Petaluma, Calif. - On Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 Small Business Administration (SBA) National Ombudsman Nicholas Owens, members of the Region IX Regulatory Fairness Board and representatives of Federal regulatory agencies will hear comments, concerns and complaints regarding federal regulatory enforcement and compliance from the American Small Business League (ASBL) and small business owners from the Bay Area.

During its comment period, the ASBL plans to identify problems within the federal regulatory environment that have led to the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 1000 corporations and their subsidiaries.

The ASBL contends that every year, more than $100 billion in federal small business contracts are diverted from legitimate small businesses to some of the largest corporations in the United States and Europe.

"The lack of regulatory enforcement at the SBA has led to an atmosphere of fraud, abuse, loopholes and the diversion of small business contracts to large and international corporations," President and Founder of the ASBL, Lloyd Chapman said. "It is time for the federal government to enforce the laws that have been put in place to prevent such abuses."

Since 2003, there have been more than a dozen federal investigations, which have found that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted from legitimate small businesses to firms like: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Battelle, Bechtel, Hewlett-Packard and BAE systems. (https://www.asbl.com/documents/Fedmine.pdf)

In Report 5-15, the SBA Office of Inspector General stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the entire Federal Government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards."

"To create a more cooperative regulatory environment among federal agencies and small businesses, the federal government needs to enforce the current regulations," Chapman said. "It's a simple proposition: remove large firms, punish them for cheating, create greater access to federal contracts for legitimate small businesses and allow small businesses to succeed." 

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