The Small Business Admin. (SBA) helps socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses gain access to federal contracting opportunities through its 8(a) program. To participate, firms must be at least 51% owned and controlled by an individual who meets SBA's criteria of socially and economically disadvantaged. The firm must also qualify as a small business. Once certified, 8(a) firms are eligible to receive sole-source and set-aside contracts for up to 9 years. This report: (1) determined whether ineligible firms are participating in the 8(a) program; (2) proactively tested SBA's controls over the 8(a) application process; and (3) determined what vulnerabilities, if any, exist in SBA's fraud prevention system. Charts and tables.

Contract and procurement fraud, collusion, and corruption are worldwide problems. Such wrongdoing causes federal, state, and local governments, as well as private-sector corporations and businesses, to lose funds and profits, while the wrongdoers unjustly benefit. Bid riggers conspire to eliminate fair and open competition and unjustly increase prices, allowing some to monopolize industries. Too often, contracting officials and others responsible for placing orders or awarding contracts compromise their integrity and eliminate fair and open competition to favor vendors offering bribes or gifts. This results in unfair playing fields for vendors and causes financial losses for businesses, government agencies, and taxpayers. Charles Piper’s Contract and Procurement Fraud and Corruption Investigation Guidebook educates readers on fraud and corruption schemes that occur before, during, and after contracts are awarded. This book teaches not only how to identify such wrongdoing, but also how to investigate it and prevent reoccurrence. Piper shares the Piper Method of Conducting Thorough and Complete Investigations, his innovative and proven method of investigating contract and procurement fraud, and demonstrates its principles with personal, on-the-job examples (which he calls "War Stories") woven throughout the text. Intended for criminal justice students, as well as investigators, auditors, examiners, business owners, policy-makers, and other professionals potentially affected by fraud, this book is a must-read guide to effective procurement and contract fraud investigations from inception to testimony.

" Modern presidents are CEOs with broad powers over the federal government. The United States Constitution lays out three hypothetically equal branches of government—the executive, the legislative, and the judicial—but over the years, the president, as head of the executive branch, has emerged as the usually dominant political and administrative force at the federal level. In fact, Daniel Gitterman tells us, the president is, effectively, the CEO of an enormous federal bureaucracy. Using the unique legal authority delegated by thousands of laws, the ability to issue executive orders, and the capacity to shape how federal agencies write and enforce rules, the president calls the shots as to how the government is run on a daily basis. Modern presidents have, for example, used the power of the purchaser to require federal contractors to pay a minimum wage and to prohibit contracting with companies and contractors that knowingly employ unauthorized alien workers. Presidents and their staffs use specific tools, including executive orders and memoranda to agency heads, as instruments of control and influence over the government and the private sector. For more than a century, they have used these tools without violating the separation of powers. Calling the Shots demonstrates how each of these executive powers is a powerful weapon of coercion and redistribution in the president's political and policymaking arsenal. "

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