FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 9, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Justice has been forced to pay the legal fees incurred by the American Small Business League (ASBL), after the ASBL substantially prevailed in a recent court case under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The ASBL sued the Small Business Administration (SBA) after the agency refused to release the names of Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses that had received billions of dollars in federal small business contracts.
During the course of litigation, the SBA tried to claim that it had no information regarding the specific names of firms that had received federal small business contracts.
In the court's ruling, United States District Judge Marilyn H. Patel ruled in favor of the ASBL and stated, "The court finds it curious the SBA's argument that it does not 'control' the very information it needs to carry out its duties and functions." (www.asbl.com/documents/26-2.pdf)
The information the ASBL obtained through the litigation supported its assertion that billions of dollars a month in federal contracts earmarked for small businesses had been diverted to Fortune 500 firms such as: General Dynamics, Xerox, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace (BAE), Dell Computer and French giant Thales Communications. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf
Previously, the SBA claimed that it was a “myth” that large firms received federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf)
This spring, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear another case between the SBA and the ASBL in which the SBA is claiming that it does not have access to its own phone records. The ASBL requested the information under FOIA after several journalists complained that the SBA was aggressively contacting the media in an attempt to erode the credibility of the ASBL and its president, Lloyd Chapman.
The ASBL is preparing to file up to 10 federal lawsuits against the Obama Administration within the next 60 days. The Obama Administration is refusing to release a wide variety of data related to small business contracting issues such as: contracting officer information, phone records, the specific names of individuals within Fortune 500 firms that have claimed small business status, and the names of domestic and foreign owned companies that received federal small business contracts.
"I think it is time for someone in the media to ask President Obama why his administration is giving small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and then refusing to release the data that proves it,” Chapman said.
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Please click here to watch a short message from ASBL President Lloyd Chapman regarding the ASBL's legal victory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAyBEddowdE
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Contact
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Obama Continues to Ignore Small Business Contracting Abuses
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - In February of 2008, then Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to, "end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Yet to date President Obama has failed to honor that promise in the face of double-digit unemployment and current legislation in Congress that would solve the problem.
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php
President Obama's statement was in response to a series of federal investigations which found rampant abuses in federal small business contracting programs.
Since 2003, twenty-five federal investigations have uncovered the diversion of billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 corporations and other clearly large firms. Since taking office, Obama officials have given small business contracts to firms like Xerox, General Dynamics, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman.
http://www.asbl.com/documents/20091202Xerox_Created_20091002.pdf
http://www.asbl.com/documents/20091202GeneralDynamics_Created_20091027.pdf
To date, President Obama has refused to propose any legislation or policy to honor that promise. As a result, the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations has continued.
The only legislation that has been introduced into Congress that would address the abuses is H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. H.R. 2568 would immediately stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants, and redirect billions of dollars in federal infrastructure funds to small businesses in the middle class economy. Congressman Hank Johnson (D-4-GA) introduced the bill in May of 2009. To date the bill has 20 co-sponsors.
In a statement released Thursday, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair, Mary L. Landrieu, (D-LA) said, "Government contracts are perhaps one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways the government can help immediately increase sales for America's entrepreneurs, giving them the tools they need to keep our economy strong and create jobs. By increasing contracts to small businesses by just 1 percent, we can create more than 100,000 new jobs - and today, we need those jobs more than ever."
http://sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=bc065833-dafc-46c5-9e6f-21209a532de2
The ASBL estimates that if President Obama issued an executive order directing federal agencies and prime contractors to halt the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses, or pass H.R. 2568, it would increase the annual volume of contracts flowing to small businesses by well over 50 percent.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
February 5, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - In February of 2008, then Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to, "end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Yet to date President Obama has failed to honor that promise in the face of double-digit unemployment and current legislation in Congress that would solve the problem.
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php
President Obama's statement was in response to a series of federal investigations which found rampant abuses in federal small business contracting programs.
Since 2003, twenty-five federal investigations have uncovered the diversion of billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 corporations and other clearly large firms. Since taking office, Obama officials have given small business contracts to firms like Xerox, General Dynamics, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman.
http://www.asbl.com/documents/20091202Xerox_Created_20091002.pdf
http://www.asbl.com/documents/20091202GeneralDynamics_Created_20091027.pdf
To date, President Obama has refused to propose any legislation or policy to honor that promise. As a result, the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations has continued.
