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 Air Force has changed its tune on Ashli Babbitt. Open that wallet big time for a trip to Disney, if you can afford it. Minneapolis shooter had a plan—and grievances. A 'tense' clash with RFK Jr. led to CDC chief's trouble. Report an error