The Small Business Administration (SBA) may have been establishedto support the nation's SMEs, but a lawsuit against the government group isaccusing it of doing the opposite.

Reports from FederalNews Radio on Thursday (May 5) said that the SBA was hitwith a lawsuit earlier this week by the American Small Business League (ASBL).The ASBL is accusing the SBA of awarding small business contracts to Fortune500 firms, yet still falsifying records to suggest that it is meetinggovernment-mandated quotas for smallbusiness contracts.

"As has been the case in all previous years in which the SBA hasreleased an annual goaling report, the SBA's assertion that the percentage ofthe total value of all prime contract awards awarded to small businesses met orexceeded the congressional mandate of 23 percent is false," court documentsstated, according to reports.

The SBA is also accused of working to "fabricate thegovernment's compliance with the small business goals by using a much loweracquisition budget," documents said.

"SBA can only make this statement by creating, through agencyfiat, a class of government contracts which are, solely in the view of the SBA,subject to exclusion from being considered as part of 'the total value of allprime contract awards' as stated in the Small Business Act," the documentscontinue. "Although the language of the statu[t]e is crystal clear, every year,the SBA redefines 'total value' as meaning total value minus the contracts SBAdecides to exclude from the equation."

The Small Business Administration released its annual SMEfederal contracting report cardearlier this year, finding a record number of SME contracts. The administrationsaid it surpassed its goal of allocating 23 percent of procurement spend tosmall business suppliers, instead allocating 25.75 percent — worth $90.7billion.

In response, SBA Associate Administrator of GovernmentContracting and Business Development John Shoraka said the group's exclusionrules are constantly being updated and are, in fact, being updated to be moreinclusive for small businesses.

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