ADEC permit delay forces Anchorage to extend drainage contract, adding $500K

A delayed state permit renewal is extending Anchorage's watershed drainage contract a year past its original end date and adding $500,000, maintaining the engineering support required for stormwater permit compliance while the permit remains unfinished.

The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled to vote July 21 on an amendment to the municipality's professional services contract with AWR Engineering LLC. The contract was originally awarded in July 2021 through a competitive bidding process. It is an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, meaning funding is identified at the task-order stage rather than upfront. The amendment adds $500,000 and extends the performance period to July 31, 2027, to maintain uninterrupted professional watershed drainage services while the municipality and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation finalize the terms of a new Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for Anchorage's municipal storm sewer system. The contract has exhausted every option year, with the current extension running to July 26, 2026. The proposed amendment pushes the total not-to-exceed value to $3 million.

Kenna Billups, watershed manager for the Project Management and Engineering Department, prepared the administration memo. Billups wrote that "the delay in permit issuance is an unforeseen circumstance caused by reasons completely outside the control of the MOA." PME Director Melinda T. Kohlhaas approved the memo. Public Works Director Kent E. Kohlhase and Municipal Manager William D. Falsey both concurred.

Funding for the extension is drawn from APDES grant funding, not the general fund. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted the memorandum and the administration recommends approval. If the Assembly approves the amendment July 21, AWR Engineering will continue drainage investigations, analysis, and engineering support through next summer while the municipality and the department work toward a new permit.