PETALUMA, Calif., Nov. 11, 2014/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 2015 National Defense Authorization Billcurrently includes the renewal of a 25-year-old Pentagon test program that hasbeen described as a "sham" by Professor CharlesTiefer, one of the nation's leading experts on federalcontracting law.

Professor Tiefer's legal opinion on the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan TestProgram (CSPTP) stated, "the program is a sham and its extension will beseriously harmful to vital opportunities for small business to get governmentcontracting work… There is no doubt in my mind the CSPTP has significantlyreduced subcontracting opportunities for small businesses. It should not havegotten its 25 years of extension as a never-tested 'Test Program.' Let itexpire."

American Small Business League (ASBL) President Lloyd Chapmanhas been campaigning against the CSPTP for several years. Chapman ramped up theASBL's campaign to block the renewal of the CSPTP in May of 2014.

The Pentagon originally adopted the CSPTP in 1990 under the guise of increasingsubcontracting opportunities for small businesses.  In reality the CSPTP created a loophole in federal contracting lawthat allowed many of the Pentagon's largest prime contractors to circumventfederal law establishing small business subcontracting goals.

The CSPTP eliminated all transparency and penalties for prime contractorsthat failed to achieve their small business subcontracting goals. The ASBLestimates in the 25 years since the CSPTP began, small businesses may have beendefrauded out of over one trillion dollars insubcontracts.

In 2004, a GAO investigation into the CSPTP found no evidence that theprogram had ever achieved its stated goal of increasing subcontracting opportunitiesfor small businesses.

Even the language in the House version renewing the CSPTP intoits 28^th year of testing stated, "However,after nearly 24 years since the original authorization of the program, the testprogram has yet to provide evidence that it meets the original stated goal ofthe program..."

In the 25 years since the CSPTP began the Pentagon hasconsistently refused to release even a single page of documentation on theactual performance of the program to increase subcontracting opportunities forsmall businesses.

The ASBL has now filed three Freedom of Information casesagainst the Pentagon trying to obtain any specific small businesssubcontracting data on prime contractors participating in the program.

"I think Professor Tiefer's statement that the CSPTP is a"sham" is an understatement. I think the CSPTP is one of the largestexamples of fraud at the Pentagon in history. It would be absolutely insane forCongress to renew this blatantly fraudulent sham test program into its 28^th year of testing so its almost certain they will do just that. Iexpect the ASBL will prevail in our legal campaign to force the release of datasubmitted under the CSPTP and when we do I believe it will reveal over atrillion dollars in fraud by many of the Pentagon's largest primecontractors," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated.

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