It seemed almost too good to be true.
A bid to provide security and access control at the new Alexandria Police Station came in at $43,954.
It was about half of the amount of the two other bids the city received and well under the city's estimate of about $85,000.
Security Professionals of Alexandria, also known as AlexTronics, submitted the low bid, which is part of the "phase three" work at the police station being built along 3rd Avenue West.
The city's project manager, Mark Kragenbring with ORB Management, its information technology consultant, Shawn Larsen, and Eric Norum with Ringdahl Architects called the company and carefully went over the bid.
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After a 45-minute interview, they concluded that the company did indeed submit a complete bid and recommended the city council to award the bid to Security Professionals.
Kragenbring told the council at its December 13 meeting that Security Professionals submitted a low bid because it wanted to make sure that the project stayed local.
Alexandria City Council members were a little hesitant about approving the bid but after further assurances from Kragenbring that everything was in order, that all the components, labor and training costs were included, the council unanimously approved it.
The new $5.1 million police station, which remains under budget, is expected to open next summer.
