WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cuneo Gilbert &LaDuca, LLP has been named by the American Small Business League (ASBL) as leadattorneys in its civil case against the Department of Defense (DOD) and itscontractor Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Sikorsky).   ASBL allegesDOD and Sikorsky wrongfully withheld documents from the public on a sole sourcecontract for helicopters. A trial is scheduled for December11 in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. 

"Thisrare Freedom of Information Act trial will test the government's claim that thecentral facts underlying a sole source contract for which there are nocompetitors are proprietary," said Jonathan W. Cuneo,partner of Washington, DCbased Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP. "This is a simple conflict between secrecy and openness on the part of aFortune 500 contractor who has received billions of dollars from taxpayers for30 years."

TheAmerican Small Business League, a Sonoma, CAbased small business advocacy group, filed the Freedom of Information Act(FOIA) request in 2013.  Following the refusal of DOD and Sikorsky, ownedby Lockheed Martin Corporation, to fully disclose documents claimed to beproprietary, the lawsuit was filed in federal court in 2014.  Although thecourt ruled in ASBL's favor, the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court reversed that decisionand sent the suit back to the lower court for discovery and trial.

"Citizensshould not have to go through time consuming and costly litigation to obtaininformation not involving national security to which they are entitled,"Mr. Cuneo added.

"Wefiled the FOIA lawsuit to force the Pentagon and its contractors to be moretransparent on  how, and to whom, subcontracts are awarded under thecontroversial Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP) ostensiblydesigned to promote the awarding of subcontracts to small businesses,"explained Lloyd Chapman, ASBL's founder andpresident.  "We believe the requested documents will show thatrequired small business subcontracting may have occurred only on a sham basis,if small business subcontracting occurred at all."

TheASBL has calculated that the Pentagon may have unwittingly deprived smallbusinesses of many hundreds of billions of dollars since the CSPTP began in1989 as a temporary, test program.  Now in its 28^th year,the "test" program reduces the specificity and transparency of largecontractor reporting of asserted small business subcontracting.  Thisenables Pentagon prime contractors to cheat legitimate small businesses, ASBLsays.

"Underthe Small Business Act, 23 percent of all federal contracts must be awarded tosmall businesses," Mr. Chapman continued.  "Since the Pentagonis the largest federal contractor and small businesses make up 98 percent ofAmerica's companies, the outcome of our case could have a meaningful, positiveimpact on the U.S. economy if it leads to real reform of the subcontractingprocess."

Withits principal office in Washington, DC,Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP representsclients in a range of civil justice and legislative matters including civil andhuman rights, antitrust, consumer protection, product liability and securitiesand intellectual property.

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