FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - On Wednesday, April 14, the American Small Business League (ASBL) filed suit against the U.S. Department of the Army under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. The Army is refusing to release information regarding the compliance of its prime contractors with small business subcontracting goals. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20100414_complaint_mantech.pdf)
The ASBL originally requested the most recent quarterly subcontracting reports for contracts awarded by the Army to ManTech Telecommunications. Prime contractors are required to produce subcontracting reports for each contract awarded by the federal government.
The ASBL maintains that the Pentagon's refusal to release information regarding prime contractor compliance with small business subcontracting goals is a further indication that the Pentagon is falsifying compliance with its small business contracting goals.
The Small Business Act requires that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all government contracts go to small businesses. The most recent information available indicates that the Obama Administration is diverting billions of dollars a month in government small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms like: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Dell Computer, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, French giant Thales Communications, Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in South Korea, and the Italian firm Finmeccanica SpA. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
The ASBL maintains that the Pentagon's refusal to release this information is a clear indication that it has something to hide.
"The Obama Administration is withholding these subcontracting reports because it knows that these reports will show the federal government and prime contractors are falsifying their small business contracting numbers," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
Despite promises of increased transparency, the Obama Administration is refusing to release a wide range of data on small business contracting programs such as: agency phone records, the actual names of the recipients of federal small business contracts, the specific names of federal contracting officials that have awarded small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms, the names of specific individuals at Fortune 500 firms that have misrepresented their firms status as a small business, and SBA bonus recipients.
Wednesday's action is the third lawsuit filed by the ASBL since late March. The ASBL's efforts to expose fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs have recently been chronicled by articles in the Washington Post, HispanicBusiness Magazine and Andrew Beitbart's BigGovernment.com. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/11/AR2010041103341.html; http://63.149.249.152/news/newsbyid.asp?idx=187049&page=1&cat=&more#; http://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2010/04/14/small-businesses-sue-government-goliath/)
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Small Businesses Sue Government Goliath
by Lurita Doan
A small business association called the American Small Business League (ASBL) did something unexpected this week. ASBL President, Lloyd Chapman, decided to take the Obama Administration to court and expose the growing divergence between the Administration’s stated goals to meet the federal statutes for small business participation versus the Obama Administration’s total failure on federal, small business contracting.
By any measure, Obama’s record on federal, small business contracting has been abysmal. The recent, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Economic Trends Report confirms that “for small business owners, 2009 ended with a thud.”
Many factors have contributed to the disaster in small business contracting. A rush to push the $787 billion Stimulus funding quickly gave federal contracting officers no real options other than to dump the additional federal money onto existing federal contracts that are held by the largest companies. There just was not enough time to conduct procurements to encourage the participation of small businesses. So, small businesses received very little of any of the new federal business or the loans anticipated from the $787 billion Stimulus spending, even though President Obama and Democrats in Congress stated that awards to small businesses were the primary goal.
Worse yet, Obama decided to delay the long-overdue need to increase the number of federal contracting officers that are in critical short supply. Ten years ago, each federal contracting officer was responsible for an average of $300 thousand dollars of federal contracts. Today, each federal contracting officer is responsible for $50 million dollars in federal contracts. Put bluntly, contracting officers have been stretched thinly and no longer have the time needed to open procurements to small businesses.
Many contend that it is simpler and faster to add funding to an existing federal contract or to bundle many disparate governmental needs into huge omnibus contracts that often top $1 billion in size. This may be a bad policy and a poor return for taxpayer dollars, but it is the most expedient process for a federal procurement officer that is required by Congress to get the billions of dollars of new federal money committed quickly.
The Obama Administration has further rigged the deck, for construction contracts, by forcing small businesses to seek Union participation prior to bidding on federal construction and infrastructure jobs. This move, might be great for the Unions, but it destroys innovation and further burdens small businesses with foolhardy regulatory burdens.
The American Small Business League’s decision to bring suit against the government represents one of the few times that a trade organization has mustered the courage to tell the truth about what’s really happening in federal procurements. The fact is, the government has been doing a poor job in contracting for years, but under the Obama Administration, small businesses have been hit especially hard.
To read the rest of this article please click here: http://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2010/04/14/small-businesses-sue-government-goliath/
A small business association called the American Small Business League (ASBL) did something unexpected this week. ASBL President, Lloyd Chapman, decided to take the Obama Administration to court and expose the growing divergence between the Administration’s stated goals to meet the federal statutes for small business participation versus the Obama Administration’s total failure on federal, small business contracting.
