After Action Report: NaVOBA’s 2026 Joint Forces Forum
Last week in Potomac, Maryland, NaVOBA graduated our third cohort from our flagship procurement readiness program. We’re proud to work with our friends and partners at the National Veteran’s Institute for Procurement (VIP) to deliver VIP Corporate. Immediately upon the completion of the training program, we hosted our Joint Forces Forum (JFF).
This event delivered a landmark moment for the Veteran business community, generating more than 300 direct interactions between corporate procurement leaders and NaVOBA-Certified Veteran’s Business Enterprises®. These structured engagements, ranging from capability briefings to targeted sourcing conversations, created one of the most concentrated corporate-focused matchmaking environments specifically for Veteran-owned businesses.
What makes this truly historic is the shift it represents. For decades, nearly all procurement readiness training available to Veterans has been centered exclusively on government contracting. The JFF broke that mold. It placed Veteran entrepreneurs directly in front of Fortune 500 and major-market procurement professionals, giving them access to the private-sector supply chain opportunities that drive the majority of U.S. commercial purchasing.
By convening corporate decision-makers and certified Veteran suppliers in the same room and by focusing on real business opportunities, JFF advanced NaVOBA’s mission in a way no previous Veteran-business event has achieved. It signaled a new era where Veterans are not only prepared for government contracting, but fully equipped to compete, win and scale in the corporate marketplace.
And we’re just getting started. We have plans to expand our training programs to ensure we serve as many Veterans looking to compete in the private sector as possible. NaVOBA is her to serve Veteran-owned businesses across the lifecycle of their business, from ideation to exit.
Looking to certify your Veteran-owned business? Visit NaVOBA.org/certification for more information.
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