Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Training
    • Class Registration
    • On-demand Training
    • GTPAC COVID-19 Resource Page
    • Cybersecurity
    • Veterans Verification Video
    • GTPAC Community
    • Other Training Audio & Video
  • Useful Links
  • Team Directory
    • Albany Counselor
    • Atlanta Counselors
    • Augusta Counselor
    • Carrollton Counselor
    • Columbus Counselor
    • Gainesville Counselor
    • Savannah Counselor
    • Warner Robins Counselor
  • Directions
    • Atlanta – Training Facility
    • Atlanta – Office
    • Albany
    • Augusta
    • Carrollton
    • Columbus
    • Gainesville
    • Savannah
    • Warner Robins
  • COVID-19
  • New Client Application
  • Contact Us

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

Native American business trade show to be held in Las Vegas in March

December 3, 2012 By ei2admin

The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development is hosting what it calls”the largest Native American business trade show in the world” on March 11 through 14, 2013 in Las Vegas, NV.

Booths, sponsorships, and advance registration are now available at https://secure2.rhq.com/res/res13/attreg/index.cgi.

Here’s what the advance agenda looks like:

Monday, March 11                           Activity
9:00am – 3:00pm                              Scholarship Golf Classic – Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort
12:00pm – 7:00pm                             On Site Registration Opens

7:00pm – 9:00pm                               Grand Opening Welcome Reception

Tuesday, March 12                         Activity                                                                                                                                 
7:00am – 5:00pm                             Registration
6:30am – 8:00am                             RES Networking Breakfast
8:30am – 10:00am                           Opening General Session
10:15am – 10:30am                         Trade Fair and American Indian Art Market – Ribbon Cutting
10:30am – 6:00pm                           Trade Fair and American Indian Art Market
11:30 – 1:30pm                                 Luncheon
3:30pm – 4:00pm                              RES Networking Break
4:00pm – 6:00pm                               Special RES Networking Event
6:30pm – 9:00pm                              VIP Evening Reception

Wednesday, March 13                   Activity                                                                                         
7:00am – 5:00pm                             Registration
6:30am – 8:00am                             RES Networking Breakfast
8:30am – 10:00am                           General Session – Day 2
10:30am – 6:00pm                           Trade Fair and American Indian Art Market – Day 2
10:00am – 10:30am                         RES Networking Break
10:30 – 11:30am                               Breakout Sessions #1  (5 concurrent tracks)
11:30am – 1:30pm                            Luncheon
2:00 – 3:00pm                                    Breakout Sessions #2  (5 concurrent tracks)
3:00 – 3:30pm                                    RES Networking Break
3:30pm – 4:30pm                              Breakout Sessions #3  (5 concurrent tracks)
4:45pm – 6:00pm                              Trade Fair & American Indian Art Market-Grand Finale
6:00pm                                                Trade Fair & American Indian Art Market Ends
8:30pm – 12:00am                            NCAIED VIP Reception (Invitation Only)

Thursday, March 14                        Activity
8:00am – 1:00pm                              Registration
7:30am – 9:00am                              RES Networking Breakfast
9:00am – 10:00am                            Breakout Sessions #4  (5 concurrent tracks)
10:00am – 10:30am                          RES Networking Break
10:30am – 11:30am                          Breakout Sessions #5  (5 concurrent tracks)
11:30am – 1:30pm                             Award Luncheon
1:45pm – 2:45pm                               Breakout Sessions #6 (5 concurrent tracks)
2:45pm – 3:15pm                               RES Networking Break
3:30pm – 5:00pm                               Closing General Session & iPad Mini Giveaway Finale

Filed Under: GTPAC News Tagged With: Native American, networking, training

Reservation Economic Summit scheduled November 14 and 15 in Tulsa

October 13, 2012 By ei2admin

The National Center for American Indian Economic Development (NCAIED) has announced that the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and Cherokee Nation Businesses, L.L.C., will be presenting title sponsors of RES Oklahoma 2012, the NCAIED’s new two-day multifaceted Reservation Economic Summit (RES) event to be held from November 14th-15th at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, OK.

“We are pleased to host NCAIED’s first-ever RES Oklahoma conference at Hard Rock this year,” Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Bill John Baker said. “NCAIED’s long-standing commitment to economic self-sufficiency in Indian Country is an admirable goal that the Cherokee Nation supports and shares.”

