GovernmentContractingTips.com Interviews Lloyd Chapman, President of the American Small Business League

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GovernmentContractingTips.com Interviews Lloyd Chapman, President of the American Small Business League

By Max Timko
GovernmentContractingTips.com
August 21, 2013

The Small Business Administration announced recently that our governmentjust missed their overall 23% goal of small businesscontracting. The SBA claims that 22.5% was devoted to small businesscontracting, which was an increase from last year's 21.54% in 2011. However,organizations like the American Small Business League claimthat these figures are fabricated, and millions of dollars are actually stillillegally being awarded to large corporations. Fact or fiction?

In a phone interview with Max K. Timko of GovernmentContractingTips.com, LloydChapman, President of the American Small Business League commented about thesefigures stating, "Federal law states that 23% of all government contractingdollars must be given to registered small business government contractorsaccording to the Small Business Act. The most recent data from the Federal ProcurementData System (FPDS) show that the federal government spent around $1.1 trillionon unclassified contracts. That means that small businesses should be receivingaround $253 billion. The SBA stated that $89.9 billion went to small businessesin 2012, which is 22.25 percent. Well that is just not true. When you look atFPDS, not what Lloyd Chapman (referring to oneself) says, it shows that some ofthe companies that received small business contracts were Fortune 500companies. Sears, Honeywell, IBM, HP, General Dynamics and Coke to name a fewdirectly out of FPDS. So when you look at the SBA's $89.8, of the top 100recipients of small business government contracts today 72% are currently largebusinesses. A small business must be independently owned, and not publiclytraded; not be dominate in their field, and have no NAICS codes with a maximumemployee standard more than 1,500."

Mr. Chapman continued to state, "If you look at the volume of contracts andexclude the Fortune 1000 companies and you will find that the real acquisitionbudget is around $1.1 trillion. Small businesses have received somewhere around5% and possibly no more than 3% of these small business contracts. So, for 2012small businesses were suppose to get somewhere around $250 billion but theyactually got less than $50 billion, which means they are short more than $200billion. It appears that this has been going on for more than a decade. So inmy viewpoint, people think that the SBA is there to help small businesses butis actually the most anti-small business organization out there." WhenGovernmentContractingTips.com tried to speak with someone over at the SBA therepresentative stated they did not have a comment on the subject.

The House of Small Business CommitteeChairman Sam Graves, quoted on the SBA's numbers stating, "The fact that thefederal government hasn't met this meager 23 percent small business contractinggoal for seven years is simply unacceptable, and further proof that ourgovernment continues to give lip service to small companies." A major part ofthe problem is that not enough small businesses are properly registered assmall business government contractors to take part in government contracting.Businesses large and small earn government contracts by becoming registered andbidding on contracts that fit their services. Every business must be registeredin System for Awards Management (SAM) inorder to be eligible for federal government contracts. Once a business isregistered properly, their business can start bidding on government contractson FBO.gov and view other solicitations on government agency databases. SAMregistration can often take a business owner/employee days or even weeks toregister. Only to have their registration rejected if a business's informationis entered incorrectly.

 Small Businesses for the pastthree years have been seeking out help with their registrations, turning tothird party registration firms like US Federal Contractor Registration fortheir professional guidance. Mr. Chapman went on to comment about this stating,"I do not see any problem with third party registration firms helping smallbusinesses become properly registered for government contracts. As long as youare registered properly you can do business with the government. When you tryto call government agencies to learn about government contracting they will tryto run you off the phone most of the time. They will try to say things likethey are not buying, we are under another contract or tell a business they musthave a GSA Schedule to do business with them. It is not true. Every governmentagency needs to quadruple the amount of contracts with small businesses. So anyfederal buyer you call should work with your business. Not one governmentagency is currently hitting their small business acquisition goal. Not a singlegovernment agency in Washington has ever hit their small business contractinggoal. Not one! Use any means to win these contracts and become properlyregistered. Third party registration firms are a good way to get started ingovernment contracting."

