Report: SBA subsidizes huge corporations

PETALUMA, Calif., July 26 (UPI) -- An advocacy group says the U.S. Small Business Administration is using deceptive numbers in reporting how it helps small business.

The American Small Business League said Wednesday that SBA claims to have awarded $119 billion to businesses with 100 workers or less is overstated by about $99 billion.

An SBA spokesman, however, noted his agency simply reports contracting data given it by participating departments.

"We are just reporting ... information obtained from the Federal Procurement Data System, which is the government's official source for certified data on contracting," said the SBA's Raul Cisneros.

The American Small Business League charges that, aside from $20 billion that actually went to small businesses, the SBA awarded $99 billion to giant conglomerates like Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Bechtel and General Dynamics.

And the SBA claim last month that small businesses got a "record-breaking" $79.6 billion in federal prime contracts for 2005, or 25.4 percent of total procurement dollars, is another lie, the league said, claiming the real percentage is less than 5 percent.