The only legislation that has been introduced into Congress that would address the abuses is H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. H.R. 2568 would immediately stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants, and redirect billions of dollars in federal infrastructure funds to small businesses in the middle class economy. Congressman Hank Johnson (D-4-GA) introduced the bill in May of 2009. To date the bill has 20 co-sponsors.
In a statement released Thursday, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair, Mary L. Landrieu, (D-LA) said, "Government contracts are perhaps one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways the government can help immediately increase sales for America's entrepreneurs, giving them the tools they need to keep our economy strong and create jobs. By increasing contracts to small businesses by just 1 percent, we can create more than 100,000 new jobs - and today, we need those jobs more than ever."
http://sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=bc065833-dafc-46c5-9e6f-21209a532de2
The ASBL estimates that if President Obama issued an executive order directing federal agencies and prime contractors to halt the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses, or pass H.R. 2568, it would increase the annual volume of contracts flowing to small businesses by well over 50 percent.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Obama Small Business Plan Criticized for Hypocrisy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - The American Small Business League (ASBL) criticizes President Barack Obama's latest plan to stimulate small businesses and the middle class economy for being hypocritical. Following last week's State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a series of initiatives for small businesses including a $5,000 per new employee tax credit, and the establishment of a $30 billion small business lending fund created from leftover TARP money. While President Obama's recent rhetoric has been focused on small businesses and job creation, over its first year his administration has continued to allow the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. As a result, thousands of businesses have failed and countless jobs have been lost. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
The Small Business Act directs that the federal government award small businesses, "not less than 23 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for each fiscal year." Since 2003, over two dozen federal investigations have found that the federal government is not hitting that goal, and that a majority of federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. (http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/fedgovernment/sba/sbact.html)
In Report 5-15, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (IG) referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the entire Federal Government today."(http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf) In October of 2009, the SBA IG referenced this issue as the #1 management challenge facing the agency for the fifth consecutive year. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/oig_reports_tmc_fy10.pdf)
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the magnitude of the problem when he stated, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Two years later, the latest government data clearly shows the Obama Administration is continuing to award billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to large businesses. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
The American Small Business League believes if President Obama really wanted to create jobs he would do the following:
1. Issue an executive order to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants or push for the passage of H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf)
2. Institute the 5 percent set-aside goal for women-owned firms.
3. Restore the SBA's budget and staffing, and open all of the small business offices closed during the Bush Administration.
4. End the comprehensive test program, which allows government prime contractors to circumvent their small business contracting goals. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1000)
February 3, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - The American Small Business League (ASBL) criticizes President Barack Obama's latest plan to stimulate small businesses and the middle class economy for being hypocritical. Following last week's State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a series of initiatives for small businesses including a $5,000 per new employee tax credit, and the establishment of a $30 billion small business lending fund created from leftover TARP money. While President Obama's recent rhetoric has been focused on small businesses and job creation, over its first year his administration has continued to allow the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. As a result, thousands of businesses have failed and countless jobs have been lost. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
The Small Business Act directs that the federal government award small businesses, "not less than 23 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for each fiscal year." Since 2003, over two dozen federal investigations have found that the federal government is not hitting that goal, and that a majority of federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. (http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/fedgovernment/sba/sbact.html)
In Report 5-15, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (IG) referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the entire Federal Government today."(http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf) In October of 2009, the SBA IG referenced this issue as the #1 management challenge facing the agency for the fifth consecutive year. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/oig_reports_tmc_fy10.pdf)
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the magnitude of the problem when he stated, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Two years later, the latest government data clearly shows the Obama Administration is continuing to award billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to large businesses. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
The American Small Business League believes if President Obama really wanted to create jobs he would do the following:
1. Issue an executive order to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants or push for the passage of H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf)
2. Institute the 5 percent set-aside goal for women-owned firms.
3. Restore the SBA's budget and staffing, and open all of the small business offices closed during the Bush Administration.
4. End the comprehensive test program, which allows government prime contractors to circumvent their small business contracting goals. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1000)
Thursday, January 28, 2010
A Letter to President Obama From an American With Common Sense
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - The following is a letter to President Barack Obama from American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman:
I just finished watching your State of the Union address.
