Washington Technology is a computer trade publication that focuses on sales and service opportunities in the government sector. The magazine is full of news about the information technology appropriations process and various technology procurement programs, mostly at the federal level.

Two of the more irritating tendencies exhibited by bureaucrats (and regularly uncovered by WT) when purchasing technology are:

1. Chasing too few goods and services with too many dollars (gross inefficiency).
2. Finding ways to circumvent the myriad competitive bidding regulations imposed from outside intended to combat this inefficiency.

Partially to quell these tendencies, partially to foster competition for the big boys (the oligopolists), Congress regularly enacts provisions to set aside work for small businesses, minority/women owned businesses, and, more recently, native american businesses.

Alas, far too often the programs intended to help a broad group of businesses only enriches the very few who have leaders with connections. So a "small business" turns out to be a 1000-person division of a major government contractor, or a "minority/women owned business" turns out to be a front for a much larger organization that "subcontracts" from the MWOB prime contractor. And none of these things is considered fraud because somebody's lawyers always made sure that they met the letter of the law, and the final draft regulations are almost always written by the bureaucrats that they are supposed to regulate.

WT reports that another group has emerged in the past few years and appears to be up to these same tricks. Backed with legislation sponsored by the senior senator from Alaska, Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) and other "tribal organizations" receive special treatment when going after federal government business, even to the extent that they can be exempted from competitive bidding. So a senior bureaucrat can hire an ANC to run a project, have the ANC hire the bureaucrat's firm of choice as a subcontractor, and never be forced to have that firm bid for the work at all. As a result, ANCs now dominate the top spots in the annual IT vendor survey run by WT.

It's a sweet deal - for the few who have the inside track. The smell of fraud and corruption always seems to permeate the domain of big government, doesn't it?