Friday, July 30, 2010
Crockett and associate win small business contract
Those looking to defraud the Small Business Administration need only be persistent and good at counterfeiting. That’s what the Government Accountability Office (GAO) discovered when it submitted documents for phony businesses to SBA’s Historically Underutilized Business Zone Program to test the agency’s application review process.
After the GAO provided fake names and the address of the Alamo in San Antonio, the SBA certified the non-existent Crockett and Associates, making it eligible for government contracts intended for businesses in poor neighborhoods.
“It took us seven months in the submission of numerous counterfeit documents to be certified for this bogus company,” Gregory Kutz, managing director of forensics audits and special investigations at GAO, told the House Small Business Committee. “But, a one- or two-minute Internet search would have at least raised suspicion about the validity of this application.”
The GAO also won certification for fake companies using the address of a rental storage facility in Florida and a city hall in Texas, according to the GAO’s report.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Phony Firm at Historic Landmark Makes the Cut for Small Biz Program (by Robert Brodsky, Government Executive)
Small Business Administration: Undercover Tests Show HUBZone Program Remains Vulnerable to Fraud and Abuse (Government Accountability Office) (pdf)
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