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An advocate for small businesses has launched a war of words with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, publicly assailing the organization for refusing to support a bill that aims to stop corporate giants from snatching up federal contracts meant for small businesses.
Lloyd Chapman, president of the California-based American Small Business League, insists that the bill, introduced in May by sophomore Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA), champions a cause that is in the best interests of many Hispanic-owned businesses. Chapman says the bill thus far has about 45 organizational supporters, many of them regional minority chambers.
Over the past couple weeks, Chapman -- whose star as a shout-'em-down pundit on Fox News and CNBC is on the rise -- has sent out press releases to chambers across the country strongly criticizing the U.S. Hispanic Chamber and others for their lack of support. Late last week he used his regular column in the Huffington Post to challenge U.S. Hispanic Chamber leaders to "put up or shut up."
"The USHCC has never objected to the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms in any way, shape or form," he wrote on Friday. "If the U.S. Hispanic Chamber is such a big small business advocate, show me."
Specifically, the bill, called the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act (H.R. 2568), aims to ensure that no publicly traded company can vie for federal contracts meant for small businesses.
Few deny this phenomenon has been problematic. By law, the federal government has a legal obligation to try to set aside 23 percent of its contracts for small businesses. In 2002, the federal Small Business Administration released a report stating that about 4.4 percent of 1,000 contractors receiving federal small-business contracts should not have gotten them, citing Hewlett Packard as an example.
U.S. Hispanic Chamber officials say they are not opposed to the bill, they just aren't endorsing it.
"There is not a single small business organization that believes that large contractors should be getting small business awards," David Ferreira, Vice President of Government Relations for the Chamber, told HispanicBusiness.com. "Nevertheless, it is misleading to say that our organization is opposing legislation by virtue of not endorsing it."
Ferreira said the bill simply re-states current law that already prohibits publicly traded companies from landing federal small business contracts. What's more, he said the chamber is focusing its efforts on a more comprehensive piece of legislation that is developing in the Senate small business committee.
"We appreciate their enthusiasm for wanting to push the issue," Ferreira said. "We're working on the larger contracting reform bills from the Committees on Small Business - these are the bills that will very likely be approved by Congress, and these will deal with a larger set of substantive changes to the federal marketplace."
