SBA Giving money to Big Business: Report prompted by Kerry

[TayTay]

New SBA Small Business Numbers Include Billions to Corporate Giants
Friday August 26, 1:55 pm ET
SBA Includes Awards to Fortune 1000 Firms in New Small Business Statistics, Says American Small Business League

PETALUMA, Calif., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Small Business League reports that the Small Business Administration released the highly controversial 2004 federal small business contracting statistics on Thursday, August 25, 2005. The SBA is claiming $69.23 billion or 23.09 percent in federal contracts had been awarded to small businesses during fiscal year 2004.

The latest SBA small business statistics ignore the findings of seven separate government investigations and two private studies that have all concluded the SBA has dramatically overstated the government's true level of contracts with small businesses by reporting billions in awards to many of the largest firms in the country as small business awards.

A 2004 investigation by the SBA's own Office of Advocacy found the SBA had reported billions in awards to such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Northrop- Grumman, Titan Industries, Raytheon and Buhrmann, a Dutch firm with 18,000 employees, as small business awards. The report concluded "vendor deception" was one of the reasons for the dramatic abuses.

The SBA's own Office of Inspector General has released the results of three investigations in the past year that found the SBA has intentionally included awards to large businesses in their small business contracting statistics. Report 5-14 was prompted by a request from Senator John Kerry. It 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://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050826/phf013.html?.v=20

This is good work. It shows, yet again, a misuse of the SBA as a cash cow for friends of Rethugs and friends of * in particular. I am so glad to see Kerry still on top of this and asking fro accountability.

[blm]

1. Thanks, this is an important issue. I'm snagging for GD.

.

[TayTay]

2. I think it might be a good idea to go in depth on this one

Feb. 17th, 2005. Go check out this hearing that specifically addresses this problem. (That's what 6 months ago. And SBA just releases the doc Kerry asked for? Shit that 's awful.)

http://sbc.senate.gov/hearings/109hrgs.html

Go to this archived hearing and fast forward to time of about 50:00 minutes into it. Kerry just utterly and completely nailed Hector Barreto, SBA head on it's loan programs and how they are administered. Go listen to this and then we can come back and talk about this SBA stuff. (Nothing has changed in six months. The Bushies are still lying their asses off about the loans, claiming credit for stuff they were FORCED to do by Congress and so forth. And Kerry was at his absolute prosecutorial best in this hearing. Damn, I'm glad that's my Senator.)

This SBA stuff is small peanuts against the total US budget, but this is damned important stuff for the people involved. And the Bushies are intentionally taking the SBA money, funnelling it to their friends and then lying about it to the public. (And getting the Chamber of Commerce endorsements because of payola.) Feh!

[blm]

3. Seems folks are interested and

are giving it a read.

Please add your find to the thread.

[TayTay]

4. I can't find the thread on GD.

Link?

[blm]

5. Just kicked it to front.....and link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4494191&mesg_id=4494191

[kerrygoddess]

6. Thanks Tay Tay

Posted on Dem Daily... sent to other blogs!

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=375

[TayTay]

7. I haven't finsihed looking this up

But something is fishy as to why this report is being released now. This data is old. This stuff all came up in the Feb hearing. I smell a Bushy trying to bury bad or embarrassing news in the doldrums of August.

This sucks!