NVSBE Is Gone: How a New SDVOSB Works VA Events in 2026
If you went looking for the National Veterans Small Business Engagement — NVSBE, the VA’s old flagship outreach conference — you found a dead end, and that confusion is the reason this spoke exists. VA discontinued NVSBE, hasn’t replaced it with a VA-branded event, and the gathering where the SDVOSB federal-contracting community now actually meets is the NVSBC VETS Conference, run by a coalition, not the VA. For a brand-new SDVOSB selling AI and automation to the VA, the practical question isn’t “when’s NVSBE?” — it’s which one or two events in 2026 are worth a solo founder’s travel budget, and how to make them pay off. This spoke, under the VA AI modernization pillar, is the events companion to the desk-based BD work in the capability statement, forecasting, and TAC/SAC buyer-map spokes.
What happened to NVSBE?
For years, NVSBE was the VA’s marquee outreach event — where procurement decision-makers, primes, and veteran-owned firms met face to face. The last one actually held was NVSBE 2023 in Orlando (November 7–9, 2023); 2024 was skipped; and on December 16, 2024, VA OSDBU announced an NVSBE 2025 for Cleveland — then, roughly two days later, discontinued it. The notice still posted on the VetBiz portal frames it as a resource-reallocation decision, saying the move lets the office focus on connecting veterans and federal buyers “not just during events, but consistently, every day.” As of May 2026, no VA-branded flagship event has been named to replace it; OSDBU — under Acting Executive Director Chanel Bankston-Carter — now points firms to the VetBiz portal, the Direct Access Program, and topic-specific webinars instead. Treat “no replacement” as a current finding, not a permanent one; VA could announce something at any time.
Is the NVSBC VETS Conference really the successor?
In practice, yes — with one honest caveat: the VA hasn’t designated it as a replacement, and the National Veteran Small Business Coalition (NVSBC) is an independent nonprofit, not part of the VA. But it’s where the community now gathers. VETS25 drew more than 1,500 participants and two dozen federal agencies, and VETS26 runs June 1–4, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans under the theme “Veterans Command Tomorrow.” Small-business member registration is $549 (non-member $749; federal/government $199; one-day $249), with a hotel block at $249/night held through early May and a cancellation deadline in late April. The reason to go isn’t the breakout sessions — it’s the Matched Networking: two structured sessions (one with subject-matter experts, one with federal agencies and large primes) where you’re paired one-to-one by NAICS code with buyers and primes. That single matched hour, done with real preparation, is the highest-leverage thing a brand-new firm can buy at any veteran-focused federal event in 2026.
What are VA’s current official channels?
With NVSBE gone, VA outreach is decentralized across several smaller, ongoing channels — most of them free.
- OSDBU Direct Access Program (DAP): free virtual and in-person Business Opportunity Sessions, networking roundtables, and town halls, often co-hosted with large primes. Calendar at vetbiz.va.gov/events; contact directaccess@va.gov.
- TAC Advance Planning Brief to Industry (APBI): the Technology Acquisition Center’s annual IT-focused industry brief. The next one is a hybrid event on June 17, 2026 at George Mason University with a live-stream option — free, with in-person capped (max two per company, register by June 12) and uncapped virtual seating. It previews VA’s FY27 IT acquisition strategy and forecasted opportunities, and prior decks live in the APBI Library at voa.va.gov.
- Vehicle industry days for T4NG2 and SPRUCE — useful for understanding the vehicles, though both pools are now closed.
- VA AI Tech Sprint: run by VHA’s National AI Institute, this is a genuine procurement on-ramp — Knowtex turned a 2024 Tech Sprint win into a $15M VA deployment contract announced October 2025. Track cohorts via the AI Tech Sprint follow-ons spoke.
- APEX Accelerators (the former PTACs, rebranded in 2022): free 1:1 counseling, capability-statement reviews, SAM help, and regional matchmaking. This is the single highest-leverage free resource most new SDVOSBs aren’t using — start with the Colorado office.
What about AI and health-IT events outside the VA?
A few non-VA venues put VA AI/IT decision-makers and primes in one room:
- AFCEA Bethesda Health IT Summit (HITS26): May 26–27, 2026, Bethesda — the densest gathering of federal health-IT senior leaders (VA, DHA, HHS, CMS, NIH), themed around AI this year. ~$500 to register; government attends free but contractors don’t qualify.
