Thank you from the American Small Business League

With congress going into a break, I wanted to touch base and fill you in on our recent progress towards the removal of large firms from federal small business contracting. For the last two weeks, Lloyd Chapman, Adam Melenkivitz and myself have been in Washington D.C. conducting meetings in the Senate and the House of Representatives. In that two-week period we conducted more than 120 meetings with high level legislative staffers regarding annual re-certification for all firms with federal small business contracts as well as a piece of legislation we are drafting. The meetings went extremely well and we believe that we are closer than ever to an effective legislative solution to stop the diversion of federal small business contract awards to large companies and the practice of federal agencies counting those awards towards the federal governments 23 percent small business procurement goal. We believe, legislation to stop the federal government from awarding small business contracts to large corporations and redirect these funds to legitimate small businesses would be one of the most significant economic boosts to the middle class economy in recent history. We wanted to thank you for reaching out to your elected officials and encourage you to continue doing so with your small business concerns and support for annual re-certification for all firms who currently hold federal small business contracts. However, with the legislation on the horizon, the battle for the removal of large corporations from federal small business contracting is just beginning. Remember, with your help we can provide greater opportunity in federal contracting for small businesses across the country and in your state. This is a very exciting time for all small business owners and in order to reinforce our efforts, we need you and everyone that you know to contact your elected officials and tell them that you support the removal of large companies from federal small business contracting. Tell them that you want an amendment to H.R. 1873, that would require annual re-certification for all firms with existing federal small business contracts and their support for our legislation to stop the federal government from counting awards to large companies towards the federal governments 23 percent small business procurement goal. If our legislation is passed, we believe that as a federal contractor you will see a significant increase in your business and if you are not a federal contractor you will have greater opportunity to become one. Thank you and we will be in touch with updates on this issue as they happen. Best regards, Chris Gunn