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Leading Government Influencers

Lloyd Chapman: Small-Business Crusader

By Jill R. Aitoro
VARBusiness
May 11, 2006

Lloyd Chapman will assert that 80 to 90 percent of contracts that purportedly go to small businesses actually end up in the hands of large companies, that the entire small-business government program is smoke and mirrors, and that President Bush is determined to stomp out any provisions made for the disadvantaged. Bold statements. But Chapman, president of the American Small Business League (ASBL), will also tell you that he's just getting started. His detractors call him a conspiracy theorist, a blowhard, but regardless, he has unearthed some questionable practices and lighted a fire under the Small Business Administration, the Office of the Inspector General and other watchdog agencies.

His latest victory? After reporting Insight Public Sector to the Inspector General for misrepresentation as a small business, the subsidiary of Tempe, Ariz.-based Insight Enterprises settled allegations for $1 million. It was no admission of guilt, but Chapman expects it to have a domino effect, spurring companies to think twice before using subsidiaries to claim small-biz status.

One of his latest targets, though, is not a big business but one of the most powerful federal agencies in Washington: the General Services Administration, or GSA, which has climbed higher up on his blacklist. Chapman's latest allegation against the GSA is that it is anti-small-business--and fraudulent. Chapman says he is in the midst of collecting comments from disgruntled small businesses. Does he seriously think he can dictate what any federal agency takes seriously? Absolutely.




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