Three Alaska Native Firms Want SBA 8(a) Program Reformed

Three prominent Alaska Native corporations say the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program needs to be changed, as reported on Oct. 3 by the Anchorage Daily News.

Native contracting has grown exponentially since the 8(a) program was created. Although developed to help increase the number of small, disadvantage companies participating in federal contracts, the program has over recent years been seriously criticized, and there have been allegations of abuse. Alaska Native firms have become major players in the program, but they have also attracted a lot of the scrutiny due to a small number of them violating the rules.

The Alaska Native firms that want the program changed — Cook Inlet Region, Inc., Doyon and Arctic Slope — have come up with a nine-point reform package, which, as the article says, mirrors revisions already proposed by the SBA and to be finalized later this year. Among the firms’ proposed changes are: requiring Native 8(a) contractors to annually disclose how they have benefited shareholders and tribal members and capping the size of contracts at $100 million.

"To reform it is to save it," Margie Brown, chief executive of Cook Inlet Region, told Anchorage Daily News.

Alaska Native Corps Get Letter from Senator Asking for Internal Records

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill has launched an investigation into the millions of contracting dollars that Alaska Native Corporations have received from the federal government since 2000, The Anchorage Daily News reported on May 18.

McCaskill sent a letter to 20 of Alaska's largest Native Corporations last week. In it, she requested their internal records, including executive and board of directors pay and how many Natives they employed, covering the last eight years.

At issue are the contracting advantages that Alaska Native Corporations have with the Small Business Administration Section 8(a) program. Section 8(a) helps small, disadvantaged companies access the federal procurement market. It is typically for small contracts (those under $5.5 million for goods or $3.5 million for services). Federal law, though, provides the Corporations with an exemption, allowing them to enter into sole-source contracts of any value. They are also allowed to subcontract work to companies that don’t qualify for the Section 8(a) program and to enter into joint ventures and partnerships with non-Native companies for sole-source contracts.

The Corporations that received a letter were asked to provide the information no later than May 29, 2009. A hearing with the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight has been scheduled for July 16, 2009.

Clara Pratte Named Director of SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs

The U.S. Small Business Administration confirmed to AIR today that Clara Pratte has been appointed as the national director of the agency’s Office of Native American Affairs.

As national director, she will help ensure that American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians who want to create, develop and expand small businesses have full access to the tools available through the SBA's entrepreneurial development, lending and procurement programs, according to Cecelia Taylor of the SBA’s press office.

Before joining the SBA, Pratte worked for the Navajo Nation as a policy analyst and legislative liaison, focusing on economic and community development, housing and education issues.