You said something that really caught my attention. You said, "let's try common sense." I have some common sense suggestions for you. Creating jobs and trying to boost our nation's struggling economy is obviously the number one issue all Americans want you to address.
Based on the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, small business are responsible for virtually 100 percent of net new jobs in America. So far your administration has allocated less than 3 percent of stimulus funds directly to small businesses. Wouldn't it make sense to shift more money to small businesses?
Current federal law requires that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all federal contracts and subcontracts be awarded to small businesses. (http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/fedgovernment/sba/sbact.html) That certainly makes sense. What better way to invest hard earned taxpayer dollars than to reinvest those funds with the small businesses where most taxpayer's work and nearly all net new job are created?
Unfortunately, since 2003 over a dozen federal investigations have reported that billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. Based on data from the investigations it appears that between $75 and $120 billion a year in federal small business contracts are diverted to large businesses. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)
In 2005, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (IG) referred to this problem as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." Recently, for the fifth consecutive year, the SBA IG reported the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as the number one management challenge facing the agency. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf; http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/oig_reports_tmc_fy10.pdf)
According to the most recent data released by your administration firms counted as small businesses included: Xerox, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and Finmeccanica SpA, which is located in Italy with 73,000 employees. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
You seemed to recognize the magnitude of this problem during your campaign when you released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
It is now time to honor that campaign promise. You could issue an executive order directing the SBA and every federal agency to immediately halt the practice of diverting federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses.
You could also solve this problem by passing a bill I wrote titled, H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. To date, H.R. 2568 has 20 co-sponsors. (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2568ih.txt.pdf)
Redirecting $75 to $120 billion a year in current federal infrastructure spending back to the small business that create 100 percent of net new jobs would clearly slash unemployment. It would also put more money into the middle class economy than anything you or Congress have proposed so far.
Most importantly, it is what you said you would do. Now that's common sense.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
January 28, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - The following is a letter to President Barack Obama from American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman:
I just finished watching your State of the Union address.
You said something that really caught my attention. You said, "let's try common sense." I have some common sense suggestions for you. Creating jobs and trying to boost our nation's struggling economy is obviously the number one issue all Americans want you to address.
Based on the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, small business are responsible for virtually 100 percent of net new jobs in America. So far your administration has allocated less than 3 percent of stimulus funds directly to small businesses. Wouldn't it make sense to shift more money to small businesses?
Current federal law requires that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all federal contracts and subcontracts be awarded to small businesses. (http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/fedgovernment/sba/sbact.html) That certainly makes sense. What better way to invest hard earned taxpayer dollars than to reinvest those funds with the small businesses where most taxpayer's work and nearly all net new job are created?
Unfortunately, since 2003 over a dozen federal investigations have reported that billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. Based on data from the investigations it appears that between $75 and $120 billion a year in federal small business contracts are diverted to large businesses. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)
In 2005, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (IG) referred to this problem as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." Recently, for the fifth consecutive year, the SBA IG reported the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as the number one management challenge facing the agency. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf; http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/oig_reports_tmc_fy10.pdf)
According to the most recent data released by your administration firms counted as small businesses included: Xerox, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and Finmeccanica SpA, which is located in Italy with 73,000 employees. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
You seemed to recognize the magnitude of this problem during your campaign when you released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
It is now time to honor that campaign promise. You could issue an executive order directing the SBA and every federal agency to immediately halt the practice of diverting federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses.
You could also solve this problem by passing a bill I wrote titled, H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. To date, H.R. 2568 has 20 co-sponsors. (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2568ih.txt.pdf)
Redirecting $75 to $120 billion a year in current federal infrastructure spending back to the small business that create 100 percent of net new jobs would clearly slash unemployment. It would also put more money into the middle class economy than anything you or Congress have proposed so far.
Most importantly, it is what you said you would do. Now that's common sense.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Obama State of the Union Address Will be More Rhetoric and No Substance for The Middle Class
By Lloyd Chapman
President, American Small Business League
I can already hear the empty pandering to the middle class in President Obama's State of the Union speech. He will be reading one of the most well written speeches of his presidency since he and his handlers realize their reign in Washington could be on the ropes.
