Obama Administration Diverting Federal Contracts From Small Businesses, Says ASBL

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Obama Administration Diverting Federal Contracts From Small Businesses, Says ASBL

By Staff
Gaebler.com
January 25, 2010

General Services Administration eliminates its "small business flag" from federal contracting data.

In 2008, Barack Obama earned the American Small Business League's endorsement for pledging to, in the candidate's words, "end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." But breaking small business news feeds into growing disappointment with the Obama administration's follow-through on this pledge.

The General Services Administration has eliminated a significant aspect of its Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation, which keeps track of federal contracts. A "small business flag," which indicated the size of contracted organizations, will not appear on future official records and has been deleted from historical data.

More than a dozen federal investigations and reports have found that the small business flag was used fraudulently, diverting billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. Without the flag it will become significantly more difficult to monitor federal contracting data. Further, GSA has forced firms that obtain this data to sign an agreement preventing them from releasing certain facts, such as the percentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses.

The Small Business Act stipulates that at least 23 percent of the "total value of all prime contract awards for each fiscal year" go to small businesses. "It is time for President Obama to make good on his campaign promise," says ASBL President Lloyd Chapman.

Source:  http://www.gaebler.com/News/Small-Business-Finance/Obama-administration-diverting-federal-contracts-from-small-businesses,-says-ASBL-19577026.htm

Bechtel denies complaint

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Bechtel denies complaint

By Ed Waters Jr.
The Frederick News-Post
January 22, 2010

An organization representing small companies said Bechtel received a $128 million contract earmarked for small contractors.

Bechtel, responding to the claim by the American Small Business League, said the company did not receive any contracts improperly.

The contention is based on a contract to Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp., formerly known as Bechtel Bettis.

The company, which develops advanced nuclear propulsion technology, received the contact properly, said Francis M. Canavan, spokesman for Bechtel.

Canavan said the problem stems from an error by Fedmine, a service that reports federal contracts.

Canavan said Fedmine had tagged the contact as a small business action.

Fedmine could not be reached for comment.

In a prepared statement, the league said the contract had been coded for small business in the "socio-economic" field in the Federal Procurement Data System -- Next Generation.

Canavan said Bechtel supports the American Small Business League in its efforts to promote small businesses.

"We believe the league's concerns are fair, but we have seen no evidence in the documents or amendments to show it was a small-business contract," Canavan said.

The federal government has a policy of setting aside 23 percent of its contracts for small businesses, Canavan said.

Source: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=100363

Obama's First Year in Office Marred By Many Broken Campaign Promises

Press Release

Obama's First Year in Office Marred By Many Broken Campaign Promises

January 21, 2010

President Barack Obama campaigned on the promise of "change we can believe in" and "an end to business as usual in Washington." After just one year in office it now appears that once again the American people were swayed by a politician that said whatever it took to get elected; with no intention of honoring the campaign promises that inspired voters to back him.

There are so many broken campaign promises from President Obama, websites like Politifact.com have sprung up to try and track them all. (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/; http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=91286) Many of President Obama's broken campaign promises appear to smack of the typical, "business as usual in Washington." The corporate giants that command an army of well-paid lobbyists still seem to get what they want out of President Obama and Congress at the expense of the American people. An excellent example is the sudden disappearance of President Obama's promise to implement a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry from his agenda.

Every day for two years, President Obama promised voters that he would enact a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry if he were elected. In a statement released in June of 2008 he said, "I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills." http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWAT00963020080609

Click here to watch President Obama's campaign commercial regarding a windfall profits tax: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJPo5IGTd0A

Within 48 hours of being elected any mention of the windfall profits tax suddenly disappeared from the Obama/Biden Change.gov website. President Obama did not personally offer any explanation for the disappearance of one of his key campaign promises and to this day he has never mentioned it again. (Pre-change, https://www.asbl.com/documents/Economy_Change.pdf ; Post-change, http://change.gov/agenda/economy_agenda/)

So what happened? What could possibly prompt the newly elected President of the United States to drop one of his key campaign promises abruptly without explanation? My guess is money, and lots of it. The kind of money the oil and gas industry would gladly offer to kill a proposal that would end their ability to reap record profits for years to come at the expense of the American people.

Another example of a broken campaign promise is President Obama's February 2008 statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php) Since 2003, twenty-five federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of large businesses around the world. In 2005, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." Every year for the last five years, the SBA Office of Inspector General has reported the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as the #1 management challenge facing the SBA.

