Blog: Dermot Cole
Senate panel to investigate Native preferences in federal contracts
Published Friday, May 15, 2009
Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill has asked 20 Native regional and village corporations for details on how those companies have used federal preferences to secure billions in no-bid contracts.
This includes Doyon and most of the other major Native corporations.
Alaska Native companies can take advantage of a series of rules championed by former Sen. Ted Stevens.
There are no limits on the value of sole-source contracts for Alaska Native firms.
Last year, companies owned by Alaska Native firms had $5 billion in federal contracts, 10 times more than in 2000, Government Executive reported in March.
About two-thirds of the contracts were made without competitive bids, the publication said.
This is McCaskill's letter http://mccaskill.senate.gov/pdf/2009-05-12Chenega.pdf
•The Presbyterian Hospitality House is holding its 12th Annual 5K Fun Run Sunday at 10 a.m. at UAF.
The entry fee is $15 or $12 in advance, with T-shirts for the first 100 people to sign up.
The Fun Run starts and ends at the UAF Patty Center with a drawing at the end for door prizes. For more information or to register in advance call 456-6445.
•Students from Effie Kokrine Charter School will perform “The Earth is Changing: Watcha Gonna Do?”, a show that will serve as the culmination of an Early College Education course, Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Empress Theatre downtown.
Fifteen middle and high school students from the Native based Charter School spent the semester learning about climate change from UAF scientists, creative writing from Cindy Hardy and creative dance from Krista Katalenich. Mary Beth Leigh, assistant professor in the Institute of Arctic Biology, led the project.
Ira Hardy, a Fairbanks-raised professional dancer based in New York City, worked with the students to create a performance that combines science with the arts, showcasing what students have learned about climate change in a performance involving drama, poetry, dance, song, film and photography.
The Empress Theatre is at 535 Second Ave. in downtown Fairbanks. A reception will follow. Admission is free.
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uh, news flash agp, with or without the SCUMBAG STEVENS the dems would control the senate and thus set the agenda on what gets investigated or not.
the only time "no bid" should be an option is in extreme emergencies. don't know how common this practice was before dumbya took office, but it needs to stop—whether the "contractors" are kbr, backwater, or our local native corps. it all leads to corruption, and we have enough of that already....
Well, if the Senator's letter shown as an example is what she asked all of the Corps, that info, once presented in evidence, should be accessible by the public, and I would think there might be a few angry members of certain Native Corporations who will demand some explicit answers! This might become interesting to watch.
Uh oh...looks like the recession and its corresponding "fix" are going to be a true (equal) opportunity for all Americans to: Embrace the Suck!
Welcome Newcomers...hahahahahaha, get some!!!
Most people don't realize that many federal contracts have nested layers of sub-contracts beneath them. The prime contractor takes the money, rakes off "administrative costs" and bids the job out to a sub-contractor. Does the subcontractor do the actual work? Not hardly! He takes his cut and bids it out to a sub-sub-contractor. This has been known to continue for as much as 10 or 12 levels before some guy with a pickup and a shovel does the actual work.
So you can see why Lord Obama needs so many of your tax dollars.
This no competative bid deal is for the birds. This has to stop and stop now.
Some background on "no-bid contracts" -- a trip down the inconvenient memory hole:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Printable.as...
Face it,Native Son, the AN corporations are past being justified to be subsidized further by Ted's machinations.
They are either competent enough to stand on their own or fail.
The unlevel playing field is inevitably coming home to roost.
This is not "Lord Obama's doing and perhaps all the big glossy office buildings in Anchorage will empty out a bit like they are everywhere else. Maybe some will even reconnect to the villages they have left in their rear view mirror and their main reason for working in those big glossy buildings will be remembered.
Even Ted would not have been able to keep the scam going forever.
You guys had a well oiled machine "gittin 'er done" and although the financial benefits crossed cultures and racial boundaries it was a prime example of what is wrong in Congress and continues to be wrong in Lobbyist La-la Land.
You manage to speak out of both sides of your mouth quite well, ever consider a political career?
the sad thing about the huge native corporations is on all of job construction jobs I've seen there are no to an extremely small percentage of natives working for the native corporations......
No bid? You mean like those billions of dollars in no-bid contracts Halliburton and Blackwater got from the Bush administaration? Apparently, it's only a problem if you aren't white.
Gordon Carlson in Cantwell runs a 100% owned an operated Native company. He is only 12 1/2 % Native. His great grandmother Jennie bred with whites, his grandmother bred with whites, his father went to Michigan to find a white wife. He benefits obtaining government contracts because he is Native. What do you think?
Don't you need to be 25% to join a native corporation?
evidently not. Gordon is listed as president of the native village of cantwell. http://www.ahtna-inc.com/ldvo.html
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