Cooper Zietz Engineers, Inc.

Cooper Zietz Engineers, Inc., operating as Akana, is a Native American-owned professional services firm headquartered in Milwaukie, Oregon, that delivers architecture, engineering, environmental consulting, and construction management services to federal agencies as a prime contractor (98% of recent awards) across 38 customer agencies. The firm holds Indian Economic Enterprise, Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise, Minority Owned Business, and Self Certified Small Disadvantaged Business certifications and competes predominantly under small business set-asides, particularly Buy Indian, Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise, and Total Small Business designations across its Indefinite Delivery Vehicle portfolio.

Akana's customer concentration is geographically and agency-specific. The top five funding agencies by potential value account for 56% of combined potential value: the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region (8 awards, $40.7 million), the Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs Central Office (9 awards, $39.9 million), the Bureau of Indian Affairs Northwest Region (4 awards, $12.3 million), the Indian Health Service (8 awards, $12 million), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Rocky Mountain Region (19 awards, $8.4 million). By award count, the top tier includes the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (68 awards, $1.4 million), the Army Corps of Engineers (36 awards, $1 million), and the Army Corps of Engineers Portland District (28 awards, $1.3 million), though these carry substantially lower dollar values. The concentration signal is clear: Akana's revenue footprint centers on Native American community infrastructure for Interior and Indian Health Service, while a separate high-volume activity stream serves transportation and civil works agencies with lower-value task orders.

Akana holds four material Indefinite Delivery Vehicles. The Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region awarded a $25 million multiple-award contract on September 22, 2025, for architect-engineer services spanning transportation, facilities, and environmental disciplines across Forest Service Regions 6 and 10, running through September 2030 under a Total Small Business set-aside. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Central Office awarded a $10 million single-award Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise contract on April 8, 2024, for site assessments at law enforcement, detention, judicial, and residential facilities through April 2029, from which Akana has issued delivery orders including a $482 thousand facility assessment at Northern Cheyenne Detention Center, a $468 thousand Wind River Adult Detention Center project, and an $80 thousand Chief Ignacio Justice Center assessment. The Indian Health Service awarded a $10 million single-award Total Small Business contract on March 1, 2024, for nationwide architect-engineering services including facility assessments, planning, design, and construction administration through March 2027, supporting recent delivery orders such as a $177 thousand Fort Yuma drive-through pharmacy design and a $154 thousand Portland area facility condition assessment. The Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $50 million multiple-award contract on September 20, 2022, for architectural and engineering services under the Great American Outdoors Act through September 2027, also Total Small Business set-aside, generating task orders including a $248 thousand fire station design at Nevada Desert National Wildlife Refuge and a $164 thousand project administration delivery order. Additionally, Akana places work under the DOI Architecture and Engineering Services MATOC 2022-2027, a government-wide vehicle supporting National Park Service and other interior bureaus. Five legacy Indefinite Delivery Contracts with the Department of Transportation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies account for the bulk of remaining task-order volume but carry minimal dollar value per order.

Recent capability work demonstrates consistent focus on facility condition assessments, engineering design, water rights litigation support, and infrastructure planning for tribal and federal land management agencies. Named projects include the $1.25 million Phoenix area Indian Health Service healthcare facilities and residential quarters condition assessment (Buy Indian set-aside, June 2023, completion June 2028), the $468 thousand Wind River Adult Detention Center project for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (February 2025, December 2025 completion), the $482 thousand Northern Cheyenne Detention Center facility assessment (April 2024, December 2024 completion), the $248 thousand fire station architectural and engineering services at Nevada Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex (March 2024, October 2024 completion), and multiple water rights litigation support engagements for the Fort Belknap Agency totaling approximately $183 thousand across delivery orders and definitive contracts. Akana also delivers specialized work such as SCADA system installation for the Crow Agency Water Treatment Plant ($37 thousand, June 2025) and hydrogeological studies supporting community water projects.

Activity trajectory shows modest growth in award volume. Akana received 3 awards in 2022, 4 in 2023, 9 in 2024, 8 in 2025, and 3 in 2026 (year-to-date through April), suggesting sustained pipeline activity with some quarterly fluctuation. The recompete cliff is low: only six awards (combined potential value $1.9 million) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. The Forest Service and Indian Health Service IDVs running through 2027 and 2030, respectively, provide extended runway for task-order competition.

Akana operates as a prime contractor across nearly all work, with minimal subcontractor engagement. Six sub-award records span Department of Energy work under primes including Mission Support and Test Services (architecture and engineering services at the Nevada National Security Site, April 2026, $102 thousand), Central Plateau Cleanup Company (Hanford mixed waste and remediation oversight, two task orders in 2025), Booz Allen Hamilton (technical and engineering support at combustion and thermal treatment facilities in Region 10, January 2024 and December 2023), and Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration (standards laboratory support, January 2024). These sub-awards represent a distinct DoE/Hanford remediation stream separate from Akana's primary Interior and Indian Health Service focus. The corporate structure includes a subsidiary, Avae JV, LLC, a Self Certified Small Disadvantaged Business and American Indian-owned joint venture entity, though the source does not detail operational role or teaming relationships.

SCI-reported federal service-contract invoicing totaled $12.3 million across FY2023 and FY2024 ($6.1 million and $6.2 million, respectively), with zero invoicing in FY2022. The SCI dataset shows approximately 18 FTEs delivered to the federal government on reportable prime contracts in both FY2023 and FY2024, representing a stable professional services delivery base on design and engineering contracts above the reporting threshold. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-captured contracts median around $162.54/hr, with rates ranging from $125.30/hr at the tenth percentile to $168.93/hr at the ninetieth percentile. Across prime contracts, subcontractors account for an average 12% share of total contractor hours, with three named subcontractors identified in SCI records, indicating Akana builds most of its delivery teams in-house and leans lightly on sub labor. The gap between SCI-reported FY2023–2024 invoicing ($12.3 million) and the $201.8 million combined potential value across all 372 awards in the portfolio reflects the inclusion of lower-value task orders below the SCI reporting threshold, legacy contracts with minimal remaining value, and the distinction between ceiling value and invoiced dollars.

Construction Management; Construction Inspection; Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering(water resources, irrigation, utilities, highways, bridges, environmental, schools) Project Management; Commissioning; QA/QC; Constructability Review.