From what I understand, the federal government sets aside contracts for small businesses owned by certain disadvantaged classes (disabled veterans, women, Alaska Natives, etc). But apparently ASRC is able to continually spin off wholly-owned subsidiaries that are considered Alaska Native-owned small businesses, even if the overall ASRC is too big to qualify for those set-aside contracts.
Today ASRC is the most successful of the Alaska Native corporations, but along the way has basically become an evil oil company mixed with an evil government contracting company. But hey, they give each of their Inupiat shareholders a multi-thousand dollar dividend every year, so they seem to be a necessary evil.
Notably, ASRC just quit the Alaska Federation of Natives, basically because the AFN acknowledges a climate emergency but ASRC just wants to keep drilling for more oil.
I've also noticed ASRC contains a fair amount of what might be seen as nepotism elsewhere. The CEO's family and the chairman's family are certainly well represented in the company's ranks. But on the other hand there aren't a whole lot of employers in the North Slope so maybe that's just to be expected.