SBA Contract Fight Heads to Court

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SBA Contract Fight Heads to Court

By Keith Girard
AllBusiness.com
October 9, 0

Small business advocate Lloyd Chapman is determined to find out more about an alleged federal small business contract fraud, and he's filed suit in federal court to pry the information out of the government.

Chapman, who heads the American Small Business League, says the federal Small Business Administration has refused to release the name of a company that was cited in a 2005 SBA inspector general's report for violating SBA contracting guidelines.

The inspector general recommended barring the company from competing for future small business contracts, but to date, SBA director Hector V. Barreto has taken no action, Chapman said.

"I am sick and tired of the federal government turning a blind eye to blatant felony contracting fraud," said Chapman in a statement. "The SBA Office of Inspector General would not have recommended that this firm be debarred unless they had conducted an exhaustive investigation and were absolutely sure the firm is guilty."

Falsely claiming to be a small business to obtain small business contracts is a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, and permanent debarment from future contracts.





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