This is very important in explaining how/why this is happening on our military base.

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Or private security, for that matter. Although the Range is a military facility, soldiers are not responsible for maintaining security across the property’s 1.7 million acres. In 2009, the 56th Contracting Squadron at nearby Luke Air Force Base awarded a $56 million contract to Chiulista Services, Inc. for the “operation and maintenance of Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field (AFAF) and the Barry M. Goldwater Range (BMGR) for the period of 1 Oct 09 through 30 Sep 10 with four one-year options.” This contract included a very long laundry list of services that Chiulista was required to perform, ranging from civil engineering support, air traffic control, range maintenance, and environmental monitoring, to name a few. Security services were only one small part of this contract, for which Chiulista was granted all four one-year options.


It should come as no surprise that Chiulista–a subsidiary of Yulista Holding, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Calista Corporation–is running the show at the BMGR. Its parent company, Calista Corp., is one of roughly 200 Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) that were formed after Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. According to media outlet ProPublica, in 1986, “Congress passed legislation that allowed ANCs to participate in the Small Business Administration’s disadvantaged business program, known as the 8(a) program, which sets aside federal contracts for minority-owned or other disadvantaged companies. With strong advocacy from Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, Congress later extended to ANCs additional special 8(a) benefits, such as the ability to win no-bid contracts for any amount and to own multiple subsidiaries in the program. Other participants do not have those advantages.”


Calista and its biggest competitor, Chenega Corporation, are known to almost everyone in the federal contracting business. According to Alaska Business Monthly, Chenega’s annual revenue grew from a mere $13 million in 2000 to $1.1 billion by 2009. Calista’s growth has been more modest during the same time period, growing from $14 million to $200 million annually, according to the ANC’s annual reports. Few ANCs are required to report financial data. According to ProPublica, Chenega and Calista have received nearly all their contracting revenue through no-bid contracts or in competitions restricted to small minority firms.


Looking through the requirements in the BMGR contract, there are only a handful of companies in the US that can meet all of them. The common solution for large government contractors would be to subcontract out different parts of the contract to other companies, but Chiulista kept all the work in-house–an impressive accomplishment. A call to the 56th Contracting Squadron on July 8 revealed that the contract will not be broken up into individual or smaller requirements when it comes up for renewal in September 2014.


The problem remains that Chiulista’s contracted security agents are failing to stem the flow of drug smugglers and illegal immigrants across Department of Defense property. Inside sources at Luke AFB have told Breitbart Texas that base leadership is extremely unhappy with the security services being provided by Chiulista, but base contracting officials have made it clear that they will not be separating out the security portion of the operations and maintenance contract for the BMGR.


When contacted for comments on this story, Chiulista’s communications manager only referred Breitbart Texas to the Luke Air Force Base public affairs office and did not respond to additional requests for a statement from the company. Chas Buchanan, Director of the 56th Range Management Office, offered limited comments in conjunction with the base spokesman. Buchanan declined to comment on smuggling activity on the Range, referring Breitbart Texas to the US Border Patrol. He also declined to comment on the BMGR’s relationship with Chiulista, citing the fact the contract was up for renewal and didn’t want to interfere with that process. Buchanan did say his office has a solid relationship with federal and local law enforcement agencies, and when a smuggling incident is detected on the Range, contract security officers are the ones who respond and contact the appropriate local agency.


The fact remains that the Barry M. Goldwater Range is a US military facility that is supposed to be one of the most secure areas in the country, yet drug traffickers and illegal immigrants traverse the property regularly with relative impunity. Worse yet, security for the Range isn’t even a military responsibility; it has been contracted out to a company that has failed to identify–let alone slow down–the flow of illicit goods and people in the five years since they started providing services. The BMGR can now easily be added to a growing list of taxpayer-funded federal lands where violent drug smugglers and illegal immigrants have more access than the American public.


https://www.breitbart.com/texas/2014...ling-activity/