Anchorage firm wins $128,963 Nashville courthouse renovation job

An Anchorage contractor is renovating offices inside a federal courthouse in Nashville under a $128,963 order from the General Services Administration. Work began Aug. 24 and runs through Nov. 24.

The GSA's Public Buildings Service issued the contract to Chitina Diversified Services, LLC, listed by the Small Business Administration at 821 N St. in Anchorage. The work covers office renovations at the Fred Thompson Federal Courthouse, 719 Church St., Suite 3300.

Federal records show how it was awarded. It is a delivery order placed against a standing contract the GSA competed in 2024 as a total small business set-aside, which drew seven offers. Two firms bid on this order. No set-aside is recorded on the order, and the company's SBA 8(a) certification, which it lists on its website, is not identified as the mechanism behind this particular contract.

The award follows other Tennessee work for the firm, including a $7.5 million contract for repairs at the Howard H. Baker, Jr. United States Courthouse in Knoxville and, in August, smaller jobs in Memphis and Jackson. The Knoxville contract is the one federal records list as an 8(a) sole-source award, not available for competition, with a single offer received. The firm has taken at least two more orders at the same courthouse this year, repairing water damage in January and a basement corridor in June.

Those records list Chitina Diversified Services as an 8(a) program participant, an Alaska Native corporation owned firm and a tribally owned firm. The 8(a) designation, which underpins much of the firm's broader federal work, traces to a 1986 amendment to the Small Business Act. At a Commonwealth North panel in Anchorage on May 26, Nicole Borromeo described its origin: "the federal government has allowed American Indians and Alaska Natives to participate in federal contracting through a special set-aside." She added that set-asides also exist for veterans, women-owned businesses and other contractors.