Aleut Attends National 8(a) Association Alaska Regional Conference

Anchorage, Alaska. – Aleut Federal, LLC (Aleut) representatives, including President Martin Hanofee, recently attended the National 8(a) Association’s 2021 Alaska Regional Conference to expand the enterprise’s ongoing growth and regulatory compliance efforts.

Held August 24-25th in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, the annual regional conference, which offers educational sessions, matchmaking, networking, and resources for Small Business Administration (SBA) certified minority, aspiring and current 8(a), and HUBZone businesses, among others.

In addition to networking with other 8(a) program participants and participating the Inaugural Golf Tournament, Aleut attended sessions by local Alaska District SBA office and John Klein, Associate General Counsel of the SBA to learn about legal and regulatory updates with the potential to impact the enterprise.

The most critical development included an announcement from Bibi Hidalgo, Associate Administrator for the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development of the SBA which, in consideration of the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, introduced a suspension of the bona fide place of business requirement for 8(a) construction contracts through September 2022.

Before the announcement, for purposes of 8(a) construction procurements, SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program participants were required to establish a bona fide place of business, meaning a location where a participant regularly maintains an office that employs at least one full-time individual, in a specific geographic area, in order to be awarded any construction contract through the program.

Alaska Native Corporations (ANC) have been lobbying for changes to the bona fide place of business requirement for years, citing the outdated regulation impedes the ability for the minority-owned, disadvantaged businesses to expand construction operations without incurring significant costs to establish and maintain offices throughout the country.

“Although temporary,” said Martin Hanofee, President of Aleut Federal. “This acknowledgment of the burden the bona fide place of business requirement places on small businesses feels like a huge win for ANCs.”