President Obama has a documentable track record of broken campaign promises and policies that have virtually ignored the middle class.
In my perfect world, every network carrying President Obama's State of the Union address would be required to run a scrolling banner of my up to the minute commentary on the bottom of the screen.
When President Obama starts to roll out his impassioned B.S. about his concern for small businesses and the middle class, I could throw-up some of the actual data on his policies to date.
As people watch President Obama on the screen, I want them to see that small businesses in the middle class are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs in America. To date, President Obama and the democratically controlled Congress have allocated approximately 2 percent of the stimulus funds to small businesses.
When he starts to talk about small businesses, I would run some of the latest government data that shows every day of his administration, hundreds of millions in federal contracts that by law are earmarked for small business have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms.
I would love to run the names across the bottom of the screen as he spoke of some of the firms the Obama Administration is currently giving small business contracts. I wonder how President Obama's most ardent supporters would feel when they saw billions of dollars in federal small business contracts going to Bechtel, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman.
The largest recipient in the latest government small business data was Textron, a Fortune 500 corporation with 43,000 employees, and $14 billion in annual revenue. That's a small business right? Textron received nearly $780 million in federal small business contracts in a single year.
I wonder what affect it would have on his poll numbers if every American knew the Obama Administration was giving U.S. government small business funds to some of the largest corporations in England, France, Italy and even South Korea.
After all the shocking statistics ran, I would run a statement President Obama released almost two years ago in February of 2008, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
I think most people would be much more informed if they skipped President Obama's State of the Union address and spent that time looking up some of the stories on what he has actually done instead. Google "Lloyd Chapman Barack Obama small business" [Do not search with the words in quotes] and see what you find.
There is a staggering abyss between what Obama says and what Obama does.
One of the best examples is President Obama's campaign promise to enact a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry. On every campaign stop for two years, President Obama promised to enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies. If you want to find out how much you can trust what Barack Obama says, try and find his excuse for completely dropping the windfall profits tax.
So when you watch the State of the Union address or any Obama speech, realize that the man gives $2 billion a week in federal small business funds to some of the largest companies in the world. Realize that his two top campaign contributors, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase are making record profits in the middle of the worst economic meltdown in 80 years, while bankruptcies for small businesses are up 44 percent over last year.
People need to begin to realize that President Obama should have received an Oscar for best actor instead of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wednesday night he will read his lines with passion and conviction, but Thursday morning his policies will continue to ignore the middle class and the small businesses where most Americans work and that create over 97 percent of all net new jobs.
The only change the middle class going to get from President Obama will be the pocket change that's left in their bank accounts at the end of the month.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
President, American Small Business League
I can already hear the empty pandering to the middle class in President Obama's State of the Union speech. He will be reading one of the most well written speeches of his presidency since he and his handlers realize their reign in Washington could be on the ropes.
President Obama has a documentable track record of broken campaign promises and policies that have virtually ignored the middle class.
In my perfect world, every network carrying President Obama's State of the Union address would be required to run a scrolling banner of my up to the minute commentary on the bottom of the screen.
When President Obama starts to roll out his impassioned B.S. about his concern for small businesses and the middle class, I could throw-up some of the actual data on his policies to date.
As people watch President Obama on the screen, I want them to see that small businesses in the middle class are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs in America. To date, President Obama and the democratically controlled Congress have allocated approximately 2 percent of the stimulus funds to small businesses.
When he starts to talk about small businesses, I would run some of the latest government data that shows every day of his administration, hundreds of millions in federal contracts that by law are earmarked for small business have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms.
I would love to run the names across the bottom of the screen as he spoke of some of the firms the Obama Administration is currently giving small business contracts. I wonder how President Obama's most ardent supporters would feel when they saw billions of dollars in federal small business contracts going to Bechtel, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman.
The largest recipient in the latest government small business data was Textron, a Fortune 500 corporation with 43,000 employees, and $14 billion in annual revenue. That's a small business right? Textron received nearly $780 million in federal small business contracts in a single year.
I wonder what affect it would have on his poll numbers if every American knew the Obama Administration was giving U.S. government small business funds to some of the largest corporations in England, France, Italy and even South Korea.
