Pentagon 25-Year-Old "Sham" Program To Be Renewed By Congress

PETALUMA, Calif., Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a matter of days President Obama and Congress will likely renew the 25-year-old Pentagon Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP) into its 28^th year of testing.

The Pentagon adopted the CSPTP 25 years ago in 1990 under the guise of "increasing subcontracting opportunities for small business". In reality the CSPTP did just the opposite. Once the CSPTP was implemented, it eliminated all transparency on publicly available small business subcontracting information and any penalties, such as liquidated damages, for prime contractors that failed to comply with their small business subcontracting goals.

Before 1990, the general public could use the small business subcontracting reports to track a prime contractor's compliance with their small business subcontracting goals. 

For 25 years the Pentagon has refused to release any of the subcontracting data prime contractors participating the in the CSPTP have submitted.

A 2004 GAO investigation found no evidence that the CSPTP had ever "increased subcontracting opportunities for small businesses."

The Chairman's Mark of the House version of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Bill stated, "However, after nearly 24 years since the original authorization of the program, the test program has yet to provide evidence that it meets the original stated goal of the program..."

In September, Professor Charles Tiefer issued a legal opinion on the CSPTP that stated, "The program is a sham and its extension will be seriously harmful to vital opportunities for small business to get government contracting work… There is no doubt in my mind the CSPTP has significantly reduced subcontracting opportunities for small businesses. It should not have gotten its 25 years of extension as a never-tested 'Test Program.' Let it expire."

The American Small Business League (ASBL) has launched a national campaign to block the renewal of the CSPTP. The ASBL has been the only national small business advocacy group to publicly oppose the renewal of the program. The ASBL has filed suit in federal District Court in San Francisco under the Freedom of Information Act to force the Pentagon to release the most recent subcontracting reports submitted under the CSPTP by Lockheed Martin, British Aerospace and Engineering (BAE) and Sikorsky.

"The Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program is one of the biggest anti-small business scams in the history of the Pentagon. The very idea of eliminating all transparency and penalties for prime contracts to see if that increases subcontract opportunities for small business is a staggering example of Pentagon fraud. The fact that Congress has renewed this program for 25 years is insane. The idea that President Obama and Congress could renew this program into its 28^th year of testing is the absolute pinnacle of corruption in Washington," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman stated. 

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SOURCE American Small Business League