Post by Okwes on Dec 4, 2005 18:37:57 GMT -5
Indian small business owners face new obstacles
Sam Lewin
11/30/2005
The head of an organization dedicated to helping Indian entrepreneurs
is warning that a combination of factors could harm efforts to secure
new loans for small business owners.
"Given increasingly large and sole source contracts for Katrina
relief, the war effort in Iraq, etc., the federal agencies must
rededicate themselves to using the Small Business Administration's 8
(a) and other programs to help increase the percentage of contract
awards to small businesses of all types," said Ken Robbins, president
of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development and
a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. "Federal
agencies are short-changing small business by failing to meet their
small business contracting goals."
Robbins said a recently released study reveals a 31 percent decline
in contract awards to small business, despite a three percent growth
in the federal marketplace.
The October study by the U.S. House Small Business Committee
Democratic Staff measured 22 federal agencies on their ability to
meet small business contracting goals and found that nearly all of
them were deficient in doing so.
"The Department of Defense performed best in meeting small business
contracting goals," Robbins said. "All small businesses should be up
in arms and working together to reverse this shocking decline in
contract awards to small and small disadvantaged businesses. Some
have criticized 8(a) contract awards to Alaska Native Corporations
over the past few years, but these are just the latest in anti-Indian
attacks. The fact is that, unless all certified 8(a) firms band
together to press for substantial increases in federal contract
awards, tribal people and hundreds of thousands of others who have
benefited from the 8(a) program will be left without meaningful ways
to compete in the enormous federal marketplace."
The center is planning to discuss the crisis during the 20th Annual
National Reservation Economic Summit and American Indian Business
Trade Fair, coming up this February in Las Vegas. The event is the
largest Native American business conference and trade show in the
United States, and features workshops, contract opportunities and
hundreds of exhibitions.
The center is based in the Arizona town of Mesa and was originally
formed in 1969 by six Indian businessmen who, according to the
organization's website, "experienced the need for business growth
assistance and economic parity for urban Indian entrepreneurs."
The center recently created the Procurement Learning for American
Indian Nations & Societies (PLAINS) organization in Denver. PLAINS
helps Indian-owned businesses win contracts with the feds, as well as
secure agreements with state and local governments. The president of
PLAINS is Don Kelin, a member of the Caddo Tribe of Binger, Oklahoma.
Sam Lewin
11/30/2005
The head of an organization dedicated to helping Indian entrepreneurs
is warning that a combination of factors could harm efforts to secure
new loans for small business owners.
"Given increasingly large and sole source contracts for Katrina
relief, the war effort in Iraq, etc., the federal agencies must
rededicate themselves to using the Small Business Administration's 8
(a) and other programs to help increase the percentage of contract
awards to small businesses of all types," said Ken Robbins, president
of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development and
a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. "Federal
agencies are short-changing small business by failing to meet their
small business contracting goals."
Robbins said a recently released study reveals a 31 percent decline
in contract awards to small business, despite a three percent growth
in the federal marketplace.
The October study by the U.S. House Small Business Committee
Democratic Staff measured 22 federal agencies on their ability to
meet small business contracting goals and found that nearly all of
them were deficient in doing so.
"The Department of Defense performed best in meeting small business
contracting goals," Robbins said. "All small businesses should be up
in arms and working together to reverse this shocking decline in
contract awards to small and small disadvantaged businesses. Some
have criticized 8(a) contract awards to Alaska Native Corporations
over the past few years, but these are just the latest in anti-Indian
attacks. The fact is that, unless all certified 8(a) firms band
together to press for substantial increases in federal contract
awards, tribal people and hundreds of thousands of others who have
benefited from the 8(a) program will be left without meaningful ways
to compete in the enormous federal marketplace."
The center is planning to discuss the crisis during the 20th Annual
National Reservation Economic Summit and American Indian Business
Trade Fair, coming up this February in Las Vegas. The event is the
largest Native American business conference and trade show in the
United States, and features workshops, contract opportunities and
hundreds of exhibitions.
The center is based in the Arizona town of Mesa and was originally
formed in 1969 by six Indian businessmen who, according to the
organization's website, "experienced the need for business growth
assistance and economic parity for urban Indian entrepreneurs."
The center recently created the Procurement Learning for American
Indian Nations & Societies (PLAINS) organization in Denver. PLAINS
helps Indian-owned businesses win contracts with the feds, as well as
secure agreements with state and local governments. The president of
PLAINS is Don Kelin, a member of the Caddo Tribe of Binger, Oklahoma.