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UCLA School of Law Native Nations Law & Policy Center Report Addresses Federal Contracting Policies Benefiting Alaska Native Corporations

Posted on: Thursday, 13 September 2007, 18:00 CDT

UCLA School of Law's Native Nations Law & Policy Center released a research report addressing an issue currently before Congress -- whether to continue federal contracting policies that have benefited Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs). "Federal Contracting Support for Alaska Natives' Integration into the Market Economy," written by UCLA Professors Duane Champagne (Sociology) and Carole Goldberg (Law), examines the history and socio-economic conditions of ANCs, and concludes that special federal contracting opportunities are an effective way to promote integration of Alaska Natives into the increasingly globalized market economy.

The research report shows that tribal businesses and ANCs take a small portion of government contracts, and confer disproportionate benefits. Although ANCs and tribal businesses have gained an increased share of government contracting over the past five years, that share remains less than one percent of total government contracts. As a sign of increasing American Indian and Alaska Native business capability and commitment, according to the report, in 2005, tribal businesses secured 17.2 percent of section 8(a) Small Business Administration (SBA) contracts, or a total of $1.9 billion. Total small business procurement from government contracts in 2005, however, was over $65 billion.

The report shows that the revenues of ANC and tribal business contracting benefit entire communities. Many tribal communities depend on tribal businesses or ANCs for employment, program and local tribal government support. In addition, it states that employment and philanthropy from tribal businesses also significantly benefits non-Indians.

Carefully examining the history of federal policy toward Alaska Natives and the current economic and social conditions toward Alaska Native communities, the research report concludes that U.S. government policy should foster market conditions and business enterprise as its central policy to encourage long term economic viability and self-sufficiency among Indian and Alaska Native communities. Many tribes, including Alaska natives as late as 1971, have lost land and resource assets that sustain and benefit the U.S. economy. Alaska Natives suffer the additional disadvantages of extreme cold and isolation. ANCs were created in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 to promote business enterprise and economic self-sufficiency among Alaska Natives. ANCs and tribal businesses are the primary means by which tribal communities will emerge from poverty and gain cultural and governmental self-sufficiency they desire, according to the report.

The report concludes that Congressional action to monitor and regulate corporate contracting will help ensure that taxpayer funds are well spent. Greater regulation, oversight and fairness of government contracting procedures are supportable. National policy in support of American Indian and Alaska Native business enterprise development and pathways to economic self-sufficiency, however, should not be sacrificed in the processes of reforming government contracting procedures.

About the authors:

Duane Champagne is Professor of Sociology at UCLA and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He is the author or editor of more than 125 publications including numerous scholarly articles and books in the fields of Sociology and American Indian Studies that examine social and economic change within Native communities.

Carole Goldberg is Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA, where she directs the Joint Degree Program in Law and American Indian Studies. She is the co-author and editor of Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law, as well as author of a teaching casebook and many articles on federal Indian law.

Professors Champagne and Goldberg are currently co-principal investigators on a major grant from the National Institute of Justice to study criminal justice in Indian country.

About UCLA School of Law:

Founded in 1949, UCLA School of Law is the youngest major law school in the nation and has established a tradition of innovation in its approach to teaching, research and scholarship. With approximately 100 faculty and 970 students, the School of Law pioneered clinical teaching, is a leader in interdisciplinary research and training, and is at the forefront of efforts to link research to its effects on society and the legal profession.

Source: Business Wire

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