Blowing the lid off yet another corrupted government program

 

I was very pleased to read that the Small Business Administration is taking steps to put its house - and its finances - in order.  It appears to have been one of the main avenues for taxpayer money to be funneled to corrupt firms and individuals.  With luck, that may end very soon now.

The Small Business Administration on Friday ordered all companies that get preference for government contracts due to their status as “socially disadvantaged” minorities to provide detailed financial information to show they are not defrauding the program, The Daily Wire has learned.

The change represents a move to reevaluate a decades-old program that Washington insiders have long recognized as openly corrupt. The 8(a) program is one of the largest and oldest DEI initiatives in the country, affecting contracts at almost all federal agencies.

SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler said there is mounting evidence that minority contracts had become “a pass-through vehicle for rampant abuse and fraud,” especially after the Biden administration raised the target for contracts that are “set aside” for minorities from 5% to 15% of all contracting dollars.

“We’re committed to thoroughly reviewing every federal contract, contracting officer, and contractor — while working alongside federal law enforcement,” she said.

The records will shed light on the extent to which companies are subcontracting out the work to non-“disadvantaged” firms, while keeping a cut for serving as a middleman or “front” company. That would defeat the purpose of the program and result in higher prices for government services across the board.

Undercover journalist James O’Keefe caught employees from one such firm boasting that they did exactly that. O’Keefe Media Group published a video exposing ATI Government Solutions, an 8(a) firm based on Native American ownership that is run by whites. Anish Abraham, senior director at ATI Government Solutions, acknowledged that his company was a “pass-through” that got a $100 million contract, kept $65 million, and paid another firm $35 million to do the work.

Such reports “have raised questions about widespread misconduct within the 8(a) Business Development Program, adding to years of credible concerns that the program designed to serve ‘socially and economically disadvantaged’ businesses has become a vehicle for institutionalized abuse at taxpayer expense,” the SBA wrote to each of the 4,300 “disadvantaged” contractors.

There's more at the link.

If those contractors don't provide all the required information by January 5, 2026, they "risk losing their eligibility for contracts".  That in itself doesn't sound like much of a threat;  but we're talking 4,300-odd contractors and several billions of dollars a year.  That's an awful lot of pork being threatened, and an awful lot of grifters suddenly staring at the horrifying possibility that they might actually have to work for a living, instead of stealing from the rest of us.

This is part of the ongoing fruit of D.O.G.E., of course.  I've heard many people complain that D.O.G.E. "went away" without achieving anything like as much as they initially claimed they would.  They fail to realize that D.O.G.E. cracked open the vault of secrets, corruption, nepotism and all the other evils that have long pervaded the federal bureaucracy.  It got the information that pointed to areas needing attention, whether immediate, or in due course.  The Trump administration couldn't possibly tackle all of them at once, but it's knocking them out one by one.  This week, it's the SBA's turn.  Next week, there'll be another.  D.O.G.E. may well end up saving America every cent it had promised, and perhaps even more - but it won't happen overnight.

At any rate, the cockles of my heart are warmed by the thought of panic-stricken managers and leaders of corrupt organizations who've just realized that their comfortable cloak of anonymity is about to be stripped away.  That glint of light they see in the distance?  It's reflections from the handcuffs waiting to be used on them.

Excellent!  More, please!

(I wonder whether James O'Keefe and his organization get a finder's fee for each corrupt organization and individual they expose?  They deserve it - and I can't think of a better way to use taxpayer money!)

Peter