Republican Anti-Small Business History Revealed
In 1953 Congress passed the Small Business Act out of the realization that most Americans worked for small businesses, and that these firms were the heart and soul of our great nation's economy.
During 1984 and 1985 President Ronald Reagan tried to close the Small Business Administration (SBA) and bring an end to all federal programs designed to assist small businesses, including small firms owned by woman, minorities, and veterans.
Senator Carl Levin (D - MI), and other Democratic members of Congress were all that stopped Ronald Regan from achieving his goal.
Again in 1996, Republican members of Congress proposed legislation to close the SBA and bring an end to the federal programs established by the Small Business Act to assist America's 27 million small businesses.
As soon as George W. Bush was elected, one of his first acts as President of the United States was to remove the Administrator of the SBA from the President's Cabinet. Additionally, he cut the SBA's budget more than any other federal agency. Today, the SBA's budget is less than half of what it was during the Reagan Administration.
Since 2003, more than a dozen federal investigations have found fraud, bad policies and a blatant lack of proper oversight in nearly every federal small business program. Several investigations found Bush officials had diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to a "who's who" of corporate giants in the United States and Europe. Thousands of small businesses were forced to close their doors as they unknowingly tried to compete head-to-head with Fortune 1000 firms for even the smallest orders of goods and services.
Every major newspaper in the country has published stories on the Bush Administration's diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to large businesses. Major networks such as ABC, CBS and CNN have all aired investigative stories on the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.
In an attempt to stop further investigative stories on the issue, in 2006 Bush officials removed all data from the government's Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database that could be used by the media, the public and every federal agency to differentiate large businesses from small businesses.
Bush officials then established a policy, which made it easier for large firms to misrepresent themselves as small businesses by omitting the total number of employees and annual revenue fields from the CCR database.
In 2007, the Bush Administration adopted a policy that will allow Fortune 1000 firms to continue to receive government small business contracts until the year 2012.
In response to hundreds of stories in the media on the diversion of government small business contracts to large businesses, Bush officials launched a public relations campaign to convince the public that the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants was simply a myth. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/news_07-30.pdf)
President Bush has also refused to implement a federal law, which was passed over seven years ago, establishing a 5 percent set-aside goal for woman-owned firms.
Bush closed the SBA office that was established to assist veteran-owned firms and disabled veteran-owned firms. They even disbanded the Veteran's Advisory Committee.
Recently, the Bush Administration began to dismantle the federal program to help minority-owned firms by suspending applications for the government's Small Disadvantaged Business Contracting Program.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) has won a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits against the Bush Administration. Information received as a result of the legal victories has proven that hundreds of Fortune 1000 firms are the actual recipients of most federal small business contracts. The ASBL estimates that by the time President Bush leaves office, small businesses will have lost more than $800 billion in federal small business contracts to large businesses.
If Senator John McCain is elected President, he will continue the long Republican history of trying to close the SBA and bring an end to economic programs that were established by the Small Business Act to assist America's 27 million small businesses.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
ASBL Recommendations to End Fraud, Abuse, and Loopholes in Federal Small Business Contracting Programs Will Boost Middle Class Economy Immediately
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 27, 2008
Petaluma, Calif. - Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found billions of dollars in federal contracts earmarked for middle class firms have been diverted to Fortune 500 companies. A recent story in the Washington Post found over 40 percent of government small business contracts actually went to Fortune 500 firms. Even though the diversion of government small business contracts was first exposed in 2002, Congress has not passed a single piece of legislation to address the problem.
Now politicians in Washington are talking about creating new economic stimulus packages for the middle class. The American Small Business League (ASBL) believes that it does not make sense to create new programs to boost the middle class when the existing programs that were designed to direct federal contracts to middle class firms have been corrupted.
Congress needs to act now to pass legislation to end the diversion of small business contracts to Fortune 500 companies. The fastest and simplest way to stimulate the middle class economy is to enforce existing laws and end fraud and abuse in the existing federal programs to assist small businesses.
The ASBL makes the following recommendations to address existing problems in federal small business contracting programs, and to bolster the middle class economy:
1. Support the Small Business Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act:
The ASBL has produced draft legislation with Senator Barbara Boxer (D - CA) that would preclude the federal government from counting publicly traded firms towards the congressionally mandated 23 percent small business procurement goal.
2. Abolish the comprehensive test program:
The comprehensive test program allows contractors to avoid penalties for non-compliance and avoid submitting reports that are used to track compliance with small business sub-contracting goals. As a result, the program allows prime contractors to circumvent small business programs designed to assist small businesses and firms owned by women, minority and veterans.
