• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is spending more than $108,000 on upward of 100 ferrets. Triple F Farms — a nod to the phrase “flu-free ferrets” — will provide the animals, which are useful in developing influenza vaccines. Unlike mice, ferrets are able to transmit the flu among themselves and exhibit human-like symptoms. Triple F Farms carefully breeds and raises ferrets to ensure they are not infected with the flu prior to being sent to labs.
• The National Park Service has contracted with Loomis Armored U.S. in a deal worth $125,427 to collect and transport entry fees and other fees from Yosemite National Park to a Bank of America in Fresno, Calif., more than 60 miles away. The armored car pickup schedule, and amounts of money collected, varies, but can be up to 10 bags valued at anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. Entry fees for a seven-day pass to Yosemite range from $15 to $30 for noncommercial visitors and from $40 to $300 for commercial vehicles.
{mosads}• Alaska-based MSI Communications has been awarded a $250,000 contract to provide “public relations services” for the Bureau of Fiscal Service within the Treasury Department, though the disclosures are not more specific. The firm’s website shows that it has worked for clients including Alaska Airlines, the Kodiak Brown Bear Center, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Visit Anchorage and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
• The U.S. Marine Corps has contracted with Cadence International to provide a director of youth ministry at the Camp Butler Marine Corps base. The award is worth $46,800. “Cadence International is an evangelical mission agency. Young, searching, impressionable, moldable, and eager for relationship, many of those serving in the armed forces are in some of the most strategic moments of their lives—moments of receptivity, of soul-searching, of discovery, and of life transformation,” the website says. “Cadence International exists to be there during these strategic moments sharing the gospel and our lives.”
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs awarded a $102,790 contract to LSG Educational Services to provide “speech/language therapy services” for the Tohaali Community School in Newcomb, N.M., that’s overseen by the federal government.