- HIMSS26: March 2026, Las Vegas — a 25,000-attendee global commercial health-IT show. Skip it in year one — it’s broad and commercial, not a federal-procurement-readiness venue for a solo SDVOSB.
- ACT-IAC runs a one-day Health Innovation Summit (June 2026) and the multi-day Imagine Nation ELC (December 2026) — useful later, optional now.
Which events are actually worth it?
| Event | Organizer | When / where | AI/IT relevance | Cost (solo, Denver) | Year one? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVSBC VETS26 | NVSBC (coalition) | Jun 1–4, 2026; New Orleans | Med-High — VA/DHA/GSA/DoD PDMs; NAICS-matched 1:1s | ~$2,000–$2,500 all-in | Yes — the one in-person trip |
| VA TAC IT APBI | VA TAC | Jun 17, 2026; Fairfax VA + livestream | High — FY27 VA IT pipeline preview | Free (virtual = $0 travel) | Yes — virtual if not in the DMV |
| OSDBU DAP sessions | VA OSDBU | Ongoing; virtual | Variable — depends on host prime | Free | Yes — pick 2–4 aligned to AI/IT primes |
| APEX Accelerator (CO) | DoD OSBP / state | Year-round; local | Indirect — counseling, cap-statement review | Free | Yes — set up in week one |
| AFCEA Bethesda HITS26 | AFCEA Bethesda | May 26–27, 2026; Bethesda | High — federal health-IT leaders | ~$1,200–$1,500 all-in | Optional — only after VETS26 |
| HIMSS26 | HIMSS | Mar 2026; Las Vegas | Low for federal procurement | High | No — skip year one |
For a bootstrapped solo founder, the honest year-one stack is VETS26 in person, the IT APBI virtually, two to four free DAP sessions, and a Colorado APEX relationship — under $3,000 total, feasible on two or three paying engagements.
How do you actually work an event as a new firm?
Teaming-first, because the math demands it. VA’s big IT vehicles — T4NG2 ($60.7B, awarded 2024), SPRUCE ($2.44B, 10 SDVOSB primes, no recompete expected before ~2028), VETS 2, and Polaris — are all closed to new prime entrants, so for a brand-new firm the realistic path to revenue is as a subcontractor. At an event, that five-minute hallway conversation with a SPRUCE prime’s BD lead is worth more than a polite handshake with a contracting officer (CO) who can’t act on you until you show up in a sources-sought response anyway.
Before (4–6 weeks out): pull the exhibitor and agency-attendee lists; cross-reference them against your forecasting prime watchlist; identify the 5–8 primes most likely to need AI/automation subs on T4NG2/SPRUCE task orders; update your capability statement (SBA VetCert SDVOSB, UEI, CAGE, NAICS 541512, Cloudflare-native, 90-day fixed scope); register for both Matched Networking sessions and submit your NAICS and target primes; pre-book 6–10 short meetings via LinkedIn.
During: treat Matched Networking as the priority. With COs, introduce yourself, hand over the capability statement, ask which sources-sought notices to watch, and move on — don’t pitch. With primes, ask which task orders they’re positioning for in FY26–FY27 and what AI/automation gap they need filled, and be specific about what you deliver in 90 days.
After (within 5 business days): email every contact with the capability statement attached; log each into your pipeline tracker tied to a specific upcoming task order; and schedule the 30/60/90-day follow-ups now. Events generate the introduction; the desk work — the teaming agreement, the sole-source bridge, the Rule-of-Two sources-sought response — is what converts it.
Frequently asked
Is NVSBE coming back?
Is the VETS Conference an official VA event?
If I can only do one thing, what is it?
Should I chase COs or primes at events?
Do I need CMMC to talk to VA primes?
Working with Truvisory
Truvisory is a brand-new SBA-verified SDVOSB founded by a combat veteran, with no VA relationships yet — which is exactly why the year-one plan is teaming-first and free-channel-heavy.
Nothing here is a past-performance claim; it’s the engagement plan we’re running ourselves: VETS26 for the matched 1:1s, the IT APBI virtually for the FY27 pipeline, a few DAP sessions, and a Colorado APEX relationship — Cloudflare-native, FedRAMP-aware, fixed-scope delivery, looking to sub on SPRUCE/T4NG2 primes’ task orders. If you’re a prime heading to VETS26 who needs an AI/automation sub, let’s talk. For the desk side of the playbook — the capability statement you’ll hand out, the forecasting workflow that preps your questions, and the buyer map that tells you who’s buying — start at the pillar.