Aerial view of the future school in Yup’ik village of Napakiak.

Effective Anywhere

ime was of the essence as the Yup’ik village of Napakiak watched the Kuskokwim River inch closer toward engulfing the local school. Despite numerous challenges, including a stop-work order, Ahtna Infrastructure & Technologies, LLC, or AIT, tackled the logistical complexities head-on to complete the first stage of relocating the school: the foundation, pilings, and installation of 50,000-pound fuel tanks.

AIT provided five foundation pads at no cost by repurposing excavated material that would have overwhelmed the landfill. The project was completed ahead of schedule, within budget, and with zero safety incidents.

AIT and its sister subsidiaries have successfully performed more than 1,600 projects worldwide, from the farthest reaches of Alaska’s Aleutian chain to Ghana in Africa.

These skills allow AIT to proactively identify and overcome logistical project obstacles, including those associated with complex compliance, safety, and environmental concerns.

The firm specializes in the execution of time-sensitive, complex, and multifaceted construction, environmental, and professional services for government and commercial clients.

“Our multidisciplinary professional staff includes construction supervisors and craft labor, engineers, project managers, scientists, and various field personnel with decades of remote experience,” says Kropidlowski.

“We are excited to continue to expand our presence both geographically and with new federal customers,” says Kevin Bergt, director of operations. “AIT and the sister companies within the Ahtna Diversified Holdings group are fast becoming nationwide contractors, and AIT’s success has been a large contributing factor to our growth as an organization.”

AIT also uses the benefits of sole-source contracting to provide certainty to both the contractor and the client. “We appreciate the certainty of sole-source contracts; however, the client benefits the most from the certainty and advantages,” explains Finnigan. “The sole-source process means work can be performed sooner, since competitive contracts can take up to a year from the Request for Proposal being issued to the Notice to Proceed and commencement of the work. Moreover, the client knows exactly who will be performing the work, they are comfortable with the contractor’s qualifications, and—most importantly—the client will enjoy certainty in terms of the price they are paying for the work to be performed.”

AIT’s culture of safety permeates every design and construction task the firm performs, as proven by its low 2023 Experience Modification Rating, or EMR, of 0.77, which is well below the industry average of 1.0. The firm’s commitment to world-class safety is also reflected in its Days Away, Restricted, Transfer, or DART Rate statistics for the company’s operations. Additionally, AIT’s Total Recordable Incident Rate also tracks far below the industry average.

In 2023, AIT was the recipient of an Associated General Contractors of Alaska ConocoPhillips Excellence in Safety award, demonstrating the firm’s continued commitment to safe work environments for its staff, subconsultants, vendors, and end users.

“We’ve worked with AIT on two projects,” says Kim Sweet, director of operations for Lower Kuskokwim School District. “The first project, the Napakiak Managed Retreat, involved moving fuel tanks away from a rapidly eroding river and averting a natural disaster that would have impacted peoples’ ability to subsistence fish and to feed their families. The second project, the Kasigluk-Akiuk fire, involved site cleanup after a fire destroyed several outbuildings around the school.”

Sweet adds, “Once on site, AIT was able to pivot to another pressing project, the gym roof repair after it collapsed from snow load. The cleanup was well done, and AIT took the lead on disposal. The gym roof repair is still in process, and the quality of work they are doing is exemplary.”