SBA Executive Responds to ASBL Case to End Contracting Fraud
Small Business Administration Blames Bush Administration for Illegal Policies
PETALUMA, Calif., June 9, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Small Business Administration (SBA) is blaming the Bush Administration for two questionable policies the SBA has been using to falsify the federal governments compliance with federally mandated small business contracting goals.
Responding to a federal lawsuit filed by the American Small Business League (ASBL) to stop the SBA from using the illegal policies, John Shoraka, the SBA's associate administrator of Government Contracting and Business Development stated, "When we came in as an administration in 2009, we wanted to be able to continue to measure apple to apples to apples, to see if we're actually progressing. We kept those exclusions as they stood when we arrived, to make sure we weren't accused of sort of fiddling with the numbers and making it look like we were having success."
The ASBL has sued the SBA in Federal District Court in San Francisco and has asked the court to grant an injunction against the SBA from including billions a year in federal contracts to Fortune 500 firms and many of the largest corporate giants around the world in the volume of federal contracts the SBA claims were awarded to small businesses. In fiscal year 2015, the SBA included contracts to over 151 Fortune 500 firms and their subsidiaries in the volume of federal contracts they claim had been awarded to small businesses.
The ASBL lawsuit is also asking the court to stop the SBA from dramatically inflating the percentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses by excluding billions of dollars in federal contracts awarded each year from the SBA's calculation.
The ASBL believes the SBA falsified the federal government's compliance with the 23% small business contracting goal, the 5% goal for woman-owned small businesses, the 5% goal for minority-owned small businesses and the 3% goal for service disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
SBA administrator, Maria Contreras-Sweet, has admitted the SBA reported contracts to Fortune 500 firms as small business awards. California Congresswoman, Janice Hahn, questioned the accuracy of the SBA's small business contracting data based on research done by the ASBL.
ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated, "I'm predicting the SBA will go to extreme lengths to try and have this case thrown out because they know they are guilty and they can't win it."
The ASBL is currently working on a documentary on fraud and corruption in federal small business contracting programs.
Contact: Jeanne Spatola
[email protected]
707-789-9575
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SOURCE American Small Business League
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