PETALUMA,Calif., Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In responding to the federallawsuit filed by the American Small Business League (ASBL) for diverting federal small businesscontracts to Fortune 500 firms, the SBA is arguingthey have no legal responsibility to ensure the accuracy of their reports.

ASBLattorney Robert Belshaw stated, "The SBA is trying to deny any legalobligation to give an accurate report on the true level of small businessparticipation as the statutes requires."

TheASBL is asking the court to stop two specific policies the SBA has created thatare a directviolation of the Small Business Act. The ASBL believes the illegalSBA policies cheat small businesses out of billions of dollars in federalcontracts every year.

Federallaw mandates that small businesses receive a minimum of 23%of all prime contracts. The SBA created an "exclusionaryrule" that excludes the vast majority of the total federalacquisition budget from their calculations. This policy has dramaticallyreduced the volume of federal contracts that are actually awarded to smallbusinesses. According to the CongressionalBudget Office, the total acquisition budget for fiscal year 2015 was$1.2 trillion. For 2015, the SBA used a number of just $391 billion. The ASBLbelieves in 2015 small businesses lost over $186 billion in contractsas a result of the SBA's "exclusionary rule."

In aninterview with Mother Jones,nationally recognized expert on federal contracting law, Professor Charles Tiefer,estimated in 2011 the SBA had excluded $677 billion in federal contracts. Basedon Professor Tiefer's calculations, the SBA"exclusionary rule" cost American small businesses $155.7 billion infederal contracts in 2011.

TheASBL is also asking the court to halt the SBA policy of divertingbillions of dollars a year in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. SBAAdministrator Maria Contreras-Sweet admitted the SBA created a "grandfathering rule"that allows them to divert federal small business contracts to Fortune 500firms such as Northrop-Grumman, Chevron and Raytheon.

TheSBA's Inspector General stated, "One of themost important challenges facing the on Small Business Administration (SBA) andthe entire federal government today is that large businesses are receivingsmall business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for theseawards."

PresidentObama acknowledgedthe magnitude of the abuse at the SBA when he released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion offederal small business contracts to corporate giants."

In attemptingto justify the SBA "exclusionary rule," SBA Associate Administrator JohnShoraka stated,"When we came in as an administration in 2009, we wanted to be able tocontinue to measure apples to apples to apples, to see if we're actuallyprogressing… We kept those exclusions as they stood when we arrived, to makesure we weren't accused of sort of fiddling with the numbers and making it looklike we were having success."

Thefirst court date for the case it set for September 29, 2016. 

Toview full press release, click here:   http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sba-denies-responsibility-for-fraudulent-policies-in-federal-injunction-case-asbl-reports-300308268.html