To view full article, click here: http://governmentcontractingtips.com/2013/08/21/lloyd-chapman/

 


Obama Wants to Close the SBA to Cover Up Fraud and Abuse

Press Release

Obama Wants to Close the SBA to Cover Up Fraud and Abuse

August 21, 2013

In November of 2008, I predicted President Obama would try and close the Small Business Administration (SBA) by combing it with the Department of Commerce. On January 14, 2012 he proposed exactly that.

He claims he wants to combine the SBA with the Department of Commerce to save $300 million a year. In comparison to the overall federal budget, $300 million is chump change. It's .004 percent of the current Pentagon budget.

The SBA is the only federal agency in our government to assist the 28 million small businesses that are responsible for over 90 percent of the net new jobs, over 50 percent of the private sector work force, over 50 percent of the GDP and over 90 percent of all U.S. exporters.

At the same time Obama is proposing to close the SBA to save a measly $300 million a year, he is also planning to spend over $7 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars to build power plants in Africa under a program called, "Power Africa." Does that make sense to you?

Obama's Power Africa plan would fund his $300 million SBA savings for 23 years and fund that agency's entire budget for a decade.

A recent poll by Gallup found the number one concern for voters was the economy followed by jobs. Since we know from the US Census Bureau data that small business are responsible for over 90 percent of net new jobs, does it make sense to you to close the SBA and spend $7 billion to build power plants in Africa?

So what's the real reason Obama wants to close the SBA? I'll tell you. Every year President Obama has been in office his administration has diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world. NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and the Washington Post have all covered the story.

The Inspector General for the SBA appointed by President Obama has named the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as the most rampant problem at the SBA.

The real reason Obama wants to close the SBA is to cover up the rampant fraud and abuse that has transpired every day of his administration.

Let me close with this, The Government Accountability Office investigated the SBA and released Report 10-108. It stated, "By failing to hold firms accountable the SBA and contracting agencies have sent a message to the contracting community that there is no punishment or consequences for committing fraud."

So the real reason Obama wants to close the SBA is not to save a paltry $300 million year. It's to bury the fact his administration has cheated the middle class out of hundreds of billions of dollars.

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Small Business Administration Inspector General Should Replace Departing SBA Administrator

Press Release

Small Business Administration Inspector General Should Replace Departing SBA Administrator

August 20, 2013

Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Karen Mills resigned more than six months ago and President Obama has not even mentioned her replacement. SBA Inspector General Peg Gustafson would be the most logical choice to replace the departing administrator.

Ever since Mills took the helm of the SBA, the agency has been plagued by rampant fraud and abuse in virtually every SBA administered program. Every year SBA Administrator, Karen Mills ran the agency, the SBA Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) named the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as, “One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today.” Mills has consistently refused to take any action to stop the rampant fraud that has dogged the agency.

In the “Spring 2013 Semi-Annual Report to Congress” SBA Inspector General Gustafson stated that there were fraudulent schemes affecting all SBA programs.

Not only has Mills failed to address the rampant fraud in SBA managed programs, the problems have become much worse under Mills’ mismanagement. According to the latest data from the Federal Procurement Data System, of the top 100 recipients of federal small business contracts, 71 are currently large businesses.

Some of the firms the Karen Mills mismanaged SBA included in their small business contracting data included, IBM, Honeywell, Dell, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Rolls Royce, British Aerospace, AT&T, Verizon and Oracle.

ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN have all released investigative reports on the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. On July 29, the Washington Post published a story that found, under Mills’ leadership, the SBA had shortchanged small businesses out of billions of dollars in federal contracts by diverting federal small business contracts to large businesses. They also found the SBA had intentionally inflated the percentage of awards to small businesses by under reporting the actual federal acquisition budget by over $100 billion dollars.

In 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated an SBA managed program under Mills’ leadership and released Report 10-108 that stated, “By failing to hold firms accountable the SBA and contracting agencies have sent a message to the contracting community that there is no punishment or consequences for committing fraud.”

No individual in the country is more knowledgeable and qualified to clean up the wide spread fraud and abuse that transpired at the SBA under Karen Mills’ leadership than the very individual that has consistently uncovered and reported on the fraud and abuses, SBA Inspector General Peg Gustafson.

Under Peg Gustafson’s leadership the SBA could finally provide the guidance and assistance to American small businesses Congress intended.

