PETALUMA, Calif., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Congress has included language in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) that would make the embattled 26-Year-old Pentagon ComprehensiveSubcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP)permanent.

The CSPTP was adopted by the Pentagon in 1989 under the guise of"Increasingsubcontracting opportunities for small business." In realitysmall businesses across the nation have been defrauded out of hundreds ofbillions of dollars in federal subcontracts as a result of the program.

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The CSPTP has just two provisions, the complete elimination of all transparencyand the elimination of all previously existingpenalties for prime contractors that failed to comply with theirsmall business subcontracting goals.

In 2014, Pentagon spokeswoman, Maureen Schumann acknowledgedthat due to its lack of transparency and accountability, the CSPTP "has led to anerosion of [the agency's] small business industrial base."Before voting to extend the CSPTP into it's 27^th year of testing, Congress acknowledged there had never been anyevidence the program had ever achieved its goal of increasingsubcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

In 2015, the Pentagon released a graph that indicatedsince the test program began, subcontracts to small businesses had actuallydropped by 50 percent.

Professor Charles Tiefer, one of the nation's leading experts onfederal contracting law, released a legal opinion describing the CSPTP as a"sham." In his legal opinion Professor Tiefer stated, "The program isa sham and its extension will be seriously harmful to vital opportunities forsmall business to get government contracting work [...] Let it expire."

The Pentagon has refused to release any information on the CSPTPfor over 26 years. The American Small Business League (ASBL) filed suitagainst the Pentagon in Federal District Court in San Francisco after thePentagon refused to releasesubcontracting reports that had been submitted by Sikorsky Aircraft to the testprogram.

Federal Judge William Alsup ruled in favorof the ASBL and ordered the Pentagon to release the Sikorsky data tothem. In his ruling Judge Alsup stated, "The purpose of the Freedom ofInformation Act is so the public can see how our government works. Congresspassed this law to make the small businesses have access to some of theseprojects, and here isthe United States covering it up."

The Pentagon has appealed the case to the9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated,"The Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program has cheated Americansmall businesses out of hundreds of billions of dollars in subcontracts forover 25 years. The Pentagon knows we will prevail in this case and they arehoping to sneak it into the 2017 NDAA and make it permanent before we win thecase and obtain the information that will prove it's a sham."

Contact: Jeanne Spatola
jspatola@asbl.com
925-255-3658

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