- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Native Contracting
This week, Tribal Business News introduces the Native Contracting Report, a semi-regular roundup of federal contracting news, information and awards involving entities owned by federally recognized tribes, Alaska Native Corporations and Native Hawaiian Organizations.
Federal contracting has become an important source of revenues over the last four decades for Native entities. From 1981 through 2021, Native entities collectively earned about $202 billion in revenue from federal contracts, according to a report by Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
During that time frame, tribal entities have also been able to grab a bigger piece of the federal contracting pie.The share of government contracts secured by Native entities has steadily increased since the late 1990s, from zero percent of total contract dollars to about 2.5% by the end of 2021, the CICD analysis shows.
Tribal Business News intends to track that growth and dive more deeply into Native contracting with the federal government and, in the coming weeks, opportunities for Native contracting with state governments and corporations. We’ll start this week with some recent federal contract news involving Native entities over the past few weeks:
Cherokee Nation Defense Solutions LLC, based in Tulsa, Okla., was awarded a $43.9 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide programmatic and technical support services, including administrative, analytical, programmatic, technical, and healthcare management support to the Defense Health Agency, Clinical Support Division, Clinical Quality Management Branch, Patient Safety Program; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Office of the Deputy of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Services Policy and Oversight.
The Air Force awarded Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Red Canyon Technologies LLC a maximum $45 million firm-fixed-price contract for local client system technician services. This contract provides for IT services and support to sustain and expand use of current hardware, operating systems, and software as well as improve systems and network security for the 88th Communications Squadron and organizations serviced by them. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 25, 2028. Red Canyon is a Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) and subsidiary of Diné Development Corporation, which is wholly owned by the Navajo Nation.
Tulsa-based Cherokee Insights LLC has been awarded a $100 million firm-fixed-price contract for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). The contract provides analytical services in support of DCSA's Vetting Risk Operations expedited screening and continuous vetting missions. Work will be performed in Hanover, Maryland; and McLean, Virginia. The contract has a five-year ordering period with an estimated completion date of Sept. 29, 2028. DCSA Contracting and Procurement Office, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Anchorage-based KOMAN Sustainable Solutions LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Natives of Kodiak, Inc. Alaska Native Corporation, was awarded a $44.6 million firm-fixed-price contract for leasing relocatable buildings at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by February 2025.
Two Alaska Native Corporation subsidiaries and two other non-Native contractors will share in a $20 million increase to a previously awarded contract for the procurement of worldwide passive security barrier services. Work will be performed at various Department of Defense installations worldwide, and is expected to be completed by September 2024. Anchorage-based Iyabak Construction LLC, a subsidiary of Nome-based Bering Straits Native Corporation, and Windy Bay Services LLC, a subsidiary of the Port Graham Corporation ANC.
ASRC Federal, which is owned by the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, announced that its Data Networks Inc. subsidiary was awarded a place on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ProTech 2.0 Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle, which has an $8 billion ceiling. The company secured a position on the satellite domain of the contract supporting the acquisition, deployment, and ground system development and monitoring of satellites essential for forecasting weather, analyzing environmental and climate phenomena and monitoring hazards worldwide.
Two other ASRC units were selected for contracts recently, including Huntsville, Ala.-based Agile Decision Sciences, which was awarded $11.4 million on Aug. 18 to provide work for the Department of Defense; and ASRC Consulting & Environmental Services, which won a $19.5 million contract with the Bureau of Land Management for legacy well remediation for the Tulageak Test well 25 miles southeast of Utqiagvik.
Yukon Management LLC, an Alaska Native Corporation unit, was awarded a $12.1 million contract to provide civil engineering and related services to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Albuquerque District. The company, which delivers demolition, remediation, specialty design construction, and facility services to customers, is a subsidiary of Gana-A'Yoo Limited.
Here are a few more quick contract notes: Aerostar Environmental & Construction, a unit of Bristol Bay, won a $47 million contract for environmental remediation services through the USACE Omaha District…Oneida Engineering Services, a full-service engineering and environmental services company owned by the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, earned $15 million in federal contracts for environmental consulting services through the Federal Acquisition Service of the GSA … Chenega Reliable Services, an 8(a) company owned by the Chenega ANC, was awarded a $30 million contract for environmental consulting services for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Sources: Department of Defense, General Services Administration, HigherGov, SAM.gov
