By Dana Sherman, AES Washington State

Advancia + Ahtna Joint Venture (AAJV) was awarded a 5-year, $48.6 million contract with the Social Security Administration (SSA) for folder storages operations at the National Records Center (NRC) in Independence, Missouri. Ahtna has a long established relationship with SSA for over 10 years as a high quality, responsive contractor. Our outstanding performance from this previous contract demonstrated our ability to provide rapid deployment and operations of record management. Ahtna’s experience at the NRC helped give insight and familiarity with SSA to minimize the risk for the client to consider AAJV as the Prime Contractor for the NRC.

AAJV is a 100% Native-owned JV thoughtfully built on the foundation of a long-standing professional relationship of trust and shared values between founders Greg Kolean, General Manager of Advanica Technologies, LLC and Tim Finnigan, former President of Ahtna Engineering Services, LLC. Tim and Greg have a nine year history of working side-by-side, promoting and building the reputation and track record of Native American and Alaskan firms, particularly in the government contracting industry.

In 2016, the two came to form the AAJV – a partnership that will benefit our customers and shareholders alike. We are committed to safe delivery of services, to deliver high-quality goods and services to the federal government, to ensure reliable performance on all government contracts, and to provide efficient and cost-effective operations that support the government’s mission.

We are dedicated to preserving, strengthening and enhancing the cultural identity and economic viability of the Forest County Potawatomi Community and Ahtna, Inc. shareholders. We are very excited to start this new JV and look forward to further strengthening our relationship with SSA and making this a successful contract.