PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 2,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, every year for thelast ten years the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of InspectorGeneral has reported the number one problem at the agency has been the diversion of federal small businesscontracts to large businesses.

In 2012 the SBA included 235 Fortune 500 firms in their small businessstatistics, then 175 in 2013.

Now the SBA has proposed two separate new policies that willallow thousands more big businesses to be considered small businesses.

Firms with up to 1,500 employees arecurrently allowed to receive federal small business contracts. According to theU.S. Census Bureau data, 98% of all U.S. firms have less than 100 employees and89% have less than 20. The average American firm has approximately 12employees.

Current SBA rules already allow firmsthat are over one hundred times larger than the average U.S. firm of 12employees to be considered small businesses as well as firms fifteen timeslarger than 98% of all U.S. firms. Yet the SBA continues to increase smallbusiness size standards across the board.

The new SBA small business sizestandards have been widely criticized by the press. In a Washington Postarticle titled, "How 8,500 large companies willbecome small businesses overnight," J.D. Harrison states,"When the clock strikes midnight on Sunday, July 13, thousands ofrelatively large companies will -- poof -- suddenly become smallbusinesses."

The American Small Business League (ASBL)will be opposing the majority of the increases in size standards proposed bythe SBA. ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated, "Every year for a decade theSBA Inspector General has named the diversion of federal small businesscontracts to large businesses as the number one problem at the SBA. They haverefused to adopt any policies to end that rampant fraud, but they continuallyincrease size standards to allow larger and larger firms to be considered smallbusinesses." 

The American Small Business League(ASBL) has launched a national campaign tooppose the new rules they believe will divert billions of dollars in federalsmall business contracts to big businesses. The ASBL has begun contactingChambers of Commerce across the country. To date the ASBL has contacted over onethousand chambers around the country and over 85% of the Chambers are joiningthe ASBL in opposing the new SBA polices they believe will harm legitimatesmall business and reduce the volume of federal contracts they receive.

The Interim Final Rule was announcedon June 12 and will take effect July 14. Ironically the SBA will be takingpublic comment of the proposed policy until August 11, 2014.

Individuals can comment on theproposed SBA policies by going to: http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=SBA-2014-0009-0001

To view full press release, clickhere:  http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/thousands-of-big-businesses-become-small-with-new-sba-policies-1926441.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 2,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, the latest data fromthe Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) shows 175 Fortune 500 firms receivedbillions of dollars in federal small business contracts in 2013. In 2012, 235 Fortune 500 firms received small businesscontracts.

Some of the firms the Small BusinessAdministration (SBA) has included in their small business contractingstatistics include: Chevron, Apple, General Electric, AT&T, HewlettPackard, IBM, Verizon, UPS, Bank of America, Citigroup, Home Depot, Microsoft,Wells Fargo, Pepsi, Boeing, Oracle, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, AmericanAirlines and John Deere.

A recent legal opinion by one of thenation's leading experts on federal contracting law, Professor Charles Tiefer,describes the federal government's diversion of small business contracts tocorporate giants as "fraud." He also points out the lack of oversighton small business contracting when he stated, "SBA and the agency arefailing to demand recertifications, and failing to take action in the absenceof valid certifications of continuing small size."

As early as 1995, the SBA Office ofInspector General reported on "a particular fraudulent practice" whenfirms that had been found not to be small businesses continued to claim to besmall businesses to illegally land federal small business contracts.

A 2004 report from the Small BusinessAdministration Office of Advocacy describes one of the reasons large businessesreceive federal small business contracts is due to "vendordeception."

In 2005 the SBA Office of InspectorGeneral released report 5-16 that reported large businesses were receivingfederal small business contracts through, "false certifications" and"improper certifications."

Report 5-15 from the SBA Office ofInspector General described the diversion of billions of dollars in federalsmall business contracts to corporate giants as, "One of the most importantchallenges facing the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the entirefederal government today..."

Report 5-14 from the SBA Office ofInspector General found the SBA itself was reporting awards to big businessesas small business awards.

In 2008 even President Obama recognizedthe magnitude of fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programswhen he released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal smallbusiness contracts to corporate giants."

President Obama never adopted anypolicies or legislation to keep his campaign promise to American small businesses.Every year of the Obama Administration, the SBA Inspector General, PegGustafson, who was appointed by President Obama, has named the diversion offederal small business contracts to big businesses as the number one problem atthe SBA.

In 2009 the Government AccountabilityOffice essentially accused the SBA of encouraging fraud when it released Report10-108 that stated, "By failing to hold firmsaccountable, SBA and contracting agencies have sent a message to thecontracting community that there is no punishment or consequences forcommitting fraud."

As opposed to adopting policies thatstop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants, theSBA has proposed new policies that will allow thousands of large businesses to qualify as smallbusinesses.

