PETALUMA,Calif., Aug. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This is thecomment to the Small Business Administration from the American Small BusinessLeague opposing the "safe harbor from fraud" policy.

TheSmall Business Administration Office of Inspector General began sounding thealarm in 1995 on large businesses fraudulently misrepresenting themselves assmall business to illegally receive federal small business contracts.

Everyyear since 2005, the SBA Office of Inspector General has continued to name thediversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses as thenumber one challenge at the SBA.

TheSBA Office of Inspector General has issued numerous reports on the diversion offederal small business contracts to large businesses such as Reports 5-14, 5-15and 5-16.

Along series of federal investigations have uncovered rampant fraudin federal small business contracting programs.

Thediversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms andthousands of large businesses has been reported by Fox News, ABC, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CBS and CNBC.

EvenPresident Obama acknowledged the magnitude of the abuse in federal smallbusiness contracting programs when he released the statement, "It istime to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporategiants."

Forover twelve years the SBA has claimed the widely investigated and reporteddiversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses is the resultof "miscoding","computer glitches", "anomalies", "simple humanerror", "large businesses acquiring small businesses" and avariety of other excuses such as small businesses outgrowing their sizestandard.

TheSBA has consistentlydenied there is any fraud in federal small business contracting.

Ichallenge anyone at the SBA to show me just one investigation by the SBAInspector General that found too many large businesses were being unfairlyprosecuted for misrepresenting themselves as small businesses.

Sincethere are no federal investigations that found too many large businesses werebeing unfairly prosecuted for fraud, I see no need for a "safe harbor from fraud" policy.

Ido see a desperate need for a policy to stop the nation's 28 million smallbusinesses from being cheated by the rampant diversion of billions of dollars amonth in federal small business contracts to large businesses.

Ido see a desperate need for a policy that would stop the SBA from cheatingsmall business with their fabricated, "small business eligibledollars" policy.

Ichallenge anyone at the SBA or any other federal agency to show me the sectionof the Small Business Act that allows for "small business eligibledollars" to be used in calculating the percentage of awards to smallbusinesses. I challenge anyone to provide the section from the Small BusinessAct that allows for Fortune 500 firms, their subsidiaries or any largebusinesses to legally receive federal small business contracts.

Inconclusion, the American Small Business League is opposed to the "safeharbor from fraud" policy. This is just another loophole that will allowthe federal government to cheat small businesses out of more contracts,encourage fraud, protect fraudulent firms and allow the SBA to continue tofabricate and falsify the government's compliance with the 23 percent smallbusiness-contracting goal.

To view full press release, click here:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sbas-safe-harbor-from-fraud-policy-comments-end-monday-272195941.html

PETALUMA,Calif., Aug. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A survey by theAmerican Small Business League (ASBL)of over 2000 Chambers of Commerce across the country found overwhelmingopposition to the Small Business Administration's (SBA's) proposed "safe harbor from fraud" policy.

Overthe course of two months the ASBL contacted a sampling of Chambers of Commercein all fifty states. Most of the chambers contacted were shocked that such apolicy had even been proposed.

Undersection 16 (d) of the Small Business Act, any firm thatmisrepresents itself as a small business to illegally receive federal smallbusiness contracts can be punished by up to ten years in prison, a fine of notmore than $500,000 or both.

Underthe proposed "safe harbor from fraud" policy, a large business thatis caught misrepresenting itself as a small business to illegally land afederal small business contract can avoid any jail time or fines by simplyclaiming they "acted in good faith".

In1995, the SBA Inspector General began sounding the alarm on large businesses fraudulently misrepresenting themselves to hijack federalsmall business contracts. In 2005, in Report 5-15, the SBA Office of InspectorGeneral describes the diversion of federal small business contracts to largebusinesses as, "One of the most important challenges facing the SmallBusiness Administration (SBA) and the entire Federal Government today…"

EverySBA Inspector General since 2005 has continued to name the diversion of federalsmall business contracts to large businesses as the number one challenge at the SBA.