By any measure, Obama’s record on federal, small business contracting has been abysmal. The recent, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Economic Trends Report confirms that “for small business owners, 2009 ended with a thud.”
Many factors have contributed to the disaster in small business contracting. A rush to push the $787 billion Stimulus funding quickly gave federal contracting officers no real options other than to dump the additional federal money onto existing federal contracts that are held by the largest companies. There just was not enough time to conduct procurements to encourage the participation of small businesses. So, small businesses received very little of any of the new federal business or the loans anticipated from the $787 billion Stimulus spending, even though President Obama and Democrats in Congress stated that awards to small businesses were the primary goal.
Worse yet, Obama decided to delay the long-overdue need to increase the number of federal contracting officers that are in critical short supply. Ten years ago, each federal contracting officer was responsible for an average of $300 thousand dollars of federal contracts. Today, each federal contracting officer is responsible for $50 million dollars in federal contracts. Put bluntly, contracting officers have been stretched thinly and no longer have the time needed to open procurements to small businesses.
Many contend that it is simpler and faster to add funding to an existing federal contract or to bundle many disparate governmental needs into huge omnibus contracts that often top $1 billion in size. This may be a bad policy and a poor return for taxpayer dollars, but it is the most expedient process for a federal procurement officer that is required by Congress to get the billions of dollars of new federal money committed quickly.
The Obama Administration has further rigged the deck, for construction contracts, by forcing small businesses to seek Union participation prior to bidding on federal construction and infrastructure jobs. This move, might be great for the Unions, but it destroys innovation and further burdens small businesses with foolhardy regulatory burdens.
The American Small Business League’s decision to bring suit against the government represents one of the few times that a trade organization has mustered the courage to tell the truth about what’s really happening in federal procurements. The fact is, the government has been doing a poor job in contracting for years, but under the Obama Administration, small businesses have been hit especially hard.
To read the rest of this article please click here: http://biggovernment.com/ldoan/2010/04/14/small-businesses-sue-government-goliath/
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
ASBL's Lloyd Chapman to Appear on CNBC April 13
Tomorrow morning the President of the American Small Business League, Lloyd Chapman, will be live on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street with Erin Burnett and Mark Haines at approximately 10:30 am EST / 7:30 PST. He will be on with Columbia University Business School Professor Clifford Schorer discussing the biggest issues facing small business and how to fix it.
Additionally, this morning the Washington Post ran a story titled, "Big businesses winning contracts meant for small ones, groups charge" by Dion Haynes. In the story, Haynes discusses the diversion of small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms, the American Small Business League’s lawsuit against the GSA, and the SBA’s response to allegations of fraud and abuse in its procurement programs. Please click here to access the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/11/AR2010041103341.html
Additionally, this morning the Washington Post ran a story titled, "Big businesses winning contracts meant for small ones, groups charge" by Dion Haynes. In the story, Haynes discusses the diversion of small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms, the American Small Business League’s lawsuit against the GSA, and the SBA’s response to allegations of fraud and abuse in its procurement programs. Please click here to access the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/11/AR2010041103341.html
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
SBA Sued for Refusing to Release Information on Public Relations Contracts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - On Tuesday, April 6, the American Small Business League (ASBL) filed suit against the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The SBA is refusing to release detailed information on four public relations contracts.
(http://www.asbl.com/documents/20100406_FOIA4_complaint.pdf)
The ASBL suspects the SBA has spent American tax dollars to hire consultants to help them obscure the SBA's role in diverting billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses around the world.
In one case, the SBA paid $30,000 for a one-day meeting with APCO Worldwide Inc, a multinational communications firm specializing in crisis management. The SBA is refusing to release the complete details on that contract. In another example, the SBA paid $16,500 to the White House Writers Group. The SBA is refusing to release all of the details on that contract.
The SBA is also refusing to release any information whatsoever on two additional contracts for public relations consulting services.
The most recent information released by the Obama Administration found large recipients of federal small business contracts such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Dell Computers, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, French giant Thales Communications, Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in South Korea and the Italian firm Finmeccanica SpA.
Since 2002, the SBA has claimed that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations was the result of "miscoding." In May of 2007, the SBA even went as far as to claim that it was a "myth" that large corporations received federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf)
In SBA Report 5-15, the agency's Office of Inspector General 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) Another report, from the SBA's own Office of Inspector General found that the SBA itself had reported contracts to large businesses as small business awards, including Dutch conglomerate Buhrmann NV with more than 26,000 employees worldwide. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-14.pdf)
On March 12, 2010, the Obama Administration removed 10 years of historical data from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG), which has been used by the GAO and inspector generals from a variety of federal agencies to uncover fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs. The ASBL has filed for an injunction to force the Obama Administration to restore the data.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
April 7, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - On Tuesday, April 6, the American Small Business League (ASBL) filed suit against the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The SBA is refusing to release detailed information on four public relations contracts.
