The small but vocal American Small BusinessLeague this week continued its long-standingchallenge to the Small Business Administration's claims that agenciesare meeting their statutory goals in awarding contracts to qualified smallbusinesses. 

In an appeal filed in the Ninth Circuit Courtin San Francisco, the group's attorney's challenged a May ruling in the case namingSBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet and seeking "injunctive and otherappropriate relief" to prevent the SBA from "continuing to misrepresent theattainment of small business contracting goals to Congress and the Americanpublic."

The league has long charged that definitionsused by the SBA have allowed many large Fortune 500 companies throughsubsidiaries to win contracts intended as set-asides for qualified small firms.

"Small Businesses are legally entitledto 23 percent of the total federal contracting acquisition budget, whichis currently $1.2 trillion," a league spokesman said. "However, the SBA is onlyallotting small business 23 percent of $352 billion, resulting in a smallbusiness loss of over $180 billion."

The league's president, Lloyd Chapman, arguesthat using the total federal acquisition budget in calculating the correctpercentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses would raise thesmall business share to 23 percent of more than $1 trillion.

Asked for comment, an SBA spokesman said, "Westand by the ruling of the United States District Court for the NorthernDistrict of California." 

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