The Small Business Administration claims it does not have the names of firms they reported as small businesses in 2004 and which received federal contracts totaling $119 billion, the American Small Business League says.

ASBL President Lloyd Chapman of Petaluma says he believes the SBA is attempting to withhold information that will prove the SBA has dramatically overstated small business procurement figures by reporting billions in contracts to some of the largest firms in the U.S. and Europe as small business awards.

But the SBA doesn't agree, saying the figures are available.

"Mr. Chapman is asking for data that is available for the asking to anyone from the Federal Procurement Data System, where government-wide contracting statistics are kept," says SBA spokeswoman Anne Marie Frawley in an e-mail response to a CVBT query. "The FPDS is not a part of the SBA."

But Mr. Chapman disagrees, saying what figures are available "are inconsistent with their (SBA) public statements."

((Mr. Chapman expands on his thoughts in a CVBT interview. Click on the link below to listen.))

The ASBL is preparing to file its third federal lawsuit against the SBA to force them to release the names of the firms, Mr. Chapman says.

"I am confident the information we obtain will prove the SBA and the GSA have diverted billions in small business contracts to Fortune 1000 companies," Mr. Chapman says. "It's unacceptable that we have to go to court over and over just to get the most basic information from the SBA. Clearly they are trying to hide damaging information."

During the past 12 months, the ASBL has won two similar Freedom of Information cases against the SBA. The Justice Department has been directed to pay the ASBL over $54,000 in legal fees due to the SBA's refusal to release records that are supposed to be available to the public.

"These lawsuits are a waste of taxpayer dollars," Mr. Chapman says.