Report 5-16 from the SBA Inspector General found largebusinesses were fraudulently landing federal small business contracts by making"false certifications."

PresidentObama acknowledged the magnitude of fraud and abuse at the SBAwhen he released the statement, "It istime to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporategiants."

Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN haveall covered the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500firms and thousands of large businesses.

TheSBA has refused to adopt any polices to halt the rampant fraud. Instead the SBAis taking public comment on the "safe harbor from fraud" policy thatwill likely encourage fraud in federal small business contracting programs.

Individualsthat wish to send the SBA a comment on the "safe harbor from fraud"policy can do so going to the proposed rule's website. The comment period will end thisupcoming Monday, August 25.

To view full press release, click here:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chambers-of-commerce-oppose-sba-safe-harbor-from-fraud-policy-271971831.html

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 7,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, an article in the Washington Post by J.D.Harrison has questioned the accuracy of the Small Business Administration's(SBA's) annual Scorecard data.

In a press conference at the NASAGoddard Space Flight Center, SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet announced for FY 2013,the federal government awarded 23.39 percent of federal contracts to smallbusinesses.

Federal law requires that a minimum of 23% of the total value ofall federal contracts be awarded to small businesses. 

For more than a decade the SBA has dramaticallyinflated the actual percentage of contracts to small businesses by includingbillions of dollars in contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of largebusinesses around the world. CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN have all reported onthe diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms.

Another tactic used by the SBA tosignificantly misrepresent the actual percentageof federal contracts awarded to small businesses is to use a federalacquisition budget number that is dramatically lower than the actual federalacquisition budget.

Based on the latest data from the USgovernment spending website, for fiscal year2013, the government spent a total of $3.5 trillion. In calculating thepercentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses the SBA used afederal acquisition budget number of just $355 billion or less than10% of what the total government spending was for that year.

A recent legal opinion by ProfessorCharles Tiefer, one of the nation's leading experts on federal contracting law,finds the acquisition budget number the SBA should be using to calculate thepercentage of awards to small businesses is closer to $1.1 trillion.

Professor Tiefer's legal opinion alsofinds no legal justification for the SBA's long standing policy of including billions of dollars in federalcontracts to large businesses in calculating the volume andpercentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses.

Using Professor Tiefer's real federalacquisition budget number of $1.1 trillion, the $83.1 billion the SBA claimswas awarded to small businesses would be approximately 7.5% and not the 23.39%claimed by the SBA.

The latest data from the FederalProcurement Data System indicates in fiscal year 2013, 175 Fortune 500 firms andtheir subsidiaries received federal small business contracts.

Research by the American SmallBusiness League concludes if the actual federal acquisition budget were used asprescribed by law and if all firms that did not meet the current federaldefinition of a small business were excluded from the SBA's calculations,legitimate small businesses would have received less than 5% of federalcontracts in fiscal year 2013 and not the 23.39% claimed by the SBA.

To view full press release, clickhere: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/Washington-Post-Questions-Accuracy-of-SBA-Small-Business-Contracting-Statistics-1936224.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 15,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, every year by thistime the Small Business Administration (SBA) releases the government scorecardthat reports the dollar volume and percentage of federal contracts awarded tosmall businesses. The SBA has a track record of releasingthe data in a manner to reduce media pick up. They prefer to releasethe data late on a Friday afternoon preferable just before a three-day weekend.

Last year the FY 2012 Scorecard wasreleased just before the July 4th weekendas the American Small Business League predicted in their July 1, 2013 press release.

The SBA has made no announcements asto why the release of the data has been delayed. Every year for the lastdecade, when the SBA releases their data it prompts a number of stories in the press regarding the SBA's inclusion of hundreds of Fortune 500 firms and otherclearly large businesses in their small business statistics.

