Lloyd Chapman
Encyclopedia
Lloyd Alan Chapman is president and founder of the American Small Business League.

Life and career

Born and raised in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Lloyd began his career working for legendary Texas political leader Bob Bullock
Bob Bullock
Robert Douglas Bullock, known as Bob Bullock , was a Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. His service culminated in his term as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from January 15, 1991–January 19, 1999 during the terms of Governors Ann Richards and George W...

. He spent eight years in the Texas Controller’s office, before moving to California in 1986 to enter the computer industry. It was at this time that he first became aware of major problems in federal small business contracting programs, and soon became an advocate for small technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 firms. In this role, he closely monitored federal “set-aside” contracts for small businesses. His work triggered a 1991 Congressional investigation into the F-22 Stealth fighter that forced the Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 and Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

 to allocate an additional $501 million to small and minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...

-owned firms.

By law, the federal government is obligated to award a fair portion (currently 23%) of its contracts to small businesses http://sbc.senate.gov/HTML/news/July%2027%20Markup.htm. But a number of federal investigations and private studies have found that the government is reporting billions of dollars in contracts to large companies as federal small business awards (see references below).

In his continuing role as a small business
Small business
A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...

 advocate, Lloyd spearheaded litigation to acquire information on small business utilization in government contracts. In 1993, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...

 ruled against the Defense Logistics Agency
Defense Logistics Agency
The Defense Logistics Agency is an agency in the United States Department of Defense, with more than 26,000 civilian and military personnel throughout the world...

, forcing it to release vital information documenting small business contracting awards. This has paved the way for greater participation by small businesses in federal contracting by exposing the lack of enforcement of Congressionally mandated small business goals.

In 2003, information provided by Lloyd http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/17_22/cover-stories/20094-1.html prompted a Government Accountability Office
Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...

(GAO) investigation http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03704t.pdf confirming that, in direct conflict with the Small Business Act of 1953 http://www.sba.gov/regulations/sbaact/sbaact.pdf, a significant number of small business contracts were being awarded to some of the world’s largest corporations.

In order to form a coalition to promote fair policy in federal small business contracting, Lloyd founded a trade group, the Micro Industry Suppliers Association, in 2003. When membership began to include businesses outside the computer industry, the name of the organization was changed to the American Small Business League in 2004.

A vocal crusader for the rights of small business, Lloyd is a familiar figure at the Small Business Administration
Small Business Administration
The Small Business Administration is a United States government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses...

 and in the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

, where he has continued to work tirelessly during the last two presidential administrations to prevent federal small business contracts from being diverted to large corporations. He is regularly quoted by the media on small business contracting issues http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0608200206aug20,1,1509305.story.

Lloyd currently resides in northern California.

2006 accomplishments

Chapman won three federal lawsuits under freedom of information legislation
Freedom of information legislation
Freedom of information legislation comprises laws that guarantee access to data held by the state. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions...

during 2006 that provided evidence of fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting:
  • The first lawsuit forced the SBA to release documentation that showed the agency had ignored protests that were filed by small businesses against large corporations. http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2006/04/17/daily15.html?surround=lfn
  • The second forced the SBA to release the name of the firm that the SBA Inspector General had recommended be debarred from government contracting for federal small business contracting fraud. http://www.fcw.com/article97050-12-08-06-Web
  • The third forced NASA to release information that showed the agency has been reporting awards to Fortune 500 corporations as federal small business awards.

http://www.fcw.com/article94274-05-04-06-Web

In addition to his legal victories, Chapman also:
  1. Provided information that led to a Fortune 1000 firm paying a $1 million fine this year for falsely claiming to be a small business. It is estimated that the company received about $36 million in federal small business contracts illegally. http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/21_8/federal/28424-1.html

  1. Organized a successful grass roots effort in April 2006 to fight unfair policies in federal small business contracting. ASBL members sent over 700 comments to the General Services Administration to protest new policies that would create bigger loopholes in small business procurement programs. http://www.fcw.com/article93984-04-06-06-Web

  1. Exposed the government's continuing efforts to hide small business contracting information, which prevents watchdog groups and the media from having access to the truth. http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/12/11/daily48.html

  1. Campaigned successfully with a number of Congressional candidates to bring new blood into the government and get rid of lawmakers who have done nothing to stop fraud and abuse in small business contracting. http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200611/NAT20061106a.html

  1. Called attention to the fact that the SBA has failed to implement the women's procurement program for over five years, resulting in a loss of billions of dollars in contracting opportunities for women-owned firms. http://www.ereleases.com/pr/20060713002.html

  1. Engaged former SBA Administrator Hector Barreto in debate on BusinessWeek.com over the validity of the SBA's reporting of small business contracting figures. Barreto later resigned from his post under controversy.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2006/sb20060126_977682.htm
http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=240 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_4747503,00.html
  1. Exposed Republican efforts to close the SBA and end all federal programs for small, women-owned, minority-owned, and disabled veteran-owned firms. http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/21_T100/federal/28587-1.html

