The General Services Administration (GSA) is refusing to release the names of the firms that received federal small business contracts under the classifications, “miscellaneous foreign contractors,” and “classified domestic contractor.”
The American Small Business League (ASBL) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the GSA seeking the specific names of all the firms included in the two classifications titled, “miscellaneous foreign contractors,” and “classified domestic contractor.” The GSA declined the ASBL’s initial request for the information. The ASBL appealed the GSA’s initial refusal to provide the information, and it too was declined. The ASBL plans to file suit against the GSA in Federal District Court, Northern District of California before the end of August.
Since 2003, a series of federal investigations have been released which found that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses. In 2005, the Small Business Administration Office of inspector General (SBA OIG) referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants as, “One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today.” (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)
Several of the government’s investigations were prompted by information provided by ASBL President, Lloyd Chapman. (http://washingtontechnology.com/Articles/2003/02/20/Smallbusiness-deals-under-investigation.aspx?Page=1)
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the significant damage this issue has caused to American small businesses when he stated, “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)
The ASBL believes the firms included in “miscellaneous foreign contractors,” and “classified domestic contractors,” are large businesses from the United States and Europe. Investigative reports by CNN, ABC and CBS have revealed that firms such as British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, Xerox, Dell Computer, John Deere, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, L-3 Communications, Titan Industries and Dutch giant Buhrmann NV have all received federal small business contracts.
In addition to its suit against the GSA, the ASBL will also be appealing a case against the SBA to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Federal Magistrate Judge Edward M. Chen ruled in favor of the SBA when they refused to comply with a FOIA request from the ASBL for the phone records of SBA staffer Mike Stamler. The SBA claimed not to have access to any of the agency’s phone records.
The ASBL has won a series of FOIA cases against the federal government, which have exposed thousands of pages of documents proving that large corporations are the actual recipients of federal small business contracts.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Small Business Issues Should Be Big News in Mainstream Media
By Lloyd Chapman
President, American Small Business League
When I watch the news on network and cable television channels the stories about business are overwhelmingly focused on Fortune 500 firms and Wall Street. Yet, when the commercials come on, they are directed to the general public and small business owners, not Fortune 500 executives. Commercials targeted at small business owners are becoming more common. Does the phrase, “I don’t have a small business, I have a fast business,” sound familiar? It seems advertisers on major television networks have figured out something news producers haven’t. The majority of American television viewers work for small businesses, not big businesses.
I have seen countless stories on television covering the recession, the economy and government programs designed to rescue our nation’s failing economy. I do not recall ever seeing a single story that reported over 50 percent of the private sector workforce is employed by small businesses. I have never seen a story that reported over 50 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is created by small businesses, and that those firms are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs in America.
It is rare to see stories on small business issues in major newspapers. It is extremely rare to see a story about small business issues on the front page of a major newspaper. One international journalist told me, “if you want to put your editor to sleep, pitch a story about small business issues.”
The fact that small businesses have been shortchanged in the national media could even be a contributing factor in the failure of federal government economic stimulus plans to focus attention on small businesses.
Of the approximately $2.8 trillion that has been spent to stimulate the national economy, to date, less than 1 percent has been specifically directed to small businesses. President Barack Obama has promised to create up to 4.1 million jobs, and yet the small businesses that create over 97 percent of all net new jobs have been virtually ignored by federal economic stimulus plans. The funds that have been allocated specifically to small businesses seem to have been done more as a public relations tactic than an attempt to genuinely create jobs and boost our nation’s failing economy.
To put things into perspective, President Obama’s ARC loan program would give qualifying small businesses interest free $35,000 loans. Sounds great until you read the very, very fine print and discover that the program is caped at $255 million, which is roughly one tenth of one percent (0.1 percent) of the overall stimulus funds. The $25 billion JPMorgan Chase received from the federal government was more than all 27 million American small businesses combined. Maybe the fact that Goldman Sacks just reported $3.44 billion in quarterly profits while national unemployment heads to 10 percent might be a clue to President Obama that more stimulus funds should have been allocated to small businesses.
Anyone who has ever read anything I have written knows that my mission in life is to stop the federal government from giving over $100 billion a year in small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses around the world. An end to that problem would direct more money back into the middle class economy than any economic stimulus plan that has been proposed by anyone in Washington to date.
My fantasy is to have just one mainstream journalist ask President Obama why his Administration is giving billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms, or why less than 1 percent of the economic stimulus funds have been allocated to small businesses.
