A little-known unit at the Defense Department may have to release dataconsidered proprietary by a major contractor under a Nov. 23 district courtruling favoring a small business advocacy group.

The Petaluma, Calif.-based American Small Business League on Wednesdayannounced its legal victory.  A northern California district judge agreedthat the Pentagon should honor the league's request under the Freedom of InformationAct for data Sikorsky submitted to the ComprehensiveSubcontracting Plan Test Program.

That program since 1990 has authorized negotiation, administration andreporting of subcontracting plans on a plant, division or company-wide basis to"determine whether comprehensive subcontracting plans will result in increasedsubcontracting opportunities for small business while reducing the administrativeburden on contractors," according to the Pentagon website.

The league has long challenged the program as a nonproductive, secretive wayof steering toward large corporations defense subcontracts for which smallbusinesses are most eligible. "Think of the lunacy of removing alltransparency and penalties for small business subcontracting programs for thePentagon's largest prime contractors and test it for 25 years to see if itincreases subcontracting opportunities for small businesses," League PresidentLloyd Chapman said. "It's an unparalleled example of fraud and corruption atthe Pentagon. We expect Judge [William] Alsup's ruling to lead to the eventualrelease of data on all firms participating in the [program] that will prove thePentagon has cheated American small businesses out of well over a trilliondollars in subcontracts."

A Pentagon spokeswoman declined comment to Government Executive,citing pending litigation.

The Defense Department responded initially to the 2013 suit seeking the databy asking for more time, citing "unusual circumstances which impact our abilityto quickly process your request." Those included "the need to search for andcollect records from several offices geographically separated from this officeand… the need to consult with one or more agencies or DoD computers having asubstantial interest in either the determination or the subject matter of theserecords," it said, according to the ruling.After giving the judge the data in both redacted and unredacted forms, thedepartment then asked for a summary decision rejecting release as harmful toSikorsky's competitiveness.

A director of supply management for Sikorsky, a manufacturer of helicoptersand other aircraft, had argued that releasing the data unredacted would provide"a potential competitor with information that will allow a competitor to betterunderstand how Sikorsky has done business in the past, how it structures itsproposals, and how it was able to win certain government contracts." Theunredacted data would also unveil such proprietary information as names andcontact information for company officials, contract dollar amounts, thecompany's small business goals and methodology for allocating spending, shesaid.

The judge rejected those arguments, saying the company had failed todocument how disclosure is "likely to cause substantial competitive injury." Heordered compliance by Dec. 3, pending appeal.

A Sikorsky spokesman on Monday told Government Executive thecompany is assessing its legal options. "Disclosure of this information couldprovide competitors with insights into our specific business strategies andinternal initiatives created to implement those strategies successfully,"spokesman Paul Jackson said. "Protection of this information is important tocontinuation of developing and utilizing the capabilities of our smallsuppliers." He added that "Sikorsky has a long history of supporting smallbusinesses, which comprise a significant portion of our total supply chainunder both U.S. government and commercial contracts."

The league's legal counsel, meanwhile, plans to use the November ruling as"the basis for efforts to ensure the subcontracting information that has beensubmitted by all of the participants of the Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program will be made publicly available."

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