The Assembly Finance Committee voted 6-2 on June 5 to award IFB 25067, Pioneer Park Security Services, to AEY LLC doing business as Signal Alaska for $253,103.80 for the initial one-year contract period and $1,265,519 if all four one-year renewals are exercised.

The contract covers unarmed, uniform security guard services at Pioneer Park for overnight hours. "This contract provides for unarmed uniform security guard services at Pioneer Park," a staff member said during the committee presentation, adding the bid from AEY was "the lowest responsive responsible bid out of the four bids that we received." The staff member said the procurement was conducted in compliance with Title 16 requirements.

Committee members pressed staff on staffing levels and reported incidents. "That’s the year-round guard that I mentioned. Item 2 is what we call the gold rush guard, which is the holiday summer hour guard," the staff member said when explaining cost line items. Officials clarified that the standard contract provides one guard year-round and an additional guard during summer months for Gold Rush Town events; the guards are present overnight, generally from 3:30 p.m. until 7:30 a.m., with an additional summer shift from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Assembly Member Guttenberg asked whether the per-hour unit price included benefits and taxes; the staff member replied, "That's the rate that we pay them. It's at the contractor's responsibility to take out the taxes and benefits and everything." Committee members also noted the previous contractor was Securitas; staff said Securitas chose not to bid this cycle.

On performance and coverage, the staff member said the borough pays only for hours worked and that the contract contains nonperformance clauses allowing the borough to recompete if a contractor fails to perform. When asked how many incident reports existed for the past year, staff said they did not have an exact number because many routine activities (unlocking facilities, reporting alarms, doing rounds) are not reported as incidents. The committee discussed that documented incidents over the years have included cabin break-ins, vandalism, and thefts, and that security presence is intended primarily as prevention.

Motion and vote: Assembly Member Dr. Haney moved to award IFB 25067; Assembly Member O'Neil seconded. The clerk recorded the vote as: LeGitis (yes), Crass (yes), Haney (yes), Guttenberg (yes), Wilson (no), Rotermann (no), O'Neil (yes), Reese Ramos (yes). The motion passed 6-2 and the award was approved.

Contract scope, costs and oversight details discussed at the committee included the contractor hourly unit price (the borough pays $37.85 per hour in the bid example), the borough’s prior hourly rate for last year's contractor ($24.64 after the last modification), and contract provisions requiring compliance with staffing and allowing recompete on nonperformance. Staff also noted vendors leasing cabins and concession spaces are required by their leases to carry insurance; those vendors do not provide private security, so park security supplements borough oversight.

The committee approved the award; the contract will proceed to the administration for final execution and any required renewals will follow the contract terms.