Alaskan Tribes Score No-Bid Bonanza Sen. Ted Stevens under scrutiny for shady contracts By Dustin Lushing Posted Jun 19, 2007 6:52 AM CDT Copied Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska gestures during an interview with The Associated Press, Thursday, April 12,2007, in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) (Associated Press) Alaskan tribes are so successful in securing no-bid government contracts, they're spurring a federal investigation into conduct by Alaskan senator Ted Stevens, reports Salon. In 1986, Stevens pushed through a law that gave Alaskan companies "small business" preferences—even if they belong to a multi-billion dollar parent corporation and employ no natives. The contracts have grown five-fold during the Bush administration, to more than a billion. This spring, an Eskimo firm based 180 miles north of the Arctic Circle won a no-bid contract to provide meals to anti-cocaine enforcers in Bolivia, costing US taxpayers $1M more a year than the Bolivian firm that preceded it. Read These Next The country of Eswatini is about to be on your radar. This is why you don't wear metal in MRI rooms. Two of Iran's enrichment sites reportedly could be back soon. Senate claws back aid to public broadcasting. Report an error