Computer Reseller News 2004 Story Exposes 2014 SBA Anti-Small Policy

ASBL President Lloyd Chapman Continues Fight For IT Value Added Resellers

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Oct 15, 2014, 07:00 ET

PETALUMA, Calif., Oct. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A 2004 article in Computer Reseller News (CRN) documented the beginning of what has become a 10-year campaign of a Small Business Administration (SBA) policy that will force thousands of small businesses in the IT industry out of the federal market place.

Under the new 2014 policy small businesses that are currently considered Information Technology Value Added Resellers, NAICS code 541519, will lose their small business status if their annual sales exceed $27.5 million.

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If the new policy is adopted, small businesses in the IT industry will be redefined as large businesses and be forced to compete head to head with Fortune 500 firms for even the smallest order for government IT products. Thousands of small businesses in the IT industry will be forced out of business.

The 2004 CRN article documented that the original size standard the SBA proposed for Information Technology Value Added Resellers was 500 employees. The 2004 CRN story also chronicles the successful efforts of current American Small Business League (ASBL) President, Lloyd Chapman, to generate a record number of comments opposing the SBA's 500 employee size standard and reducing it to a more small business friendly 150 employees. "For Chapman, who has appeared before Congress to testify on behalf of small businesses and who has committed years of his time and much of his own money to the cause, the fight goes on."

A 2003 article in CRN reported on Chapman's successful campaign to stop the federal government from diverting small business contracts to corporate giants. "This industry is being decimated by fraud, abuse and disorganization," Chapman says. "Some of the biggest corporations, here in America and overseas, are stealing government contracts specifically reserved for small and midsize VAR's."

Now, over ten years later, the SBA wants to eliminate the small business size standard of 150 employees that thousands of Information Technology Value Added Resellers have used to compete for federal contracts and subcontracts.

The new size standard will make it much more difficult, if not impossible for legitimate IT small businesses to land federal small business contracts. Small businesses will now be forced to compete with many of the largest firms in their industry for federal small business contracts. If the new policy is adopted, contracts to many Fortune 500 firms will continue to be reported as small business contracts while contracts to IT firms with sales in excess of $27.5 million will be considered large business contracts.

The American Small Business League has launched a national campaign to oppose the new SBA policy. ASBL attorneys are preparing to file an injunction to stop the implementation of what they consider to be another blatant anti-small business policy from the SBA.

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SOURCE American Small Business League