3. Enforce "Liquidated Damages":
FAR clause at 52.219-16, entitled "Liquidated Damages," created a penalty for prime contractor non-compliance with its small business sub-contracting plans. The law has never been enforced. As a result, most prime contractors never achieve the small business subcontracting goals stated in their government issued prime contracts.
4. Remove any restrictions from the $100,000 small business set-aside:
The FAR Council exempted any acquisition on the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule from the congressionally mandated $100,000 small business set-aside for small businesses. Removing this exemption would provide small businesses with more access to federal small business contracting opportunities.
5. Aggressively prosecute fraud and misrepresentation in federal small business programs:
Misrepresenting the size of a firm in order to illegally receive federal contracts and subcontracts is a felony with penalties of up to 10 years in prison, a fine up to $500,000, cancellation of all contracts and debarment from federal contracting programs. Policy should require the SBA to respond to any protest against any firm that misrepresents its size, regardless of whether or not the contract is a small business set-aside.
6. Require the SBA to publish the previous years contracting data within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year:
The SBA should be required to publish the previous years contracting data in a public forum within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year as a means of maintaining transparency and determining whether or not the federal government was compliant with the congressionally mandated small business procurement goal. The SBA regularly waits 10 months or longer to release the data despite the fact that the data exists in a real time database and could be released following the end of the government fiscal year.
7. Reporting the names of firms coded as small businesses:
As a means of increasing transparency in federal small business contracting programs and ensuring that the federal government is adhering to its congressionally mandated small business procurement goal, each year the Administrator of the SBA should be required to report the names of companies coded as receiving federal small business contracts. The reporting should be released to the public and placed in a prominent position on the SBA's web site. This year, the ASBL was forced to file suit against the SBA in United States Federal District Court as a means of obtaining the names of firms coded as small businesses for 2005 and 2006. Last month, the SBA appealed a federal district court decision in favor of the ASBL to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
8. Put the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database back under the control of the SBA:
The SBA is charged with administering all federal programs designed to assist small businesses. We believe that the CCR should be removed from the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD) and placed back within the jurisdiction of the SBA allowing the agency to monitor compliance with CCR regulations more effectively.
9. Put a warning on CCR:
Currently many of the profiles for firms registered on the CCR are filled with unreliable and fraudulent data. As a result, large businesses are regularly coded as small businesses by contracting-officers government wide. Recently, federal investigations have found that firms intentionally put fraudulent information in the CCR database to illegally receive federal small business contracts. The warning should state clearly: Misrepresentation of a large firm as small for the purposes of obtaining federal small business contracts is punishable under section 16 (d) of the Small Business Act (15 USC §. 645(d)).
10. Restore the fields on the CCR:
As a means of maintaining transparency in federal contracting programs, fields which have been removed from the CCR or made optional such as: capability narrative, primary NAICS code, total number of employees and annual revenue; should be restored as required fields and made available to the public.
11. Require all government contractors claiming small business status to recertify annually:
Current federal policy requires all government vendors to update their information on CCR annually; therefore annual re-certification can be completed at that time simply by updating one box in the database. Annual re-certification will be a simple, easy, quick and efficient way to stop the flow of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 1000 firms and other large businesses. In the past, annual re-certification has already been endorsed by the SBA (prior to the arrival of Steven Preston), the SBA Office of Inspector General, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Senate Small Business Committee and the Office of Management and Budget.
12. Abolish the Alaska Native Program or place the same $3 million contract cap that every other government program for minorities has:
The government is hitting its minority-owned small business procurement goal with no-bid, no ceiling Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) 8(a) contracts. The way to solve the problem is to level the playing field by imposing the same contract ceiling as all other federal programs for minorities on the ANC Program. This would provide small minority-owned businesses with more opportunity to compete for and obtain federal small business contracts.
13. Oppose H.R. 3567, H.R. 5819, S. 3362 and any other legislation that allows billionaire venture capitalists to participate in federal small business contracting programs:
The Small Business Act states that a small business must be "independently owned and operated." H.R. 3567 would allow firms that are controlled by some of the nation's wealthiest investors to be treated as small businesses. This would create a staggering loophole that would result in the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts away from the average American small business and into the hands of some of the nation's wealthiest investors. That said, the recent series of House and Senate bills designed to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program would allow firms that are owned and controlled by billionaire venture capitalists to participate in federal programs designed for small businesses. These bills fly in the face of the original intent of the SBIR program and create a dangerous precedent for venture capital participation in all government programs designed for small businesses. We believe this legislation could force thousands of businesses across the United States to close their doors and cause serious damage to an already floundering middle class economy.
