Senate inquiry finds big companies taking small business contracts

Senate inquiry finds big companies taking small business contracts

www.kansascity.com

The subcommittee's investigation found that some contracts meant for small businesses go to large corporations because of a complex system of rules, loopholes and lax oversight.

The inquiry also suggested that possibly willful ignorance of regulations occurred, including those that require subsidiaries of large corporations to be counted as part of the parent operation and not as separate businesses.

Among the top 100 small business federal contractors last fiscal year, 61 were large firms - including major defense contractors such as Lockheed, Raytheon and General Electric - accordin

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Okay, I don't see this in the new topics, breaking alt news, or political madness. IF IT's ALREADY POSTED, please delete.

But, if it's NOT....OMG.
This really exposes conspiracy at the infrastructure level!
And with Boehner acting like a complete horse's arse, and reFreakingFusing to tax the elites and corporations, I'm just shaking my head in amazement.

WHY?????
Why is this country going down the glory hole and these idiots won't compromise? Cronyism, lobbyists, big biz, all ALL need to be stopped.

Any comments?

The subcommittee's findings reflect a similar conclusion by the Office of Inspector General of the Small Business Administration. It has raised concerns about large businesses receiving contracts meant for smaller operations since 2006.

The SBA oversees efforts to spread federal contracts to the entire business sector. The program is similar to outreach attempts to businesses operated by women, veterans and other disadvantaged groups.

SBA regulations generally define a "small business" as one with no more than 500 employees and average annual earnings of $7 million for most non-manufacturing industries. But there are exceptions that have to do with certain industry categories and wholesale vs. retail operations.


Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the panel's ranking member, said the system had more than 1,000 different industrial codes, making it "incredibly complex to be certified as a small business."

Joseph Jordan, an SBA assistant administrator and contracting official, said businesses that were awarded contracts when they met the rules for being "small" can keep the jobs for the life of the contract, but are then no longer eligible.

"There are many legitimate reasons for a small business contract to look like it was awarded to a business that is other than small," Jordan said.

He defended SBA's oversight of the system and noted that the government was just shy of reaching the goal of 23 percent small business participation last year.

"Unless you're trying to pigeonhole these folks to boost your own numbers, I think it's as plain as the nose on your face that it doesn't make sense," McCaskill said. "This winds up actually harming small businesses, and people are getting fat and happy thinking their goals are being met."

Read more: www.kansascity.com...


www.kansascity.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Because the government dont really care about small companies. If they did, they wouldnt get half the kickbacks and earmarks that they get now. All of this makes me feel that those political jackasses only run for office to get rich. They dont and never did give one damn for the average everyday hard working person. They care nothing about you or me, just how much money we can slip into their back pocket when the average poor american isnt looking.

If we had a Randian laissez-faire capitalism -- this wouldn't happen. The larger business would see that it is good that the smaller business is allowed to flourish. The larger business would naturally skip over these contracts and would not need to have onerous regulations laid upon them. It slows business down having to figure out the risk-rewards of ignoring or circumventing regulations.

Business just naturally does what is right.

I'll give you a perfect example of how their crap works. My brother and I owned a small wireless broadband company back in 2001. We had 7 towers covering 500 square miles. The state of North Carolina put out a grant proposal for getting broadband to rural areas. We submitted our plan, as did a couple other independents. They then turned around and re-issued the grant proposal, only this time the only way you could qualify for it was if you already had a government contract. So guess who got the money? Sprint! It pissed me off to no end. not just because we didn't get anything, but because Sprint was once again allowed to steal from the people. The government perpetuates monopolies.

Greetings,

The GOP is trying to get a one party sys into this country. They have been for decades. That's why you have this mess. It's planned. It's contrived. The one thing the GOP says over and over is, we don't think government should interfere with business. That is the mantra of Fascism pure and simple. All this other stuff like the tea party, the fiscal bs and wars, etc, are diversions to the ultimate goal. The USA is a corporation, pure and simple and the goal of any corp is to make money for its stock holders, business, BIG BUSINESS.

I'm 73 yrs old and have watching this disease grow for several decades. It's insidious, demoralizing and sucks the out the soul of its people. This country cannot last too much longer at the rate of spiritual decline it is experiencing.

But, too many people are satisfied as long as they have their, bass boats, beer, big tvs, new cars, games, cell phones and other spiritual distractions. We will pay for this, GUARANTEED. Like the old saying goes. you can't fool Mother Nature.

