Matt Gilbert: Contracting program seems to benefit non-Natives

Thursday, June 30, 2011  

"A year ago, I read a Washington Post article (“Two Worlds: Government Contractors, Alaska Natives”) about how Alaska Natives are being used by management consultants to land multimillion dollar 8(a) government contracts. How the left-over profits are for corporation boards and presidents in their continued lobbying for more of the contracts, while Alaska Native villages continue to suffer extreme poverty and food crisis. I haven’t been able to sleep right since reading the article.

The article states that 10% of 35,000 Alaska Native Corporation jobs worldwide are filled by Alaska Natives that’s 3500 out of 35,000 worldwide. Washington DC is 3000 miles away from Alaska, yet most of the Alaska Native Corporation contract work is concentrated there.

After graduate school, I looked for work in all ANCs and found security guard and computer tech positions in government facilities in obscure places like Madison, Wisconsin and Durham, North Carolina. ANC Employment seems too much like a child of the Relocation/Termination Eras.

I spoke to a Native Corporation Representative about this Washington Post article and Senator McCaskell’s targeting of the 8(a) contracting. He told me his ANC is creating enormous amounts of jobs and scholarships. He also says he sees a lot of smiling Native faces when they get their dividends, which is a direct result of Government 8(a) Contracts. This might be true for his region, but there are too many impoverished Alaska Native individuals and villages to give 8(a) total validity."

Get the Story:
Matt Gilbert: 8(a) Contracts Seem to Use Natives to Benefit Non-Natives (Indian Country Today 6/28)