PETALUMA, Calif., Jan. 28, 2015/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Federal Judge WilliamAlsup has granted a motion from Sikorsky Aviation Corporation to allow Sikorskyto intervene in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) casefor data they submitted to the Pentagon's Comprehensive Subcontracting PlanTest Program (CSPTP).

On Nov. 23, Federal District Court Judge William Alsup ordered the Pentagon to releasedata Sikorsky Aviation Corporation submitted to the ComprehensiveSubcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP). The American Small Business League(ASBL) requested the data under the Freedom of Information Act totest the Pentagon's refusal to release any data on the CSPTP in over 25 years.

"The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act is so thepublic can see how our government works. Congress passed this law to make thesmall businesses have access to some of these projects, and here is the United States coveringit up," stated Judge Alsup in his November 6, 2014 hearing.

ASBL President Lloyd Chapmanhas been a long time critic of the Pentagon's CSPTP. Chapman hasmaintained the CSPTP was designed to create a loophole that has allowed thePentagon and many of it's largest prime contractors to circumvent federal lawand cheat small businesses outof up to $2.5 trillion in subcontracts.

The Pentagon adopted the CSPTP in 1990 under the pretense of"increasing subcontracting opportunities for small businesses."In reality the program eliminated all transparency for the public andeliminated any penalties for prime contractors that failed to comply with theirsmall business subcontracting requirements.

In a December 31, 2014 story in the Washington Post,Pentagon spokeswoman Maureen Schumann finally acknowledged theCSPTP has reduced subcontracting opportunities for small businesses as Chapman suspected. She admitted that the program "hasled to an erosion of [the agency's] small business industrial base," andthat "there is no evidence that the CSPTP has benefited small companies."

In September 2014, Professor Charles Tiefer, one of America's leadingexperts on federal contracting law released a legal opinion on the CSPTP. He stated, "The program isa sham and its extension will be seriously harmful to vitalopportunities for small business... There is no doubt in my mind the CSPTP hassignificantly reduced subcontracting opportunities for small businesses. Itshould not have gotten its 25 years of extension as a never-tested 'TestProgram.' Let it expire."

On Dec. 19, President Obama signedlegislation renewing the CSPTP into its 28th year of testing.

"The 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 1994 the Pentagon could not withhold smallbusiness subcontracting data under the Freedom of Information Act. We willprove the Pentagon has cheated American small businesses out of trillions ofdollars in subcontracts. I plan to seek criminal prosecutions for all guiltyparties," stated Chapman.

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