Obama Administration Gives Bechtel Bettis $128 Million Small Business Contract

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. - The American Small Business League (ASBL) has uncovered a $128 million small business contract awarded to Bechtel Bettis by Obama officials. Bechtel, a Fortune 500 corporation, did $31.4 billion in sales during fiscal year (FY) 2008 and maintains more than 44,000 employees. In the government's database under the category "socio status," the contract was reported as, "small business."
http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf

During the 2008 presidential election cycle, President Barack Obama promised to, "end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Yet to date, the Obama Administration has refused to adopt any policy or legislation to honor that campaign promise. As a result, every month the Obama Administration diverts billions of dollars in federal small business contracts away from legitimate small businesses where most Americans work and into the hands of corporate giants.
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php

Since 2003, twenty-five federal investigations have uncovered the diversion of billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to some of the largest corporations in the world. The ASBL estimates that every year this issue diverts more than $100 billion in federal small business contracts away from legitimate small businesses and into the hands of multinational corporations. http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html

The most recent data available from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG) indicates that a majority of small business contracts awarded by the Obama Administration have gone to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of large businesses in the United States and Europe. In addition to Bechtel, Obama officials have awarded small business contracts to: General Dynamics, Xerox, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace (BAE), Dell Computer and French giant Thales Communications. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf

In May of 2009, Congressman Hank Johnson (D-4-GA) introduced H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009. To date the bill has bipartisan support from 19 co-sponsors. The ASBL maintains that H.R. 2568 is the simplest and most efficient way to stimulate the American economy by redirecting more than $100 billion a year in federal infrastructure spending to America's chief job creators, its small businesses. Firms with 20 or fewer employees are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data. http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html

"This issue is going to continue until journalists from the mainstream media begin to ask President Obama to explain why he is allowing billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to be intentionally and in many cases, illegally diverted to Fortune 500 firms and large businesses worldwide," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "If you want to know who the real President Obama is, take a look at this issue."

-###-