(http://www.asbl.com/documents/20100406_FOIA4_complaint.pdf)
The ASBL suspects the SBA has spent American tax dollars to hire consultants to help them obscure the SBA's role in diverting billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses around the world.
In one case, the SBA paid $30,000 for a one-day meeting with APCO Worldwide Inc, a multinational communications firm specializing in crisis management. The SBA is refusing to release the complete details on that contract. In another example, the SBA paid $16,500 to the White House Writers Group. The SBA is refusing to release all of the details on that contract.
The SBA is also refusing to release any information whatsoever on two additional contracts for public relations consulting services.
The most recent information released by the Obama Administration found large recipients of federal small business contracts such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Dell Computers, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, French giant Thales Communications, Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in South Korea and the Italian firm Finmeccanica SpA.
Since 2002, the SBA has claimed that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations was the result of "miscoding." In May of 2007, the SBA even went as far as to claim that it was a "myth" that large corporations received federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf)
In SBA Report 5-15, the agency's Office of Inspector General 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) Another report, from the SBA's own Office of Inspector General found that the SBA itself had reported contracts to large businesses as small business awards, including Dutch conglomerate Buhrmann NV with more than 26,000 employees worldwide. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-14.pdf)
On March 12, 2010, the Obama Administration removed 10 years of historical data from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG), which has been used by the GAO and inspector generals from a variety of federal agencies to uncover fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs. The ASBL has filed for an injunction to force the Obama Administration to restore the data.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Obama Administration Faces Court Battle Over Contracting Data
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - On Tuesday, March 30, the American Small Business League (ASBL) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in United States District Court, Northern District of California against the General Services Administration (GSA). The purpose of the injunction is to force the GSA to restore more than a decade's worth of federal contracting data. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/ASBL_Prelim_Injunction.pdf)
On March 12, 2010, the Obama Administration implemented changes to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), which eliminated the socio-economic field, "isSmallBusiness." In past years, Congress, federal agencies, watchdog groups, and the general public used the field to identify large firms who had fraudulently misrepresented themselves as small businesses to illegally receive billions of dollars in small business contracts.
Since 2003, more than a dozen federal investigations have uncovered billions of dollars in fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs.
In Report 5-16, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) found large businesses had received federal small business contracts by making "false certifications" and "improper certifications." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-16.pdf)
In Report 5-15, the SBA IG 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." Another investigation from the SBA Office of Advocacy found large businesses had received federal small business contracts fraudulently through what they referred to as "vendor deception." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf, http://www.asbl.com/documents/eagkeeye_report%202002.pdf)
The ASBL has estimated that over the last decade nearly $1 trillion in contracts intended for small businesses have actually ended up in the hands of Fortune 500 corporations and other clearly large businesses.
Current federal law prescribes stiff penalties for fraudulent misrepresentation of a business as a small business in order to compete for federal contracting opportunities. Violators are subject to penalties of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of $500,000 per occurrence and debarment from federal contracting programs, according to the Small Business Act.
The ASBL is concerned that the destruction of ten-years worth of historical contracting data could prevent further investigations into fraudulent contracting activity, and prevent large firms from being prosecuted under section 16(D) of the Small Business Act.
The ASBL's motion for a preliminary injunction will be heard on a 35-calendar day track, according to court documents.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
March 31, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. - On Tuesday, March 30, the American Small Business League (ASBL) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in United States District Court, Northern District of California against the General Services Administration (GSA). The purpose of the injunction is to force the GSA to restore more than a decade's worth of federal contracting data. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/ASBL_Prelim_Injunction.pdf)
On March 12, 2010, the Obama Administration implemented changes to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), which eliminated the socio-economic field, "isSmallBusiness." In past years, Congress, federal agencies, watchdog groups, and the general public used the field to identify large firms who had fraudulently misrepresented themselves as small businesses to illegally receive billions of dollars in small business contracts.
Since 2003, more than a dozen federal investigations have uncovered billions of dollars in fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs.
