Is a worldwide company with 26,000 employees really a small business? Thanks to policies that have been established by the SBA the answer is yes.

If the SBA had fair size standards, small business contracts would be awarded to America's true small businesses -- the 98% of U.S. companies with fewer than 100 employees.

There are more than 23 million small businesses in the United States. Almost all of them – 98 percent – have fewer than 100 employees. Yet the basic standard for many industries is 500 employees.

Most people are amazed that a company with 26,000 or more employees is considered a “small business” – but those are the companies that the overwhelming majority of small businesses face as their competition for government contracts.

Over the years, the Small Business Administration has revised its "size standard" – the numerical definitions for each industry. A recommendation to reduce the basic employee limit to 100 was halted by the SBA in July 2004, despite response comments that were overwhelmingly in support of the reduction.

"Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy," Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) said in June 2004. "By working to change the definition of a small business for government contracts from 500 to 100 employees, federal contracts specifically designed to ensure the success of American small business would go where they belong - to support Americans, not big companies dressed in sheep's clothing."

The Small Business Administration issued the proposed rule on March 19, 2004, stating its intention to reduce and simplify the number of size standards. The proposed rule would have helped millions of truly small businesses compete for government contracts. However, the proposal was withdrawn because it would have reclassified as large businesses more than 34,000 firms currently recognized as small businesses.

The ASBL is committed to reducing the allowable size of small businesses so that truly small businesses have a fair opportunity to compete for government contracts.