The Small Business Administration (SBA) is refusing to release the names of firms that received $89.9 billion in federal contracts reported as going to small businesses. On Tuesday, July 2 the SBA claimed the federal government had awarded 22.25 percent of all federal contracts to small businesses during fiscal year 2012.

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the American Small Business League (ASBL) requested the names of all firms that had been included in the $89.9 billion the SBA claimed had been awarded to small businesses in fiscal 2012. The SBA has refused to provide the information. The ASBL has filed an appeal and will file suite against the SBA if the information is not released.

In 2008, the SBA lost a similar case filed by the ASBL for refusing to provide the specific names of firms that had received federal small business contracts for fiscal year 2006.

During that case the SBA surprised the court when they claimed they had no information on the specific names of firms that had received federal small business contracts.

Judge Patel stated, "The court finds curious the SBA's claim they do not have the very information they would need to carry out their mission."

Federal Judge Marilyn Patel ruled in favor of the ASBL and forced the SBA to provide the names of all the firms that had been included in the $77.7 billion in federal contracts the SBA had claimed were awarded to small businesses.

The information the SBA was forced to provide to the ASBL indicated the SBA had, in fact, diverted billions in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and hundreds of large businesses in the U.S. and Europe.

NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN and the Washington Post have all reported on the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.

For over a decade the SBA has claimed thousands of large businesses around the world have received federal small business contracts as a result of computer glitches, miscoding, simple human error and anomalies. The SBA has never been able to explain why the supposed random anomalies always divert federal small business contracts to large businesses and never the other way around.

After investigating the SBA, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released Report 10-108 that stated, "By failing to hold firms accountable the SBA and contracting agencies have sent a message to the contracting community that there is no punishment or consequences for committing fraud."

For the ASBL's latest video, click here.

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