The Department of Defense has untilWednesday under a federal court order toproduce information on a contracting program that critics say has been harmfulto small businesses while benefitting large defense firms.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup of theNorthern District of California issued a ruling last week in favor of theAmerican Small Business League, an advocacy group, in its Freedom ofInformation Act lawsuit against the Pentagon. Alsup ordered the Pentagon torelease documents on Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation's participation in the DOD'sComprehensive Small BusinessSubcontracting Plan.

This could set a far-reaching precedent,ASBL spokesman Steve Godfrey told TheBlaze, even though for now it affects justone of the contractors.

Specifically, Godfrey said, smallbusiness subcontracting data cannot be withheld "because it is not trade secretor proprietary information."

If the Defense Department appeals to theU.S. Ninth Circuit and loses, records of other large firms benefiting from thePentagon's small business program could also be opened.

"What this means is that the Pentagonwill ultimately have to release over 25 years' worth of secret data that no onehas ever seen before, not even the [Government Accountability Office]," Godfreysaid, adding that the data "we believe will uncover over one trillion dollarsin fraud in government contracting at the Pentagon."

A Pentagon spokeswoman did notimmediately respond to TheBlaze about the court ruling.

The Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program began in 1990 with the stated goal of improving access to federalsubcontracting for small American firms.But the program has come under fire from smallbusiness advocates and members of Congress for providing loopholes to largefirms such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon, NorthropGrumman, GE, BAE, Harris Corp., and Sikorsky which circumvent federalcontracting law mandating small business subcontracting goals.

For its part, the DOD wants to scrap theprogram. Earlier this year, Pentagon spokeswoman Maureen Schumann told TheBlaze, "Althoughwell-intended, the program has not produced quantifiable results. TheDepartment of Defense position is to not have Congress extend the CSP."

The ASBL filed its FOIA lawsuit infederal district court in San Francisco in May to get information onparticipation in the controversial program with Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky andBritish Aerospace Engineering (BAE). In October the organization narrowed itsrequest in a motion for summary judgment on just documents dealing withSikorsky.

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