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Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found that Fortune 500 firms have received federalsmall business contracts. In 2004, the SBA Office of Advocacy found large businesses had received federalsmall business contractsfraudulently through what they referred to as "vendor deception."
As a result of the deletion of the data it will be significantly more difficult, if not impossible, for federal investigators to conduct investigations into fraud and abuse infederal small businesscontracting programs. Despite public outcry over the proposed changes, the GSA has eliminated the data under the guise of upgrading the system and making it easier to search.