I refuse to pledge allegiance to a corporation.

reply to post by spyder550


Deep cover parodist at work!

I believe that the exact problem here is that the regulations are not being enforced, and the big businesses are gobbling up small business contracts because all money is money. Am I wrong?

There's been a war against capitalism in this country for a long time and despite all the rhetoric, it isn't the 'socialists' or 'communists' waging it, but rather the mega-corporations who seek to destroy any kind of competition. I've watched countless small businesses go under because there's just no way to compete with the resources available to the corporate leviathans. Entrepreneurship is a fast dying dream.

Yeah it is some BS, these "prime" con tractors or companies, are supposed to let small businesses have a shot at the smaller contracts. But in a hungry hippo style greed fest, they over indulge and cut out any smaller competition, which hold no candle of a threat to the larger primes.

I am a small business owner, I am CCR registered and use FBO to search for contracts and solicitations. I do have a CAGE code for government contracting.

It is not easy when fair market practices are ignored by big companies who can pay the fine, but when a smaller business attempts such we are at risk of losing every thing.

Biased, selfish greedy and down right rotten a holes are another factor screwing the small business owners. If we could do what big business does and get away with it like they do, the BBB would be all over our hides...

reply to post by ADVISOR


Unfortunately for small business people like yourself, the Tea Party and GOP want to reduce government to nothing more than the protection of property rights! The market will work so much better when the person who has the most property has the most rights!

I've attempted to bid on state and federal Gov't contracts and projects and there is so much red tape that it wasn't worth it. We couldn't meet the extensive requirements or didn't have the resources to go through the entire lengthy approval process.

I see so many new gov't contractors pop up out of nowhere. Ever notice those new trucks at construction sites? They have a simple slap on magnetic sign with a real looking (yet unknown) company name - yet no address or phone number. This is big business working under the guise of small business. Large corporations operating under one of their many small subsidiaries they own.

This is somewhat off topic, yet is another example of how small enterprise is treated unequally.

The US gov't uses ICE to enforce the legal use of trademarks and copyrights (mainly music and movies) for mega corporations under "piracy" laws.

These highly funded gov't agencies have legislation that exclusively protects the assets and financial well being of mega media giants using taxpayer money.

I remember when I went through airport customs once and the TSA agents were very concerned whether I had any "pirated" merchandise. They looked though my suitcase and found several Disney gifts I bought and then attempted to authenticate them as real. When they came across some non Disney merchandise they didn't give a hoot. These government paid employees were literally working for behalf of Disney (and other mega US corporations).

The US gov't never uses taxpayer funding to protect copyrights of individual artists and business owners. If a small business owner called ICE about counterfeits, I bet an ICE agent would laugh and hang up the phone.

reply to post by wildtimes


The corporations have taken over, obviously. The government is no longer for us, it's for the ones with the money. This should end soon. People are coming across this information, even if they don't know what to do about it.

We NEED something to break this country up into pieces. Nothing else will stop these monsters. If we all have to suffer for it, so be it. I don't see any other option. Talking and negotiating has failed.

I, also, refuse to align with big corporations. From the inside out, from the top to the submiddle (notice I am excluding the drones and trench-dwellers...i.e. the slaves that keep the ship moving to begin with), it is ROTTEN.

I tried it. Also tried the non-profit world. Ha. Talk about money-grubbing hypocrisy -- non-profits that I've been affiliated with will lick the dog poo off of the deep-pocketed Big Bucks Club members' lizard skin shoes to get their funding....

It troubles me to no end. I have a Master's degree, but have always worked on the bottom rung, or one above. Watching the execs (and I watch carefully, listen much, and think hard) convinced me the last thing on earth I would do is to BE one of them, let alone ASPIRE to be one of them.

Thanks all for your comments. I am on board with you.

Another thread with related content;

Govt continues its war against small/local businesses

This is becoming a serious threat to small business, then it is time the business owners united and made a stand!

Originally posted by spyder550
If we had a Randian laissez-faire capitalism -- this wouldn't happen. The larger business would see that it is good that the smaller business is allowed to flourish. The larger business would naturally skip over these contracts and would not need to have onerous regulations laid upon them. It slows business down having to figure out the risk-rewards of ignoring or circumventing regulations.

Business just naturally does what is right.

Ayn Rand is a fictional fantasy land.