The Small Business Administration has been ordered to reveal the specific names of all firms that had received federal small business contracts during fiscal years 2005 and 2006, according to the American Small Business League, which sued the SBA for the information.

The ASBL says U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel denied all of the SBA's motions on Tuesday, in the latest Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case filed by the ASBL against the Small Business Administration.

Although the SBA had been previously ordered by Ms. Patel to release the information to Lloyd Chapman, president of ASBL, the SBA attempted to have the case dismissed as a means of avoiding releasing further information and having to reimburse the ASBL for its legal fees, ASBL says.

Bush Administration officials fought to withhold the release of the names to circumvent disclosing that Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses around the world had received a lion's share of government small business contracts since President Bush assumed office in 2001, ASBL says.

“This is just more press release gamesmanship by the ASBL. The records ASBL sought in this case were produced, controlled and possessed by the General Services Administration. GSA provided the records to the ASBL prior to its suit against the SBA,” says SBA spokesman Sean Rushton in an e-mail to CVBT. “Therefore, SBA believes ASBL’s lawsuit was unnecessary, and SBA stands behind the position it took in the litigation.

“All this fits a pattern of duplicative and unnecessary lawsuits from ASBL. SBA is committed to transparency and accountability, yet ASBL prefers to take up SBA staff time -- time that could be spent helping small businesses get federal contracts -- with ceaseless suits, information requests and misleading public statements,” he says.

SBA says it is considering an appeal to the Ninth Circuit in conjunction with the Department of Justice.

During the proceedings, attorneys for the Bush Administration persistently denied that the SBA had ever possessed a list containing the names of firms that had received government small business contracts. They went on to claim that officials at the SBA never had knowledge of the actual recipients of federal government small business contracts for any year.

Regarding the SBA's claims, case documents stated, "The court finds it curious the SBA's argument that it does not 'control' the very information it needs to carry out its duties and functions."

After questioning SBA attorneys, Ms. Patel declined to accept the SBA's claim and stated, "SBA's attempt to argue that the information sought by the League is not an 'agency record' is the kind of bureaucratic foot-dragging that FOIA -- by providing the public with free open access to government records -- was designed to avoid."

"By now it should be obvious to everyone involved that all of the information the Bush Administration has been releasing on federal small business contracting is misleading and disingenuous," Mr. Chapman says.

"The truth is, the Bush Administration has intentionally diverted the vast majority of our government's small business contracts to some of the largest companies in the world," Mr. Chapman says.

Most Americans think of the Small Business Administration (SBA) as the agency that is supposed to help small businesses get started, secure loans, grow and maybe land some federal contracts.

The truth about the SBA can be uncovered in reports from their own Office of Inspector General (OIG), the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) and in court documents from the many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits the SBA has lost.

Paper Chase

These documents paint the picture of a federal agency that, along with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has done everything possible to dismantle every federal program to designed assist small businesses.

In 2007, the ASBL filed a FOIA request for the specific names of the firms that received federal small business contracts for fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

The SBA once again refused to provide the data. As a result, the ASBL filed suit against the SBA in Federal District Court in San Francisco on February 6, 2008.

The SBA was so determined to withhold the damaging information that its attorneys told the court that the agency did not have any information on the actual recipients of government small business contracts.

United States District Court Judge Marilyn H. Patel didn’t buy it. She directed the SBA to release the information. Recently the SBA moved to dismiss the case and avoid paying the ASBL’s legal fees. Patel again ruled against the SBA and denied their motion. In court documents Patel stated, “The court finds curious the SBA’s argument that it does not ‘control’ the very information it needs to carry out its duties and functions.”

Since May of 2003, there have been 15 federal investigations regarding federal small business programs. They all found fraud, abuse, loopholes, a blatant lack of proper oversight and the intentional diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to hundreds of the largest firms in the world.

Additionally, the investigations found hundreds of large firms that had received federal small business contracts, including: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Hewlett-Packard, Northrop Grumman, John Deere, Dell, Xerox, General Dynamics, and British Aerospace and Engineering (BAE).

Surprisingly, no one in Congress has even proposed legislation to stem the flow of federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world.

The ASBL projects that the SBA and the OMB are allowing large businesses to take up to $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts from middle-class America.

Bush officials that call the shots at the SBA may have painted themselves into a corner. For the first time in the SBA’s 55-year history, the agency is refusing to release the government’s small business contracting statistics.

How can they? They told a federal judge they didn’t have any such data.

