A US pressure group has renewed allegations that the Obama administration is attempting to cover up "hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracting fraud".

The American Small Business League (ASBL) claims that, since 2000, between $500 billion and $1 trillion in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms and other "clearly large" businesses.

"I want people to understand that this is the Obama Administration reducing transparency, and helping to cover-up hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracting fraud," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.

The comments were made after United States District Judge William Alsup has denied the ASBL's request for a temporary restraining order, which the pressure group claims has cleared the way for the Obama Administration to destroy over ten years worth of federal contracting data.

ASBL stated that, on March 12, 2010, the Obama Administration intends to move forward with a plan that would "destroy years of incriminating contracting data" by eliminating the socio-economic field, "isSmallBusiness," found within the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG). It noted that, in the past, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) and other agencies have used the small business flag to uncover evidence indicating that large businesses have fraudulently received billions of dollars in federal small business contracts.

"The ASBL believes the move by the Obama Administration to eliminate the embarrassing data is the result of its successful lawsuits against the government, which have increased transparency and opened the public's access to the data," the group stated.

Source:  http://www.procurementleaders.com/news/latestnews/1105-asbl-attack-contract-fraud/