THE SUCCESS AND TRACK RECORD OF FPA AND ITS FOUNDER
The Fairness in Procurement Alliance (FPA) main goal is to change the ‘dysfunctional bureaucratic culture,’ which has affected public procurement for decades not only at the federal level, but also at the State and local government. FPA was established in 2005 at the urging of minority and disadvantaged advocacy groups, following the success – in Federal Court - of its founder, Raul Espinosa, who led a challenge against a ‘front’ for a large business to demonstrate that ‘Size Protests do not Work and need to be Strengthened.’ FPA now represents the procurement priorities of a constituency of ten (10) million small businesses. Below is a brief summary of the organization’s track record thus far: Established a Think Tank at the University of North Florida (UNF) to support the statutory small business procurement reservation. Unveiled plans to create a ‘Minority Procurement Center at UNF’ devoted to partnership solutions that would ‘level the playing field in government contracting.’ Conceived The Umbrella Initiative as a vehicle ‘to double the number of small and disadvantaged businesses contracting with the government by the year 2020.” Persuaded The University of Florida University System to select the ‘Minority Procurement Center at UNF’ as its ‘flagship project for FY2010’ and to seek $350,000 in Federal funds with the support of Florida elected officials to launch the Center. Produced - with assistance from academicians, graduate students and entrepreneurs – seven ‘pilot projects’ with which to build capacity for minority and disadvantaged businesses. Convinced the SBA Office of Advocacy to include two of its projects on its ‘R³ Initiative’ which list ‘The Worse 10 Regulations and Rules which affect small and disadvantaged businesses’ to target for removal. Initiated and won key cases - on Federal Court - to demonstrate that ‘Size Protests don’t work’ and the fact that the ‘Set-Aside Exemptions on the FAR’ are not based on any statutes and have illegally diverted $640 Billions away from small businesses. Published White Papers on ‘Size Protests;’ ‘Procurement Abuse’ and ‘Abusive Practices’ which are widely referenced by government procurement officials. Created ‘Procurement Advisories’ to raise the level of awareness of the procurement community of issues which affect the statutory small business reservation. Provided Congressional Testimony at Hearings and industry round tables on ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ issues affecting small and disadvantaged businesses.
The mission of FPA is to bring fairness to public procurements so that small and disadvantaged businesses can both compete and prosper at the federal, state and local levels. FPA activities are aimed at protecting and enhancing ‘setaside programs’ so they can achieve their intended results. FPA can be reached at 904.347.4726 or at raul@FPAportal.org. The activities can be viewed at this link http://www.docstoc.com/profile/FPA