The state announced that it intends to award a contract to Six-7 Strategies for the proposed $9 million public relations and marketing campaign envisioned by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to promote Alaska to companies Outside.

The Dunleavy plan is to sell Alaska as imagined on the colorful pages of this 32-page pamphlet titled the “Alaska Standard,” a document created under a previous state contract. The Alaska Standard, created by Bridge House Advisors of Chicago, promotes development of oil, gas, minerals, renewable energy, etc. in Alaska.

Six-7 Strategies is owned by veteran Alaska political operative and lobbyist Kevin Sweeney, who has worked for Sen. Lisa Murkowski and others during his career. In 2018 he was a lobbyist for the gas pipeline for $15,000 a month and he has lobbied for various other clients, including the Bristol Bay Native Corp.

The scoring sheet from the procurement office listed Six-7 Strategies at 953 points, followed by Brilliant Media Strategies Alaska at 808, Thompson & Co. Public Relations at 768 and Angry Apples Marketing at 310.

Brilliant Media Strategies, Thompson & Co., and Angry Apples were among the seven companies that sought this contract the first time it was offered, in August.

But Six-7 Strategies did not seek the contract in response to the August 15 RFP.

Sweeney did not reply to emails asking about why his company did not apply for the contract after the first request for proposals, but did so the second time.

In cancelling that first request for proposals in late October, the state claimed the RFP produced by the state in August was deficient and the process had to start over again.

The state failed to mention any specific deficiencies when it said on October 25 that it wanted new applications.

The Dunleavy administration said the first RFP that it created in August did not mention “all factors of significance to the state.”

“Specifically, (1) an offeror’s capabilities in identifying and cultivating relevant industry decision makers and influencers outside of Alaska, both domestically and internationally, and (2) an offeror’s capabilities in creating new and leveraging existing opportunities to promote the department’s interests,” the state said.

There is nothing in the evaluation process for the new RFP that directly dealt with those alleged deficiencies.

The difference between August 15 and the second RFP is that the Dunleavy administration reshaped the proposal to focus more on creating a public relations campaign that is supposed to attract high-tech companies from around the world to build data centers in Alaska.

This goal was missing from the RFP in August. Rather than deal with this change directly, the state invented a generic excuse about alleged deficiencies in the RFP.

The new RFP calls for a “sample project” to “Develop a public relations plan that promotes Alaska as a prime location for data centers. The goal is to identify, target, and influence key decision-makers and influencers in technology, infrastructure, and investment sectors that will emphasize the advantages of locating data centers in Alaska.”

This is not the job of a marketing worker. It requires a miracle worker. Without cheap electricity, Alaska is not a prime location for data centers. It doesn’t have cheap electricity. It has talk about cheap electricity.

The plans for the marketing contract are grandiose and unlikely to be accomplished.

The marketing contract would start at up to $3 million until June 2026, and could include renewals that would push the total to $9 million through 2030.

The successful company is supposed to create a website and “identify industry leaders, venture capital, corporations and other stakeholders essential to the identified industries and form a plan to market to them.”

The state wants a “multi-market and multi-platform education campaign using the Alaska Standard materials, other industry-developed materials, and materials that may be developed under this contract” to promote development in Alaska.

In addition to targeting business leaders, the marketing campaign will try to change the hearts and minds of young people.

The state marketing contractor will “counter the misinformation messaging targeting younger people and younger Alaskans. By telling Alaska’s story related to development, projects and economic activity in the state, this initiative will increase demand for Alaskan products and services while promoting existing efforts to grow Alaska’s economy.”

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