Santiago Almaraz

This Trailblazer has had two Mount

Everest moments in his career. The first was when he assisted in the charge to establish the Buy Indian Act‘s final rule within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The second was in March, when the Indian Health Services (IHS) enacted their final rule for the Buy Indian Act. These rules will eventually bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Native American communities, increasing both the Native-owned and HUBZone-owned industrial base.

HEALTH Santiago Almaraz, Director, Office of Management Services, Indian Health Service, HHS

Mount Everest or Bust –Buy Indian Act

After chatting with Mr. Almaraz, I came to believe that climbing Mount Everest might have been a much easier feat. His Mount Everest moment was the Buy Indian Act. This law passed in 1910 but remained buried for over a century. As a young man, this Trailblazer had heard stories about the Buy Indian Act and how it would allow BIA and IHS to award federal contracts to Indian-owned businesses without using the standard competitive process. When he arrived at BIA in 2009, he made a conscious decision to start climbing that mountain. Four years later, on July 18, 2013, BIA reached the top of this mountain with the support of local, tribal, and national leaders. Finally, the Buy Indian Act had become more than a promise deferred.

On June 7, 2013, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Kevin K. Washburn, announced that the Department of the Interior had a final rule for Indian Affairs to implement the Buy Indian Act of 1910 (25 U.S.C. 47, as amended). Mr. Washburn said, “The publication of this final rule to implement the Buy Indian Act is a major accomplishment for the Administration and a win-win for both Indian Affairs and the American Indian and Alaska Native business community. The regulations will provide certainty for individually owned businesses, tribal enterprises, and Alaska Native corporations interested in selling their products to Indian Affairs. We expect this will help increase economic activity in tribal communities and provide greater employment opportunities where these businesses are located.”

Mr. Almaraz soon set his sights on doing the same for IHS, as they had an even larger budget – more than $1.5B. He said, “I had a great support system, including staff and colleagues for the Buy Indian Act final rule. I also had tremendous support from my leadership; they were right there moving it forward. It was a challenge, but in the end, over 6 years later, the final rule was published and made effective on March 14, 2022. I have learned to keep climbing and not to count myself out. When the odds are against me, I remember where my strength and my support stem from. So, I make it a point to always acknowledge and recognize the staff, the Tribes, the people, and the colleagues who have assisted me along the way, and this includes Native-Owned businesses.”

This Trailblazer will now have the authority to circumvent traditional federal guidelines and set-aside opportunities for Native-owned businesses, which are often HUBZones. The road looks bright for Native-owned businesses working with IHS. Mr. Almaraz can already anticipate the avalanche of opportunities that will be generated by this Final Rule, not to mention the resources that will build and improve life in Indian Country. He also looks forward to the bringing to the community the dollars that will strengthen their ecosystem including education, innovation, health, and housing.

Exceeding the 3% HUBZone Goal

When this Trailblazer arrived at IHS, their HUBZone numbers were less than 1 percent. He said, “I was personally embarrassed; I was aware that all Indian reservations were automatically classified as HUBZones. This

socioeconomic goal is tied directly to the well-being of the population IHS was mandated to support and we were not meeting our goals. It was horrible.”

Mr. Almaraz knew he had a great team; he just needed to make sure they had the tools and encouragement to exceed their goal. He immediately sought the support of Jonathan Ferguson (IHS Small Business Specialist) and Mr. Ken Truesdale (Acting Director, Division of Acquisition Policy). Mr. Ferguson had proven his commitment to advance equity with the Buy Indian Act and had garnered respect in Indian Country. Mr. Truesdale, with more than 40 years of acquisition experience, demonstrated his dedication to the IHS Mission and the Buy Indian Act initiative. Together, Mr. Almaraz, Mr. Ferguson, and Mr. Truesdale, along with many others, forged an alliance promoting HUBZone setasides within every NAICS code. This effort which began in 2016, quickly paid dividends. In FY20, they reached 3% and in FY22 they achieved 3.93% for contracts totaling more than $60M.

Photo Source: Santiago Almaraz

HUBZone Forecasting Works

Mr. Almaraz created a process whereby his team added various HUBZone opportunities to IHS’s forecast in the first and second quarters of each fiscal year. The acquisition staff didn’t wait till the end of the year, somehow hoping that they would meet their goal – like so many other agencies do. Instead, these professionals conducted early market research to ensure that there would be enough HUBZone set asides to potentially exceed the annual target. When the end of a fiscal year rolled around, Mr. Almaraz would survey his staff to determine what items might be appropriate for the subsequent fiscal year. He said, “We're already gauging our forecast for the next fiscal year, and for those

This Trailblazer implemented mandatory acquisition peer reviews to ensure that contracting officers and contract specialists perform their due diligence by increasing the socio-economic industrial base. Additionally, Mr. Almaraz’s team works to build the HUBZone & Native American industrial base by providing, at the request of successful and unsuccessful offerors, a meaningful post-award debriefing that elaborates on any significant weaknesses or deficiencies in the offeror’s proposal and a summary of the rationale for award. The postaward debrief instills confidence in the contracting process by affirming that proposals were treated fairly and provides offerors with feedback that may assist with improvements in proposals submitted on future IHS contract opportunities.

Importance of a Site Visit

IHS is responsible for providing healthcare to reservations and villages that are often hundreds of miles from the nearest town. Thus, this Trailblazer wanted his entire team to know why their work was critical and how much it matters to the Indian Country. When Mr. Almaraz first came to IHS, his entire staff was non-Native. He said, “When I started to communicate the importance of the Buy Indian Act, I could see that they were enthusiastic to understand. In part of conducting annual acquisition management assessments and reviews, I invited my staff to participate in these site reviews to get a better understanding. This enables my staff to get an up-close and personal view of the locations in which IHS and Tribal healthcare facilities resided. This offered a view of reality where limited availability of housing, schools, stores, transportation, and technology. They suddenly understood the importance of the Buy Indian Act and the challenges Indian Country often faces.”

Listen – We Have a Voice

As a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Mr. Almaraz is very proud of his heritage. But like many Native Americans, his family bears the scars of voices silenced. His uncle, as a baby, was adopted by a non-Native family that moved cross-country and away from his tribal roots. This move occurred well before the enactment of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which prevented the arbitrary removal of Indian

children from their homes by public and private agencies. Later in life, his uncle was able to finally identify and locate his family. Although many years were lost, the whole family is grateful to be reunited.

It is stories like these that ignite this Trailblazer. Mr. Almaraz said, “I experience and witness the struggles that occur when indigenous people don’t have a voice. I now hear more Indian Country intergenerational voices. Voices that are finally being heard and we are not who we have been categorized as. It is now time to take back our story.”

Mr. Almaraz is using his voice every day to say how valuable Native-owned businesses are to the nation's economy. They bring innovation, create meaningful employment, foster social inclusion, and improve products & services. Perhaps even more importantly, Native-owned businesses now have an equal opportunity to enhance their communities and take bold steps to reverse the harm that was done to Indian

Country.

Photo Source: Santiago Almaraz