SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22, 2005 - The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ordered the U.S. Attorney's Office to pay the American Small Business League (ASBL) $54,000 in attorneys' fees following its recent win against the SBA enforcing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Under federal law, plaintiffs who prevail in a case involving the FOIA are reimbursed for the legal expenses they incur.

In an April 29, 2005 ruling, Judge Susan Illston ordered the SBA to produce a report acknowledging that government funds earmarked for small businesses are regularly diverted to big businesses such as Raytheon Co., Northrop Grumman, and Hewlett-Packard Co. The order stems from a lawsuit filed by the ASBL after the Small Business Administration withheld a report, commissioned by Eagle Eye Publishing, exposing fraud and abuse in government contracting. The SBA twice refused requests by the ASBL for copies of the original report citing exemptions under the FOIA. Rob Belshaw, ASBL's chief attorney stated that "The ASBL will continue in its efforts to uncover abuses such as vendor deception and false certification in its efforts to fulfill its mission: to initiate sweeping reforms within the SBA. To the extent that further litigation is required to enforce the public's right of access to information held by the SBA, ASBL is quite prepared to continue its struggle in the courts.

"Two weeks ago the SBA issued a statement that claimed small businesses had received over 69 billion dollars in federal contracts in 2004," said Lloyd Chapman. "The documents we forced the SBA to release clearly show they have intentionally reported billions in contracts to Fortune 500 companies as small business contracts. We will be filing another suit this month against the SBA that will prove the SBA has turned a blind eye to more fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting."

Specifically, the report showed that billions of dollars intended by Congress for small businesses have gone to the largest corporations in the world. While small businesses struggle to compete for contracts with the Federal Government, companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion such as the Carlyle Group, Raytheon and General Dynamics are receiving small business contracts. The report clearly shows that SBA policies have allowed some of America's largest companies to receive small business contracts totaling over $2 billion in FY 2002.

PETALUMA, Calif., April 4, 2005 - The Small Business Administration has received over 5,000 comments from small businesses and small business groups across the country opposing an SBA proposal that would allow huge multinational corporations to continue receiving billions of dollars in federal government small business contracts.

The SBA "grandfathering" proposal would allow corporate giants in the U.S. and Europe to keep their small business contracts for up to five more years. As of March 31, with two business days remaining in the comment period, the SBA said it had received approximately 6,000 comments on the grandfathering proposal. Of that total, ASBL has received copies of more than 5,000 comments, or over 80 percent of the total, expressing opposition to the proposal.

Long-established Federal law mandates that 23 percent of government contracts go to small businesses, or a current annual total of about $87 billion. But several recent government and independent studies have shown that most of that money goes to big business, through a combination of fraud and misrepresentation, misguided SBA policies, and the SBA's unwillingness to carry out the law.

"This grandfathering proposal is the latest in a series of SBA maneuvers to serve big-business interests at the expense of small businesses," said Lloyd Chapman, President of the American Small Business League. "The SBA proposal would artificially inflate the government's small business contracting statistics and allow large businesses to continue to receive billions of dollars a year in contracts meant for small businesses."

In December, the SBA's Office of Advocacy released a report saying that small business contracts had gone to a Who's Who of giant businesses, including Raytheon Co., BAE Systems, Northrop Grumann Corp., Carlyle Group, Electronic Data Systems Corp., Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Buhrmann NV, and many more. Early this year, a Center for Public Integrity study found that the Defense Department alone had awarded $47 billion in small business contracts to some of the nation's largest suppliers.

"Businesses like mine should be able to win federal government small business contracts, but instead they're being awarded to large multi-national corporations," said Craig Carnahan, vice president of Cybergear, Inc. in Gilbert, Arizona. "My wife and I employ seven hard-working people, and the federal government repeatedly looks the other way as businesses with thousands of employees illegally steal contracts away from us."

In the United States today, 98 percent of all firms have fewer than 100 employees. Until 1986 the SBA defined a small business as one with fewer than 100 employees. In 1986, the SBA changed the definition allowed up to 500 employees.

SBA Misrepresented Results of Previous Comment Period
Under strong public pressure from the ASBL and other voices in the small business community, the SBA in March 2004 proposed a series of rule changes, including one that would reduce the small business size standard back to 100 employees. Despite the overwhelming public support it received for this rule change, the SBA withdrew the proposal on July 1 and misrepresented the results.

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that more than 2,500 comments received by the SBA were in favor of lowering the size standard for a small business to 100 employees, and fewer than 30 were opposed. Yet the SBA announced on July 1 that most responders were against changing the standards, and that therefore it was suspending the process. In fact, almost all of the negative comments received by the SBA were directed at other aspects of its 86-page proposal.

In December 2004, the SBA released a "grandfathering proposal" that would allow big corporations to keep their existing small business contracts even if size standards are reduced in the future. The comment period was scheduled to end on February 1, and was later extended through April 3. On Thursday, the SBA said it would accept comments through April 4.

