Senate To Renew "Sham" Test Program Exposed By Whistleblower Lloyd Chapman

PETALUMA, Calif., Dec. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Senate will likely join the House of Representatives this week in renewing the embattled 25-year-old Pentagon Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP) into its 28^th year of testing.

American Small Business League (ASBL) President and Pentagon whistleblower, Lloyd Chapman, launched a national media campaign to halt the renewal of the CSPTP. Chapman challenged the Pentagon's refusal to release any results of the "Test Program" in over twenty-five years using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). As a test case Chapman requested the most recent report submitted by Sikorsky Aviation Corporation under the CSPTP. The Pentagon refused to provide the data.

On Nov. 23, Federal District Court Judge William Alsup ordered the Pentagon to release the Sikorsky data to Chapman by Dec. 3. The Office of Solicitor General intervened and asked for a 60-day stay of the release of the data. Law360 released a story on the courts decision to grant the 60-day stay.

Chapman also retained Professor Charles Tiefer, one of the nation's leading experts on federal contracting law to evaluate the CSPTP. In Professor Tiefer's legal opinion on the CSPTP he 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."

The Washington Post, The Blaze and GovExec published stories critical of the CSPTP. The Hill published a blog written by Chapman titled, "Pull the plug on Pentagon's 25-year-old test program."   

With the House vote already in leaving it up to the Senate, both will vote to renew the program that has been widely described as an anti-small business "sham" even though no member of Congress has ever seen any test results or data on the CSPTP in over a quarter of a century.

The Pentagon adopted the CSPTP in 1990 under the pretense of "increasing subcontracting opportunities for small businesses." The Pentagon's plan to allegedly help small businesses had two provisions.

First, the CSPTP eliminated all publicly available documents on a prime contractor's compliance with federally mandated small business subcontracting goals. The second provision eliminated any penalties such as "liquidated damages" that prime contractors had previously faced for non-compliance with their small business subcontracting goals.

"If Congress likes this ludicrous idea for increasing subcontracting opportunities for small businesses at the Pentagon I think they should pass legislation to try the same idea at the IRS. Let's eliminate the requirement for tax payers to submit tax returns and eliminate any penalties for not paying your taxes and then test that idea for twenty-five years to see if that doesn't increase tax revenue," Chapman stated.

Chapman believes the Pentagon's move to stall the release of data on the CSPTP was designed to halt the release of potentially damaging information that could have jeopardized the renewal of the program by Congress before the Dec. 11 recess.

The Pentagon now has until January 22, 2015 to turn over the Sikorsky data or appeal the case to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The CSPTP will go into its 28^th year of testing until 2017.

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SOURCE American Small Business League