Coast Guard awards Anchorage firm $1.7 million amid 8(a) freeze

Old Harbor Solutions LLC of Anchorage was awarded two U.S. Coast Guard contracts worth a combined $1.71 million for administrative and logistics staffing, both signed Thursday. The Small Business Administration has halted new 8(a) applications from Native corporation subsidiaries; whether the pause affects existing contract vehicles is unclear, and Old Harbor's OASIS+ 8(a) option period runs to Jan. 7, 2031.

The larger award, $1,437,365 (70Z02326FDCOI0006), is a firm-fixed-price task order under the General Services Administration's OASIS+ contract, management and advisory domain. It covers administrative, technical and financial support for a Coast Guard office the record identifies only as DCO-I, and runs from Sept. 23, 2026, through Sept. 22, 2027. The second award, $274,049 (70Z04026FSBPL0029), covers full-time on-site logistics support for the Coast Guard's Small Boat Product Line from Sept. 6, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2027.

Both were competed. The records list full and open competition after exclusion of sources, with eight offers received on the larger order and four on the smaller. The work is at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington and in Norfolk, Virginia.

Old Harbor Solutions, based at 2702 Denali St. in Anchorage, is listed in the GSA eLibrary as an Alaska Native Corporation-owned firm and a Small Business Administration-certified 8(a) small disadvantaged business. A 1986 amendment to the Small Business Act allowed Native corporations and tribes to participate in that federal contracting program. The company holds 22 federal awards worth about $55.1 million, including $21 million from the Justice Department in July.

Nicole Borromeo, executive vice president and general counsel of the Alaska Federation of Natives, told a Commonwealth North forum in Anchorage on May 26 that federal contracting is "what our ANCs do almost better than any other contracting firm out there."