One of the largest Indian Tribes in the United States, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is the federally-recognized government of the Cherokee people and has inherent sovereign status recognized by law and by treaty. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is located in northeastern Oklahoma. Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) L.L.C., is the economic engine of the Cherokee Nation. CNB owns companies in the hospitality, gaming, personnel services, distribution, manufacturing, telecommunications, and environmental services industries. Together, these businesses have revenues of nearly $500 million every year and earn nearly $10 million in profits.

“Through their support of RES Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has taken a leadership position in assisting the NCAIED in growing tribal economies, both in Oklahoma and throughout Indian Country,” said Gary Davis, NCAIED President and CEO. “RES Oklahoma will bring increased awareness to the many economic development opportunities that exist in Oklahoma and, as importantly, it will explore the many ways Oklahoma’s tribal economy can further grow nationwide via private sector opportunities and enhancing tribe to tribe business ventures.”

RES Oklahoma will feature respected tribal leaders, state, and local elected officials and top CEO’s, networking, teaming opportunities, business development sessions, American Indian Procurement Fair, and much more. RES Oklahoma marks the expansion of the NCAIED’s highly successfulReservation Economic Summit (RES) into additional regionally focused events throughout the nation. In 2012, the NCAIED’s national event, “RES Vegas,” raised the most revenue and enjoyed the largest attendance in the history of RES – solidifying RES as the premier American Indian business conference and trade fair in the Nation. Additional regional RES events will soon be announced.

For more information, please visit: http://ncaied.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0728618eca24242f6495deff1&id=e9a2bf9d69&e=f404fb94f3.
For media inquiries, please email: mailto:lanell.shirley@ncaied.org?subject=Scope%20%26%20Vision%20PR

For more information regarding sponsorship opportunities, please email: mailto:sponsor@ncaied.org?subject=Sponsorship%20opportunities%20for%20RES%20Oklahoma%202012

Filed Under: GTPAC News Tagged With: government contract training, Native American, networking, trade fair

A drumbeat of warnings about impropriety regarding Alaska native corporation contracts

October 6, 2010 By ei2admin

Government officials and the media have produced a drumbeat of reports about possible abuses of the large-scale contracts given to Alaska native corporations without competition.

August 2004: A Los Angeles Times story questioned the Army’s award without competition of contracts worth nearly $1 billion for base security guards to two Alaska native subsidiaries, Alutiiq Security and Technology and Chenega Integrated Systems.

November 2004: A senior aide to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the chief counsel to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and others press to have the Transportation Security Administration award a $500 million technology maintenance contract for screening equipment directly to Chenega Technology Services Corp. The TSA rescinds the deal after a story about it appears in The Washington Post.

April 2006: A Government Accountability Office review concludes that spending on ANCs had soared because federal officials found them “a quick, easy and legal method of awarding contracts for any value.” But the review found that government officials did not know the rules for overseeing the firms and cited “an increased risk that an inappropriate degree of the work is being done by large businesses rather than by the ANC firms.”

April 2006: In another report, the GAO also found that the Army paid 25 percent more than necessary on many of the base security guard contracts with Alutiiq and Chenega, even though they knew they could get the lower price through competition. Close to half of the work was passed on to two established security giants, Wackenhut Services and Vance International. Auditors also found that the Army failed to check whether the subsidiaries were doing the required 51 percent of the work.

May 2006: After Hurricane Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $39.5 million contract for temporary classrooms in Mississippi to an Alaska native corporation subsidiary called Akima Site Operations, even though the Corps “had information that the cost for the classrooms was significantly less than what Akima was charging,” according to a GAO report.

June 2006: At a hearing, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said ANCs were used to circumvent open competition at great expense to taxpayers: The “Administration has used ANC contracts to manage commercial property in Virginia, renovate buildings in Brazil, and train security guards in Iraq. And much of the work has been done by non-Native companies working as subcontractors.” He added: “Good intentions have been replaced by avarice and indifference to the interests of the taxpayer.”

