PETALUMA,Calif., July 21, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The General ServicesAdministration (GSA) proposed a newpolicy on June 20^th that couldexclude thousands of small businesses that are currently suppliers to thefederal government.

Underthe Federal Strategic SourcingInitiative (FSSI), the number of firms that would be able to providespecific commodities could be reduced to as few as fifteen companies. There arecurrently approximately 500,000 small businesses that are registered assuppliers to the federal government.

Themove by the federal government to drastically reduce the number of smallbusiness suppliers would seem to exacerbate the federal government's inabilityto achieve the 23% smallbusiness contracting goals established by the Small Business Act.

Federallaw also mandatesa 5% minority-owned small businesses goal, a 5% goal for woman-owned smallbusinesses and a 3% goal for service disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

Fraudand corruption in federal small business contracting programs has beenuncovered in dozens of federal investigations. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN, RTTV and Public Citizenhave all reported on the abuses.

In2003, the GovernmentAccountability Office (GAO) found the federal government had fabricatedcompliance with small business goals by includingcontracts to over 5,300 large businesses in the volume of federalcontracts the SBA reported were awarded to to small businesses.

TheSBA Office of Inspector General release Report 5-15 that stated"One of the most important challenges facing the Small BusinessAdministration (SBA) and the entire Federal Government today is that largebusinesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies arereceiving credit for these awards."

TheGAO released Report 10-108that stated "By failing to hold firms accountable, SBA and contractingagencies have sent a message to the contracting community that there is nopunishment or consequences for committing fraud or abusing the intent of theSDVOSB program."

FederalDistrict Court Judge William Alsup accused the federal government of "…covering it up"and stated "They aretrying to suppress the evidence" in a federal lawsuit filed bythe American Small Business League (ASBL) against thePentagon to expose fraud andcorruption in Pentagon small business subcontracting programs.

TheASBL has filed another case in Federal District Court in San Francisco askingthe court to grant an injunctionagainst the SBA to halt illegal polices they believe have defrauded legitimatesmall businesses out of as much as $2 trillion in federal contracts andsubcontracts over the last decade.

TheGSA proposal was published in the FederalRegister on June 20^th. The GSA willbe taking public commenton the proposed rule until August 20, 2016.

TheASBL believes government policies that have harmed small businesses are a majorfactor in the U.S. ranking49^thworldwide by the World Bank in the ease of starting a new business.

Contact:Jeanne Spatola
jspatola@asbl.com
925-255-3658

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