U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier’s statements in the Jan. 6, 2012 article in the San Mateo Daily Journal, “Speier to focus on military spending,” falsely describes Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) and their participation in government contracting. Rep. Speier, D-San Mateo, believes ANCs are a problem that she must address.

Rep. Speier claims that ANC contracts allow a bypass of the bid process, and falsely claims that such contracts “violate the law.” It is true subsidiaries of ANCs in the 8(a) program may receive direct award contracts, just like any other 8(a) firm. But, it is patently false to claim that the awarding of sole source contract to any 8(a) firm violates the law. It’s disappointing when misinformation is spread about these efficient, hardworking companies. ANCs employ more than 7,600 hardworking Californians while providing benefits to native shareholders.

It appears Rep. Speier may question our indigenous land claims settlement. In 1971, Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The act extinguished Alaska native land claims in order to facilitate the development of the Alaska pipeline worth trillions of dollars in oil. Alaska natives gave up 88 percent of our traditional lands, and received in return ANCs. ANCs pay state and federal taxes and are responsible for serving their Native shareholders and providing social, cultural and economic benefits to their Native communities in perpetuity. Shares of ANCs cannot be traded or sold, it is a lifetime membership. Only Alaska Native shareholders through the election of an Alaska Native Board have a say in the companies’ businesses, cultural and social endeavors. In 40 years, some ANCs have done well, while others still struggle to find their footing in achieving business success.

ANCs participation in the Small Business Administration 8(a) program is often described by Alaska native leaders as the missing link to ANCSA and is absolutely instrumental to the business development of ANCs. Through the 8(a) program, many ANCs are able to provide eldercare trust funds, dividends, funeral assistance, home heating assistance, scholarships and other benefits for some of the Nation’s poorest most underrepresented people. In these economic times members of Congress should be empowering small and disadvantaged businesses nationwide, like ANCs, to grow and prosper, not stifle their growth and opportunities.

We (I) invite Rep. Speier to visit us in Alaska, to visit our companies, the native people and to see an Alaska native village. We want to tell our story for ourselves so that Rep. Speier can be better informed about ANCs.

Rep. Speier, consider this an open, standing invitation.

Kristina Woolston is an Athabascan Indian Shareholder of Bristol Bay Native Corporation and Paug-Vik Village Corporation and sits on the Board of Directors for the Native American Contractors Association.

Native corporations and their subsidiaries should conduct business in an open and transparent manner.  As a group, we condemn any action that betrays the trusting relationship between Native corporations, our subsidiaries and the people and communities we represent. Native 8(a) Works supports efforts that improve transparency in federal 8(a) contracting, and address any potential for waste, fraud or abuse. We fully support and endorse compliance with federal rules and ethical conduct.

At a time when Native corporations’ status as 8(a) contractors is constantly under attack, we hope that the alleged actions of one company will not contribute to further misconceptions about Native 8(a) contractors and the value they deliver to America taxpayers.  The alleged wrongdoing by a few individuals is exactly that – the actions of individuals – and these individuals’ crimes should not be considered representative of the Native corporation subsidiary or the broader category of Native-owned 8(a) companies that provide excellent products and services to the federal government.

Native 8(a) contracting helps Alaska Native, Tribal members and Native Hawaiians prosper through dividends, scholarships and many other benefits. The program provides tens of thousands of jobs across the country, helping community economies around the country.

Old Harbor

Koniag

Rachel Kutuk McClanahan takes over the helm at NIQI, an Akmaaq company that sells high-quality packaged foods to both federal and commercial clients. Brad Osborne is the new head of NANA Oilfield Services and Robin Kornfield is the first president of Piksik, the new NANA company that provides services to Alaska’s emerging film industry.

McClanahan grew up in Kotzebue, but left at 15 to live in Florida. After she finished high school and college, Rachel spent 13 years working in management for Ruby Tuesdays. She moved to Washington State in 2003 and was working for a health maintenance organization. She was invited to a shareholder picnic and job fair at the Seattle Zoo in 2005. By 2006 she’d landed a position with NANA Services as an administrative assistant. Since NANA Services was a small company, the job gave her a variety of hands-on experiences and a chance to grow with the company.

McClanahan says that her status as a shareholder and her knowledge of how business success benefits her and other shareholders is an important part of her work. “As a shareholder, I take great pride in what I do.”