January 2007: An audit by the Defense Department’s inspector general’s office concludes that a new intelligence agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity agreed to pay up to $27 million more over 10 years than it would have through proper competition on a $100 million lease-and-construction deal let in 2003. The $100 million contract was awarded without competition to an Alaska native corporation subsidiary called TKC Communications. The audit concluded that the Defense intelligence operation “circumvented numerous laws” in making the expedited arrangements for the lease.

June 2007: The Department of Homeland Security issues an “acquisition alert” about the use of Alaska native corporations, warning contracting officials to be sure that they were getting a fair price and that the native corporations were doing their appropriate share of the work.

October 2007: The Department of Homeland Security inspector general issues a report criticizing a $475 million contract awarded without competition by the then-U.S. Customs Service in February 2003 to the Chenega Technology Services Corp. The work is to maintain thousands of gamma-ray, X-ray and other scanning machines at the nation’s ports and borders. The DHS inspector general says the contract should not have been awarded because the corporation was too large to qualify, a circumstance that prevented qualified small businesses from competing for the work. Some evidence collected by the inspector general suggested Chenega “subcontracted more than the 50 percent allowed by federal regulations and the contract.” But auditors said there was not enough information to come to a definitive conclusion.

April 2008: The Air Force’s Air Combat Command warns all contracting officials about the use of contracts awarded without competition to ANCs and others. Contracting officers had to require written justification for using ANCs and specify the amount of work they were expected to do. “Effective immediately ALL sole source actions over $550K must be approved,” the Air Force memo said.

May 2008: The Defense Department inspector general’s office reported that senior Air Force officers at the Air Combat Command used an Alaska native subsidiary, Chugach McKinley, to direct a $128,000 contract awarded without competition to a favored vendor.

August 2008: Auditors in the Small Business Administration’s inspector general’s office find that two Alaska native corporation subsidiaries had allowed nonnative executives to receive millions in work and fees in violation of SBA rules. APM, a subsidiary of Cape Fox Corp., and Goldbelt Raven, a subsidiary of Goldbelt Corp., received contracts worth more than $833 million between 2003 and 2006. Executives in each agreed to pay more than $23 million over three years to nonnative executives at other companies, with whom they had personal ties, the auditors said.

October 2008: A Washington Post story reveals that officials at the FDA used a subsidiary of the Calista Corp. to direct work to a Washington public relations powerhouse called Qorvis Communications. An FDA official with ties to Qorvis later says that she and others skirted the rules simply as a “a matter of efficiency.” FDA officials immediately suspended the contract and ordered an independent investigation.

July 2009: A study by the Senate subcommittee on contracting oversight finds that few ANC employees are Alaska natives but that the companies have joined the ranks of the government’s largest contractors. The subcommittee’s investigation shows that ANCs have taken advantage of their contracting preferences, “receiving large no-bid contracts and passing through much of the work to other contractors.” The report, prepared for Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), said: “The analysis finds that Alaska Native Corporations are multi-million or billion dollar corporations that are now among the largest federal contractors. Although ANCs provide some benefits to their shareholders, those benefits may not be in proportion to the potential for waste, fraud and abuse created by the ANCs’ contracting preferences.”

— By Robert O’Harrow Jr. – Washington Post – September 29, 2010

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: Air Force, Alaskan Native, Army, Army Corps of Engineers, competition, DoD, FDA, federal contracting, GAO, Homeland Security, Native American, SBA, set-aside, TSA

Federal government continues moves to restrict Native American contracts and companies

June 18, 2010 By ei2admin

The Federal Government has a program called “Section 8(a)” that is used to favor small businesses. This rule allows the award of sole source contracts to companies meeting certain requirements. The idea is to grow small businesses through this simpler award process and also aid disadvantage groups. The 8(a) rules favor those contractors owned by women, minorities and service disabled veterans. The restriction on the program is that the size of the contract is limited to under $20 million since the goal is jump start small companies into larger ones.

One of the legacies of Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) was a rule that Alaskan Native American companies could win a contract of any size. He had this change made in the defense bills. This has allowed those corporations to grow and win contracts over not only other 8a companies but also traditional contractors as well. This rule had raised the hackles of other Senators and in the last few years there has been movement to eliminate the rule favoring Alaskan companies.

