PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired -September 15, 2016) - According to the American Small Business League, SenatorJohn McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has includedlanguage in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that wouldseverely weaken Federal small business contracting and subcontracting programs.If Congress passes the Senate version of the 2017 NDAA thousands of smallbusinesses across the country could see billions of dollars in federalcontracts disappear.

The NDAA bill (S.2943) includes threeprovisions that could dismantle federal law that mandates American's 28 millionsmall businesses receive a minimum of 23% of allfederal contracts. McCain's version of the 2017 NDAA would exclude smallbusinesses from participating in all foreign contracts. It would also create aloophole that would allow the Pentagon to fabricate compliance withthe federal governments 23% small business contracting goal.

Senator McCain's version of the2017 NDAA also includes language that would makethe Pentagon's controversial 27-year-old Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan TestProgram (CSPTP) permanent. TheCSPTP was adopted in 1989 after the Pentagon was forced to release smallbusiness subcontracting reports that indicated Pentagon prime contractors werenot complying with federal small business subcontracting laws and regulations.

The Test Program was adoptedunder the guise of "increasing subcontractingopportunities for small business." In reality, it eliminated all publictransparency on small business subcontracting data. It also eliminatedpenalties that had existed for prime contractors that violated federalcontracting law.

The Pentagon has refused to release any data on theTest Program for 27 years. In 2015, the Pentagon finally produced a study thatadmitted the CSPTP had actually dramatically reducedsubcontracting opportunities for small businesses since 1989. The AmericanSmall Business League (ASBL) estimates since 1989 American smallbusinesses were cheated out of nearly two trillion dollars in federalsubcontracts as a result of the Test Program.

Professor Charles Tiefer one ofthe nation's leading experts on federal contracting law released a legalopinion of the CSPTP describing it as a "sham." In his legalopinion Professor Tiefer stated, "The program is a sham and itsextension will be seriously harmful to vital opportunities for small businessto get government contracting work... Let it expire."

The ASBL filed suit against thePentagon for refusing to release data on the CSPTP under the Freedom ofInformation Act. During the ASBL's suit against the Pentagon, Federal DistrictCourt Jude William Alsup stated, "So it wouldbe more like a David and Goliath. You get to come in there and be the underdogagain against the big company and against the big government… They are tryingto suppress the evidence."

The ASBL has launched a national campaign to encourage Senator McCainto remove the language from the 2017 National Defense Authorization Bill thatwould dismantle federal small business contracting programs.

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