Small businesses won a record $93.3 billion in federal prime contracts in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008, an increase of almost $10 billion from 2007, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration's third annual small business procurement scorecard, released today.

In addition, small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses increased their share of federal contracting dollars by at least $1 billion to $3 billion.

American Small Business League is challenging these latest statistics, alleging they've been inflated or falsified in several ways. For one, the government under-reported the total volume of the federal acquisition budget as a means of manipulating the final percentage reported as going to small businesses.

Secondly, the advocacy group cites more than a dozen federal investigations since 2003 that have found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts being awarded to Fortune 500 firms and some of the largest corporations in the United States and Europe.

"Despite all of President Obama's pre- and post-campaign rhetoric regarding small businesses, the fact is that the Obama Administration is allowing approximately $400 million a day in federal small business contracts to be awarded to Fortune 500 firms and some of the largest corporations in the world," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.

"President Obama has made a commitment to ensuring that small businesses have greater access to federal contracting opportunities and it is a commitment shared across this Administration," SBA Administrator Karen Mills said.