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| Lloyd Chapman, small business advocate and founder of the American Small Business League |
Remember when the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) promised a minimum of 5 percent of all federal contracts would be awarded to woman-owned small businesses and 5 percent for minority-owned small businesses? The SBA claims they met that goal, but an investigation by the American Small Business League (ASBL) claims that the SBA manipulated the numbers so they could say they met the 5 percent mandate. The ASBL has filed a lawsuit in federal court against SBA.
Lawsuit could result in more funds for women
According to the lawsuit filed by ASBL, the SBA excluded over $800 billion in federal acquisitions from their calculations, short-changing women-owned businesses billions of dollars in federal contracts and subcontracts. In a recent interview with ASBL President Lloyd Chapman, he claimed that $200 billion of small business contracts went to large, Fortune 500 companies through their subsidiaries. These large companies include Rolls Royce, IBM, Apple, General Electric, Target, Home Depot, Pepsi, Staples, John Deere, CVS, Wells Fargo and UPS.
ASBL says STOP IT
The mandate to award 5 percent of government contracts to women- and minority-owned businesses was very clear and did not include any large businesses, or their subsidiaries, to be considered a small business. The ASBL filed an injunction to stop the SBA from giving billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms.
If ASBL wins their case, it could mean as much as a $400 billion increase over the next ten years in government contracts to women- and minority-owned businesses.
For more details about the lawsuit, please visit www.asbl.com/documents/Filed_Complaint_For_Injunctive_Relief.pdf
For more details about the American Small Business League (ASBL), visit www.asbl.com
