Click here to listen or download  (asbl-sba.mp3, 6.40 MB)  

•  Federal judge gives SBA two weeks to comply

•  American Small Business League suspects money really went to biggest corporations

•  Updated at 11:50 a.m. with audio interview

The Small Business Administration has two weeks to release the names of the companies that got federal small business contracts in 2005 and 2006, says a federal judge.

U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel issued her ruling Tuesday evening in a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the American Small Business League of Petaluma.

It’s the fourth time the ASBL has sued the SBA over releasing information and the fourth time it has won, the organization says.

(ASBL President Lloyd Chapman talks about the suit and why he sees it as important to America in a CVBT Audio Interview. Please click on the link below to listen or to download the MP3 audio file to your computer or iPod)

 In the latest lawsuit, the ASBL wants the specific names of the firms that were coded as small businesses for fiscal year 2005 and the specific dollar amounts that were awarded to those firms.

The contract total for firms from FY 2005 should total $75.1 billion as released by the Small Business Administration, the ASBL says.

It also wants the specific names of firms that were coded as small businesses for fiscal year 2006 and the specific dollar volume of contracts that were awarded to those firms.

The contract for firms from FY 2006 should total $77.7 billion as released by the Small Business Administration, ASBL says.

“We believe that this information will prove that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts actually went to many of the largest corporations in the United States and Europe during those years,” the ASBL says.

ASBL filed suit against the SBA after the agency refused to comply with the Freedom of Information Act request.

The SBA did not immediately respond to an e-mail request for comment.

Source:  http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=8802