PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired- January 10, 2017) - The San Francisco 9^thCircuit Court of Appeals ruled against the American Small Business League's (ASBL) Freedom Of Information Act Request (FOIA)case against the Pentagon on 01/06/2017. The Pentagon appealed the case afterthey lost in the Federal district court of San Francisco following the rulingthat Sikorsky Aviation Corporation disclose their most recent subcontractingplan submitted to the Pentagon's Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program(CSPTP).

The ASBL originally won their FOIA case against thePentagon in Novemberof 2014. Federal District Court Judge William Alsup ordered the Pentagon torelease the Sikorsky data to the ASBL after reviewing the information anddeducing nothing in thereport constituted as trade secret, proprietary or confidential financialinformation.

In his ruling, Judge Alsup described the ASBL as beingan underdog in a David and Goliath battle against the "bigcompany" and against the "big government." He also accused thePentagon of "coveringit up" in reference to the information the ASBL requested. In asubsequent hearing, Judge Alsup accused the Pentagon and Sikorsky of trying to"suppressthe evidence."

By seeking disclosure of Sikorsky Aviation Corporation'sparticipation in the CSPTP, the ASBL sought to reveal evidence that the programallowed the Pentagon's largest prime contractors to circumvent small businesssubcontracting goals without penalty, costing small businesses trillions ofdollars.

Professor Charles Tiefer, a leading expert on federalcontracting law, has written a legalopinion corroborating the ASBL's case, calling the CSPTP a "sham"and "seriously harmful" to small businesses.

During the District Court case, Judge Alsup instructedthe Pentagon and Sikorsky on two separate occasions to "highlightthe parts that are supposedly confidential" or that they believed wereproprietary and explain why they believed the information should be exempt. ThePentagon declined to comply with Judge Alsup's request.

Despite the 9^thCircuit Court having never seen the documents on which Judge Alsup based hisverdict, the Court of Appeals overruled Judge Alsup in favor of Sikorsky,rendering Sikorsky exempt from having to provide proof of compliance withfederal contracting law while participating in the CSPTP.

"This is a landmark decision," said ASBLPresident Lloyd Chapman. "With this ruling the 9^th CircuitCourt of Appeals eliminated all transparency regarding how the Pentagon's topcontractors have spent trillions of our tax dollars over the last 27 years. TheASBL is already working on appealing this case."

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