About Akal Security and Bureaucrats

The federal government has a website usaspending.gov which tracks federal spending. Akal might not have the exact match experience of the chest-thumping Category X champion Covenant Aviation Security LLC. But Akal is not small. Usaspending lists contract awards to Akal Security in the amount of $238.7 million for fiscal year 2010 (the government's year ends September 30, so this is about one year's worth of contracts). This means Akal Security has a lot of work at military bases, federal buildings and courthouses, government owned research facilites or plants, etc.

In comparison, Covenant pulls in about $80 million a year a SFO. The other Covenant company - currently Covenant Security Services - is kind of sputtering but to be generous let's says Covenant has in total $100 million a year in federal work.

What's notable to me is Akal sometimes comes out on top when there are 20 bidders. Not one bidder. Not two bidders. A lot of competition. And the federal bureaucrats choose Akal. I expect they can play up their strengths and play down their weaknesses. Covenant, on the other hand, may not be as skilled in proposal writing: if they were, why isn't the other Covenant company winning contracts when Akal is the competition?

For what it's worth. If the government is inclined to pick Covenant Aviation Security, they may take eight months to work out their reasoning. Mostly, in my opinion, because Akal could protest the award if the reasoning is not sound. A bureaucrat's gotta do what a bureaucrat's got to do after all.