With the advent of Small Business Administration 8(a) business opportunities, jobs are created within the Cherokee Nation and are staffed by Cherokee citizens. Through partnering with the Cherokee tribal government, citizens receive job training to educate and prepare them for the growing opportunities within Cherokee businesses, while cultivating economic self reliance. Rather than viewing the 8(a) program as an economic end point, the Cherokee Nation utilizes the program as a means to develop Cherokee capacity to better compete in the open market.

Although tribal enterprises receive less than 1.3 percent of the total U.S. procurement, that funding enables tribes to secure contracts that support social and economic investments. It is extremely important to note that not only do these profits fund programs and services, but they are also used to capitalize additional businesses, many of which are 8(a) certified or pending certification. Cherokee Nation believes that the recent federal regulations sufficiently addressed the concerns that people had with the 8(a) program regarding non-Native executive compensation and subcontracting.

Cherokee Nation believes the new regulations should have a chance to alleviate the problems previously raised in the reports that were critical of past practices. Intervening with new legislation may have the affect of delaying implementation of the regulations and, if the legislation were to be enacted, would result in a new round of rule making that would only create further delays to any real constructive improvement to the 8(a) program.