The Senate Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight will hold a hearing this Thursday to examine government contracting for Alaska Native corporations.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), the subcommittee chair, says the corporations are receiving "large multi-million dollar contracts without any competition." She released a preliminary report last month that showed tremendous growth in Native contracting.

The corporations are responding with a major lobbying effort on Capitol Hill aimed at showing how their businesses are helping Alaska Natives. They launched a web site, Native 8(a) Works, to counter McCaskill's claims.

The hearing takes place at 2:30pm in Room SD-342 of the Senate Dirksen Senate Office Building. The witness list follows:

Panel I
Shay Assad Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Acquisition & Technology / Director, Defense Procurement & Acquisition Policy, Department of Defense
Joseph Jordan, Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development, Small Business Administration
Debra Ritt, Assistant Inspector General for Auditing, Office of Inspector General, Small Business Administration

Panel II
Sarah L. Lukin, Executive Director, Native American Contractors Association
Jacqueline Johnson Pata, Executive Director, National Congress of American Indians
Mark Lumer, Senior Vice President, Federal Programs, Cirrus Technology, Inc.
Christina Schneider, Chief Financial Officer, Purcell Construction Corporation

Committee Notice:
CONTRACTING OVERSIGHT SUBCOMMITTEE TO EXAMINE EXEMPTIONS FAVORING ALASKA NATIVE CORPORATIONS (July 16, 2009)

Get the Story:
Four Native corporations join to counter contracting probe (The Anchorage Daily News 7/14)
ANCs head to Capitol Hill to polish image (Washington Technology 7/13)
ANCs Hit Back--Hard (Government Executive 7/13)
Contracting with Alaska Native firms skyrockets, audit shows (Federal Times 7/13)

Related Stories:
Interview: Ho-Chunk CEO on Native contracting (07/01)
Senate panel probes Alaska Native corporations (6/24)
Alaska Native corporation worried about probe (5/20)
Alaska Native corporations under more scrutiny (5/19)