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Indian-owned businesses should see more procurement contracts under new ‘Buy Indian’ policy

February 10, 2016 By Andrew Smith

Buy Indian ActThe U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on Jan. 12, 2016, announced a new policy to improve the implementation of the Buy Indian Act of 1910 (Act). The policy, announced in a memorandum by Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (Management) James Burckman, comes in response to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, released in July 2015, that criticized the federal government’s enforcement of the Act.

The Buy Indian Act authorized certain federal procurement contracts to be set aside for preferential awards to Indian Economic Enterprises (IEEs) for all procurement contracts issued by the BIA, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), the office of the Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs (AS-IA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS). In 2013, regulations were issued that defined IEEs as those companies which are at least 51 percent Indian-owned.

While the BIA and IHS have obtained services and supplies from IEEs under the Act since 1965,the GAO found that Buy Indian procurements have comprised only a small percentage of BIA and IHS annual contract obligations, the result of limited knowledge and implementation of the set-aside in regional or area offices where contracts are often awarded.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=461952

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: BIA, Buy Indian Act, GAO, Interior Dept., preference, set-aside, small business

Buy Indian Act: 105 years (and counting) of frustration

September 16, 2015 By Andrew Smith

In 1910, William Howard Taft lived in the White House, the Chicago Cubs were just two years removed from back-to-back World Series titles, and Arizona had yet to be admitted to the Union.  That summer, Congress passed the Buy Indian Act, a statute authorizing a special federal contracting program for Indian-owned businesses.

Since then, it has been mostly downhill.  It took the Bureau of Indian GAO-GovernmentAccountabilityOffice-SealAffairs (BIA) 103 years to issue regulations implementing the Act’s contracting preferences.  Now that the regulations are finally in place, the Buy Indian Act program is suffering from lack of effective oversight and implementation.  In fact, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the BIA and the Indian Health Service could not even clearly articulate whether Buy Indian Act set-aside contracts take priority over other set-asides.

If the Buy Indian Act is ever to live up to its potential, significant changes are needed.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/statutes-and-regulations/buy-indian-act-105-years-and-counting-of-frustration/

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: BIA, Buy Indian Act, GAO, Indian Health Service, preference, set-aside

Interior Dept. issues implementation rules on Buy Indian Act, effective July 8th

July 1, 2013 By ei2admin

The Department of the Interior is finalizing regulations guiding implementation of the Buy Indian Act, which provides the Bureau of Indian Affairs (IA) with authority to set aside procurement contracts for American Indian-owned and controlled businesses and Alaska Native-owned and controlled businesses.

The new rule can be found at 78 Fed. Reg. 34266, dated June 7, 2013.

This rule supplements the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Department of the Interior Acquisition Regulation (DIAR), and the final rule is to be effective July 8, 2013.

The rule supplements the Federal Acquisition Regulation and Department of the Interior Acquisition Regulation, and will be located at 48 C.F.R. Sections 1401.301-80, 1452-280 and 1480. It also responds to and incorporates the nuances of Section 831 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 (Pub. Law 101-510, 10 U.S.C. 2301 note) that amended 25 U.S.C. 47 to allow American Indian firms to participate in the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program and yet maintain eligibility for contracts awarded under the authority of the Buy Indian Act.

Indian economic enterprises interested in contracting with Indian Affairs should monitor the Federal Business Opportunities website — www.FedBizOpps.gov — to identify opportunities for which there is a Buy Indian set-aside under this rule.

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: Alaskan Native, Buy Indian Act, DIAR, DoD, FAR, federal regulations, Interior Dept., mentor-protege, Native American

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