Ssenator Claire McCaskill (D) will be chairing an oversight hearing today on contracting through Alaska Native Corporations.

Staff Analysis [pdf] – United States Senate, Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONTRACTING OVERSIGHT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                

July 6,2009                                                              

CONTRACTING OVERSIGHT SUBCOMMITTEE RELEASES ANALYSIS OF ALASKA NATIVE CORPORATIONS

Subcommittee will hold hearing at 2:30 PM [1:30 p.m. Central] today

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight majority staff has released an analysis of data collected from 19 Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs).  The subcommittee, chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill, will hold a public hearing at 2:30 PM today on contracting loopholes that allow ANCs to bypass a competitive bidding process while receiving contracts unlimited in size as part of a government small business program, despite their large size…

….The analysis was compiled from information and data provided to the subcommittee by 19 ANCs last month, following a request from the subcommittee.  The subcommittee released a preliminary analysis of publicly-available data on ANC contracts last month as well.

Alaska Native Corporations were created by a 1971 law that aimed to foster economic development in Alaska, and in 1986, Congress made ANCs eligible to participate in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. Generally, to qualify for the 8(a) program a business must be socially and economically disadvantaged, and must be relatively small. These eligible businesses can then be awarded small federal contracts on a sole-source basis, but those contracts must be under $5.5 million for goods or $3.5 million for services.  In the 1980s and early 1990s, however, Congress carved out several exemptions for ANCs, deeming them to automatically qualify as both socially and economically disadvantaged and giving them the ability to receive no-bid contracts of any size under the 8(a) program. As a result, ANCs are uniquely eligible to receive huge federal contracts without having to compete with other bidders.

Hearing Details:

Who: Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight

What: Public Hearing on Contracting Preferences for Alaska Native Corporations

When: Thursday, July 16, 2009, at 2:30 PM

Where: Dirksen Senate Office Building Room SD-342

Witnesses: Panel I

·        Shay Assad, Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Technology, Department of Defense

·        Joseph Jordan, Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development, U.S. Small Business Administration

·        Debra Ritt, Assistant Inspector General for Auditing, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Small Business Administration

Panel II

·        Sarah L. Lukin, Executive Director, Native American Contractors Association

·        Jacqueline Johnson Pata, Executive Director, National Congress of American Indians

·        Julie Kitka, President, Alaska Federation of Natives

·        Mark Lumer, Senior Vice President, Federal Programs, Cirrus Technology, Inc.

·        Christina Schneider, Chief Financial Officer, Purcell Construction Corporation  

The live stream of the hearing is here [starting at approximately 1:30 p.m. Central].

Update: The hearing has been adjourned.

U.S. Senate photograph of Claire McCaskill (D)

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill (D) asks for some ideas today via a Twitter post:

Top of the list this week: making decision on subject for first hearing on my new sub committee on governmt contracting oversight. Ideas? about 5 hours ago from web

The membership of the subcommittee (of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs):

Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight

Democrats

Claire McCaskill Chairman (D-MO)

Carl Levin (D-MI)

Thomas R. Carper (D-DE)

Mark L. Pryor (D-AR)

Jon Tester (D-MT)

Republicans

Susan M. Collins Acting Ranking Member (R-ME)

Tom Coburn (R-OK)

John McCain (R-AZ)

Here’s what you do. If you’ve got any ideas about the subject of the first hearing or of people who need to be asked questions or of specific questions that need to be asked and answered, contact Senator McCaskill:

via online form

via telephone: (202) 224-6154

via fax: (202) 228-6326

The subcommittee was created early this year by Joe Lieberman (I), Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs:

January 29, 2009  

LIEBERMAN ANNOUNCES NEW HSGAC SUBCOMMITTEE

MCCASKILL TO GET CONTRACTING GAVEL

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Thursday announced he is creating a new, ad hoc subcommittee to oversee federal contracting. Committee Member Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., will chair the new Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight.

“Management of federal contracts is one of the greatest operational challenges facing the federal government,” Lieberman said. “Spending on federal contracts rose to an astounding $532 billion last year. And for years the Government Accountability Office has listed government contracting on its list of programs at high risk of waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, or in need of comprehensive reform. This is a problem area that needs as much oversight as we can possibly muster.

“So, to more fully address the array of problems with federal contracting, I am establishing this new subcommittee with pride and great expectations. With her background as a prosecutor and state auditor, Senator McCaskill has unique investigative experience that will be crucial for this new subcommittee. I am certain that she will approach her new responsibilities with unmatched vigor to improve the value of all the taxpayer dollars devoted to federal contracting.”

McCaskill said: “Last year we made major strides in contracting accountability by establishing the Wartime Contracting Commission, and while I look forward to those investigations, we all know that outrageous contracting abuses occur in every facet of government. I can’t wait to get to work saving huge money for taxpayers. They deserve it.”

HSGAC has had a longstanding interest in reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the area of federal contracting. The Committee has held numerous hearings on contracting problems within the Department of Homeland Security, waste in Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction programs, problems created by private contractors in war zones, and the rapid increase, government-wide, in contracting for goods and services.

In the 110th Congress, the Committee marked up major contracting legislation introduced by Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., and Lieberman, and co-sponsored by McCaskill. Many of the measure’s provisions were enacted in 2008 and 2009 as provisions of Defense authorization legislation.

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[emphasis added]

Joe Lieberman. Ironic, isn’t it?