Minority business owners hope to emulate Alaska Native corporations' success

June 23, 2010

In recent years, Alaska Native corporations have become major players in government contracting. (Dan Carpenter/KTUU-DT)

by Rhonda McBride
Tuesday, June 22, 2010

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Anchorage has drawn owners of minority businesses from around the country for two days of meetings.

Their mission is to learn how to manage government contracts, to create jobs and opportunity.

In recent years, Alaska Native corporations have become major players in government contracting.

Alaska's economic landscape has some features that make it unique and Native corporations are among them.

In the field of Alaska-owned businesses, many Native corporations stand out as giants, thanks, in large part, to 8(a) contracting, named for Section 8 of the Small Business Act.

The Kuskokwim Native Corporation serves villages in western interior Alaska, in the Aniak area.

It's a newcomer to government contracting, but got its start when it partnered with NANA, the regional corporation for the Kotzebue area. Together, they developed an aerospace company.

"So they kind of mentored us and eventually we kind of took over the aerospace company on its own," said Kuskokwim Native Corporation CEO Maver Carey.

Kuskokwim Native Corporation now has a civil construction company that recently won a $65 million flood control contract in the Napa Valley.

While the contracts provide employment there, a lot of the money makes its way back to Alaska, primarily in the form of shareholder dividends, but also in jobs and expertise.

This week's conference is set up to replicate some of the success stories on a national scale by bringing Native corporations together with other small business owners: women, African Americans, Hispanics and others who also face economic challenges.

They learn from each other and from the heads of government agencies, like NASA, to find out how to navigate the culture of the federal government.

"This is an event to have all these people in one spot for two days. You'd spend $25,000 or more trying to get to all these people over the next year," said Ron Perry, National 8(a) Association President and CEO of Teya Technologies.

"From the taxpayer perspective, it's hard to see the Alaska Native corporations should be able to receive enormous contracts with no competition," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, in a 2009 hearing.

Some Alaska Native corporations have been under fire in Congress for abusing the government contracting program, but Native corporations say that's the exception not the rule.

"The majority of them are doing it right. The program is working as intended by legislation," said Perry.

Native corporations are not just helping Alaska Natives, but the whole state. The economic footprint of Native corporations is everywhere.

In fact, Eklutna Corporation is the largest land holder in the Anchorage bowl, with more than 90,000 acres.

"As Anchorage grows, oftentimes we get a lot of folks knocking on our doors, looking for real estate. In the past we might have made a piece of land available and watch someone else develop it," said Curtis James McQueen, CEO Eklutna, Inc.

This office supply store downtown and the FBI building are also Eklutna Corporation developments.

Contact Rhonda McBride at rmcbride@ktuu.com.

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