Producers for network and cable television stations, and editors for major newspapers and magazines should consider the impact it could have on their bottom line if they were to focus more on the 27 million small businesses where most of their viewers and readers are employed. What would be the impact on our national economy if the mainstream media began to question the logic of giving billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms? Or allocating less than 1 percent of the economic stimulus funds to the firms that are responsible for 50 percent of the GDP and over 97 percent of all net new jobs?
One question in a White House press conference, one front-page newspaper story, or one investigative report on national television could have a dramatic impact on if and when the U.S. economy fully recovers. Sounds like big news to me.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
President, American Small Business League
When I watch the news on network and cable television channels the stories about business are overwhelmingly focused on Fortune 500 firms and Wall Street. Yet, when the commercials come on, they are directed to the general public and small business owners, not Fortune 500 executives. Commercials targeted at small business owners are becoming more common. Does the phrase, “I don’t have a small business, I have a fast business,” sound familiar? It seems advertisers on major television networks have figured out something news producers haven’t. The majority of American television viewers work for small businesses, not big businesses.
I have seen countless stories on television covering the recession, the economy and government programs designed to rescue our nation’s failing economy. I do not recall ever seeing a single story that reported over 50 percent of the private sector workforce is employed by small businesses. I have never seen a story that reported over 50 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is created by small businesses, and that those firms are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs in America.
It is rare to see stories on small business issues in major newspapers. It is extremely rare to see a story about small business issues on the front page of a major newspaper. One international journalist told me, “if you want to put your editor to sleep, pitch a story about small business issues.”
The fact that small businesses have been shortchanged in the national media could even be a contributing factor in the failure of federal government economic stimulus plans to focus attention on small businesses.
Of the approximately $2.8 trillion that has been spent to stimulate the national economy, to date, less than 1 percent has been specifically directed to small businesses. President Barack Obama has promised to create up to 4.1 million jobs, and yet the small businesses that create over 97 percent of all net new jobs have been virtually ignored by federal economic stimulus plans. The funds that have been allocated specifically to small businesses seem to have been done more as a public relations tactic than an attempt to genuinely create jobs and boost our nation’s failing economy.
To put things into perspective, President Obama’s ARC loan program would give qualifying small businesses interest free $35,000 loans. Sounds great until you read the very, very fine print and discover that the program is caped at $255 million, which is roughly one tenth of one percent (0.1 percent) of the overall stimulus funds. The $25 billion JPMorgan Chase received from the federal government was more than all 27 million American small businesses combined. Maybe the fact that Goldman Sacks just reported $3.44 billion in quarterly profits while national unemployment heads to 10 percent might be a clue to President Obama that more stimulus funds should have been allocated to small businesses.
Anyone who has ever read anything I have written knows that my mission in life is to stop the federal government from giving over $100 billion a year in small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses around the world. An end to that problem would direct more money back into the middle class economy than any economic stimulus plan that has been proposed by anyone in Washington to date.
My fantasy is to have just one mainstream journalist ask President Obama why his Administration is giving billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms, or why less than 1 percent of the economic stimulus funds have been allocated to small businesses.
Producers for network and cable television stations, and editors for major newspapers and magazines should consider the impact it could have on their bottom line if they were to focus more on the 27 million small businesses where most of their viewers and readers are employed. What would be the impact on our national economy if the mainstream media began to question the logic of giving billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms? Or allocating less than 1 percent of the economic stimulus funds to the firms that are responsible for 50 percent of the GDP and over 97 percent of all net new jobs?
One question in a White House press conference, one front-page newspaper story, or one investigative report on national television could have a dramatic impact on if and when the U.S. economy fully recovers. Sounds like big news to me.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Obama Administration Stalls the Release of Small Business Contracting Data
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - It has now been 10 months since the end of the federal government's fiscal year (FY) 2008, yet the Obama Administration has still not released the federal government's annual small business contracting statistics for that year.
Since the federal government's contracting database is essentially a real time database, the information could have been released shortly after the end of FY 2008, which ended on September 30th.
During the Bush Administration, hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts were diverted to Fortune 1000 firms and their subsidiaries. The Small Business Administration (SBA) included those contracts to large businesses towards the Bush Administration's small business contracting data, which greatly inflated those numbers.
It is not known if the Obama Administration will continue to artificially inflate federal small business contracting data by including awards to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses in its statistics. Critics of the SBA believe the agency stalls the release of the small business data to give it time to modify the information to hide the fact that contracts to large businesses are included in the government's small business data.