  1. Called attention to the fact that the government has failed to penalize any firm that has misrepresented its size status in order to obtain federal small business contracts. http://press.arrivenet.com/government/article.php/890810.html

  1. Joined the SBA Inspector General in advocating for annual small business size certification to prevent fraud and abuse in small business procurement programs. Current SBA policy allows firms to maintain their size status for up to 20 years. http://www.newsdaily.com/Business/UPI-1-20061115-14480600-bc-us-smallbusiness.xml

  1. Spearheaded an ongoing media campaign which resulted in over 200 articles in print and online publications as well as radio and television stories that reported on federal small business contracting issues. http://www.asbl.com/media.php

Cited references

1. U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe Media Advisory, July 26, 2006 (http://sbc.senate.gov/HTML/news/July%2027%20Markup.htm)

2. "Small-business deals under investigation," Washington Technology, February 24, 2003 (http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/17_22/cover-stories/20094-1.html)

3. "CONTRACT MANAGEMENT: Reporting of Small Business Contract Awards Does Not Reflect Current Business Size," GAO-03-704T (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03704t.pdf)

4. Small Business Act (http://www.sba.gov/regulations/sbaact/sbaact.pdf)

5. "SBA's new leader faces critics," Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2006 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0608200206aug20,1,1509305.story)

6. "California group forces SBA to disclose documents," Silicon Valley Business Journal, April 17, 2006
(http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2006/04/17/daily15.html?surround=lfn)

7. "SBA, ASBL reach accord on FOIA suit," Federal Computer Week, December 8, 2006
(http://www.fcw.com/article97050-12-08-06-Web)

8. "Small Business League sues NASA over information requests," Federal Computer Week, May 4, 2006
(http://www.fcw.com/article94274-05-04-06-Web)

9. "Insight settles small-biz suit," Washington Technology, April 24, 2006 (http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/21_8/federal/28424-1.html)

10. "Small-business group fears GSA regs changes," Federal Computer Week, April 6, 2006
(http://www.fcw.com/article93984-04-06-06-Web)

12. "SBA pulls sales, employee data from Web site," Washington Business Journal, December 15, 2006
(http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/12/11/daily48.html)

13. "Small Business at Risk Under Republicans, Group Says," CNSNews.com, November 6, 2006
(http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200611/NAT20061106a.html)

14. "Bush Administration Stalls Implementation of Women's Procurement Program," American Small Business League, July 13, 2006
(http://www.ereleases.com/pr/20060713002.html)

15. "Is the SBA hurting small business," BusinessWeek.com, January 27, 2006
(http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2006/sb20060126_977682.htm); "SBA Chief comes out swinging," BusinessWeek.com, February 2, 2006
(http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/feb2006/sb20060201_371183.htm); "SBA in Shambles," Rocky Mountain News, June 3, 2006 (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_4747503,00.html)

16. "The wolf is at the door," Washington Technology, May 15, 2006
(http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/21_T100/federal/28587-1.html)

17. "SBA Loses Second Legal Battle with American Small Business League," ArriveNet, December 7, 2006
(http://press.arrivenet.com/government/article.php/890810.html)

18. "SBA ripped for alleged big business ties," UPI, November 15, 2006
(http://www.newsdaily.com/Business/UPI-1-20061115-14480600-bc-us-smallbusiness.xml)

19. American Small Business League main media page
(http://www.asbl.com/media.php)

General references

1. Testimony of SBA Inspector General, Eric Thorson, before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, July 12, 2006
(http://www.sba.gov/ig/WrittenStatement-7-12-06SSBECHearingonGovernment.pdf)

2. "Seeking a Bigger Slice of an $85 Billion Pie," The New York Times, September 12, 2006 (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=326)

3. "SBA Charade," Rocky Mountain News, August 26, 2006 (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_4945585,00.html)

4. "The Incredible Shrinking Company," Dollars & Sense, January/February 2006 (http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2006/0106moraff.html)

5. "Opinion on the Loophole in SBA Size Standard Regulations," Charles Tiefer, Professor of Law - University of Baltimore School of Law, December 5, 2006
(http://www.asbl.com/documents/TieferOpinion.doc)

6. "Thirteen Federal Investigations and Two Private Studies
Find Fraud, Abuse, and Oversight in Small Business Contracting"
(http://www.asbl.com/documents/KeyStatements.doc)

7. "Small Business Fed Contracts: Does GTSI Qualify?," CRN.com, December 8, 2006
(http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=196602779)

8. "Small-business advocates want contract data back on website," Miami Herald, December 16, 2006
(http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/16251795.htm)

9. "Defense giants got funds meant for small firms," San Diego Union Tribune, December 16, 2006
(http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20061216-9999-1b16sba.html)
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