Tandem Motion plans for 8 contract workers costing $2.1 million over six months

Under terms of the Dunleavy plan to outsource state personnel management work to a small Seattle company, eight people—some of them with limited professional experience—will cost more than $200,000 each for six months.

The cost of the eight employees and contract workers totals $2.1 million, a sizable chunk of a questionable $4.5 million contract to improve personnel management, a deal that was assembled and awarded in a hurry by the Alaska Department of Administration.

The department claims that the period to accept proposals was shortened to 10 calendar days and the review of the responses was limited to one day because the money, which came from the federal COVID-19 bailout law, has to be spent by the end of the year.

It seems to me that the unreasonably short timeline was part of a concerted effort by the Dunleavy administration to steer the contract to Tandem Motion. The company did some work last year as a subcontractor.

Dunleavy administration officials made no secret of their desire that Tandem Motion get the award.

The company’s submission to the state included letters of support on state letterhead from Administration Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka, DEC Commissioner Jason Brune, Deputy Administration Commissioner Amanda Holland, Administration Finance Director Hans Zigmund, Deputy Personnel Director Pam Day and personnel official Peggy Hart.

This document submitted by Tandem Motion to the administration department outlines its cost proposal, which calls for 50 workers, at costs that range from $27 an hour to $500 an hour.

Cara Griffith, the managing director of the project, is listed on the document at an hourly rate of $500, a total of $532,000 for six months, while her husband, Kurt Griffith, who works in IT, is pegged at $250 an hour, a total of $266,000 for work as a “human capital consultant.”

Cara Griffith earned a master’s degree from Seattle Pacific in 2014 and worked at Accenture from 2014-2018 as a “strategy talent and organizational consultant.”

Meg Sayre, who earned a master’s degree this year, specializing in international migration at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, is listed at a cost of $350 an hour. She is a “human capital manager” who is to work 1,024 hours, costing $358,400 over six months.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in 2018. From July 2018 to July 2019 she was a barista at the Hardware Store Restaurant on Vashon Island, Wash. and did some freelance work and consulting after that.

One of the subcontractors on the project is the Center for Organizational Research in Akron, Ohio at the University of Akron.

The center’s website identifies Alexandra Petruzzelli, as the graduate student coordinator. She earned a master’s degree from the University of Akron in 2018. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Florida in 2015.

Petruzzelli is to cost $350 an hour for work as a “human capital manager” for 1,024 hours, a total of $358,400 in six months.

Human capital consultant Emily Raulston is to cost $250 an hour, working 1,024 hours for a total of $256,000 in six months. She earned a bachelor’s degree in 2016 from Seattle University and a master’s in 2020 from Minnesota State University in Mankato.

She was a graduate assistant from August 2018 to May 2019 at the university and part-time assistant director of the Organizational Effectiveness Research Group at MSU from August 2019 to May 2020. The research group is another subcontractor.

Trevor Frey, a graduate teaching assistant at Mankato from August 2019 to May 2020, earned a master’s degree this year from MSU, with a thesis on “Effects of Humor within Leader-Subordinate Relationships at Work.” .

Frey’s cost is listed at $250 an hour for 1,024 hours, a total of $256,000 over six months as a “human capital consultant.”

Others set for cost more than $200,000 in six months are Lauren Bowen, a “human capital consultant,” with an hourly rate of $250, a total of $256,000, and Randy Gardiner, who costs $317 an hour, working 648 hours for a total of $205,000.

Twelve other workers are to cost between $100,000 and $161,000 for six months of part-time work, most of them costing $264 an hour.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.

Comments? Write to me at dermotmcole@gmail.com