So why would President Obama break a campaign promise to simply stop the federal government from giving federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms? It's a pretty clear-cut issue. I would imagine virtually 100 percent of the American people would agree that Fortune 500 firms should not be receiving federal small business funds. Especially not now, considering the dire state of our national economy.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau small businesses are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs. President Obama has promised to create millions of new jobs to stimulate the economy. Since small businesses create virtually all net new jobs in America, why would President Obama allow billions of dollars a week in federal small business contracts to be diverted to Fortune 500 firms? Well... again, one explanation might be, lots and lots of money. When you think about it, massive volumes of cash can get you whatever you want in Washington D.C.

Am I saying that Barack "Change We Can Believe In" Obama is being bribed by corporate giants to block policies that would stop massive corporate greed and abuse? Yes I am.

If anyone has a sound and rational explanation as to why President Obama is still allowing the oil and gas industry to devastate our national economy at will to reap windfall profits, I would love to hear it. You con men and liars that lobby for the American Petroleum Institute (API), don't waste your time trying to deny the fact that the oil industry reaped windfall profits. Why do you think Obama proposed the windfall profits tax in the first place?

If anyone in Obamaland would like to explain to me why President Obama is allowing billions of dollars a month in federal small business funds to be diverted away from the small businesses that create virtually 100 percent of all net new jobs in America, to Fortune 500 firms and some of the largest firms in Holland, England, France, Italy and Korea; I would especially like to hear from you.

Bechtel Denies Landing Government Small Business Contract

Press Release

Bechtel Denies Landing Government Small Business Contract

January 20, 2010

Petaluma, Calif. - On December 17, 2009, the American Small Business League (ASBL) issued a press release reporting that Bechtel Corporation had received a $128 million federal contract, which had been coded as a small business contract in the government's socio-economic field in the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG). https://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf  

In response, Bechtel Corporation prompted a January 7, 2010 story on ProcurementLeaders.com titled, "Bechtel hits back at ASBL over $128m federal contract win."  In the article, Bechtel Bettis spokesman Francis Canavan denied the fact that Bechtel has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts coded as small business.  Additionally, Canavan attempted to explain that Fedmine had erroneously tagged the socio status as small business.  ASBL points to the fact that Fedmine obtains all of its information directly from FPDS-NG and does not modify the data.  Fedmine.us is a database driven web application that aggregates data from FPDS-NG.  http://www.fedmine.us/fedmine/Home.html       

The ASBL has uncovered data in FPDS-NG that indicates that dozens of contracts awarded to Bechtel were coded as a small business in the socio-economic field.  The largest of which is a $230 million contract awarded to Bechtel Bettis during FY 2008 by the Department of Energy (DOE). https://www.asbl.com/documents/20100119BechtelSB_DOE2.pdf  

A series of federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms.  Investigative stories by ABC, CBS and CNN have found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to firms such as General Dynamics, Xerox, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace (BAE), Dell Computer and French giant Thales Communications.
(ABC, https://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, https://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, https://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)  

"This situation with Bechtel is really just the tip of the iceberg. It is time for President Obama to make good on his campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. http://bit.ly/4fRrGq The best way to do that is with H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act." ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "That bill will redirect more money into the hands of the middle class than anything President Obama has proposed to date."  https://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf  

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Will Obama Now Fulfill His Windfall Profits Tax Promise?

News

Will Obama Now Fulfill His Windfall Profits Tax Promise?

By David Sirota
Huffington Post
January 13, 2010

Lloyd Chapman of the American Small Business League asks a very simple question: With oil at or near $80 a barrel, will the Obama administration now deliver on its promise to enact a windfall profits tax on big oil companies?

Some history: Obama promised to enact such a tax during the campaign, and this promise was one of the very first that he made. As you can see from this piece I wrote back in early December of 2008, he announced the pledge as president-elect, before even assuming office.

To their (minimal) credit, Obama's spokespeople didn't use the Big Lie tactic they've been using of late - that is, they didn't simply deny that Obama ever made the campaign promise. Way back in those less cynical days of 2008, they at least offered up a post-facto benchmark of $80-per-barrel as a threshold:

"President-elect Obama announced the policy during the campaign because oil prices were above $80 per barrel," an aide on Obama's transition team said. "They are currently below that now and expected to stay below that."

OK, fine. So now oil is at that $80-per-barrel threshold. Will the administration act? Chapman says it must - and says such a policy will help the kinds of small businesses his organizations represent.

"Implementing a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry is a reasonable, efficient and effective means of keeping energy costs down and helping American businesses and families," he writes. "Now that oil has topped $80 per barrel, it will be interesting to see what President Obama's new excuse is going to be for not honoring his campaign promise."

Interesting, indeed. Stay tuned.

Source:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/oil-is-at-obamas-80-per-b_b_421991.html#postComment