Osborne, a long-time NDC employee, believes well-rounded managers need a good grasp of the financial aspects of running a business. He started with NDC as an entry-level accountant and rose to controller after earning his accounting degree.

Osborne replaces Fred Smith, another NANA shareholder, who retired.

NANA Oilfield Services, Inc. (NOSI) assists North Slope producers and contractors with the purchase of more than 5 million gallons a year of diesel, gasoline and aviation fuels, as well as all of the Chevron lubricants to keep equipment in optimum running condition.

Kornfield is vice president of communications and marketing for NDC. She serves as a key advisor on the senior leadership team and is responsible for the strategic communications of NANA and its diverse subsidiaries — including brand management, marketing and public relations activities and outreach programs. Kornfield lives in Anchorage and is originally from the NANA Region village, Kiana.

Prior to her current role, Kornfield served NANA as a corporate communications consultant. Her professional background includes corporate marketing production, business to business marketing, film production, event design and production, association management and convention sales. Kornfield earned her master’s degree in business administration from the University of Alaska Anchorage and her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. Piksik, LLC is a one-stop Alaska resource for producers from around the world that provides production management, extensive support services and passthrough options.

The U.S. Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM) recognized Chugach Industries Inc. (CII) as its 2010 Support Contractor of the Year for its work at the U.S. Army Garrison-Picatinny Arsenal.

IMCOM cited Chugach Industries’ “commitment to excellence, professionalism and delivery of exceptional products every time called upon.” Chugach Industries is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chugach Alaska Corporation.

NANA Development Corporation’s Five Rivers Services, LLC (FRS) was named Small Business Contractor of the Year by the Department of Defense/Pikes Peak Region Military Installations. This award recognizes excellence in small business contractor support for Air Force Space Command, 21st Space Wing (Peterson AFB), 50th Space Wing (Schriever AFB), U. S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT), Fort Carson, and the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Rocky Mountain Region.

FRS provides full-spectrum IT, communications, environmental research, multimedia, and training support services.

Shelly wants Navajo businesses to engage in similar government contracting activities as ANCs.

At the conference, Shelly and the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) President Julie Kitka discussed how the Navajo Nation and the AFN can partner on mutual economic and political issues.

“Partnering for the continued success of our Native people is not just a good thing to do,” Shelly said in a statement. “It’s critical to our survival as we see shrinking federal budgets and detrimental polices and it’s important to coordinate where there is mutual interest.”

During the three-day event, Shelly met with NANA Regional Corporation, CIRI Development Corporation, Old Harbor Village Corporation, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and Tyonek Native Corporation. The meeting with Tyonek included a village visit to the closed community of Tyonek and a meeting with village tribal leadership.

During his stay, he also toured the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Alaska Tribal Health Consortium.

To keep the ball rolling forward, Shelly plans to the AFN annual meeting in October.

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Q. The SBA 8(a) program has gotten a lot of criticism over the last year. Where do you think there are real areas where the 8(a) program can do better and where are some places where the critics or proposed legislation is misguided?

A. The review of 8(a) we’ve just completed, the regulations hadn’t been reviewed in over 15 years, so it was definitely time. We now have new regulations in place and are looking forward to seeing how those new regulations help us implement an even stronger program. One of the key areas of focus for the new regs was to have a very fine screen for waste, fraud and abuse, so the benefits flow to those businesses for whom the benefits are intended. That’s generally where the criticisms are centered — that the wrong people, or businesses took advantages that weren’t supposed to.

It’s hard to argue against the power of the 8(a) program and it’s ability to provide opportunity for small business. There are countless examples of small businesses who have taken advantage of 8(a) properly and done a great job of strengthening their communities and growing jobs. At SBA, we just want to make sure, and through the review of regs, we looked for every opportunity to tighten the screen so the waste, fraud and abuse elements are there.

Q. And where do you think the critics are going wrong?

A. For example, I had a wonderful opportunity to visit an Alaska Native corporation in Tatitlek, and had a presentation from the CEO Roy Totemoff, their senior VP of operations, and other officials. I heard the story and saw for myself how the benefits of their participation in the 8(a) program are definitely having a positive effect on the village.

