- Details
- By Brian Edwards
- Native Contracting
The Nebraska Indian Community College APEX Accelerator has received approval to expand its service territory from Nebraska to cover five and a half states across the Midwest, filling a coverage gap that left many Native American businesses without procurement assistance.
Mike Channell, Tribal Apex Accelerator Program Manager at Nebraska Indian Community CollegeMike Channell, who directs the program, said the expansion adds Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and eastern South Dakota to the accelerator's coverage area. The Department of Defense Office of Small Business Programs approved the expansion after the Ponca Tribe's APEX Accelerator, which previously served the region, ceased operations.
APEX Accelerators, formerly known as Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs), provide free technical assistance to businesses seeking federal, state and local government contracts. The program moved from the Defense Logistics Agency to the DoD Office of Small Business Programs in 2023, with expanded authority to strengthen the defense industrial base.
The Nebraska program specifically serves Native American-owned and tribally-owned businesses, creating a specialized layer of procurement assistance for tribal enterprises across the region. While states like Michigan and Nebraska already have APEX Accelerators serving general business populations, the Nebraska Indian Community College program is focused on Native American and tribally-owned businesses.
Channell said all of his staff are enrolled tribal members, allowing them to work directly with tribal communities that other accelerators might not reach effectively.
“We go places that most of the state Apex counselors would probably not even get out of their car,” said Channell, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. “We're there in real time, and it's very important for me as an enrolled member ... this is about creating change in Indian Country.”
Channell brings personal experience to the role, having operated his own federal contracting business that earned $17.9 million in contracts in 2003. “The biggest mistake that small businesses make is they outgrow their revenue,” he said, explaining his approach to helping clients develop realistic growth plans for the 8(a) Business Development Program and other federal contracting opportunities.
To handle the expanded coverage area, the program will hire additional counselors to serve the new territory. Channell said the positions will be filled by people with practical federal contracting experience who can provide hands-on guidance to tribal businesses.
The Nebraska Indian Community College also operates one of four SBA Tribal College Small Business Achievement programs nationwide, providing additional business development resources for Native entrepreneurs. Anthony Warrior runs that program, which has no regional boundaries.
The expansion comes at a significant time for tribal contracting opportunities. Federal contract awards to tribal entities reached a record $23.3 billion in fiscal 2023, an increase of 16.3% over the previous year and the eighth consecutive year of growth, according to prior Tribal Business News reporting. The 8(a) program provides a nine-year window for eligible businesses to compete for set-aside contracts, with unlimited opportunities in the first four years.
While tribal contracting has shown strong growth, the sector faces potential policy changes under the current administration. In March, President Trump signed an executive order to consolidate federal procurement of common goods and services under the General Services Administration — a move that federal contracting experts say could affect small business and tribal contracting opportunities.
