Petaluma, Calif. –  Last Friday, the Small Business Administration released their “Top 100 Report,” listing the top recipients of federal small business contracts for fiscal year 2006. The release comes on the heals of a FOIA request by the American Small Business League to the SBA requesting the names of all firms that were coded as small businesses for FY 2005 and FY 2006. 

 

The SBA’s Top 100 list differs dramatically from the findings of over a dozen federal investigations and hundreds of newspaper stories that have all found that Fortune 1000 firms have received billions of dollars in federal small business contract awards since the issue was first exposed in the SBA Office of Inspector General Semi-Annual report to Congress, in September 1995.

 

“We believe that if the SBA were to release the names of all firms that have been coded as receiving federal small business contracts, it would prove that the SBA is unable to substantiate their claim that the federal government awarded $77.7 billion to small businesses during FY 2006,” President and Founder of the ASBL, Lloyd Chapman said.

 

The American Small Business League has plans to file a lawsuit against the SBA in early 2008, which it believes will prove the SBA overstates the percentage of small business contracts awarded to legitimate small businesses every year.

 

“When we file suit against the SBA, we will win as we have always done in the past,” Chapman said. “It is difficult to believe these statistics when more than a dozen federal investigations have found that fraud, abuse, loopholes and a lack of oversight in federal small business contracting have led to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations. We believe the statistics will prove that most small business contracts during FY 2005 and FY 2006 actually went to Fortune 1000 corporations and other large businesses around the world.”

 

In response to the ASBL’s accusations spokesmen from the SBA went on the defensive Monday.

 

In a story, which ran in the Central Valley Business Times, SBA Spokesman Mike Stamler stated, “As to the threat of lawsuit over acquiring a full list of small business contractors, that full list is and always has been public record available through the Federal Procurement Data System, available to anyone, anywhere.”

 

The ASBL contends that the specific names and dollar amounts awarded to all firms coded as small businesses for the purpose of hitting the 23 percent small business procurement goal is not available on FPDS-NG.

 

“If the information we were asking for was available online do you think that we would be going to federal court to get it?” Chapman said.

 

Another story, which ran in the Federal Times, regarding this issue is titled, "Critics question SBA's list of top 100 small-business contractors." Another SBA spokesman quoted in the article, Arthur Collins, stated, "We looked at firms considered small and receiving large chunks of money under federal contracts. It's a different research question from what the private companies have assessed in the past."

 

Mr. Collins quote sheds light on the fact that the SBA was actively attempting to muddy the waters and create false impressions about the true recipients of federal small business contracts with the release of their Top 100 contractors, according to Chapman. “The reality is that most small business contracts go to large corporations. We estimate that every year more than $60 billion in federal small business contracts are diverted from legitimate small businesses to some of the largest corporations in the world,” he said.

 

The ASBL would like to note that Chapman requested a list of the top 100 small business contractors during an August 17^th teleconference with SBA Administrator Steven Preston. Additionally, the ASBL challenges Mr. Preston to release the names of all firms that have been coded as small businesses for FY 2005 and FY 2006. The totals should be $75.1 billion for FY 05 and $77.7 billion for FY 06, as stated by Preston during the August 17^th SBA teleconference.

 

“The bottom line is that the SBA has mislead the media, public and Congress about the true volume of small business contracts awarded to small businesses," Chapman said. "Most small business contracts actually go to large businesses. The SBA has gone to great lengths to cover that up.”

 

 

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