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
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
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