Contact Information: Contact: Lloyd Chapman President American Small Business League Email Contact (707) 789-9575
California Small Businesses Plead With Senators Boxer and Feinstein to End Fraud and Abuse in Federal Small Business Contracting, Says American Small Business League
California Small Businesses Want Fortune 1000 Corporations Out of Federal Small Business Contracting
| Source: American Small Business League
PETALUMA, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 23, 2007 -- The following is a statement by the American
Small Business League:
Small business owners across the State of California are contacting United
States Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and asking for their
help to halt the flow of government small business contracts to Fortune
1000 corporations.
To date, fourteen different federal investigations have all found that
billions of dollars in contracts earmarked for legitimate small businesses
have instead found their way into the hands of some of the largest
companies in the United States and Europe.
The bill, H.R. 1873 the "Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act,"
passed through the House of Representatives last week and will allow large
companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, Rolls-Royce and L3
Communications to keep their existing federal small business contracts for
up to five more years.
Small business owners are asking Senators Boxer and Feinstein to amend the
bill and push for the immediate removal of all Fortune 1000 corporations
and other large companies from federal small business contracting programs
and to force all firms with existing federal small business contracts to
re-certify on an annual basis.
The campaign to garner the support of Senators Boxer and Feinstein has been
organized by the Petaluma, California-based American Small Business League.
If Senators Boxer and Feinstein can convince the Senate to add a provision
in the new legislation to close the loophole that allows Fortune 1000
corporations to obtain small business contracts, the ASBL predicts that up
to $60 billion a year in federal small business contracts would be
re-directed to legitimate small businesses in California as well as every
other state in the country.
Federal procurement for small businesses is centralized within 50 miles of
Washington, D.C., and an annual re-certification provision would
de-centralize that procurement and spread those purchases and contract
dollars more equitably around the nation.