The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped its appeal of a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California awarding legal fees to the American Small Business League.
The ASBL requested the specific names of the firms that were coded as small businesses for FY 2005 and 2006 and the specific dollar amounts that were awarded to those firms from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The request was made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The SBA refused to comply with the ASBL’s request for the data. During litigation, the SBA claimed that it had no information in its possession
regarding the specific names of firms that had received federal small business contracts.
Judge Marilyn H. Patel
In the court’s ruling, United States District Judge Marilyn H. Patel stated, “The court finds it curious the SBA’s argument that it does not ‘control’ the very information it needs to carry out its duties and functions.”
(www.asbl.com/documents/26-2.pdf)
As a result of Patel’s ruling, the SBA was ordered to turn over the requested information and pay all of the legal fees incurred by the ASBL during the initial litigation process. The information the ASBL finally obtained indicated that the SBA, the General Services Administration (GSA) and virtually every other federal agency diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and dozens of large businesses in Europe and Asia.
(http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
Some of the firms that received federal small business contracts included Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, GTSI, Rolls-Royce, Dell Computer, Thales Communications, and British Aerospace (BAE).
The ASBL has estimated that legitimate small businesses are losing over $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts to corporate giants.
For the full press release: DOJ Backs Off
For more information about ASBL: American Small Business League