9th Circuit Decides Pentagon Sikorsky Case Not Going To Mediation

PETALUMA, Calif., March 18, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided the case between the Pentagon and the American Small Business League (ASBL) over Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation's subcontracting reports is not appropriate for mediation. In February, the 9^th Circuit originally requested to see if the parties wanted to enter into mediation to resolve the case. The ASBL opposed mediation. On Mar. 9, the 9^th Circuit issued their decision the case was not appropriate for mediation.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the ASBL originally requested the most recent report Sikorsky had submitted to the Pentagon's 25-year old Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP). The ASBL selected Sikorsky at random as a test case to challenge the Pentagon's refusal to release any data on the CSPTP for over 25 years.

The ASBL also intended to use the Sikorsky data to try and block the renewal of the CSPTP in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

In November of 2014, Federal District Court Judge William Alsup ruled in favor of the ASBL and ordered the Pentagon to release the Sikorsky data by December 3, 2014. On Dec. 2, the Office of Solicitor General intervened in the case and the Pentagon was granted a 60-day extension on the release of the data.

Judge Alsup accused the Pentagon of trying to "cover up" the data. In a subsequent hearing in January, Judge Alsup described the ASBL as being in a "David and Goliath" battle with the Pentagon and Sikorsky and stated the Pentagon was trying to "suppress the evidence" in the case.

The Pentagon adopted the CSPTP in 1989 under the pretense of "increasing subcontracting opportunities for small businesses." In reality the program eliminated all transparency and penalties on small business subcontracting programs for prime contractors.

The Pentagon recently admitted the CSPTP had actually reduced opportunities for small businesses.

One of the nation's leading experts on federal contracting law, Professor Charles Tiefer, issued a legal opinion on the program that stated, "The program is a sham and its extension will be seriously harmful to vital opportunities for small business... It should not have gotten its 25 years of extension as a never-tested 'Test Program.' Let it expire."

The Pentagon is expected to file their appellant opening brief with the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals by May 1, 2015.

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SOURCE American Small Business League