In addition, the SBA has previously misrepresented comments from ASBL supporters as being unverifiable. In fact, each comment was written by a small business owner and submitted by them through ASBL's website, which saved one copy and sent another directly to the SBA. More than 95 percent of the comments on the grandfathering proposal contain the name, address and telephone number of the writer. The support ASBL received came from Chambers of Commerce, small business groups, and concerned small businesses across the country.

"Because the SBA misrepresented the previous comment period, ASBL is speaking out today to ensure that the public learns the truth," Chapman said. "The SBA should be carrying out its mission and working for the small businesses that are vital to America's economy. Instead, it caters to the interests of the Pentagon and large multinational corporations. The SBA is directly responsible for the staggering level of fraud and abuse that is being found at every level of small business contracting programs."

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today introduced legislation designed to expand protections for small businesses with federal contracts.

"For far too long, small businesses have been getting the short end of the stick when it comes to federal contracting," Kerry said. "We need to be helping small businesses compete by providing fair access and equal opportunity at the federal level."

Kerry's bill, the Small Business Federal Contractor Safeguard Act, mirrors legislation he introduced in the 108th Congress. It would hold prime contractors accountable for their subcontracting agreements by requiring them to certify their subcontracting plans, and it would protect small business subcontractors by increasing the penalty for big businesses that falsely report. In addition, federal contracting officers would be required to keep a record of contract performance so that small firms can build a history of subcontracting performance. The bill also continues Kerry's efforts to curb the practice of contract bundling by requiring federal agencies to meet specific standards for consolidated contracts over $2 million, and more stringent requirements for contracts greater than $5 million. Last, the legislation would hold contracting officers accountable for meeting their procurement goals by tying performance evaluations to meeting such goals.

"This bill addresses a number of serious problems in federal contracting that are reducing competition, eliminating opportunities, and making contracting programs vulnerable to fraud and abuse," Kerry added. "Unless you're happy with the status quo that hurts small businesses, we need to change the culture at federal agencies and close the loopholes the Bush administration and large firms use to shut small businesses out of the procurement process."

Kerry originally introduced the bill in the 108th Congress as part of the Small Business Administration Reauthorization bill, S. 1375, that unanimously passed the Senate. In the House of Representatives, however, the Republican leadership refused to allow a vote on it.

(PRWEB) January 13, 2005 -- The SBA is taking public comment, until February 1, on a proposed policy change that will allow some of the biggest companies in America to continue to receive contracts that Congress intended to go to small businesses. Three different studies in the last 24 months have shown that some of the biggest companies in America like Hewlett Packard, Raytheon and Titan Industries have been allowed to receive billions of dollars in small business contracts. While politicians and small business groups around the country are dismayed over the findings, the SBA has shocked small businesses by putting forth this policy that will allow these large companies to continue to receive those contracts in the future through "grandfathering". Lloyd Chapman, President of the American Small Business League, is vehemently opposing the proposed policy change.

This policy comes on the heels of an embarrassing report the SBA Office of Advocacy was forced to release after the American Small Business League filed suit in federal court in San Francisco demanding the release of the report under the Freedom of Information Act. The portion of the report that has been released shows that billions of dollars in small business contracts are going to some of the largest companies in the world. This is the third report in 24 months that has found billions of dollars of blatant abuse in Federal small business contracting programs. The SBA has consistently tried to explain the dramatic abuses as "miscoding and computer glitches." Chapman responded, "Under the SBA's watch, the small business community has lost billions of dollars in small business contracts to large businesses. The SBA's excuses of miscoding and computer glitches are absurd and just not believable. Why hasn't the SBA taken any definitive action to stop this abuse by large businesses?" The SBA has refused to release the most damaging portions of the report that show blatant fraud.

Chapman has vowed to continue his legal battle against the SBA until the original draft is released to the public. "The portion of the report that we forced the SBA to release clearly shows some staggering abuses in federal small business contracting programs. The SBA is directly responsible for this level of abuse. Their new proposal that will allow these large companies to continue to receive small business contracts is a good example of whom the SBA really works for. Our goal is to rally small businesses around the country to defeat this plan and see that in the future small business contracts go to legitimate small businesses and not to Fortune 1000 companies and international conglomerates." The American Small Business League (ASBL) is mounting a national campaign asking small businesses to go to the website and support their position opposing the SBA's plan.

After a lengthy legal battle with the American Small Business League, the Small Business Administration has been forced to release portions of a damaging report on federal small business contracting. The report shows that billions of dollars intended by Congress for small businesses have gone to the largest corporations in the world. While small businesses struggle to compete for contracts with the Federal Government, companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion such as the Carlyle Group, Raytheon and General Dynamics are receiving small business contracts. The report clearly shows that SBA policies have allowed some of America's largest companies to receive small business contracts totaling over $2 billion in FY2002.

The SBA continues to refuse to release the most damaging parts of the report. American Small Business League President, Lloyd Chapman, vows to keep fighting until the full report is released. Chapman believes the original draft report shows blatant fraud in federal small business contracting programs. According to Chapman, "The SBA continues to refuse to take any action to stop even the most blatant cases of felony contracting fraud.

Even the SBA's own Inspector General reported widespread fraud in their semi-annual report as early as 1995. This continued level of abuse of small business programs could not have happened without SBA's knowledge."