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October 27, 2008
Petaluma, Calif. - Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found billions of dollars in federal contracts earmarked for middle class firms have been diverted to Fortune 500 companies. A recent story in the Washington Post found over 40 percent of government small business contracts actually went to Fortune 500 firms. Even though the diversion of government small business contracts was first exposed in 2002, Congress has not passed a single piece of legislation to address the problem.
Now politicians in Washington are talking about creating new economic stimulus packages for the middle class. The American Small Business League (ASBL) believes that it does not make sense to create new programs to boost the middle class when the existing programs that were designed to direct federal contracts to middle class firms have been corrupted.
Congress needs to act now to pass legislation to end the diversion of small business contracts to Fortune 500 companies. The fastest and simplest way to stimulate the middle class economy is to enforce existing laws and end fraud and abuse in the existing federal programs to assist small businesses.
The ASBL makes the following recommendations to address existing problems in federal small business contracting programs, and to bolster the middle class economy:
1. Support the Small Business Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act:
The ASBL has produced draft legislation with Senator Barbara Boxer (D - CA) that would preclude the federal government from counting publicly traded firms towards the congressionally mandated 23 percent small business procurement goal.
2. Abolish the comprehensive test program:
The comprehensive test program allows contractors to avoid penalties for non-compliance and avoid submitting reports that are used to track compliance with small business sub-contracting goals. As a result, the program allows prime contractors to circumvent small business programs designed to assist small businesses and firms owned by women, minority and veterans.
3. Enforce "Liquidated Damages":
FAR clause at 52.219-16, entitled "Liquidated Damages," created a penalty for prime contractor non-compliance with its small business sub-contracting plans. The law has never been enforced. As a result, most prime contractors never achieve the small business subcontracting goals stated in their government issued prime contracts.
4. Remove any restrictions from the $100,000 small business set-aside:
The FAR Council exempted any acquisition on the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule from the congressionally mandated $100,000 small business set-aside for small businesses. Removing this exemption would provide small businesses with more access to federal small business contracting opportunities.
5. Aggressively prosecute fraud and misrepresentation in federal small business programs:
Misrepresenting the size of a firm in order to illegally receive federal contracts and subcontracts is a felony with penalties of up to 10 years in prison, a fine up to $500,000, cancellation of all contracts and debarment from federal contracting programs. Policy should require the SBA to respond to any protest against any firm that misrepresents its size, regardless of whether or not the contract is a small business set-aside.
6. Require the SBA to publish the previous years contracting data within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year:
The SBA should be required to publish the previous years contracting data in a public forum within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year as a means of maintaining transparency and determining whether or not the federal government was compliant with the congressionally mandated small business procurement goal. The SBA regularly waits 10 months or longer to release the data despite the fact that the data exists in a real time database and could be released following the end of the government fiscal year.
7. Reporting the names of firms coded as small businesses:
As a means of increasing transparency in federal small business contracting programs and ensuring that the federal government is adhering to its congressionally mandated small business procurement goal, each year the Administrator of the SBA should be required to report the names of companies coded as receiving federal small business contracts. The reporting should be released to the public and placed in a prominent position on the SBA's web site. This year, the ASBL was forced to file suit against the SBA in United States Federal District Court as a means of obtaining the names of firms coded as small businesses for 2005 and 2006. Last month, the SBA appealed a federal district court decision in favor of the ASBL to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
8. Put the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database back under the control of the SBA:
The SBA is charged with administering all federal programs designed to assist small businesses. We believe that the CCR should be removed from the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD) and placed back within the jurisdiction of the SBA allowing the agency to monitor compliance with CCR regulations more effectively.
9. Put a warning on CCR:
Currently many of the profiles for firms registered on the CCR are filled with unreliable and fraudulent data. As a result, large businesses are regularly coded as small businesses by contracting-officers government wide. Recently, federal investigations have found that firms intentionally put fraudulent information in the CCR database to illegally receive federal small business contracts. The warning should state clearly: Misrepresentation of a large firm as small for the purposes of obtaining federal small business contracts is punishable under section 16 (d) of the Small Business Act (15 USC §. 645(d)).
