WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cuneo Gilbert &LaDuca, LLP has been named by the American Small Business League (ASBL) as leadattorneys in its civil case against the Department of Defense (DOD) and itscontractor Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Sikorsky).   ASBL allegesDOD and Sikorsky wrongfully withheld documents from the public on a sole sourcecontract for helicopters. A trial is scheduled for December11 in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. 

"Thisrare Freedom of Information Act trial will test the government's claim that thecentral facts underlying a sole source contract for which there are nocompetitors are proprietary," said Jonathan W. Cuneo,partner of Washington, DCbased Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP. "This is a simple conflict between secrecy and openness on the part of aFortune 500 contractor who has received billions of dollars from taxpayers for30 years."

TheAmerican Small Business League, a Sonoma, CAbased small business advocacy group, filed the Freedom of Information Act(FOIA) request in 2013.  Following the refusal of DOD and Sikorsky, ownedby Lockheed Martin Corporation, to fully disclose documents claimed to beproprietary, the lawsuit was filed in federal court in 2014.  Although thecourt ruled in ASBL's favor, the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court reversed that decisionand sent the suit back to the lower court for discovery and trial.

"Citizensshould not have to go through time consuming and costly litigation to obtaininformation not involving national security to which they are entitled,"Mr. Cuneo added.

"Wefiled the FOIA lawsuit to force the Pentagon and its contractors to be moretransparent on  how, and to whom, subcontracts are awarded under thecontroversial Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP) ostensiblydesigned to promote the awarding of subcontracts to small businesses,"explained Lloyd Chapman, ASBL's founder andpresident.  "We believe the requested documents will show thatrequired small business subcontracting may have occurred only on a sham basis,if small business subcontracting occurred at all."

TheASBL has calculated that the Pentagon may have unwittingly deprived smallbusinesses of many hundreds of billions of dollars since the CSPTP began in1989 as a temporary, test program.  Now in its 28^th year,the "test" program reduces the specificity and transparency of largecontractor reporting of asserted small business subcontracting.  Thisenables Pentagon prime contractors to cheat legitimate small businesses, ASBLsays.

"Underthe Small Business Act, 23 percent of all federal contracts must be awarded tosmall businesses," Mr. Chapman continued.  "Since the Pentagonis the largest federal contractor and small businesses make up 98 percent ofAmerica's companies, the outcome of our case could have a meaningful, positiveimpact on the U.S. economy if it leads to real reform of the subcontractingprocess."

Withits principal office in Washington, DC,Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP representsclients in a range of civil justice and legislative matters including civil andhuman rights, antitrust, consumer protection, product liability and securitiesand intellectual property.

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Back in August, theSmall Business Administration (SBA) announced that it would receive public commentaryvia the Federal Register website on a proposed new policy thatwould allow large enterprises that pose as small businesses in order to defraudthe government into awarding them with federal contracts usually awarded tosmall businesses to come forward and still avoid penalties.

The "Safe Harbor from Fraud Penalties" policy may save large companies thatclaim they "acted in good faith" from paying huge fines, but it could cause smallbusinesses to lose out on contracts worth billions of dollars. The problem oflarge businesses winning small-business contracts has been known for more thana decade, but until recently not much has been done to rectify the situation.

A survey given by the AmericanSmall Business League (ASBL) among more than 2,000 U.S. Chambers of Commercereported an "overwhelming opposition" to the proposed policy. TheChambers represented all 50 states, and upon questioning, most were appalledthat the SBA would propose a policy that removed the stiff penalties from largecorporations that committed such fraud.

Section16 of the Small Business Act states:

"Whoever misrepresents the status of any concern or person as a 'smallbusiness concern,' a 'qualified HUBZone small business concern,' a 'smallbusiness concern owned and controlled by socially and economicallydisadvantaged individuals' or a 'small business concern[s] owned and controlledby women,' in order to obtain for oneself or another any—(A) prime contract tobe awarded pursuant to section 9, 15, or 31; (B) subcontract to be awardedpursuant to section 8(a); (C) subcontract that is to be included as part of allof a goal contained in subcontracting Plan required pursuant to section 8(d);or (D) prime or subcontract to be awarded as a result, or in furtherance, ofany other provision of Federal law that specifically references section 8(d)for a definition of program eligibility, shall be subject to the penalities andremedies described in paragraph (2)."

Those penalties include a fine of up to $500,000, 10 years of prison time,or both.

The proposed Safe Harbor policy would overlook all such penalties as long asthe fraudulent company says that it "acted in good faith."

This month, the public comments were concluded, and it has been reportedthat more than 90 percent of the comments submitted were in opposition.According to a release onSupply&DemandChain Executive, "the SBA received only twocomments that favored the new policy and both of those were from law firms thatrepresent large businesses."

The release also quotes President Obama as stating:

"It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts tocorporate giants."

The SBA has not given a statement on what it will do now that the public hasdeclared its discontent with the proposed Safe Harbor policy.

To view full article, click here: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/smb-tech/sba-finds-smbs-public-oppose-proposed-safe-harbor-policy.html

A contracting loophole denies smallbusinesses the chance to land subcontracting opportunities with the DefenseDepartment. The ComprehensiveSubcontracting Plan Test Program removes the requirement for primeDoD contractors to report their small business subcontracting plans. Thatleaves them without an incentive to meet their small business goals. CharlesTiefer is a law professor and contracting expert from the University ofBaltimore. On In Depth withFrancis Rose, he said it's time to end the 25-year old test program.

To listen to radio segment with CharlesTifer, click here: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/394/3707144/Charles-Tiefer-Law-Professor-University-of-Baltimore