Staff Report
Published Oct. 7, 2009
A partnership between a Mount Pleasant small business and a large contractor has resulted in a second multimillion-dollar contract in less than two months, according to the National Guard contracting office in Columbia.
Ikhana Inc., a design-build firm with three employees, announced in August it had partnered with Choate Construction to help both companies secure more federal work. A contract that had been awarded to the partnership at the time was worth $13.4 million for construction of two child development centers at the Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C.
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Ikhana-Choate-1 LLC received a $19.4 million contract on Sept. 29 to construct the Joint Armed Services Reserve Center at McEntire Joint National Guard Base in Eastover.
The work is scheduled to be finished by July 2011, and Ikhana-Choate beat out seven other bidders for the work. The project was bid in an online process through the National Guard Bureau purchasing and contracting office in Columbia.
When the Camp Lejeune contract was announced, Ikhana President Jeff Davis said it was one of several contracts the new partnership is going after.
“We have at least another 10 on the books now,” Davis said. “Our goal is to bring a lot of work here in Charleston.”
Ikhana has been doing sole-source work since going into business in 2008. Ikhana is headquartered on Belle Isle Avenue in Mount Pleasant.