To view full press release, clickhere: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/175-Fortune-500-Firms-Land-Federal-Small-Business-Contracts-1926228.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 1,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, every summer the SmallBusiness Administration (SBA) releases the federal government's small businesscontracting statistics for the previous fiscal year. They usually claim thefederal government just missed the minimum 23% smallbusiness contracting goal required by law.

"For the last few years the SBAgenerally releases the information late on a Friday afternoon to reduce mediapick up. They try to release the report just before a three-day weekend ifpossible," stated American Small Business League President, Lloyd Chapman.

Last year the AmericanSmall Business League (ASBL) predicted the SBA would release the annualreport on July 3^rd. The SBA released the report onJuly 2^nd.

Every year for the last 12 years the SBA includes billions of dollars in contractsto Fortune 500 firms in their calculations on the percentage of awards to smallbusinesses. In 2012, 235 Fortune 500 firmswere included in the SBA's small business data. In 2013, 175 Fortune 500 firmswere included.

For the past 12 years, if and when stories emerged that billions of dollars in federal small businesscontracts were actually awarded to Fortune 500firms and other large businesses, the SBA has claimed this is theresult of miscoding, computer glitches, simplehuman error and anomalies.

Every year for 12 years no journalisthas ever questioned the SBA why the alleged random miscoding errors do not havea random pattern of distribution like flipping a coin, but always end updiverting federal small business contracts to large businesses.

Every year when the SBA releases thefalsified small business contracting data, other than the ASBL, no organization claiming to representthe interests of small businesses in America objects to the diversion offederal small business contracts to corporate giants.

In 2008 President Obama released thestatement, "It is time to end thediversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."

Every year of the Obama Administrationthe SBA Office of Inspector General, Peg Gustafson, who was appointed byPresident Obama, has named the diversion of federal small business contracts tolarge businesses as the number one problem at the SBA.

In 2009 after investigating the SBA,the Government Accountability Office essentially accused the SBA of encouragingfraud when it released report 10-108 that stated, "By failing to hold firmsaccountable, SBA and contracting agencies have sent a message to thecontracting community that there is no punishment or consequences forcommitting fraud."

Although the SBA has refused to adopt anypolicies to stop the diversion of federal small business contractsto corporate giants, they are currently proposing policies thatwill allow thousands of large businessesto qualify as small businesses for the purposes of federalcontracting.

Video

To view full press release, clickhere: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/-1926091.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 26,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, the Senate has votedto renew the 25 year old controversial Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program into its 28^th year of testing withlanguage that appears to have been specifically written to be ambiguous.

The Senate version of the2015 National Defense Authorization Bill (S.2410) states the Test Program:

"shallterminate on September 30, 2015, if the Under Secretary for Acquisition,Technology and Logistics certifies to the congressional defense committees notlater than December 31, 2014, that --

1) theDepartment of Defense will not be able to transition all participants in thetest program to individual small business subcontracting plans that meet allrelevant requirements contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation beforeDecember 31, 2014; or

2)participants transitioned to individual small business subcontracting plans donot enhance subcontracting opportunities for small business concerns."

The Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program was adopted back in 1990 under the guise of changing federalcontracting law to increase subcontractingopportunities for small businesses. In reality, small businesseshave lost out on hundreds of billions of dollars in subcontracts as a result ofthe changes.

The first change was the eliminationof publicly available small business subcontracting plans and publiclyavailable quarterly and annual subcontracting reports. This change essentiallyremoved all transparency from Pentagon subcontracting programs.

The second change was the eliminationof "liquidated damages"for Pentagon prime contractors that failed to comply with federal lawestablishing small business subcontracting goals. Prior to the implementationof the Test Program, prime contractors that failed to achieve their smallbusiness subcontracting goals were subject to paying liquidated damages in theamount of the deficiency.

Research by the American SmallBusiness League (ASBL) indicates the Test Program was obviouslynot designed to help small businesses but to create a significant loophole infederal contracting law that has allowed the Pentagon's largest primecontractors to circumvent federal law establishing small businesssubcontracting goals.

The ASBL estimates small businesseshave been defrauded out of over one trillion dollars in subcontractssince the Test Program began in 1990.

ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated,"What would you think if your local school district came up with a testprogram to determine if eliminating tests, report cards and any penalties forstudents that did not attend classes actually increased scholastic scores? Nowimagine testing that insane program for 25 years. This is exactly what Congresshas done with the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program."

The Pentagon has refused to releaseany data on the Test Program. The ASBL has filed suit against thePentagon in Federal District Court in San Francisco for refusing to respond toFreedom of Information Act Requests for specific subcontracting data submittedunder the Test Program.

During the last 25 years, nojournalist has ever interviewed anyone from the Pentagon or Congress on why noresults have ever been released or why the Test Program is still in effectafter 25 years.

Please take a moment of your time toview this helpful video indescribing why this Test Program was designed specifically to help primecontractors and not small businesses.

To view press release, click here: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/Senate-Uses-Ambiguous-Language-to-Renew-Controversial-Pentagon-Test-Program-1924668.htm