After all the shocking statistics ran, I would run a statement President Obama released almost two years ago in February of 2008, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
I think most people would be much more informed if they skipped President Obama's State of the Union address and spent that time looking up some of the stories on what he has actually done instead. Google "Lloyd Chapman Barack Obama small business" [Do not search with the words in quotes] and see what you find.
There is a staggering abyss between what Obama says and what Obama does.
One of the best examples is President Obama's campaign promise to enact a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry. On every campaign stop for two years, President Obama promised to enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies. If you want to find out how much you can trust what Barack Obama says, try and find his excuse for completely dropping the windfall profits tax.
So when you watch the State of the Union address or any Obama speech, realize that the man gives $2 billion a week in federal small business funds to some of the largest companies in the world. Realize that his two top campaign contributors, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase are making record profits in the middle of the worst economic meltdown in 80 years, while bankruptcies for small businesses are up 44 percent over last year.
People need to begin to realize that President Obama should have received an Oscar for best actor instead of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wednesday night he will read his lines with passion and conviction, but Thursday morning his policies will continue to ignore the middle class and the small businesses where most Americans work and that create over 97 percent of all net new jobs.
The only change the middle class going to get from President Obama will be the pocket change that's left in their bank accounts at the end of the month.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Monday, January 25, 2010
Obama Administration Obscures Federal Contracting Data
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - The Obama Administration has removed a critical field from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS - NG) that has been used by federal contractors to indicate their status as a small or large business. Obama officials at the General Services Administration (GSA) removed the "small business flag" on all future and historical data.
Over a dozen federal investigations and numerous investigative stories by organizations such as ABC, CBS and CNN have used the small business flag to uncover billions of dollars in federal small business contracts that were fraudulently diverted to large businesses. (Report 5-15, http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf; ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)
The removal of the "small business flag" will make it difficult if not impossible for any future federal investigations to uncover large businesses that have fraudulently claimed to be small businesses prior to 2009.
In addition to removing the small business flag, the GSA has forced all firms that obtain federal contracting data from the GSA for dissemination to the public, to sign an agreement, which severely restricts their release of the data. The GSA's "GETLIST RULES OF BEHAVIOR" warns, "parties failing to sign the agreement and comply with the terms will be denied access to this service."(http://www.fpds-ng.com/downloads/FPDS-NG%20getList%20Rules%20of%20Behavior.pdf)
In one example, the agreement stipulates a firm would be in violation of the agreement if they create a report that "show[s] socio-economic information but which contains none of the requisite SBA rules of exclusion."
The American Small Business League (ASBL) has challenged the SBA's "rules of exclusion" since there is no basis in the law for the practice. The Small Business Act stipulates a minimum of 23 percent of the "total value of all prime contract awards for each fiscal year" shall be awarded to small businesses. (http://www.sba.gov/regulations/sbaact/sbaact.html) The ASBL believes the SBA has arbitrarily created the "rules of exclusion" to artificially inflate the percentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses by removing billions of dollars in major prime contracts from their calculations.
The GSA's "GETLIST RULES OF BEHAVIOR" would prevent firms from releasing accurate data on the actual percentage of all federal contracts awarded to small businesses. In the past, information released by private firms on the percentage of all federal contracts awarded to legitimate small businesses has been significantly lower than the percentage claimed by the Small Business Administration.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
January 25, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - The Obama Administration has removed a critical field from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS - NG) that has been used by federal contractors to indicate their status as a small or large business. Obama officials at the General Services Administration (GSA) removed the "small business flag" on all future and historical data.
Over a dozen federal investigations and numerous investigative stories by organizations such as ABC, CBS and CNN have used the small business flag to uncover billions of dollars in federal small business contracts that were fraudulently diverted to large businesses. (Report 5-15, http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf; ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)
The removal of the "small business flag" will make it difficult if not impossible for any future federal investigations to uncover large businesses that have fraudulently claimed to be small businesses prior to 2009.
In addition to removing the small business flag, the GSA has forced all firms that obtain federal contracting data from the GSA for dissemination to the public, to sign an agreement, which severely restricts their release of the data. The GSA's "GETLIST RULES OF BEHAVIOR" warns, "parties failing to sign the agreement and comply with the terms will be denied access to this service."(http://www.fpds-ng.com/downloads/FPDS-NG%20getList%20Rules%20of%20Behavior.pdf)
In one example, the agreement stipulates a firm would be in violation of the agreement if they create a report that "show[s] socio-economic information but which contains none of the requisite SBA rules of exclusion."