The Bush Administration is apparently extremely concerned about the negative impact the release of this information could have on the upcoming elections. SBA attorneys notified the Federal District Court in San Francisco that the agency would appeal the District Court’s decision to deny its motion to the 9th Circuit Court of Federal Appeals.

The SBA’s arguments before the 9th Circuit Court will no doubt be, shall we say, creative. It’s not likely they will have any luck in trying to convince the 9th Circuit Court of Federal Appeals that the SBA has no information whatsoever on the actual recipients of more than $140 billion a year in federal small business contracts.

In 1992, I won my first FOIA case against the federal government in the 9th Circuit Court. During the hearing, the panel of federal judges lambasted the federal government’s attorney so severely that she left the courtroom in tears. My advice to the unfortunate soul that will be charged with representing the SBA during this case, “bring a hanky.” 

Lloyd Chapman is the president of the California-based American Small Business League.

With a cult following, record profits and an enviable credit rating, this SoHo gym should have been a shoo-in for a bank loan to expand.

Instead, the owners of Five Point Fitness were given the runaround by their skittish bank for months - and eventually had to borrow $175,000 from well-heeled clients.

"The guys [from the bank] said if this was a year ago, it would've been a slam dunk," said owner Kevin McGrath.

As the economy continues to tailspin, scores of small-business owners are struggling to get tightfisted banks to dole out loans for much-needed expansion plans.

Entrepreneurs and lenders say banks have become leery about giving out money to the little guys, and are nixing loans that would have easily been green-lighted not too long ago.

"I would say loans [for small business] have almost completely dried up," said Lloyd Chapman, president and founder of the American Small Business League.

"There's only so much money to pulled from. Of that pool that was available to be borrowed, the financial institutions loaned it to people who should not have gotten money," he said, citing as an example subprime mortgage loans.

McGrath, whose gym specializes in grueling "Muy Thai" kick-boxing workouts, learned the hard way how much the lending market has changed.

"Once the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stuff hit the fan, forget it," he said.

The gym needed the cash to move to a bigger space at 277 Canal St., around the corner from their location of six years.

"It was dragging on forever and we didn't have the time. We told the bank to stop the process," McGrath said.

A group of deep-pocketed fitness buffs, anxious to keep working out in style in their neighborhood, agreed to invest.

"Even with all the best numbers, and the best month in our history, [the loan] couldn't really happen in the traditional way," said McGrath.

He's not alone.

"We want to expand but today's financial market makes it tough," said Kenny Lewis, 39, who owns a Subway sandwich-shop franchise in Queens.

He applied for a $25,000 Small Business Administration loan and was told he'd get an answer in seven business days.

Two months later, he's still waiting.

"You have a lot of folks in big business and Wall Street that have been irresponsible and that's trickling down to us," Lewis said.

He said he had no problem borrowing cash for his eatery when it opened four years ago. He owns his home, and has good credit. He is now considering borrowing from private investors, saying "they believe in what I'm doing."

Eric Zarnikow, who oversees lending for the SBA, said banks are being extra cautious.

People who would have been eligible last year are getting nixed, he said. And lenders are asking for more collateral and a better credit profile before approving loans.

James Nemley, CEO of Better Business Builders in Long Island, a private company that advises small business on getting loans, said "banks are becoming very, very shy about doing any sort of lending."

He said that because small businesses are struggling for funding, many have turned to riskier financing schemes.

"It's a sad thing," he said. "People are borrowing money on their credit cards and taking out second mortgages, although they can't even do that anymore."

Additional reporting by Joe Mollica

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com

The U.S. Small Business Administration has decided to appeal a U.S. District Court ruling against them, directing the agency to release the specific names of all recipients of federal small business contracts during federal fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Small Business League of Petaluma under the Freedom of Information Act after the SBA refused to comply with the ASBL's request.

The ASBL requested the data to prove that during the Bush Administration most small business contracts were actually awarded to Fortune 500 firms.

The case now goes to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Court documents indicating the SBA's justification for appealing the case have not been released

But the founder of ASBL thinks he knows why.

"It's obvious the Bush Administration has something to hide. Why else would they be willing to go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over simple information that should be readily available to every citizen?” says ASBL President Lloyd Chapman.

“Since 2002, there have been 15 federal investigations that have found the Bush Administration has diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to large corporations. That is the real reason the SBA is withholding this data, particularly this close to an election," Mr. Chapman says.