PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - January 09,2017) - The following is a statement by the American Small Business League: TheSan Francisco 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the American SmallBusiness League's (ASBL) Freedom OfInformation Act Request (FOIA) case against the Pentagon on 01/06/2017. ThePentagon appealed the case after they lost in the Federal district court of SanFrancisco following the ruling that Sikorsky Aviation Corporation disclosetheir most recent subcontracting plan submitted to the Pentagon's ComprehensiveSubcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP).

The ASBL filed their case due to language inthe 27 year old test program that removed all transparency regarding contractprocurement, as well as all penalties for non-compliance with federal contractinglaw within the program. By seeking disclosure of Sikorsky Aviation Corporationsparticipation in the CSPTP, the ASBL sought to reveal evidence that the programallowed the Pentagon's largest prime contractors to circumvent small businesssubcontracting goals without penalty, costing small businesses trillions ofdollars.

Professor Charles Tiefer, a leading expert onfederal contracting law, has written a legalopinion corroborating the ASBL's case, calling the CSPTP a"sham"and "seriously harmful" to small businesses.

The ASBL originally won their FOIA caseagainst the Pentagon in Novemberof 2014. Federal District Court Judge William Alsup ordered the Pentagon torelease the Sikorsky data to the ASBL after reviewing the information anddeducing nothing in thereport constituted as trade secret, proprietary or confidential financialinformation.

In his ruling, Judge Alsup described the ASBLas beingan underdog in a David and Goliath battle against the "bigcompany" and against the "big government." He also accused thePentagon of "coveringit up" in reference to the information the ASBL requested. In asubsequent hearing, Judge Alsup accused the Pentagon and Sikorsky of trying to"suppressthe evidence."

During the District Court case, Judge Alsupinstructed the Pentagon and Sikorsky on two separate occasions to "highlightthe parts that are supposedly confidential" or that they believed wereproprietary and explain why they believed the information should be exempt. ThePentagon declined to comply with Judge Alsup's request.

During the December 14^th appeal, Judge NormanRandy Smith addressed the Pentagon regarding their lack of cooperation with theCourt, stating: "Youdidn't try, you just sent what you wanted."

Despite the fact that the Pentagon andSikorsky never complied with Judge Alsup's order to make evidence available toestablish the validity of their claims, Sikorsky continued to argue during theDecember 14^th hearing that a detailed disclosure of their small businessrecruiting program and subcontracting reports would put them at a disadvantageto competitors.

"With this ruling the 9^th circuit court ofappeals has decided the American People do not have the right to see how thePentagon's top contractors have spent trillions in our tax dollars over thelast 27 years," said ASBL President Lloyd Chapman. "The ASBL isalready working on appealing this case."

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