10. Restore the fields on the CCR:
As a means of maintaining transparency in federal contracting programs, fields which have been removed from the CCR or made optional such as: capability narrative, primary NAICS code, total number of employees and annual revenue; should be restored as required fields and made available to the public.
11. Require all government contractors claiming small business status to recertify annually:
Current federal policy requires all government vendors to update their information on CCR annually; therefore annual re-certification can be completed at that time simply by updating one box in the database. Annual re-certification will be a simple, easy, quick and efficient way to stop the flow of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 1000 firms and other large businesses. In the past, annual re-certification has already been endorsed by the SBA (prior to the arrival of Steven Preston), the SBA Office of Inspector General, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Senate Small Business Committee and the Office of Management and Budget.
12. Abolish the Alaska Native Program or place the same $3 million contract cap that every other government program for minorities has:
The government is hitting its minority-owned small business procurement goal with no-bid, no ceiling Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) 8(a) contracts. The way to solve the problem is to level the playing field by imposing the same contract ceiling as all other federal programs for minorities on the ANC Program. This would provide small minority-owned businesses with more opportunity to compete for and obtain federal small business contracts.
13. Oppose H.R. 3567, H.R. 5819, S. 3362 and any other legislation that allows billionaire venture capitalists to participate in federal small business contracting programs:
The Small Business Act states that a small business must be "independently owned and operated." H.R. 3567 would allow firms that are controlled by some of the nation's wealthiest investors to be treated as small businesses. This would create a staggering loophole that would result in the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts away from the average American small business and into the hands of some of the nation's wealthiest investors. That said, the recent series of House and Senate bills designed to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program would allow firms that are owned and controlled by billionaire venture capitalists to participate in federal programs designed for small businesses. These bills fly in the face of the original intent of the SBIR program and create a dangerous precedent for venture capital participation in all government programs designed for small businesses. We believe this legislation could force thousands of businesses across the United States to close their doors and cause serious damage to an already floundering middle class economy.
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Thursday, October 23, 2008
Washington Post Story Ignores Fraud in Small Business Contracting Scandal
Bush Officials Claim Small Business Contracts are Miscoding Errors for the Seventh Consecutive Year
Petaluma, Calif. – For the seventh consecutive year, Bush Administration officials are still claiming that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms through miscoding, human error and computer glitches.
A recent Washington Post story failed to mention 15 federal investigations, which found that blatant abuse and loopholes are rampant within federal small business contracting programs. Several investigations even found fraud.
As early as 1995, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) found fraud in federal small business contracting programs. In its semiannual report to Congress the SBA IG stated, “of a particular fraudulent practice: companies that SBA, after sustaining protests against them, had prohibited from representing themselves as small businesses, under a particular SIC code, were continuing to falsely certify themselves as eligible for small business set-aside contracts.” (http://www.sba.gov/ig/igsemiannual.html)
In 2003, the SBA Office of Advocacy commissioned a report from Eagle Eye Publishers, which found "vendor deception" as one of the reasons large firms received federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/eagkeeye_report%202002.pdf) The American Small Business League (ASBL) sued the SBA under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) forcing the SBA to release the original draft of the report that found fraud to be the cause of the problem. However, the edited version of the report released by the SBA had removed "vendor deception" as a reason for the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses.
In 2005, based on information provided by ASBL President Lloyd Chapman, the SBA IG issued Report 5-16 which found large firms had received federal small business contracts by making "false certifications" and "improper certifications." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-16.pdf)
Based on information provided by Chapman, the SBA IG found that GTSI and Insight Public Sector had misrepresented themselves as small businesses in order to receive federal small business contracts. In one investigation, GTSI was recommended for debarment for misrepresenting themselves as small and in another investigation Insight Public Sector paid a $1 million fine to settle a case in which the firm had misrepresented themselves as a small business to receive federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=533)
In 2005, the ASBL filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court, Northern District of California, which forced the SBA to release GTSI's name as the firm that had been recommend for debarment. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=530)
This July, the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General released an investigation, which found the DOI had reported millions of dollars in small business awards to Fortune 500 firms. That investigation found Fortune 500 firms had listed themselves as small businesses in the government's Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1092)
In February, Senator Obama released the statement, “It is time to end the division of federal small business contacts to corporate giants.” Since then, Senator Obama has not mentioned the issue publicly and has not offered any specific solutions as to how his administration plans to address the problem.
