Obama Refusing to Give Contracts to Small Businesses as Unemployment Continues to Rise

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. - According to the most recent data from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG), the Obama Administration is continuing to award billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to corporate giants.

The top recipient was Fortune 500 firm Textron, which received $775.7 million in federal small business contracts. In addition to Textron, Ssangyong Corporation, which is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea received over $254 million in small business contracts; and Finmeccanica SpA, which is headquartered in Italy with 73,000 employees, received over $283 million.

Other firms included in the Obama Administration's small business data were: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, AT&T, 3M Corporation, Xerox, Dell Computer, Booz Allen Hamilton, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Staples, Office Depot, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce and French firm Thales Communications.

In February of 2009, Bechtel Bettis Inc. received a $128 million small business contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Obama Administration.
(http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf)

Since 2003, more than 15 federal investigations have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to corporate giants. Report 5-15 from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General referred to the problem as, "One of the most important challenges facing the SBA and the entire federal government today." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)

In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the problem 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)

To date, the Obama Administration has not adopted any policies or legislation to honor that campaign promise.

On Friday, October 2, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that unemployment hit 9.8 percent in the month of September. Moreover, DOL announced that when factoring in frustrated workers who have dropped out, taken part-time work or haven't looked recently; unemployment could be as high as 17 percent.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) believes unemployment is on the rise as a result of the Obama Administration's refusal to stop the diversion of billions of dollars a month in federal contracts earmarked for small businesses to corporate giants.

"It's hard not to question President Obama's sincerity about creating jobs when he is giving billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "Until we stop this problem, unemployment is going to continue to rise."

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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575