U S Government Accountability Office

Federal contracting U S Government Accountability Office

" Tribal firms-those owned by Alaska Native Corporations, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and Indian tribes-are afforded special advantages within the Small Business Administration's (SBA) 8(a) business development program. GAO was asked to (1) identify trends in government 8(a) contracting with tribal firms; (2) determine why the government awarded sole-source contracts to tribal 8(a) firms and the methods used to make price determinations; (3) assess the procuring agencies' oversight of contracts for compliance with subcontracting requirements; and (4) examine SBA's new 8(a) regulation, intended to clarify program rules, to determine how the changes could affect oversight of tribal 8(a) firms. GAO reviewed non-generalizable samples of 87 contracts (based on dollar value and location) and 62 tribal 8(a) firms' SBA files and spoke with SBA headquarters and district officials as well as officials from 9 agencies. "