PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 16,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, the House ArmedServices Committee, headed by Congressman Howard P. McKeon, has passed the 2015National Defense Authorization Bill that includes an extension of a 25 year oldPentagon anti-small business test program.

H.R. 4435 includes an extension of theComprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program (CSPTP) into its 28^th year oftesting. The Pentagon adopted the CSPTP in 1990 under the guise of testingchanges in federal contracting law to determine if those changes would increasesubcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

The changes eliminated anysubcontracting plans and reports that had once been available to the public,along with the elimination of "liquidated damages"for prime contractors that failed to achieve their small businesssubcontracting goals.

The American Small Business League (ASBL)believes the CSPTP was not adopted to increase subcontracting opportunities forsmall business, but to eliminate transparency and penalties for primecontractors that did not comply with federal law establishing small businesssubcontracting goals.

During the 25 years the CSPTP has beentested, the Pentagon has never released any data showing that the eliminationof transparency and penalties for prime contractors has actually increasedsubcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

In fact, the language in Section 811of the Chairman's Mark of theFY15 National Defense Authorization Bill that extends the CSPTP into its 28^th year oftesting states,

"However, after nearly 24 years since the originalauthorization of the program, the test program has yet to provide evidence thatit meets the original stated goal of the program..."

A 2004 Government AccountabilityOffice (GAO) investigation into theComprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program also concluded there was no evidence the programhad increased subcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

In 2010 several members of Congress requested another GAO investigation into theCSPTP, but the GAO declined to launch the investigation.

The American Small Business Leagueestimates small businesses may have been defrauded out of in excess of onetrillion dollars in subcontracts since the program began in 1990. The ASBL is suing the Pentagon inFederal District Court in San Francisco after the Pentagon refused to releaseany subcontracting data from the CSPTP under the Freedom of Information Act.

The ASBL is also contacting Chambersof Commerce around the country as part of a national campaign to stop the renewal of the CSPTP.

To view full press release, clickhere:  http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/House-Armed-Services-Committee-Extends-Failed-Pentagon-Test-Program-to-2017-1920933.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 3,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, Missouri Congressman Sam Graves isbacking a 25 year old Pentagon programthat allows the Pentagon's 15 largest prime contractors to circumvent federal law that requires 23% ofall federal contracts be awarded to small businesses.

The Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program was adopted in 1990 after information obtained underthe Freedom of Information Act began to surface that indicated the Pentagon wasfabricating their compliance with the 20% small business subcontracting goalsrequired under federal law at that time. 

The Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program was disguised as a test plan to increase subcontractingopportunities for small businesses but it was very carefully written to do justthe opposite.

Prime contractors participating in theTest Program no longer had to provide quarterly small business subcontractingplans that could be monitored by Congress, the media and the public to ensurecompliance with their small business subcontracting goals. The Test Programeffectively removed all transparency.

The final provision of theComprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program was the elimination of allpenalties such as "liquidated damages"for Pentagon prime contractors that did not comply with their small businesssubcontracting goals.

Once penalties for non-compliance withsubcontracting goals were eliminated, along with the quarterly reports that hadbeen used to monitor compliance with subcontracting goals, prime contractorscould no longer be held accountable in any way for ignoring congressionallymandated small business subcontracting goals.

For 25 years the Pentagon has refusedto provide any data on the Test Program. A 2004 GAO investigation and the language in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Billacknowledges the Pentagon has never released any information that shows theTest Program has achieved any of its goals. The Pentagon is also refusing to release any information on theComprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program under the Freedom of InformationAct.

Although Graves has backed a plan toincrease the federal small business contracting goal from 23% to 25%, he hasrefused to back legislation, such as H.R. 1622 The Fairness andTransparency in Contracting Act, that would stop Fortune 500 firms from qualifying as smallbusinesses.

The American Small Business League (ASBL)estimates during the 25 years of the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan TestProgram, American small businesses have been cheated out of well over onetrillion dollars in federal subcontracts.

ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated,"Congressman Graves' 25% small business contracting goal is a ruse. Whatdifference does it make what the small business contracting goal is whenfederal policies allow Fortune 500 firms to land small business contracts? Theycould make it 100% and it still wouldn't mean anything. His support for thePentagon's 25 year old anti-small business Test Program is why the ASBLconsiders him to be one of the most anti-small business members inCongress."

To view full Press Release, clickhere: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/congressman-sam-graves-endorses-25-year-old-pentagon-anti-small-business-program-1916550.htm

PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 2,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, thefailed Pentagon Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program has been in place for 25 years and yet not onejournalist from the mainstream media has ever reported on the controversial andsecretive program.

The Pentagon quietly adopted theComprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program in 1989 after journalists andCongress uncovered the fact that the Pentagon had falsified data on the actualpercentage of federal subcontracts that had been awarded to small businesses,including minority-owned firms. Congress also found the Pentagon was notcomplying with federal law, the Small Business Act of 1953 that requires aminimum of 20% of all federal contracts and subcontracts be awarded to smallbusinesses and 5% to small, minority-owned firms.

In one example, the House ArmedServices Committee investigated the Air Force F-22 Stealth Fighter contract.The Committee found that as opposed to the minimum 20% small business goalrequired by law, the Air Force had given Lockheed Martin a small businesssubcontracting goal of just .016%. A story in the Washington Post by StevenPearlstein began, "The Pentagon's biggest new weapons program -- the F-22stealth fighter -- is proving to be as invisible to small and minority-owneddefense firms as it is to enemy radar." The Air Force was forced toallocate an additional $501 million to small businesses.

To avoid another embarrassingCongressional investigation the Pentagon enacted the ComprehensiveSubcontracting Plan Test Program. The program was disguised as a plan to increase subcontractingopportunities for small businesses. In reality it was carefullywritten to do just the opposite. Under the Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program the public, Congress and the media would no longer have access toindividual subcontracting plans and the quarterly reports that could be used totrack a prime contractor's compliance with their subcontracting goals.

In addition to the elimination ofreports, all firms participating in the program were also exempt from federallaw that required prime contractors to pay "liquidated damages"for failing to achieve their small business subcontracting goals.

In 2004 a Government AccountabilityOffice investigation, Report GAO-04-381, found no evidence that the TestProgram had achieved any of its goals. That fact went unreported in themainstream media.

Even the language in the 2015 NationalDefense Authorization Bill that proposes to extend the Test Program into its 28^th yearacknowledges there is no evidence the Test Program hasever worked. This fact has also gone unreported in the mainstreammedia.

During the last 25 years the Pentagonhas refused to release any data that showed the Test Program achieved any ofits goals. The Pentagon is currently refusing torelease any data on the Test Program under the Freedom of InformationAct. This is yet another fact that has gone unreported in the mainstreammedia.

The American Small Business Leagueestimates that over the last 25 years American small businesses have beencheated out of over one trillion dollars in subcontracts as a result of theComprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program.

To view full Press Release, click here: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/Pentagon-Failed-Test-Program-Dodged-Media-Coverage-for-25-Years-1916354.htm