Not only that but one of the reforms that the Obama Administration is trying to accomplish is the reduction in the number of sole source contracts awarded. The goal with that reform is to gain more competition, better pricing and ultimately save money. The use of sole source contracts makes an award process simpler and easier for the contracting command involved as it shortens the time line since there needs to be no competition. There use is often justified to gain speedy awards. These changes are putting pressure on all Native American owned companies but especially Alaskan ones who may see a significant decline in their work if the government does limit awards and increase competition.

The most recent Defense Authorization Bill included a limit of sole source contracts to $20 million dollars without requiring extended approval and justification. This change will make it harder to award these contracts quickly which may lead to more competitions among non-8(a) companies. The Defense Department is meeting with Native American groups to discuss these changes and their affects.

The government is also facing problems because of a recent court case that ruled that HUBZone companies take precedence over other small businesses. Since few Native American corporations are in Historically Underutilized Business Zones which are normally in large urban areas this ruing will also limit their chances of getting sole source awards. This means that Native American companies may have to compete for these contracts as if a HUBZone company wants the business and it is decided to sole source it they must get it.

The government has in the past justified these contracts as a way to help disadvantaged groups at the cost of a small amount of inefficiency and the chance of slightly higher prices. The current deficit situation and the desire to increase efficiency as well as Steven’s exemption of his home state businesses have led to a reevaluation of these processes. The end result may be a significant decrease in the amount of work these companies now get from the government or increased costs for them as they must bid on contracts. Either result limits the effect of the Federal spending on their communities which was the whole point of the program in the first place.

Read more: http://www.defenseprocurementnews.com/2010/06/14/federal-government-continues-moves-to-restrict-native-american-contracts-and-companies/#ixzz0qpwKfwcb 

— by Matthew Potter – June 14, 2010 – Defense Procurement News

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: 8(a), Alaskan Native, HUBZone, Native American, sole-source, woman owned business

Recent Posts

  • Georgia Tech creates new Office of Corporate Engagement
  • Federal contractor indicted for stealing over $1.2 million from the U.S. Postal Service
  • SBA hosting “Contract Bonds and Surety Bond Guarantee” webinar April 20th
  • GSA hosting “Getting on the GSA Schedule” webinar April 13th
  • NIH hosting 2021 small business program conference April 26-30th

Popular Topics

8(a) abuse Army bid protest budget budget cuts certification construction contract awards contracting opportunities cybersecurity DoD DOJ False Claims Act FAR federal contracting federal contracts fraud GAO Georgia Tech government contracting government contract training government trends GSA GSA Schedule GTPAC HUBZone innovation IT Justice Dept. marketing NDAA OMB SBA SDVOSB set-aside small business small business goals spending subcontracting technology VA veteran owned business VOSB wosb

Contracting News

Federal contractor indicted for stealing over $1.2 million from the U.S. Postal Service

CMMC announces new advisory council to collect industry feedback

EEOC announces April 26 opening date for the collection of 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 component 1 data

Contractors line up to rebuild MARTA’s Five Points Station

GDOT announces $828.8 million in projects to transform Ga. 316

Read More

Contracting Tips

A whole new marketplace: GSA’s “commercial platforms” initiative

CRS Reports: Mentor-Protégé programs and small business size standards

CRS Report: Small businesses and COVID-19, relief and assistance resources

How do I find out what the government is buying?

Past performance isn’t always a required evaluation factor, says GAO

Read More

GTPAC News

SBA hosting “Contract Bonds and Surety Bond Guarantee” webinar April 20th

GSA hosting “Getting on the GSA Schedule” webinar April 13th

NIH hosting 2021 small business program conference April 26-30th

Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency hosting industry day and matchmaking May 6th and 20th

Missile Defense Agency hosting virtual conference May 11-13th

Read More

Georgia Tech News

Georgia Tech creates new Office of Corporate Engagement

Delta Jacket wins 2021 Georgia Tech InVenture prize

Future of 5G is under the microscope at Georgia incubator

Collective worm and robot “blobs” protect individuals, swarm together

The Partnership for Inclusive Innovation is now accepting applications for pilot programs

Read More

  • SAM.gov registration is free, and help with SAM is free, too
APTAC RSS Twitter GTPAC - 30th Year of Service

Copyright © 2021 · Georgia Tech - Enterprise Innovation Institute