Senators Spar Over Alaska Native Contracting Alaska senators claimed credit for blocking restrictions on Alaska Native Corporation contracts, but they have only postponed the fight. Sen. Claire McCaskill proposed an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that would have limited the Defense Department’s sole-source awards to Alaska Native Corporations. The Missouri Democrat withdrew the amendment, but said she remains determined to pursue the issue. The Alaska 8(a) firms can now receive sole-source awards in unlimited amounts, while other 8(a) companies are limited to $3.5 million or $5.5 million for manufacturing. “Reform in this area is going to happen,” McCaskill said in a statement. “It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when.” Sen. Mark Begich, D-AK, said he persuaded McCaskill to back off. Begich told Government Executive magazine he had an “aggressive, heated discussion” with her on the Senate floor after she introduced the amendment. “I think the idea of just throwing in an amendment the night before [the Senate vote] and trying to muscle it through was not appropriate,” Begich said. A spokesman for Alaska’s senior senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, told the Anchorage Daily News Murkowski had filed objections to the McCaskill amendment, ensuring that it would have to be referred to committee under Senate rules. “The process caused this slowdown, but has not impacted the determination to restore competitiveness in government contracts,” McCaskill said. McCaskill’s contracting oversight subcommittee held a hearing last month on the Alaska sole-source contracts. Dozens of Alaskans and supporters overflowed the hearing room. The subcommittee staff found that awards to ANCs had increased tenfold between 2000 and 2008, to $5.2 billion. The majority of the awards were sole source. SBA’s inspector general said ANCs received 26% of contract dollars awarded through the 8(a) program in 2008, although the Alaska firms account for only 2% of 8(a) companies. The IG suggested the ANCs’ dominance could be reducing opportunities for other 8(a) firms. At McCaskill’s hearing, representatives of the Alaska companies said their contracting preferences are justified because they distribute their profits to thousands of Native shareholders, many of whom live in poverty. But McCaskill’s subcommittee estimated the largest ANCs’ contributions totaled just $615 per Alaska Native per year. (SAA, 7/24) In addition to receiving unlimited sole-source contracts, Alaska Native firms can create an unlimited number of 8(a) subsidiaries, while individual business owners are allowed to have only one 8(a) company.