An Open Letter To Rachel Maddow From American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman

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Dec 11, 2014, 01:54 ET

PETALUMA, Calif., Dec. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is an open letter to Rachel Maddow from ASBL President Lloyd Chapman:

I just watched your Wednesday night program about the inclusion of the Tonto National Forest land giveaway to Rio Tinto mining in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

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I have uncovered another example of an unbelievably corrupt provision that is being included in the Defense Authorization Act. It's called the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP). I have won over two dozen Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cases against the federal government. I have seen thousands of pages of documents relating to federal small business contracting programs.

Based on all the data I have seen, I would estimate America's 28 million small businesses have been defrauded out of well over one trillion dollars in federal subcontracts since this "Test Program" was adopted more than a quarter of a century ago.

The House has voted to renew this program into its twenty-eighth year of testing. To date no member of Congress or taxpayer has ever seen any reports or data on this program.

The Pentagon has refused to release any data on this program for more than twenty-five years. Gee, I wonder why?

The Pentagon adopted this "Test Program" in 1990 under the pretense of "increasing subcontracting opportunities for small businesses." In reality it did just the opposite. The CSPTP eliminated all publicly available data that could be used to track a Pentagon prime contractor's compliance with federally mandated small business subcontracting goals.

It also eliminated all penalties such as "liquidated damages" that Pentagon prime contractors had previously faced for failing to comply with their federally mandated small business subcontracting goals.

The language in the Chairman's Mark of the 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..."

Pentagon spokeswoman Maureen Schumann told The Blaze in a statement, "Although well-intended, the program has not produced quantifiable results. The Department of Defense position is to not have congress extend the CSP."

Professor Charles Tiefer is one of the nation's leading experts on federal contracting law. In September, he issued a legal opinion on the CSPTP. It stated, "The program is a sham and its extension will be seriously harmful to vital opportunities for small business to get government contracting work... Let it expire."

I hope you will agree that eliminating all transparency on federal small business subcontracting programs, as a plan to help small businesses is ludicrous. To continue to test this "sham" program into its twenty-eighth year of testing is insane. Like the Rio Tinto Apache land giveaway, the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program is another example of our broken government. These two corrupt provisions should not be allowed to be included in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act.

On Nov. 23, I won a landmark FOIA case against the Pentagon. They don't' seem to like me for some reason. Now that I have sent you this letter you will probably be contacted from someone representing the government about this. I think this documentary trailer explains what I am trying to accomplish.

Nothing the Pentagon can say about me has any relevance to the facts surrounding their secret 25-year-old blatantly anti-small business "sham" Test Program.

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SOURCE American Small Business League