ATI sues SBA, claims O’Keefe video sidelined the tribally-owned business

The Small Business Administration suspended ATI Government Solutions from government contracting around one year ago, and now the company has turned to the courts to force SBA to lift the ban.

SBA suspended ATI in October 2025 after conservative activist James O’Keefe released a video he purports to depict an ATI employee talking about how the company acted as a pass-through for other contractors.

ATI is owned by the Susanville Indian Rancheria tribe and was part of the 8(a) program.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler used the O’Keefe allegations to suspend ATI and the tribe’s other subsidiaries from all government contracting under the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

ATI also was suspended from the 8(a) small business program. Loeffler used the allegations as an opportunity to criticize the 8(a) and claim that the program was rife with fraud and abuse.

ATI filed its lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday and the 62-page document outlines what it says are weaknesses in the SBA case.

ATI claims SBA only relied on the O’Keefe video, which the company argues is obviously edited, and that the agency also never conducted its own investigation.

After the suspension, ATI went to the agency’s Office of Hearings and Appeals in May to try and get the suspension lifted. An administrative judge at OHA ruled that SBA fell short of several requirements needed to suspend a company.

The administrative judge said SBA made no effort to substantiate the allegations in the O’Keefe video and gave the agency until June 12 to submit a complete record of ATI’s suspension.

Before that deadline, SBA lifted the 8(a) suspension but did not lift the FAR suspension. The lawsuit alleges that at a July 23 meeting, seven SBA officials said they could not identify any concerns to justify the FAR suspension.

SBA missed three self-imposed deadlines to decide on lifting the suspension. The complaint says an SBA attorney told ATI’s lawyers that "someone else" had gotten involved and alleged it was Loeffler’s chief of staff Wesley Coopersmith.

Instead of deciding, SBA submitted a new document request of ATI on Aug. 21. ATI says it complied with the Oct. 1 submission deadline.

The suspension hit the FAR’s one-year limit this week. On Oct. 21, SBA told ATI it was extending the ban for another six months.

The regulation governing the extension of these bans requires a request from a prosecuting official. But ATI’s complaint says the Justice Department has never contacted the company.

ATI also defends its reputation. The company says it has turned over more than 12,500 pages of documents to SBA that refute the allegations, including records it says show the company met subcontracting limits and never operated as a pass-through.

Who O’Keefe claims was an ATI executive in his video was actually a short-term part-time employee who did data entry work, according to the complaint.

O’Keefe’s editing of the video created misleading allegations, ATI said. O’Keefe released his video on Oct. 20, 2025. Loeffler announced an investigation on X within hours of the video's release and SBA suspended the company the next day, the complaint says.

ATI said it has lost nearly $130 million in contracts that were cancelled and more than $500 million in prospective business. The majority of ATI’s 67 employees have been laid off.

ATI’s complaint asks for the FAR suspension to be declared unlawful. The company wants the suspension lifted and SBA prohibted from any de facto debarment of the company.

The company also wants is attorney fees and costs paid, and “an award of such other and further relief as this Court deems necessary and appropriate.”

SBA officials said they do not comment on active litigation..