ARIZONA, Dec. 27, 2004
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
In the frantic days following Sept. 11, a Sikh gas station owner
in Mesa was gunned down in a misguided attempt at revenge for
the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Balbir Singh Sodhi was targeted because his long beard and turban
resembled pictures of Middle Eastern terrorists flashing across
TV screens. It was one of many incidents of backlash against Sikhs.
Three years later, a security company owned by a Sikh religious
group has grown into the nation's biggest private protector of
homeland security.
Akal Security has more than $1 billion in contracts to guard more
than 400 federal courthouses, eight military installations, half
a dozen airports and Tucson City Hall.
Akal, owned by the Sikh Dharma of Española, N.M., took
over guarding city facilities - not just City Hall, but the water
system, public housing, Tucson Convention Center, landfills and
other facilities - on March 1, when a six-year contract with Pedus
Security ran out.
The company wasn't the lowest bidder for the contract, not by
a long shot. But according to a three-member city evaluation team,
it was easily the best of the 11 bidders because of its training
program, open communication, experience and approach to the job.
The amount of the Tucson contract is open-ended, depending on
how often the company's services are needed.
For the first five months of this budget year, it has billed the
city more than $657,000, which would translate to about $1.6 million
for the year, if it continues at the same pace.
Akal stands out in the security business, not just for its success
in landing government contracts, but because it is owned by a
nonprofit religious organization.
The Sikh Dharma community was founded by Yogi Bhajan, who also
created the 3HO Foundation (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization,)
which once operated an ashram in Tucson and made a name for itself
feeding the homeless.
Long martial tradition
Gurutej Khalsa, Akal's founder and director of operations, said
the Sikhs "have a long and distinguished martial tradition.
They were known as protectors of religious freedom in India. Getting
into the security business is not inconsistent with that tradition."
Akal, pronounced a-call, means "deathless" in Gurmukhi,
and was the battle cry for early Sikh warriors, said Khalsa, who
created the company in 1980 after finding no police agency would
hire him because of his Sikh appearance, despite his having graduated
at the top of his federal law enforcement academy class.
He subsequently gave all the stock to the Sikh Dharma but continues
to run the operation.
The religious affiliation gives the company "a strong ethical
standard that we adhere to," Khalsa said, but beyond that,
religion doesn't dictate the business operation.
"It started out as a capitalist venture, and still is one,"
guided by sound business and security practices, because it is
selling security services, not religious services, Khalsa said.
Fewer than 50 of Akal's 15,000 employees are Sikhs, he estimated,
and many of them work at the company headquarters in New Mexico,
where Sikh Dharma also maintains a compound.
"We make an extra effort to hire the most qualified and capable
people we can find," he said. "Religion has no impact
on hiring."
Most are Americans
And while Sikh Dharma traces its roots to India, most of its members
are American-born. Khalsa talks about "protecting America
and what America stands for" more like it's a calling than
a corporate mandate.
Kirti Khalsa, a member of the Tucson Sikh community, is "thrilled"
by Akal's success.
"All of us are thrilled," she said, because when the
business was started "they embodied the Sikh tradition of
protecting the weak. It's wonderful to see those values have grown
from a small company to a big company."
After Sept. 11, "there was a lot of misinformation, and a
lot of people didn't know who we are," Khalsa said. "That's
changing."
Since the 9/11 attacks, growth in the security business has been
explosive, and Akal has been riding the crest of that wave, going
from less than 7,000 employees to about 15,000.
Nearly all of them work in government facilities - 80 percent
for the federal government.
Besides security at most federal courthouses, Akal recently took
over guarding eight military bases and munitions depots as regular
troops, National Guard and reserve units have been shipped to
Iraq.
They patrol four immigration detention centers, and they were
called in to beef up security at Mount Rushmore the first Independence
Day after 9/11.
Increasingly, they're expanding into other realms. Besides Tucson,
they have contracts with Phoenix, Scottsdale, Peoria and the Arizona
Department Revenue, as well as Los Angeles, Albuquerque, El Paso
and other cities, plus a growing list of commercial customers.
Akal's winning local bid pays the company $13.11 an hour for security
guards, which includes the guard's salary and benefits, and the
company's costs. That put it in the middle of the pack on price.
Pedus was the low bidder, at $12.35 an hour.
Price was just one factor
Price was a factor in the selection, but not the biggest factor,
said Wayne Casper, the city's procurement director. The most important
consideration was quality of service, and all three evaluators
ranked Akal highest.
Khalsa, Akal's founder, said the company is "very seldom
able to win a low bid contract" because that isn't the caliber
of service it wants to provide. "In security, low bid is
not always the best," he said.
Even if the contract hadn't gone to Akal, Pedus wouldn't have
been selected, Casper said. It would have gone to the second-ranked
company, whose proposed fee was almost identical to Akal's, or
the third-ranked company, which was even more expensive.
Pedus finished eighth in the ranking, its standing marred considerably
by a string of complaints from the city departments, including
guards sleeping on the job, stealing property, showing up late
or not at all.
Last year, the library director asked to remove Pedus guards from
her buildings and have police fill in until a new contract could
be bid because it was impossible to make the guards "do what
they are supposed to do."
Pedus Vice President Armando Guzman said the company didn't want
to comment on losing the contract because it intends to regain
it when it comes up for renewal in two years, "and we want
to keep our bridges wide open."
Community Services Director Emily Nottingham said the problems
with Pedus weren't overwhelming.
"There are always going to be issues dealing with a contractor,
particularly with a security service where they have high turnover,"
she said.
But the improvement since Akal took over has been significant,
most notably "the increased communication. We get good reports
from them on what they're doing and soliciting feedback from us
for quality control."
City procurement chief Casper, whose department employs security
guards at its biannual auctions, said his staff is similarly pleased
with Akal, and Environmental Services Director Eliseo Garza said
while his department had no problems with Pedus, Akal has been
very responsive.
Ken Lieberman, Akal's regional manager for Arizona, said the company
has about 100 employees in Tucson, mostly working at city facilities.
It also has some commercial clients here, which he declined to
identify.
Khalsa attributed some of his company's success in landing government
contracts to the still-growing demand since Sept. 11. "There
are a lot more contracts out there available for everyone,"
he said.
But he said the company has also benefited from government procurement
practices that filter out external factors like race, religion
or whether the bidders wear long beards and turbans, and focus
on who can do the best job at the best price.
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