Report: Oversight Of Tribal Contracts Lacking

RACHEL D'ORO

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Supporters of a federal program that gives Alaska Native corporations a special edge worth billions of dollars in federal contracts said Wednesday that a U.S. government report found what they have long been in favor of: improved oversight of the program.

"It is disappointing that critics are using this innocuous report to attack a program that creates economic opportunity for Native people across the country," said Will Anderson, president of Koniak Inc., a regional Native corporation and member of a coalition representing Native corporations.

The report by the Government Accountability Office says agencies need to do a better job monitoring the Small Business Administration 8(a) program that's designed to help small disadvantaged firms.

The report says Native corporations, also known as ANCs, represented $4.7 billion of the $5.5 billion in 2010 program obligations. Sole-source contracts are a primary source of a growth in the tribal 8(a) program.

The GAO report says an audit found minimal oversight by contracting officers working with tribal firms enrolled in the tribal program. A particular area of concern, the report said, was a lack of monitoring on subcontracting.

"Not monitoring the limitations on subcontracting can pose a major risk that an improper amount of work is being done by large business subcontractors under large-dollar value, sole-source contracts to tribal 8(a) firms," says the report released Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is calling for a congressional hearing on the report. Markey and other members of Congress have also requested another GAO report to look at ANC financial disclosures and corporate governance.

"We need ANCs to promote economic development and opportunity for Alaska Natives," Markey said. "We should make sure they are serving this purpose above all else."

The SBA implemented new rules last year after the audit began. Companies owned by tribes, Native corporations and Native Hawaiian organizations are now required to report the benefits returning to their communities.