GAO-16-557
The GAO released a report on the decline of sole-source contracts to SBA’s Program Section 8(a) firms (8(a)) owned by tribes and Alaska Native Corporations. While the stark decline of the numbers is predictable and continuous because of a midnight amendment in Congress, the language and approach of the GAO is somewhat dismaying because of its total dismissal of the harm done to indigenous groups as well as the lack of comparison to other noncompetitive awards through non-8(a) Programs, which vastly outweigh 8(a) awards made to indigenous groups. Full Report