SBA probing 8(a) fraud allegations at tribal-owned contractor
The Small Business Administration is now investigating allegations that a small business and its majority owner, a Native American tribe, defrauded the 8(a) small business contracting program.
ATI Government Solutions and the Susanville Indian Rancheria tribe are suspended from federal business activities pending the probe’s completion and findings. Three senior ATI executives are also suspended from working with the government, SBA said in a Tuesday Sam.gov notice.
The allegations stem from a series of videos released Monday by conservative activist James O’Keefe, who claims the recordings depict ATI executives and employees talking about the company acting as a pass-through to other contractors. Washington Technology has not independently verified the recordings.
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced the probe in a post to X on Wednesday, while the General Services Administration is reviewing its contracts with ATI. GSA is also “pausing (ATI’s) ability to pursue new work with the GSA,” Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum said in a Friday X posting.
SBA is already in the midst of an audit over the entire 8(a) program, which came under scrutiny following guilty pleas by three contractors and a former government contracting officer for a bribery scheme at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
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In July, SBA revoked USAID’s 8(a) contracting authority after those pleas that involved $550 million in awards.
O’Keefe also claims the videos show ATI exploits laws that govern the awards of sole-source contracts to tribally-owned businesses.
ATI Government Solutions was launched in 2019 and hit position No. 1 on the 2024 Washington Technology Fast 50 rankings of the government market’s fastest-growing small businesses.
The video alleging illegal behavior by ATI was produced by O’Keefe Media Group. James O’Keefe founded that conservative activist organization in 2023 after he was fired by Project Veritas, the similar group he founded in 2010.
Both O’Keefe Media Group and Project Veritas have used heavily-edited videos and information gathering techniques in an attempt to show illegal or abusive behavior by organizations.
Officials at ATI have not responded to our requests for comment, but the Susanville Indian Rancheria tribe did provide a comment to KTVN-TV for this report aired Thursday.