Working with Senator Barbara Boxer (D - CA), ASBL President Lloyd Chapman has drafted legislation entitled, “The Small Business Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act.” The draft legislation is based on the definition of a small business in the Small Business Act of 1953, which states that a small business must be independently owned and operated. The legislation would preclude the federal government from reporting awards to publicly traded firms as small business contracts.
"The GAO first reported this problem in 2003, there have now been over a dozen investigations and hundreds of stories. It is time for Congress to pass legislation to stop small businesses from being cheated by the government," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Petaluma, Calif. – For the seventh consecutive year, Bush Administration officials are still claiming that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms through miscoding, human error and computer glitches.
A recent Washington Post story failed to mention 15 federal investigations, which found that blatant abuse and loopholes are rampant within federal small business contracting programs. Several investigations even found fraud.
As early as 1995, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) found fraud in federal small business contracting programs. In its semiannual report to Congress the SBA IG stated, “of a particular fraudulent practice: companies that SBA, after sustaining protests against them, had prohibited from representing themselves as small businesses, under a particular SIC code, were continuing to falsely certify themselves as eligible for small business set-aside contracts.” (http://www.sba.gov/ig/igsemiannual.html)
In 2003, the SBA Office of Advocacy commissioned a report from Eagle Eye Publishers, which found "vendor deception" as one of the reasons large firms received federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/eagkeeye_report%202002.pdf) The American Small Business League (ASBL) sued the SBA under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) forcing the SBA to release the original draft of the report that found fraud to be the cause of the problem. However, the edited version of the report released by the SBA had removed "vendor deception" as a reason for the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses.
In 2005, based on information provided by ASBL President Lloyd Chapman, the SBA IG issued Report 5-16 which found large firms had received federal small business contracts by making "false certifications" and "improper certifications." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-16.pdf)
Based on information provided by Chapman, the SBA IG found that GTSI and Insight Public Sector had misrepresented themselves as small businesses in order to receive federal small business contracts. In one investigation, GTSI was recommended for debarment for misrepresenting themselves as small and in another investigation Insight Public Sector paid a $1 million fine to settle a case in which the firm had misrepresented themselves as a small business to receive federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=533)
In 2005, the ASBL filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court, Northern District of California, which forced the SBA to release GTSI's name as the firm that had been recommend for debarment. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=530)
This July, the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General released an investigation, which found the DOI had reported millions of dollars in small business awards to Fortune 500 firms. That investigation found Fortune 500 firms had listed themselves as small businesses in the government's Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1092)
In February, Senator Obama released the statement, “It is time to end the division of federal small business contacts to corporate giants.” Since then, Senator Obama has not mentioned the issue publicly and has not offered any specific solutions as to how his administration plans to address the problem.
Working with Senator Barbara Boxer (D - CA), ASBL President Lloyd Chapman has drafted legislation entitled, “The Small Business Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act.” The draft legislation is based on the definition of a small business in the Small Business Act of 1953, which states that a small business must be independently owned and operated. The legislation would preclude the federal government from reporting awards to publicly traded firms as small business contracts.
"The GAO first reported this problem in 2003, there have now been over a dozen investigations and hundreds of stories. It is time for Congress to pass legislation to stop small businesses from being cheated by the government," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Bush Dismantles Economic Programs for Small Business as Economy Continues Downward Spiral
Petaluma, Calif. - Ninety-eight percent of all companies in the United States have less than 100 employees. Twenty-seven million firms fall into the category of small business, and small businesses employ 56 percent of our nation's population. These companies are responsible for over 90 percent of the new jobs, over 90 percent of U.S. exports and over 90 percent of innovation in American business. Congress realized America's small businesses were the heart and soul of our nation's economy when they passed the Small Business Act in 1953.
Our nation is in the midst of one of the most dramatic economic downturns in modern history. More than ever, America's 27 million small businesses need the economic benefits the Small Business Act was designed to provide.
None of this seems to matter to President George W. Bush. Although President Bush regularly panders to small businesses in his speeches, his policies paint a different picture. At the same time that President Bush backed the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout, he continued to dismantle existing federal programs designed to assist American small businesses.
During his two terms, President Bush has systematically dismantled each and every program established under the Small Business Act to assist American small businesses, especially those firms owned by women, minorities and veterans.
President Bush's anti-small business policies began during his first week as president. The first thing he did to dismantle America's small business programs was to remove the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) from the President's Cabinet. Then he began to cut the SBA's budget and staffing more than any other federal agency.
