PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 26,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, the Senate has votedto renew the 25 year old controversial Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program into its 28^th year of testing withlanguage that appears to have been specifically written to be ambiguous.

The Senate version of the2015 National Defense Authorization Bill (S.2410) states the Test Program:

"shallterminate on September 30, 2015, if the Under Secretary for Acquisition,Technology and Logistics certifies to the congressional defense committees notlater than December 31, 2014, that --

1) theDepartment of Defense will not be able to transition all participants in thetest program to individual small business subcontracting plans that meet allrelevant requirements contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation beforeDecember 31, 2014; or

2)participants transitioned to individual small business subcontracting plans donot enhance subcontracting opportunities for small business concerns."

The Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program was adopted back in 1990 under the guise of changing federalcontracting law to increase subcontractingopportunities for small businesses. In reality, small businesseshave lost out on hundreds of billions of dollars in subcontracts as a result ofthe changes.

The first change was the eliminationof publicly available small business subcontracting plans and publiclyavailable quarterly and annual subcontracting reports. This change essentiallyremoved all transparency from Pentagon subcontracting programs.

The second change was the eliminationof "liquidated damages"for Pentagon prime contractors that failed to comply with federal lawestablishing small business subcontracting goals. Prior to the implementationof the Test Program, prime contractors that failed to achieve their smallbusiness subcontracting goals were subject to paying liquidated damages in theamount of the deficiency.

Research by the American SmallBusiness League (ASBL) indicates the Test Program was obviouslynot designed to help small businesses but to create a significant loophole infederal contracting law that has allowed the Pentagon's largest primecontractors to circumvent federal law establishing small businesssubcontracting goals.

The ASBL estimates small businesseshave been defrauded out of over one trillion dollars in subcontractssince the Test Program began in 1990.

ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated,"What would you think if your local school district came up with a testprogram to determine if eliminating tests, report cards and any penalties forstudents that did not attend classes actually increased scholastic scores? Nowimagine testing that insane program for 25 years. This is exactly what Congresshas done with the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program."

The Pentagon has refused to releaseany data on the Test Program. The ASBL has filed suit against thePentagon in Federal District Court in San Francisco for refusing to respond toFreedom of Information Act Requests for specific subcontracting data submittedunder the Test Program.

During the last 25 years, nojournalist has ever interviewed anyone from the Pentagon or Congress on why noresults have ever been released or why the Test Program is still in effectafter 25 years.

Please take a moment of your time toview this helpful video indescribing why this Test Program was designed specifically to help primecontractors and not small businesses.

To view press release, click here: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/Senate-Uses-Ambiguous-Language-to-Renew-Controversial-Pentagon-Test-Program-1924668.htm