Every year since 2003, when it isreported that Fortune 500 firms are receivingfederal small business contracts, the SBA insists the inclusion ofbillions of dollars in federal contracts to Fortune 500 firms is the result of miscoding, computer glitches, anomalies, data entryerrors and simple human error. The SBA has never been asked why thealleged random errors do not have a random pattern of distribution, but always divert small business contracts to large businesses.

In 2011 the SBA claimed the data was clean and free of dataanomalies such as miscoding. That year 61% of the top 100 recipientsof federal small business contracts were large businesses. In 2011, 72% of the top 100 recipientsof small business contracts were large businesses. In 2012, 235 Fortune 500 firms received federal smallbusiness contracts. In 2013, 175 Fortune 500 firmsreceived federal small business contracts.

Some of the firms that have beenincluded in the SBA's small business contracting data include, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, IBM,AT&T, General Electric, Dell, Lockheed Martin, Textron, PepsiCo, Disney,British Aerospace Engineering (BAE) and Rolls-Royce. According to a story in The New York Times,Rosoboronexport in Russia received $378 million in federal small businesscontracts in 2011.

The American Small Business League ispreparing to file a Freedom of Information Act request to force the SBA torelease the FY 2013 Scorecard. ASBL also plans to file an injunction in FederalDistrict Court in San Francisco to stop the SBA from including contracts tocorporate giants in their federal small business contracting data.

To view full press release, clickhere:  http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/Small-Business-Administration-Delays-Release-of-FY-2013-Data-1929592.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 23,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, the renewal of a25-year-old fraudulent Pentagon program has been hidden in the House version ofthe 2015 National Defense Reauthorization Bill.

The renewal of the Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program (CSPTP) into its 28^th year oftesting is covered in section 811 of the FY 15 National Defense AuthorizationBill (H.R. 4435). To try and hide the renewal of the controversial andfraudulent program section 811 has been obscured from the bill.

The language renewing the Test Programis hidden under the section titled, "Subtitle B--Industrial Base Matters."

The Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program began in 1990 under the guise of "increasing subcontractingopportunities for small businesses." In reality the TestProgram was carefully written to do just the opposite. Prior to the TestProgram all Pentagon prime contractors were required to submit subcontractingplans and quarterly and annual subcontracting reports that were available tothe public.

Pentagon prime contractorsparticipating in the Test Program were no longer required to submit anysubcontracting plans and reports that were once available to the publiceffectively eliminating all transparency.

Prior to the Test Program all Pentagonprime contractors were subject to "liquidated damages" for failing toachieve subcontracting goals required under federal law. Under the Test Programprime contractors were exempt from any "liquidated damages"or other penalties for non-compliance with subcontracting goals.

With the elimination of publiclyavailable subcontracting plans, achievement reports and all penalties fornon-compliance, prime contractors had little or no incentive to comply withfederal law establishing subcontracting goals.

The American Small Business League (ASBL)estimates that since the Comprehensive Subcontracting Test Program wasestablished in 1990 small businesses havelikely been defrauded out of over one trilliondollars in federal subcontracts.

The decision by the House ofRepresentatives to hide section 811 may have also been based on theembarrassing language that had been included in the "Chairman's Mark" ofthe bill. Language in section 811 that renewed the Test Program into its 28^th year oftesting (2017) stated:

"However, after nearly 24 years since the originalauthorization of the program, the test program has yet to provide evidence thatit meets the original stated goal of the program..."

The American Small Business League filed suit against thePentagon in May in Federal District Court in San Francisco after the Pentagonrefused to release any data on the Test Program under the Freedom ofInformation Act.

The American Small Business League hasalso launched a national campaign workingwith Chambers of Commerce across the country to block the renewal of theComprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program.

To view press release, click here:  http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/Fraudulent-Pentagon-Test-Program-Hidden-in-2015-National-Defense-Authorization-Bill-1923473.htm