PETALUMA,Calif., Oct. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On September 14, 2016 the ASBLwaged a nationalcampaign opposing language in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) that would cripple Federal small business contracting and subcontractingprograms. Thousands of American small businesses will lose billions of dollarsin Federal contracts if Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, Senator JohnMcCain, is allowed to include his anti-smallbusiness language in the 2017 NDAA.

Thefirst provision in Senator McCain's version of the 2017 NDAA would make thePentagon's controversial 27-year-old Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan TestProgram (CSPTP)permanent. The CSPTP was adopted in 1989 under the guise of "increasing subcontracting opportunities for small business"after the Pentagon was forced to release small business subcontracting reportsthat indicated Pentagon prime contractors were not complying with federal smallbusiness subcontracting laws and regulations.

Pentagonspokeswoman Maureen Schumann supported the ASBL's assertion that the CSPTP isineffective, commenting in an article for The Washington Post in September 2014 that the program"Has led to an erosion of the [the agencies] small business industrialbase." Schumann commented again later that year in The Blaze, "Although well intended, the program hasnot produced quantifiable results. The Department of Defense position is to nothave Congress extend the CSP."

ProfessorCharles Tiefer, one of the nation's leading experts on federal contracting law,released a legal opinion on the CSPTP describing it as a "sham." In his legal opinion Professor Tiefer stated, "The program is a sham and its extension will be seriouslyharmful to vital opportunities for small business to get government contractingwork... Let it expire."

TheNDAA bill (S.2943) includes two additional provisions, the first ofwhich would allow the Pentagon to fabricatecompliance with the federal government's 23% small business contractinggoal by merging first and second tier subcontracts with prime contracts

Thethird provision would exclude small businesses from participating in allforeign contracts. Criticism over the lackof transparency in federal overseas contracting extends back to 2004, witha GAO reportstating "Without accurate and complete information on subcontracts tofirms performing outside the U.S., (the Department of Defense) cannot makeinformed decisions on industrial base issues."

TheASBL's national campaign against the NDAA provisions has caught on in Washington.On September 30th, weeks after the ASBL launched their campaign, the SBA'sAssociate Administrator for Government Contracting, John Shoraka, told Forbes that they are in agreement with the ASBL's sentimentthat section 838 would have a negative impact on small businesses.

"I'mglad the SBA has finally decided to join us in opposing  what can only bedescribed as anti-small business language included by McCain in the 2017NDAA," stated ASBL President Lloyd Chapman. "These three provisionswould devastate the middle class economy, putting millions of small businessesout of business."

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