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have been released, which have all found rampant and government-wide fraud, abuse, loopholes and a blatant lack of proper oversight in federal small business contracting programs. Several of the investigations found that the Bush Administration has diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to many of the largest corporations in the world.
Current federal law requires that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all federal contracts and subcontracts be awarded to small businesses. However, every year the federal government awards billions of dollars in small business contracts to some of the largest corporations in the U.S. and Europe.
Report 5-15 from the SBA Office of Inspector General states, "One of the most important challenges facing the SBA and the entire Federal Government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards."
Several Bush officials have privately acknowledged that at least 50 percent of all federal small business contracts or about $70 billion a year actually go to corporate giants. Based on information obtained in a series of successful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits filed against the Bush Administration, the American Small Business League (ASBL) estimates legitimate small businesses are being cheated out of over $100 billon each year.
Last year, the Bush Administration adopted a policy that will allow Fortune 500 firms to continue to receive government small business contracts until 2012. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=592)
Last month, Bush officials began to dismantle one of the government's only programs to assist minority-owned firms, the Small Disadvantaged Business contracting program.
Senator McCain has never objected to any of the Bush Administration's anti-small business policies. During more than two years of campaigning, not once has Senator McCain mentioned his intention to restore America's small business programs. If Senator John McCain is elected president, he will likely finish what Bush started and completely dismantle all federal programs designed to assist American small businesses.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Our nation is in the midst of one of the most dramatic economic downturns in modern history. More than ever, America's 27 million small businesses need the economic benefits the Small Business Act was designed to provide.
None of this seems to matter to President George W. Bush. Although President Bush regularly panders to small businesses in his speeches, his policies paint a different picture. At the same time that President Bush backed the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout, he continued to dismantle existing federal programs designed to assist American small businesses.
During his two terms, President Bush has systematically dismantled each and every program established under the Small Business Act to assist American small businesses, especially those firms owned by women, minorities and veterans.
President Bush's anti-small business policies began during his first week as president. The first thing he did to dismantle America's small business programs was to remove the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) from the President's Cabinet. Then he began to cut the SBA's budget and staffing more than any other federal agency.
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have been released, which have all found rampant and government-wide fraud, abuse, loopholes and a blatant lack of proper oversight in federal small business contracting programs. Several of the investigations found that the Bush Administration has diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to many of the largest corporations in the world.
Current federal law requires that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all federal contracts and subcontracts be awarded to small businesses. However, every year the federal government awards billions of dollars in small business contracts to some of the largest corporations in the U.S. and Europe.
Report 5-15 from the SBA Office of Inspector General states, "One of the most important challenges facing the SBA and the entire Federal Government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards."
Several Bush officials have privately acknowledged that at least 50 percent of all federal small business contracts or about $70 billion a year actually go to corporate giants. Based on information obtained in a series of successful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits filed against the Bush Administration, the American Small Business League (ASBL) estimates legitimate small businesses are being cheated out of over $100 billon each year.
Last year, the Bush Administration adopted a policy that will allow Fortune 500 firms to continue to receive government small business contracts until 2012. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=592)
Last month, Bush officials began to dismantle one of the government's only programs to assist minority-owned firms, the Small Disadvantaged Business contracting program.
Senator McCain has never objected to any of the Bush Administration's anti-small business policies. During more than two years of campaigning, not once has Senator McCain mentioned his intention to restore America's small business programs. If Senator John McCain is elected president, he will likely finish what Bush started and completely dismantle all federal programs designed to assist American small businesses.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Monday, October 20, 2008
Obama Tries to Retract Statement to End Billions in Contracting Fraud
Petaluma, Calif. – Without explanation, presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D – IL) has attempted to retract a statement he made in February of this year pledging to end billions of dollars in fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs.
Senator Obama’s original statement was in response to over a dozen federal investigations, which have found that the Bush Administration has diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. In report 5-15, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector (SBA OIG) referred to the issue as one of the biggest challenges facing the entire federal government today. (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
In February, Senator Obama’s original statement was:
The Obama campaign has now gone so far as to modify the original quote by removing Senator Obama’s statement, “It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.”
On Tuesday of last week, CNN ran a story on the fact that neither of Senator Obama’s recent rescue plans for small businesses or the middle class made any mention of his February statement calling for the end of the diversion of federal small business contracts to “corporate giants.” There has been absolutely no response from the Obama campaign to the story.