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have wound-up in the hands of corporate giants. In Report 5-15, the SBA Office of Inspector General stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the magnitude of the problem when he released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." To date he has failed to adopt any policy or legislation to honor that campaign promise. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
When the Obama Administration finally does release its small business contracting numbers there will almost certainly be a controversy over the accuracy of the data. The release of the government's annual small business contracting statistics is guaranteed to reignite demand for the federal government to end the practice of awarding small business contracts to corporate giants.
A new bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives titled the, "Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act," or H.R. 2568, which will address the problem. To date, the Obama Administration has not issued a statement of administration policy endorsing the bill.
-###-
Please visit YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvfoMUht-MA to see ASBL President Lloyd Chapman talk about this blog post.
August 4, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - It has now been 10 months since the end of the federal government's fiscal year (FY) 2008, yet the Obama Administration has still not released the federal government's annual small business contracting statistics for that year.
Since the federal government's contracting database is essentially a real time database, the information could have been released shortly after the end of FY 2008, which ended on September 30th.
During the Bush Administration, hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts were diverted to Fortune 1000 firms and their subsidiaries. The Small Business Administration (SBA) included those contracts to large businesses towards the Bush Administration's small business contracting data, which greatly inflated those numbers.
It is not known if the Obama Administration will continue to artificially inflate federal small business contracting data by including awards to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses in its statistics. Critics of the SBA believe the agency stalls the release of the small business data to give it time to modify the information to hide the fact that contracts to large businesses are included in the government's small business data.
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have wound-up in the hands of corporate giants. In Report 5-15, the SBA Office of Inspector General stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the magnitude of the problem when he released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." To date he has failed to adopt any policy or legislation to honor that campaign promise. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
When the Obama Administration finally does release its small business contracting numbers there will almost certainly be a controversy over the accuracy of the data. The release of the government's annual small business contracting statistics is guaranteed to reignite demand for the federal government to end the practice of awarding small business contracts to corporate giants.
A new bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives titled the, "Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act," or H.R. 2568, which will address the problem. To date, the Obama Administration has not issued a statement of administration policy endorsing the bill.
-###-
Please visit YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvfoMUht-MA to see ASBL President Lloyd Chapman talk about this blog post.
Monday, August 3, 2009
New Bill in Congress Could Boost the Economy and Root Out Liars, Con-Men, Shams and Crooked Politicians
By Lloyd Chapman
President, American Small Business League
Let's look at the facts people. America is in the midst of its worst economic disaster in 80 years. The government is spending $2.7 trillion to stimulate the economy and national unemployment is still headed to 10 percent and beyond. A parade of politicians proclaimed that the stimulus package was needed in order to increase access to capital for small businesses. Yet today, mainstream media outlets like BusinessWeek, and CNNMoney.com have reported access to capital for small businesses has actually decreased. (http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2009/sb2009056_719759.htm, http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/02/smallbusiness/sba_small_business_lending_falls.smb/)
The latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics indicate that 98 percent of all U.S. firms have less than 100 employees. These firms employ more than 50.2 percent of the private sector work force, create over 97 percent of all net new jobs, and produce over 50 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On the other hand, large businesses in America have not created one net new job since 1977.
With a level of wisdom that could only come from America's best and brightest minds, our elected officials in Washington D.C. decided to give over 99 percent of all the stimulus funds to the firms that haven't created one net new job in 32 years. And they gave the small businesses that create virtually all net new jobs less than 1 percent. That should get this economy back on its feet in no time, right? Wrong.
I have a crazy, wacky, wild idea that just might work.
Why don't we give more than 1 percent of the economic stimulus funds to the 27 million small businesses where most Americans work? I'm sure some of you are already thinking this guy must be out of his mind. Is he on drugs? What has he been smoking? Was he dropped on his head repeatedly as a child?
I know I'm really going out on a limb on this one too, but here it is, why don't we quit giving $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and some of the biggest companies in Europe? I know, I know, it's out there. I admit it, but when the economy is in this kind of trouble, you gotta get wild and crazy, you gotta think outside the box people.
I have worked very closely with congress on drafting legislation that has been introduced into the House of Representatives that will completely halt the flow of federal small business contracts to companies like British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, Xerox, L-3 Communications, Titan industries, Raytheon and Halliburton. It has been titled, H.R. 2568, the "Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009."
The Small Business Act requires that a small business be "independently owned," which means that if your firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, you don't qualify as a small business. That makes sense doesn't it? I think it does.
The Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act simply states that the federal government and prime contractors cannot report contracts to publicly traded firms as small business awards. TA-DAAAA, instant economic stimulus. H.R. 2568 will redirect up to $100 billion a year in existing federal infrastructure spending to the small businesses that create over 97 percent of all net new jobs, and create over 50 percent of the GDP. H.R. 2568 will create millions of jobs at virtually no additional expense to taxpayers. Sounds like a win-win to me.
In Report 5-15, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." Bingo, H.R. 2568 will solve that problem too. Another win-win. Either I'm stuttering or we're up to four wins here. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)
So who in the world would be against a bill that will direct more money into the middle class than any economic stimulus plan to date? H.R. 2568, will finally end billions of dollars in fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs, which since 2003, have been exposed in more than 15 federal investigations and 500 stories in the mainstream media. Any legitimate group claiming to represent small businesses, women or minorities, and isn't actually funded by Fortune 500 firms to lobby for big business, while masquerading as a small business advocacy group, would have to love this bill, wouldn't they?
Obviously, any politician or organization that would oppose such a magnificently logical, efficient and effective bill would have to be a liar, con-man, sham or crook, right? You bet they would.
-###-
Please visit YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETmyLal1jhg to see Lloyd talk about this blog post.
Contact:
American Small Business League
info@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
President, American Small Business League
Let's look at the facts people. America is in the midst of its worst economic disaster in 80 years. The government is spending $2.7 trillion to stimulate the economy and national unemployment is still headed to 10 percent and beyond. A parade of politicians proclaimed that the stimulus package was needed in order to increase access to capital for small businesses. Yet today, mainstream media outlets like BusinessWeek, and CNNMoney.com have reported access to capital for small businesses has actually decreased. (http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/may2009/sb2009056_719759.htm, http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/02/smallbusiness/sba_small_business_lending_falls.smb/)
The latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics indicate that 98 percent of all U.S. firms have less than 100 employees. These firms employ more than 50.2 percent of the private sector work force, create over 97 percent of all net new jobs, and produce over 50 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On the other hand, large businesses in America have not created one net new job since 1977.
With a level of wisdom that could only come from America's best and brightest minds, our elected officials in Washington D.C. decided to give over 99 percent of all the stimulus funds to the firms that haven't created one net new job in 32 years. And they gave the small businesses that create virtually all net new jobs less than 1 percent. That should get this economy back on its feet in no time, right? Wrong.
I have a crazy, wacky, wild idea that just might work.
Why don't we give more than 1 percent of the economic stimulus funds to the 27 million small businesses where most Americans work? I'm sure some of you are already thinking this guy must be out of his mind. Is he on drugs? What has he been smoking? Was he dropped on his head repeatedly as a child?
I know I'm really going out on a limb on this one too, but here it is, why don't we quit giving $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and some of the biggest companies in Europe? I know, I know, it's out there. I admit it, but when the economy is in this kind of trouble, you gotta get wild and crazy, you gotta think outside the box people.
I have worked very closely with congress on drafting legislation that has been introduced into the House of Representatives that will completely halt the flow of federal small business contracts to companies like British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, Xerox, L-3 Communications, Titan industries, Raytheon and Halliburton. It has been titled, H.R. 2568, the "Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009."
The Small Business Act requires that a small business be "independently owned," which means that if your firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, you don't qualify as a small business. That makes sense doesn't it? I think it does.
The Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act simply states that the federal government and prime contractors cannot report contracts to publicly traded firms as small business awards. TA-DAAAA, instant economic stimulus. H.R. 2568 will redirect up to $100 billion a year in existing federal infrastructure spending to the small businesses that create over 97 percent of all net new jobs, and create over 50 percent of the GDP. H.R. 2568 will create millions of jobs at virtually no additional expense to taxpayers. Sounds like a win-win to me.
In Report 5-15, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." Bingo, H.R. 2568 will solve that problem too. Another win-win. Either I'm stuttering or we're up to four wins here. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)
So who in the world would be against a bill that will direct more money into the middle class than any economic stimulus plan to date? H.R. 2568, will finally end billions of dollars in fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs, which since 2003, have been exposed in more than 15 federal investigations and 500 stories in the mainstream media. Any legitimate group claiming to represent small businesses, women or minorities, and isn't actually funded by Fortune 500 firms to lobby for big business, while masquerading as a small business advocacy group, would have to love this bill, wouldn't they?
Obviously, any politician or organization that would oppose such a magnificently logical, efficient and effective bill would have to be a liar, con-man, sham or crook, right? You bet they would.
-###-
Please visit YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETmyLal1jhg to see Lloyd talk about this blog post.
Contact:
American Small Business League
info@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
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