Monday, July 20, 2009
Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) are being accused of exploiting loopholes in federal contracting rules to receive billions of dollars from the federal government, according to lawmakers and federal inspectors. Current regulations allow ANCs to receive no-bid contracts through a Small Business Administration program for minority and disadvantaged small businesses—even when an ANC is no longer a small business.
According to the office of Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), no-bid contracts for ANCs jumped from $508 million in 2000 to $5.2 billion in 2008. Upsetting to McCaskill and others is the fact that many of the corporations have little to do with Alaska Natives, who make up 5% of company employees and few of the executives.
A report by McCaskill’s staff found, for example, that the Afognak Native Corporation funneled 70% of all subcontract work to non-native businesses. The same report said the majority of the Alaska Native Corporations surveyed exceed the size requirements defined by the SBA.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Native Corporations Defend No-Bid Contracts in Front of U.S. Senate (by Betty Mills, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
No-Bid Contracts to Alaska Native Corporations Raise Eyebrows (by Ed O’Keefe, Washington Post)
Four Alaska Native Corporations Join to Counter Contracting Probe (by Erika Bolstad, Anchorage Daily News)
New Information About Contracting Preferences For Alaska Native Corporations (Part II) (Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight)
Participation in the 8(A) Program by Firms Owned by Alaska Native Corporations (Inspector General, Small Business Administration)
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