Since making his original statement in February, Senator Obama has refused to mention the issue publicly or include any mention of it in his criticism of the Bush Administration. To date, Senator Obama and his campaign have not released a statement on this issue in any capacity. Additionally, no member of the media has even asked Senator Obama why he has tried to distance himself from his pledge to end fraud and abuses in government small business contracting programs.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Senator Obama’s original statement was in response to over a dozen federal investigations, which have found that the Bush Administration has diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. In report 5-15, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector (SBA OIG) referred to the issue as one of the biggest challenges facing the entire federal government today. (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
In February, Senator Obama’s original statement was:
“I am proud to have the support of the American Small Business League and their grassroots efforts to help protect American small business. Helping American small business is part of our movement for change and the end of politics as usual. 98 percent of all American companies have fewer than 100 employees. Over half of all Americans work for a small business. Small businesses are the backbone of our nation’s economy and we must protect this great resource. 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 Obama campaign has now gone so far as to modify the original quote by removing Senator Obama’s statement, “It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.”
Currently, the statement on Obama’s website reads, “Ninety-eight percent of all American companies have fewer than 100 employees. Over half of all Americans work for a small business. Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource…..Helping American small business is part of our movement for change and the end of politics as usual.” (http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/sbhome/)
On Tuesday of last week, CNN ran a story on the fact that neither of Senator Obama’s recent rescue plans for small businesses or the middle class made any mention of his February statement calling for the end of the diversion of federal small business contracts to “corporate giants.” There has been absolutely no response from the Obama campaign to the story.
Since making his original statement in February, Senator Obama has refused to mention the issue publicly or include any mention of it in his criticism of the Bush Administration. To date, Senator Obama and his campaign have not released a statement on this issue in any capacity. Additionally, no member of the media has even asked Senator Obama why he has tried to distance himself from his pledge to end fraud and abuses in government small business contracting programs.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Obama and McCain Have Policies Joe the Plumber Isn't Going to Like
Obama and McCain Small Business Policies Will Shock Joe the Plumber
Petaluma, Calif. – Joe the Plumber talked about wanting to buy the company he was working for. If he was thinking about getting a Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loan like thousands of small business owners do every year, he had better vote for Senator Obama. Senator McCain will maintain Bush Administration anti-small business policies, close the SBA, and end all federal programs designed for small businesses, and firms owned by women, minorities and veterans, including all the loan programs.
After Joe the plumber starts his own small business, he might want to think about trying to bid on federal small business contracts. The United States government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world. He could get a small business contract selling plumbing fixtures and supplies to the government or government contractors. He could get a service contract to do plumbing work on the various federal buildings in the area around Toledo, Ohio.
If Joe does start to try and bid on government small business contracts he is going to be stunned when he finds out that under current Bush Administration policy, he will have to compete head-to-head with Fortune 1000 corporations, their subsidiaries and thousands of other large businesses for even the smallest orders for goods and services. He might even find himself competing with the U.S. subsidiaries of many of the largest corporations in Europe.
I'm not sure who Joe should vote for if he wants to try and land government small business contracts, because neither Senator McCain, nor Senator Obama have come out publicly and said they would do anything to address this problem. There have now been 15 federal investigations released since 2003, which have found that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 1000 firms. It has been estimated that up to $100 billion a year in government small business contracts actually go to many of the largest companies in the United States and Europe.
Today, it would be easier for Joe to find Jimmy Hoffa's body than it would be to find anything on either Senator Obama or Senator McCain's websites regarding their plans to stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.
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Petaluma, Calif. – Joe the Plumber talked about wanting to buy the company he was working for. If he was thinking about getting a Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loan like thousands of small business owners do every year, he had better vote for Senator Obama. Senator McCain will maintain Bush Administration anti-small business policies, close the SBA, and end all federal programs designed for small businesses, and firms owned by women, minorities and veterans, including all the loan programs.
After Joe the plumber starts his own small business, he might want to think about trying to bid on federal small business contracts. The United States government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world. He could get a small business contract selling plumbing fixtures and supplies to the government or government contractors. He could get a service contract to do plumbing work on the various federal buildings in the area around Toledo, Ohio.
If Joe does start to try and bid on government small business contracts he is going to be stunned when he finds out that under current Bush Administration policy, he will have to compete head-to-head with Fortune 1000 corporations, their subsidiaries and thousands of other large businesses for even the smallest orders for goods and services. He might even find himself competing with the U.S. subsidiaries of many of the largest corporations in Europe.
