Small business advocates and watchdog groups are urging SBA to clean up the data in its annual procurement report so it reflects a true picture of the federal market.

In a letter to SBA and the Office of Management and Budget, the groups said the calculation of small business contracts on the annual Scorecard included “billions of dollars awarded to large businesses and their subsidiaries and billions of dollars awarded to large ANCs that exceed SBA small business size standards.”

“It is time for President Obama to force the SBA to stop fabricating these numbers,” said Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League. “They need to tell the truth, which is that small businesses get a small fraction of what the SBA says they do.”

The advocates cited these alleged inaccuracies in the Scorecard:

*Failing to measure the small business market share against the total value of all federal contracts. Currently SBA exempts certain contracts from its accounting, including those awarded overseas. The groups said SBA bases its calculations on what it calls “eligible small business dollars,” a term not defined in the Small Business Act.

*Counting the value of contracts awarded to large corporations and their subsidiaries, but credited to small firms. SBA has acknowledged that some inaccuracies occur when small firms are acquired by large ones, or through data-entry errors.

*Including prime contract dollars awarded to “Miscellaneous Foreign Corporations.”

*Including dollars awarded to Alaska Native Corporations that have outgrown small business size standards. By law, the ANCs are allowed to own multiple 8(a) businesses that are classified as small, no matter how big the parent corporation is.

*Not providing sufficient quality subcontracting data.

In recent years SBA and OMB have taken steps to scrub the contracting data by double-checking agencies’ reports and requiring high agency officials to certify the accuracy of their data.

In addition to the American Small Business League, the June 7 letter was signed by the Project on Government Oversight, Minority Business Roundtable, Business Coalition for Fair Contracting, Fairness in Procurement Alliance and several local and regional business groups around the country.