What is AMV Certified?

“AMV Certified” or American Military Veteran Certified is a status designation awarded to businesses, charities, or contract promisors by LIFT A VET after an evaluation process to determine veteran employment, and / or proposed employment for contractual projects.

This certification status stack-ranks businesses, charities, and contract promisors that employ veterans or veteran volunteers who have been honorably discharged. As LIFT A VET engages contractors or solicits bids, preferential treatment will be provided to those with higher AMV Status ratings. The rating can easily be increased by employing a greater number of veterans compared to the total number of employees. This certification is different as it gives higher rankings based on employment, not ownership.

Businesses:

For profit companies will be evaluated as entire entities and the certification will require copies of W2 forms sent to LIFT A VET for review. Any legal contracts entered into with LIFT A VET will cite the employees noted in the certification that will be involved in the project. It will be the company’s responsibility to provide LIFT A VET any additions or reductions in force when under contract. We will verify veteran employment with the individuals listed. Re-evaluations may be conducted periodically and for contracts.

Supporting small, medium, and large companies for contractual work is paramount to our mission success of veteran employment. Some contracts will require a large number of resources, while most will allow us to engage small to medium sized companies. Smaller companies will not be penalized due to their size; rather a percentage of veterans to total employees will be assessed.

Charities:

LIFT A VET seeks to promote charitable organizations as well. 501(c) non-profits should also apply for AMV Certification when bidding on contracts and projects. We extend the same levels of certification to volunteers as well as paid employees. We will need to verify employment / volunteers noted as veterans to provide the certification. Re-evaluations may be conducted periodically and for contracts.

Promisors:

Promisors or the parties promising goods and services on contracts can be certified on a contractual basis. An AMV Certification does not guarantee winning contracts. The AMV Certification will be the first criteria used to collect viable sources for bidding on contracts. After a promisor is selected to bid, each one will be individually evaluated based on requirements and defined success criteria for the project.

We fully recognize that skills are vitally important to proper completion of work and non-veterans can provide skills, views, approaches that benefit an overall project. For this reason, we created this type of certification to allow companies to staff up with veterans to conduct work on specific projects. Our hope and evaluation will reflect more favorably on businesses that strive to permanently employ veterans.

Why use an AMV Certification?

One of LIFT A VET’s core mission components is to uplift veterans through employment. By establishing this certification status and a process for fair evaluation, we can help businesses find and hire veterans who have some of the highest work ethics, best training, and lowest attrition rates in the work force.

Great care will be given to properly verifying / re-verifying businesses, charities, and promisors for AMV Certifications. LIFT A VET wishes to proliferate the employment of our military veterans to achieve our vision.

How to Achieve an AMV Certification…

There are a few things that should be accomplished prior to contacting LIFT A VET for an AMV Certification. Below are a suggested list of steps to follow in order to get and hold a higher status of certification.

1. Identify all veteran employees, owners, volunteers in your business or organization

2. Contact those vets and have them register with LIFT A VET here (send them link): https://www.liftavet.org/vet-register
   Once veterans register, LIFT A VET verifies their claimed status.
   Note: Please allow up to 2 weeks for verification. If there are many veterans to verify, we may reach out to the point of contact to notify of an approximate completion date.

3. Locate and employ additional veterans who are still serving in any capacity or have been honorably discharged and have them register in step #2
   - or -
   Locate veterans who have been honorably discharged that would be used on a project / contract and have them register in step #2

4. To obtain the AMV Certification or to re-evaluate, contact LIFT A VET and request an AMV Status Certification. See bottom of page.

COMPLETE——>

The Evaluation Process explained…

As veterans register with LIFT A VET, we automatically verify their military service in our database. When registering for an AMV Certification, all the veterans are listed in the application form which is used for the evaluation. When the form is submitted, we will reach out to the point of contact noted on the form to collect a service fee. Please NOTE: the fee is NOT designed as a source of revenue, rather a way to offset legal and processing costs, review, augment, amend contracts. If there are any issues or questions, we will reach out to the point of contact provided to clarify.

We do not wish to penalize businesses who currently have civilian employees, rather reward those who have or will be hiring veterans for permanent employment or work on specific contracts. Below are some criteria we use during our evaluation process.

• LIFT A VET will consider any business or charity for contracts with an AMV Rating, but strongly suggest a “50” or better for stronger consideration

• AMV Certification Rating 0-100 (rating scale)

  • The rating is stacked so a company with…
    10% veteran employment could achieve a “55” rating
    50% veteran employment could achieve a “90” rating
    80% veteran employment could achieve a “100” rating

• If veterans have been employed for over two years, there will be a slight increase in the rating since this shows a permanent, long-term solution for sustained employment

• Promisor certifications specifically for contracts will carry a slightly lower rating due to short term employment. If these vets are converted to permanent employees, the certification should be re-evaluated as a higher rating will most likely result. If the veterans are permanent employees, an AMV Business Certification should be looked into

• LIFT A VET will contact a random number of veterans to verify employment, volunteer, or usage status for specific contracts

• A rating will be assessed and provided electronically as a PDF to the requester / point of contact

• We will ONLY publish AMV Certified Businesses and AMV Certified Charities on our website. We will NOT list ratings to the public.
  
  

• Verify still serving or honorable discharge

  • An interview will be conducted for service members with <180 days service (Entry Level Separation) or medical separation

• Formula  Needed

  • Percentage of vet employees to total number ( Vets/Total*100 )

  • Active employees or volunteers (charity)

  • Greater time vets employed = better rating

  • Standard Formula (business & charity): ( log(%) * 50 ) + 5

    • <1 yr vets employed:  ( log(%) * 50 ) + 5 (higher ranking, 100 rating at 80%

    • 1-3yrs vets employed:  ( log(%) * 44 ) + 16.4 (even higher ranking, 100 rating at 80%

    • 3yrs+ vets employed:  ( log(%) * 38 ) + 27.8 (highest ranking, 100 rating at 80%)

  • Lower (for contracts):  ( log(%) * 76 ) - 52 (100 rating at 100%)

COMPLETE——>

Fee Schedule

100% Tax Deductible ??

Business: $100 / 20 total employees ?

Charity: $200 ?

Promisor: $200 / 20 total employees (higher legal fees) ?