PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 16,2014) - According to the American Small Business League, the House ArmedServices Committee, headed by Congressman Howard P. McKeon, has passed the 2015National Defense Authorization Bill that includes an extension of a 25 year oldPentagon anti-small business test program.

H.R. 4435 includes an extension of theComprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program (CSPTP) into its 28^th year oftesting. The Pentagon adopted the CSPTP in 1990 under the guise of testingchanges in federal contracting law to determine if those changes would increasesubcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

The changes eliminated anysubcontracting plans and reports that had once been available to the public,along with the elimination of "liquidated damages"for prime contractors that failed to achieve their small businesssubcontracting goals.

The American Small Business League (ASBL)believes the CSPTP was not adopted to increase subcontracting opportunities forsmall business, but to eliminate transparency and penalties for primecontractors that did not comply with federal law establishing small businesssubcontracting goals.

During the 25 years the CSPTP has beentested, the Pentagon has never released any data showing that the eliminationof transparency and penalties for prime contractors has actually increasedsubcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

In fact, the language in Section 811of the Chairman's Mark of theFY15 National Defense Authorization Bill that extends the CSPTP into its 28^th year oftesting states,

"However, after nearly 24 years since the originalauthorization of the program, the test program has yet to provide evidence thatit meets the original stated goal of the program..."

A 2004 Government AccountabilityOffice (GAO) investigation into theComprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program also concluded there was no evidence the programhad increased subcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

In 2010 several members of Congress requested another GAO investigation into theCSPTP, but the GAO declined to launch the investigation.

The American Small Business Leagueestimates small businesses may have been defrauded out of in excess of onetrillion dollars in subcontracts since the program began in 1990. The ASBL is suing the Pentagon inFederal District Court in San Francisco after the Pentagon refused to releaseany subcontracting data from the CSPTP under the Freedom of Information Act.

The ASBL is also contacting Chambersof Commerce around the country as part of a national campaign to stop the renewal of the CSPTP.

To view full press release, clickhere:  http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/House-Armed-Services-Committee-Extends-Failed-Pentagon-Test-Program-to-2017-1920933.htm