Anchorage's Koman firms win $37.6 million in Border Protection contracts

Two Anchorage companies owned by Natives of Kodiak, Inc., an Alaska Native corporation, won $37.6 million in U.S. Customs and Border Protection contracts that began Sept. 30. One company will clear Carrizo cane. The other will rebuild kennels at the agency's Front Royal Canine Academy.

Koman Advantage, LLC holds the larger award. It received $24.7 million for Carrizo cane eradication under a one-year contract that runs through Sept. 29, 2027. Koman Construction Management, LLC received $12.9 million to rehabilitate the academy's kennel facility under a three-year contract ending Sept. 29, 2029.

The federal records list Anchorage as the recipient location. They place the work in Laredo, Texas, and Front Royal, Virginia, not in Alaska.

The cane contract was set aside for small businesses and drew six offers. The kennel contract was an 8(a) sole-source award, with one offer.

"So to the extent that these ventures, these contracts are profitable, that's where we see money come into the Alaska economy, into these headquarters of the different corporations," Katie Berry, who leads McKinley Research Group, said at a Commonwealth North panel on the federal 8(a) program in May.