I'm not sure who Joe should vote for if he wants to try and land government small business contracts, because neither Senator McCain, nor Senator Obama have come out publicly and said they would do anything to address this problem. There have now been 15 federal investigations released since 2003, which have found that billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 1000 firms. It has been estimated that up to $100 billion a year in government small business contracts actually go to many of the largest companies in the United States and Europe.
Today, it would be easier for Joe to find Jimmy Hoffa's body than it would be to find anything on either Senator Obama or Senator McCain's websites regarding their plans to stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.
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Obama and McCain Response To One Question Could Redirect Billions Into Middle Class Economy
Mainstream Media Could Save Thousands of Small Businesses With One Question For Obama and McCain
Petaluma, Calif. - The following is a statement from American Small Business League (ASBL) President Lloyd Chapman:
Thousands of small businesses around the country could be saved from bankruptcy if just one mainstream journalist would ask Senator Barack Obama (D - IL) or Senator John McCain (R - AZ) this one question, "If you were elected President, would you allow Fortune 500 firms to continue to receive billions of dollars in federal small business contracts?"
In March of 2005, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) released the results of an extensive investigation into Bush Administration policies that have diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. Report 5-15 states:
"One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration (SBA) 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.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
Report 5-15 is one of more than a dozen federal investigations that have found fraud and a multitude of other abuses in federal small business contracting programs.
These investigations have been coming out for more than five years now. This summer the Department of the Interior (DOI) OIG looked at .03 percent of DOI's contracts and found more than a dozen ineligible large businesses had received over $5.7 million in DOI small business contracts. What would they find if they looked at the other 99.7 percent? What would we find if we looked at 100 percent of the Defense Department's contracts?
Four federal officials have expressed to me that between $65 and $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts actually go to large businesses. I have seen more data on this than anyone in the country and I think they're right. That means by the time Bush leaves office, small businesses will have been cheated out of $800 billion in federal contracts.
The Bush Administration claims that the problem is caused by honest mistakes and miscoding errors on the part of contracting officials. They say federal contracting officials are confused and accidentally report contracts to firms like AT&T, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Home Depot, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Rolls-Royce as small business contracts. The Bush Administration has been using that same ridiculous excuse for six consecutive years.
Why is the pattern of miscoding and data entry errors always inflating the Bush Administration's small business contracting statistics and diverting government small business contracts to big businesses? This pattern is not random, so it must be intentional.
So far, not a single journalist has even asked Senator Obama or Senator McCain about this serious problem. One question to the Senators could help bring attention to this important issue and potentially redirect billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to legitimate American small businesses.
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Please click here to visit www.asbl.com.
Petaluma, Calif. - The following is a statement from American Small Business League (ASBL) President Lloyd Chapman:
Thousands of small businesses around the country could be saved from bankruptcy if just one mainstream journalist would ask Senator Barack Obama (D - IL) or Senator John McCain (R - AZ) this one question, "If you were elected President, would you allow Fortune 500 firms to continue to receive billions of dollars in federal small business contracts?"
In March of 2005, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) released the results of an extensive investigation into Bush Administration policies that have diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. Report 5-15 states:
"One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration (SBA) 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.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
Report 5-15 is one of more than a dozen federal investigations that have found fraud and a multitude of other abuses in federal small business contracting programs.
These investigations have been coming out for more than five years now. This summer the Department of the Interior (DOI) OIG looked at .03 percent of DOI's contracts and found more than a dozen ineligible large businesses had received over $5.7 million in DOI small business contracts. What would they find if they looked at the other 99.7 percent? What would we find if we looked at 100 percent of the Defense Department's contracts?
Four federal officials have expressed to me that between $65 and $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts actually go to large businesses. I have seen more data on this than anyone in the country and I think they're right. That means by the time Bush leaves office, small businesses will have been cheated out of $800 billion in federal contracts.
The Bush Administration claims that the problem is caused by honest mistakes and miscoding errors on the part of contracting officials. They say federal contracting officials are confused and accidentally report contracts to firms like AT&T, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Home Depot, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Rolls-Royce as small business contracts. The Bush Administration has been using that same ridiculous excuse for six consecutive years.
Why is the pattern of miscoding and data entry errors always inflating the Bush Administration's small business contracting statistics and diverting government small business contracts to big businesses? This pattern is not random, so it must be intentional.
So far, not a single journalist has even asked Senator Obama or Senator McCain about this serious problem. One question to the Senators could help bring attention to this important issue and potentially redirect billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to legitimate American small businesses.
-###-
Please click here to visit www.asbl.com.
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