Former Tshibaka deputy now working for company that landed $722,000 no-bid state contract

Amanda Holland, who held key positions in the Dunleavy administration on a temporary basis, is now one of the movers and shakers in a company called OrgShakers, a firm that received a no-bid contract from the Dunleavy administration worth $722,000.

The no-bid contract was approved for $355,000 two years ago and Administration Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka, the project director, signed a $367,000 addition shortly before she quit her state job in 2021 to run for the U.S. Senate.

Holland, who temporarily replaced Donna Arduin and Kelly Tshibaka after they departed, retired last year on Sept. 30 after 30 years in state government.

State law says that for two years after leaving state government, a former official former may not "represent, advise, or assist a person for compensation regarding a matter that was under consideration by the administrative unit served by that public officer, and in which the officer participated personally and substantially through the exercise of official action."

I don’t know if that rule or others in the law apply to Holland’s situation.

Had there been competition for the contract, her move to OrgShakers would not raise the same questions.

Tshibaka was Holland’s supervisor in August 2020 when Holland, the deputy commissioner in the administration department, wrote that OrgShakers deserved a no-bid deal.

It’s not clear what the state received for the $722,000 paid as part of the Pandemic Preparedness Plan for various training activities, but it is certain the contract was not handled by the rules in state law requiring competition for public work.

OrgShakers started work for the state in spring of 2020, working for free with no contract. An email from Dunleavy’s office alerted Tshibaka’s office to the “partnership opportunity” on May 4, 2020.

Tshibaka asked for five volunteers to help state employees make the transition to telework.

In July and August, Holland wrote that OrgShakers deserved to start getting paid. She said more work was needed and Tshibaka’s office decided it was not right to ask OrgShakers to continue to work for free.

“As a result of this expansion, OrgShakers cannot, and should not, be expected to provide all services free of charge. Therefore, we are requesting this sole source to allow OrgShakers to complete their work, from which the State will receive substantial benefit,” Holland wrote.

Holland signed the “subject matter expert testimony form” in which she said that competition was impractical and it was in the state’s best interest to give a contract to OrgShakers.

But volunteer work cannot be used as a justification for getting a no-bid state contract, as it gives the “volunteer” an unfair advantage over others.

Tshibaka’s office later said that the free work by OrgShakers and the “discounted deliverables” would have cost four or five times as much. That was before she increased the contract from $355,000 to $722,000.

Other problems with this contract are that the state agreed to pay OrgShakers for the “volunteer” work performed before there was a contract. This is not allowed in state law.

Tshibaka signed a contract amendment on Feb. 4, 2021 that said the original performance period was May 7, 2020 to July 28, 2020.

But the contract was not signed until mid-August. Thor Vue, the chief procurement officer for the state, signed a notice on Aug. 10, 2020 that he agreed with giving the no-bid work to OrgShakers.

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