For companies with fewer than 100 employees, the chance to do business with the federal government offers the promise of growth and prosperity.

Which is why, when the U.S. Small Business Administration came to Seattle last week to hold hearings, small business owners were hoping to hear how they could win government contracts. They wanted their shot at doing business with Uncle Sam. And they wanted to make sure SBA policies helped them do that.

Instead of hearing from government officials committed to helping small businesses grow, they were forced to listen to federal bureaucrats drone on about why public policy should change to let big businesses compete with small businesses.

Small businesses are losing small business set-aside contracts to large corporations every day. Companies such as Raytheon, Verizon, AT&T and Hewlett-Packard have been awarded billions of dollars in small business contracts by federal agencies in the past three years.

The SBA has lost touch with small-business owners and is promoting flawed policies that help large businesses win government contracts intended for small businesses. One proposed measure would allow large corporations that are currently in violation of size regulations to hold onto their contracts for up to five more years. These policies are in direct contravention of the SBA's mission, and of federal contracting laws to protect small businesses and ensure a healthy economy.

The Small Business Act of 1953 directs that at least 23 percent of federal government procurement contracts go to small business. But in December 2004, the SBA Office of Advocacy reported that more than $2 billion in small-business contracts had been awarded to 44 companies found to be "other than small." A series of reports by the investigator general this year showed that not only are large businesses being awarded small-business contracts, but the agencies awarding the contracts are receiving credit toward meeting their small business goals.

A September 2004 report from the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity found that 30 percent of all defense-contract money reported as going to small businesses and special minority-owned businesses ended up in the hands of the top defense companies from 1998 to 2003. The loss to American small businesses? A staggering $47 billion.

Politicians use the 23 percent of government contracts that allegedly go to small business to wrap the flag around themselves. In March 2004, SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto proclaimed that the government had exceeded the 23 percent goal, stating, "This is a tremendous victory for America's small-business owners and for our economy. ... President Bush and the SBA have worked hard to help small entrepreneurs do business with the federal government."

But the SBA's own inspector general has declared, "These numbers are questionable." In February, the inspector general said, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards."

As the federal agency charged with fighting for small-business issues, the SBA has failed. SBA officials need to clean up their act. With 98 percent of businesses nationwide employing fewer than 100 people, this is an issue that cannot be ignored. The next time SBA officials come to town, tell them to stop giving government contracts intended for small companies to big businesses.