Argus Services Inc., a Spokane Valley-based security company, says it has landed an annual contract worth $4.7 million to provide armed security personnel for about two dozen federal facilities along the Interstate 5 corridor in Oregon and Washington.


The new contract, which required Argus to hire about 130 employees for those locations, also spurred the 15-year-old company to open an office in Portland, where eight of the federal facilities are located, says James Schoenleber, company president. Argus already has offices in the Seattle area; Missoula and Helena, Mont.; Denver; and Anchorage, in addition to Spokane. Companywide, it now employs between 750 and 800.


Its contract to provide security guards to federal facilities in western Oregon and Western Washington is with the U.S. General Services Administration, and covers buildings along the I-5 corridor from Medford, Ore., to Bellingham, Wash., Schoenleber says. He says Argus was asked by the GSA to take over the contract from another provider, rather than going through a competitive bidding process. He contends the move was based on the reputation the Spokane company has built with the GSA on other security jobs. Argus already was providing security for the federal building in Seattle, as well as for a host of other federal facilities in Spokane and in North Idaho and Western Montana.


Weve been doing federal work for quite awhile, he says.


For the new GSA contract, which took effect late last month, Argus hired many of the former contractors employees on site at those federal facilities, Schoenleber says. The structures Argus is assigned to protect include everything from federal courthouses to Social Security Administration offices, he says.


Schoenleber says the closely held company had revenues of about $11 million last year. He expects that number to climb to $15 million or $16 million this year, with the new contract and other new business. The company does business in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, and Alaska.