Northwest Arctic Borough seeks firm to design heated emergency storage in five villages

The Northwest Arctic Borough on Friday asked architecture and engineering firms to propose designs for heated storage buildings for fire, search and rescue, and Village Public Safety Officer equipment in Selawik, Noorvik, Deering, Noatak and Kivalina. The request for proposals, issued over Mayor Dickie Moto Sr.'s name, says the work must reach substantial completion by March 2027.

Proposals are due to the borough clerk in Kotzebue by 4:30 pm Nov. 30.

Darrell Hildebrand, the borough's VPSO coordinator, and Regional Public Safety Officer Chris Hatch wrote in a March report that the buildings "will protect critical equipment from extreme weather conditions, extend equipment service life, and improve emergency response capability in remote communities."

Each building would be 27 by 42 feet, with 12-foot side walls, an 18-foot center peak and a roof built for 100 pounds of snow per square foot. The request calls for 200-amp service, at least 60,000 BTU of heat, heat exchangers to help offset fuel costs and a fire-rated 12-by-16-foot garage door.

The borough first chose a lower-cost option drawn from a conceptual design. It now asks bidders to respond to a higher-cost option, and it keeps the right to negotiate back toward the lower-cost one with the firm it picks. The work includes soil samples and frost elevations at every site, plus three foundation options for each building, all above ground and with materials that must be flown in. The building package falls under Build America, Buy America rules, which require American-made iron, steel and construction materials in federally funded projects.

Cost counts for half of a bidder's score. The mayor, the public services director and project manager John Bullock will rank the proposals, and the Assembly will award the contract.

In January, the Assembly unanimously approved a ground lease with the City of Deering for its building. A March 6 report said environmental review was complete and sites were secured in all five villages. It said the Alaska Municipal League was managing the project and working with USDA to start drawing down federal grant money so construction could begin.

The borough lists two state grants tied to the work: $900,000 for Noorvik warm storage and $1.5 million for shelter cabins and a public safety building. The borough's grants summary for the fiscal year that ended June 30 shows nothing spent from either grant.

In Selawik, the gravel pad meant for the building holds wind turbine material that was not shipped back out this summer, according to a July report on the village's energy project.

The request and borough records do not give the project's total cost, which design option will be built or when construction would start.