate small-business office.
An Experienced Attendee Advises Planning Ahead
Abby Armijo of ADCO Hearing has attended multiple NVSBE events, both as a sponsor and participant. Her advice focuses on selecting useful conversations rather than trying to attend everything.
“Study the agenda early. Smaller meetings can fill quickly. Decide which conversations matter most to your goals instead of trying to be everywhere at once,” she advised.
Armijo said Veterans Integrated Service Network and Network Contracting Office meetings had sometimes proved more useful than roundtables. That preference varied by year and the information officials shared.
The announcement presents her experience as an example, rather than a recommended schedule for every company. Participants may seek different information as their businesses and questions change.
Other small business owners and industry partners can also provide useful conversations, according to the announcement. It emphasizes understanding organizations, their missions and where a company’s capabilities may fit.
Separate reporting on small-business research award reporting examines another federal-program issue. Related coverage also addresses proposed Small Business Administration changes.
Attendance Does Not Guarantee A Contract
The announcement describes federal contracting as involving unfamiliar organizations, new language and long processes. It presents the conference as a starting point for understanding that environment, rather than mastering it beforehand.
Owners are encouraged to consider what problems their businesses can solve. The announcement also suggests asking which part of the federal marketplace they most want to understand.
Afterward, participants may review what they learned with their teams. VA describes deciding what changes because of those conversations as part of using the opportunity.
The National Veterans Small Business Engagement cannot guarantee an award, meeting, partnership or particular business result. VA’s announcement explicitly distinguishes attending from securing a contract.
Instead, it urges participants to decide how to use what they learn after Cleveland. Its examples include researching an organization, revising a business description or following up on an invited conversation.
Armijo plans to return for NVSBE 2026 as an independent attendee. The announcement says experienced participants can return with new questions as their businesses change.
Registration is available through the conference’s online portal. The announcement encourages prospective attendees to study the agenda early and arrive with questions about their next steps.