In Report 5-16, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) found large businesses had received federal small business contracts by making "false certifications" and "improper certifications." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-16.pdf)
In Report 5-15, the SBA IG 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." Another investigation from the SBA Office of Advocacy found large businesses had received federal small business contracts fraudulently through what they referred to as "vendor deception." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf, http://www.asbl.com/documents/eagkeeye_report%202002.pdf)
The ASBL has estimated that over the last decade nearly $1 trillion in contracts intended for small businesses have actually ended up in the hands of Fortune 500 corporations and other clearly large businesses.
Current federal law prescribes stiff penalties for fraudulent misrepresentation of a business as a small business in order to compete for federal contracting opportunities. Violators are subject to penalties of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of $500,000 per occurrence and debarment from federal contracting programs, according to the Small Business Act.
The ASBL is concerned that the destruction of ten-years worth of historical contracting data could prevent further investigations into fraudulent contracting activity, and prevent large firms from being prosecuted under section 16(D) of the Small Business Act.
The ASBL's motion for a preliminary injunction will be heard on a 35-calendar day track, according to court documents.
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Federal Investigation Finds Corporate Giants Received Billions in Small Business Funds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. – The Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) has released the latest in a series of investigations, which found billions in federal small business contracts have been diverted to corporate giants. The SBA IG investigation found that the SBA itself awarded federal small business contracts to large businesses. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/oig_report_10-08.pdf)
Report 10-08 uncovered that during fiscal year (FY) 2008 the SBA awarded more than 30 percent of its contracts to large businesses, and 92 percent of the contract actions contained blatant errors. Additionally, the report found that during FY 2009 the percentage of misleading data jumped to a record 97 percent.
Since 2003, more than a dozen federal investigations have found the SBA played a key role in the diversion of billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to large businesses around the world.
- In Report 5-14, the SBA IG found that the SBA itself awarded small business contracts to large corporations. The report stated, "The SBA awarded four of the six high dollar procurements, reported as small business procurements, to large companies at the time of the procurements." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-14.pdf)
- In Report 5-16, the SBA IG found that federal agencies had allowed large businesses to illegally receive federal small business contracts by making "false certifications," and "improper certifications." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-16.pdf)
- In Report 5-15, the SBA IG referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations 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)
President Barack Obama recognized the magnitude of the problem and promised to stop it during the 2008 presidential campaign. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
Despite this series of federal investigations, the SBA has simultaneously claimed that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations was a "myth" and the result of "miscoding." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf) The SBA has never been able to explain why, for over a decade, 100 percent of the time the "miscoding" always reports awards to large businesses as small business awards.
"There have now been over two dozen investigations, over the last eight years, which have found a clear pattern of blatant fraud and abuse in SBA managed programs," American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman said. "It is time for the FBI to step in and get to the bottom of this. To date, the Obama Administration has done nothing to halt these abuses."
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn (at) asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
March 25, 2010
Petaluma, Calif. – The Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) has released the latest in a series of investigations, which found billions in federal small business contracts have been diverted to corporate giants. The SBA IG investigation found that the SBA itself awarded federal small business contracts to large businesses. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/oig_report_10-08.pdf)
Report 10-08 uncovered that during fiscal year (FY) 2008 the SBA awarded more than 30 percent of its contracts to large businesses, and 92 percent of the contract actions contained blatant errors. Additionally, the report found that during FY 2009 the percentage of misleading data jumped to a record 97 percent.
Since 2003, more than a dozen federal investigations have found the SBA played a key role in the diversion of billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to large businesses around the world.
- In Report 5-14, the SBA IG found that the SBA itself awarded small business contracts to large corporations. The report stated, "The SBA awarded four of the six high dollar procurements, reported as small business procurements, to large companies at the time of the procurements." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-14.pdf)
- In Report 5-16, the SBA IG found that federal agencies had allowed large businesses to illegally receive federal small business contracts by making "false certifications," and "improper certifications." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/05-16.pdf)
- In Report 5-15, the SBA IG referred to the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations 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)
President Barack Obama recognized the magnitude of the problem and promised to stop it during the 2008 presidential campaign. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
Despite this series of federal investigations, the SBA has simultaneously claimed that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations was a "myth" and the result of "miscoding." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/sbamythvfact.pdf) The SBA has never been able to explain why, for over a decade, 100 percent of the time the "miscoding" always reports awards to large businesses as small business awards.
"There have now been over two dozen investigations, over the last eight years, which have found a clear pattern of blatant fraud and abuse in SBA managed programs," American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman said. "It is time for the FBI to step in and get to the bottom of this. To date, the Obama Administration has done nothing to halt these abuses."
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn (at) asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
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