The American Small Business League (ASBL) has announced a $10,000 reward for the first person who can provide a complete, accurate and verifiable list of all firms that were coded as small businesses in fiscal 2005 and the amounts they were awarded in federal small-business contracts.

In a statement today, ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said, "The Bush administration has been lying to the public, to Congress and to the media about federal small-business contracting figures."

Chapman said he did not believe anyone would be able to produce a list that would justify the Small Business Administration's claim that $79.6 billion in contracts were awarded to small businesses in 2005.

"The government insists that this information is readily accessible," he said. "I'm willing to pay $10,000 in cash to see if someone is able to produce it."

ASBL said that although SBA claims this information is publicly available on the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation, "the government is intentionally making this information difficult, if not impossible, for the public to access because the list will reveal that billions of dollars in contracts to defense mega-contractors, including General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Bechtel and Northrop Grumman, were reported as small-business awards."

The league said it has made repeated requests to SBA Administrator Steven Preston to publicize the fiscal 2005 list of small-business contractors. "To date, he has consistently refused," an ASBL announcement states.

To win the reward, the list of federal small-business contractors must total $79.6 billion and must contain the names of the firms and the amounts they were awarded, consolidated by parent company name.