Alaska Beat

Alaska Native subsidiary got $250 million Army contract

An Army contract worth as much as $250 million awarded to a subsidiary of Cape Fox Corp., an Alaska Native corporation in Southeast, is drawing attention two years later, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper, which has been reporting on special federal contracting privileges for Alaska Native corporations, says United Solutions and Services, known as US2 and co-owned by Cape Fox Corp., got the no-bid federal contract to help the Army in "a global campaign to prevent sexual assault and harassment, without seeking outside bids." It was an odd contract to award US2, The Post reports: US2 "had just three employees and several small contracts for janitorial services and other work. It was based in a four-bedroom colonial, where the founder worked out of his living room." With the Army contract, US2 needed help to complete the work:

With the Army's knowledge, the firm subcontracted the majority of it to more established companies, a Washington Post investigation has found. Federal rules generally require prime contractors on set-aside deals to perform at least half of the work, something US2 did not do on more than $100 million worth of jobs, according to interviews with Army officials and an analysis of federal procurement data. In response to The Post's findings, officials at the Department of the Interior, which managed the contract for the Army, said proper procedures were followed in the contract award. But they said in a statement that they have asked the department's inspector general to investigate.

It's not the first time Cape Fox has come under scrutiny this year. Alaska Dispatch reported in May that Cape Fox and two companies it owns -- APM LLC and 1CI Inc. -- were suing two of APM's former CEOs and four of those men's companies for $27 million in damages. Last fall, the Air Force expelled 20 contractors from its procurement list, citing an extensive scheme to exploit and deceive an award process designed to assist small and disadvantaged businesses -- businesses which, if Native-owned, are given preferential treatment. Six of the companies named had direct ties to Cape Fox. The rest had ties to former APM chief executive Townsend Jackson, his brother Craig Jackson, and other family members.

Cape Fox and other Alaska Native corporations have been under fire for benefiting from a special federal contracting program. Many Native corporations have created subsidiaries that are involved in what are called 8(a) contracts with the federal government. For years, critics have claimed Native corporations have received unfair advantages compared to other small businesses and that the Small Business Administrations 8(a) program lacks oversight.

The program creates preferences for economically disadvantaged small businesses. Alaska Native companies enjoy the lion's share -- 74 percent -- of federal 8(a) awards, according to a 2009 report by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight. Native corporations can go after federal contracts without facing competition. They can also subcontract to larger companies that aren't Native-owned but have the expertise to fulfill the contracts.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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