The Atlanta City Council is slated to approve Monday a $3.3 million, five-month contract for a security firm to provide guards at city venues, an amount that’s close what it paid the same company for two years of service, city records show.
Norred & Assoc., Inc. is slated to sign a $3.3 million contract extension for five months work. Credit: norred.com
The pending proposal is to pay $3.295 for a five-month contract. In May 2011, the council approved a contract for $3.262 million for two years of security guard services provided by Atlanta-based Norred & Associates, Inc.
In addition to the new contract, the council also is slated to approve legislation to pay Norred $109,357 for the work it had done between the expiration of its contract, this past May, and the Aug. 28 date noted as the start of the five-month period outlined in the new contract. The legislation authorizes guards to be armed while patrolling city property.
Both proposals are on the consent agenda of the council’s meeting Monday, meaning they can be approved without being deliberated individually. The council routinely approves papers in this fashion when they’re deemed not controversial.
The council approved the initial contract with Norred on May 16, 2011. The resolution states that in hiring Norred, Atlanta was entering a cooperative purchasing agreement with Norred that utilized a Fulton County contract. The process is acceptable under Atlanta’s strict procurement codes, the legislation indicates.
Atlanta’s proposed new contract with Norred does not mention the Fulton County contract.
The proposed contract states that the Department of Procurement approved, on May 30, a 90-day extension of Norred’s existing contract. According to the legislation:
The contract provides for guards to be armed or unarmed, though the legislation does not specify at which venues the guards are to be armed.
The venues mentioned by name in the legislation include Oakland Cemetery, the Atlanta Civic Center, Public Works, and the Office of Enterprise Asset Management.
According to Atlanta’s website, the OEAM is responsible for 51 city-owned facilities including:
Norred is headquartered in Atlanta and has offices in 19 other cities, according to its website. Greg Norred founded the company in 1981 and it now has 1,000 employees who perform security functions including uniformed officers, pre-employment screening, investigative expertise and security consulting.
