A small-business advocacy group says it will request a preliminary injunction by tomorrow to stop the General Services Administration from removing two data fields from the federal contract award database it manages.

The American Small Business League contends that removing the two fields, which list contractor names and categorize companies as small businesses, would make it impossible for government watchdog agencies and groups to track whether large businesses are receiving contracts that should be going to small businesses.

GSA announced in October that it would be removing those two data fields from the Federal Procurement Data System when the system was updated March 12. Separate data fields that list the vendor's name and the agency contracting officer's determination of whether a company is a small business would not be affected.

The organization filed a request for a temporary restraining order against GSA March 8 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. District Judge William Alsup denied the request the following day, saying that GSA had not been given an opportunity to file its response. The judge said he would entertain a motion for a preliminary injunction if it was properly filed by Friday.

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Source:  http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20100311/ACQUISITION03/3110303/