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Small Business Administration Refuses to Release Contracting Data

Press Release

Small Business Administration Refuses to Release Contracting Data

August 15, 2013

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is refusing to release the names of firms that received $89.9 billion in federal contracts reported as going to small businesses. On Tuesday, July 2 the SBA claimed the federal government had awarded 22.25 percent of all federal contracts to small businesses during fiscal year 2012.

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the American Small Business League (ASBL) requested the names of all firms that had been included in the $89.9 billion the SBA claimed had been awarded to small businesses in fiscal 2012. The SBA has refused to provide the information. The ASBL has filed an appeal and will file suite against the SBA if the information is not released.

In 2008, the SBA lost a similar case filed by the ASBL for refusing to provide the specific names of firms that had received federal small business contracts for fiscal year 2006.

During that case the SBA surprised the court when they claimed they had no information on the specific names of firms that had received federal small business contracts.

Judge Patel stated, "The court finds curious the SBA's claim they do not have the very information they would need to carry out their mission."

Federal Judge Marilyn Patel ruled in favor of the ASBL and forced the SBA to provide the names of all the firms that had been included in the $77.7 billion in federal contracts the SBA had claimed were awarded to small businesses.

The information the SBA was forced to provide to the ASBL indicated the SBA had, in fact, diverted billions in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and hundreds of large businesses in the U.S. and Europe.

NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN and the Washington Post have all reported on the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.

For over a decade the SBA has claimed thousands of large businesses around the world have received federal small business contracts as a result of computer glitches, miscoding, simple human error and anomalies. The SBA has never been able to explain why the supposed random anomalies always divert federal small business contracts to large businesses and never the other way around.

After investigating the SBA, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released Report 10-108 that stated, "By failing to hold firms accountable the SBA and contracting agencies have sent a message to the contracting community that there is no punishment or consequences for committing fraud."

For the ASBL's latest video, click here.

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Obama's Plan to Close Small Business Administration Could be Coming Soon

Press Release

Obama's Plan to Close Small Business Administration Could be Coming Soon

August 14, 2013

PETALUMA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--President Obama’s plan to close the Small Business Administration (SBA) could be coming soon. SBA Administrator Karen Mills resigned February 11 and announced on July 18 that she would leave the agency at the end of August.

President Obama has not even mentioned a replacement for Mills.

American Small Business League (ASBL) President Lloyd Chapman predicted President Obama would try and close the SBA under the guise of combining it with the Department of Commerce on November 25, 2008. As Chapman predicted, President Obama announced his plan to essentially close the SBA by combining it with the Department of Commerce in January, 2012.

President Ronald Reagan made two failed attempts to close the SBA by combining it with the Department of Commerce.

President Obama claims combining the SBA with the Department of Commerce will save $300 million a year, roughly the cost of one jet fighter. At the same time President Obama wants to close the SBA to save $300 million a year, he has proposed spending $7 billion to build power plants in Africa under a program called “Power Africa.”

President Obama’s alleged $300 million savings by closing the SBA could be funded for over 23 years by the $7 billion he intends to spend in Africa. ASBL believes the real reason President Obama wants to close the SBA is to cover up the rampant fraud and abuse that has been uncovered in numerous investigative reports by the media and by investigations by the SBA’s own Inspector General. Every year of the Obama administration SBA Inspector General, Peg Gustafson, who was appointed by President Obama, has named the diversion of billions in federal small business contracts to corporate giants as the most rampant problem at the SBA.

President Obama recognized the magnitude of the fraud and abuse of the SBA in February of 2008 when he stated, “It’s time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.”

President Obama has refused to adopt any policies or legislation to end the abuses of the SBA. President Obama did just the opposite by removing critical data from the government’s database of suppliers that has made it easier for large businesses to hijack federal small business contracts and harder for federal investigators to determine if a firm is a legitimate small business or a subsidiary or division of a small business.

As a result, the most recent data from the Federal Procurement Data System indicates, of the top 100 recipients of federal small business contracts in FY2012, 71 are large businesses. Closing the SBA would make all the fraud and abuse uncovered at the SBA moot point and avoids any embarrassment for President Obama as the next election cycle approaches.

For the ASBL’s latest video, click here.