The legislation is titled the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act (H.R. 3184 in the 112th Congress) and has been introduced by Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia. This landmark legislation will end the ongoing abuses in federal small business contracting programs that have allowed billions of dollars every year in small business contracts to go to some of the largest companies in the U.S. and Europe. This bill will preclude the federal government from counting publicly traded companies towards its congressionally mandated 23 percent small business procurement goal, thus freeing up billions of dollars in small business contracting opportunities.

After an extensive analysis of federal contracting data pertaining to small businesses, the American Small Business League (ASBL) believes that nationwide, small businesses are being severely and significantly shortchanged in the volume of federal contracts that are being awarded to them.

Last June, the SBA released its fiscal year 2011 small business goaling report and scorecard showing that, for yet another year in a row, the government fell short of its 23 percent small business procurement goal. The ASBL has conducted its own analysis of the Top 100 small business contract recipients, which revealed 61 of the Top 100 recipients were actually large companies that ended up with 62.5% of the total dollar amount of small business contracts for the Top 100.

The Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act is designed to address the numerous abuses and loopholes that currently exist in federal small business contracting programs, which have put small businesses at a dramatic disadvantage. With the passage of this legislation, the volume of federal contracts awarded to small businesses in your state would increase dramatically.