The American Small Business League (ASBL) has challenged the SBA's "rules of exclusion" since there is no basis in the law for the practice. The Small Business Act stipulates a minimum of 23 percent of the "total value of all prime contract awards for each fiscal year" shall be awarded to small businesses. (http://www.sba.gov/regulations/sbaact/sbaact.html) The ASBL believes the SBA has arbitrarily created the "rules of exclusion" to artificially inflate the percentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses by removing billions of dollars in major prime contracts from their calculations.
The GSA's "GETLIST RULES OF BEHAVIOR" would prevent firms from releasing accurate data on the actual percentage of all federal contracts awarded to small businesses. In the past, information released by private firms on the percentage of all federal contracts awarded to legitimate small businesses has been significantly lower than the percentage claimed by the Small Business Administration.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Bechtel Denies Landing Government Small Business Contract
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - On December 17, 2009, the American Small Business League (ASBL) issued a press release reporting that Bechtel Corporation had received a $128 million federal contract, which had been coded as a small business contract in the government's socio-economic field in the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG). http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf
In response, Bechtel Corporation prompted a January 7, 2010 story on ProcurementLeaders.com titled, "Bechtel hits back at ASBL over $128m federal contract win." In the article, Bechtel Bettis spokesman Francis Canavan denied the fact that Bechtel has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts coded as small business. Additionally, Canavan attempted to explain that Fedmine had erroneously tagged the socio status as small business. ASBL points to the fact that Fedmine obtains all of its information directly from FPDS-NG and does not modify the data. Fedmine.us is a database driven web application that aggregates data from FPDS-NG. http://www.fedmine.us/fedmine/Home.html
The ASBL has uncovered data in FPDS-NG that indicates that dozens of contracts awarded to Bechtel were coded as a small business in the socio-economic field. The largest of which is a $230 million contract awarded to Bechtel Bettis during FY 2008 by the Department of Energy (DOE). http://www.asbl.com/documents/20100119BechtelSB_DOE2.pdf
A series of federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. Investigative stories by ABC, CBS and CNN have found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to firms such as General Dynamics, Xerox, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace (BAE), Dell Computer and French giant Thales Communications.
(ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)
"This situation with Bechtel is really just the tip of the iceberg. It is time for President Obama to make good on his campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. http://bit.ly/4fRrGq The best way to do that is with H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act." ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "That bill will redirect more money into the hands of the middle class than anything President Obama has proposed to date." http://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
January 20, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - On December 17, 2009, the American Small Business League (ASBL) issued a press release reporting that Bechtel Corporation had received a $128 million federal contract, which had been coded as a small business contract in the government's socio-economic field in the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG). http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf
In response, Bechtel Corporation prompted a January 7, 2010 story on ProcurementLeaders.com titled, "Bechtel hits back at ASBL over $128m federal contract win." In the article, Bechtel Bettis spokesman Francis Canavan denied the fact that Bechtel has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts coded as small business. Additionally, Canavan attempted to explain that Fedmine had erroneously tagged the socio status as small business. ASBL points to the fact that Fedmine obtains all of its information directly from FPDS-NG and does not modify the data. Fedmine.us is a database driven web application that aggregates data from FPDS-NG. http://www.fedmine.us/fedmine/Home.html
The ASBL has uncovered data in FPDS-NG that indicates that dozens of contracts awarded to Bechtel were coded as a small business in the socio-economic field. The largest of which is a $230 million contract awarded to Bechtel Bettis during FY 2008 by the Department of Energy (DOE). http://www.asbl.com/documents/20100119BechtelSB_DOE2.pdf
A series of federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. Investigative stories by ABC, CBS and CNN have found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to firms such as General Dynamics, Xerox, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace (BAE), Dell Computer and French giant Thales Communications.
(ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)
"This situation with Bechtel is really just the tip of the iceberg. It is time for President Obama to make good on his campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. http://bit.ly/4fRrGq The best way to do that is with H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act." ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "That bill will redirect more money into the hands of the middle class than anything President Obama has proposed to date." http://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
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