It’s important for people to understand there is an organic aspect to the 8(a) program with the ANCs. Some detractors have said all the economic activity should occur in the village. Well, that’s really not feasible given where the villages are, the demographics and, most importantly, what villagers want. The activity happens in a variety of places, but benefits in all cases continue to flow to the villages to support cultural and language preservation, supporting senior citizens, improving education, infrastructure development. All those key elements for keeping those villages there and growing for the next generation.

I would encourage those detractors to actually visit some of these companies and see what’s happening. It’s very powerful, positive work that’s being done.

Q. How engaged were the ANCs with the drafting of the regs, reviewing them, and how engaged were you with them on getting feedback?

A. We have been pretty much universally complimented on the process. It was an extremely engaging process where we visited 10 cities, we had three tribal consultations, we had well over 2,000 comments that were factored into the new regulations.

Q. What was the best piece of input you got from the Alaska companies in making the program better?

A. One regulation we’ll be implementing soon is one where the corporations will be reporting on an annual basis about how the benefits from the enterprises flow to the shareholder community. What I heard in a number of conversations with these business leaders is that they are looking forward to that and this structured opportunity to talk about how the benefits flow and tell that story. That will be a way to address a lot of the misperception that exists regarding how these programs work and how the benefits flow.

Q. What are your immediate and long-term goals for developing the 8(a) program?

A. We’re not going to wait another 15 years to look under the hood and see what refinements need to be made. We’ll continually look to see how we can make it stronger based on what we’re hearing from the community. The bottom line now and into the future is how to make sure this program continues to serve as an important way to grow businesses and create jobs.

“What I heard in a number of conversations with these business leaders is that they are looking forward to this structured opportunity to talk about how the benefits flow and tell that story,” said Maria Johns, SBA’s deputy director, during the National 8(a) Association’s summer conference last month in Anchorage. “That will be a way to address a lot of the misperception that exists regarding how these programs work and how the benefits flow.”

SBA officials held tribal consultations on the new rule to discuss how the reports might look. Ron Perry, president of the National 8(a) Association. Perry said it’s important that the process not be costly and cumbersome, and that the data not be easily misinterpreted

“If you’ve got a business starting up, it takes three years to break even,” Perry said.  “You’re not going to provide any meaningful benefit to your shareholders potentially in that period of time.”

That said, Perry quickly adds: “There is nothing to hide. We’re going to do good work. We’re going to provide good benefits, and we’re going to show and prove that we are doing, as per the legislation, what it was intended to do.”

Perry is also president of Teya Technologies, a subsidiary of the Salamatof Native Association, a village corporation on the Kenai Peninsula.

SBA expects to unveil the reporting requirements this fall.

“We have just taken the most comprehensive review of 8(a) regulations that’s been done in the last 15 years and so the entire program has been improved,” said SBA Deputy Director Maria Johns, who keynoted the conference. “We are looking forward to seeing how those new regulations help us implement an even stronger program.

“It’s hard to argue against the power of the 8(a) program and its ability to provide opportunity for small business,” Johns said. “There are countless examples of small businesses who have taken advantage of 8(a) properly and done a great job of strengthening their communities and growing jobs. At SBA, we just want to make sure, and through the review of regs, we looked for every opportunity to tighten the screen so the waste, fraud and abuse elements are there.”

Presentations from the conference can be downloaded here.

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly discussed energy and infrastructure development with several Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs)  at the National 8(a) Association Annual Conference in Anchorage, Alaska on June 23-25.

His hopes for for Navajo businesses to engage in similar government contracting activities as ANCs.

At the conference, Shelly and the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) President Julie Kitka discussed how the Navajo Nation and the AFN can partner on mutual economic and political issues.

“Partnering for the continued success of our Native people is not just a good thing to do,” Shelly said in a statement. “It’s critical to our survival as we see shrinking federal budgets and detrimental polices and it’s important to coordinate where there is mutual interest.”

During the three-day event, Shelly met with NANA Regional Corporation, CIRI Development Corporation, Old Harbor Village Corporation, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and Tyonek Native Corporation.

The meeting with Tyonek included a village visit to the closed community of Tyonek and a meeting with village tribal leadership.

During his stay, he also toured the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Alaska Tribal Health Consortium.

To keep the ball rolling forward, Shelly plans to the AFN annual meeting in October.