Alternative Opportunities gets Nixa license office

Springfield-based nonprofit Alternative Opportunities Inc. has been awarded its third state license office contract since having 10 offices put up for rebid in early December.

The nonprofit agency was awarded the Nixa license office, the state Department of Revenue said Thursday. AO's winning bid, one of two bids submitted for the Nixa office, includes returning 5 percent of revenues to the state. The office will remain at 214 Village Center Road, Ste. A.

AO also received the license offices in Carthage and Farmington in December.

The organization was previously in charge of 10 license offices, but those offices were put up for rebid when it was determined that Tom Goss, the company's CFO and the listed contract manager on the bids, is not paid by AO but by Tucson, Ariz.-based WD Management. Bidders are not allowed to use subcontractors to provide main services in the license offices.

Neither Nixa, Carthage nor Farmington were among the 10 offices previously under contract with AO; those offices were in Ava, Camdenton, Creve Coeur, Joplin, Nevada, Olivette, Poplar Bluff and Republic, along with two in Springfield.

The state Office of Administration previously said it would issue new requests for proposals by the end of December and give potential bidders five weeks to respond.

In a separate news release, Missouri DOR said requests for proposals were issued today for offices in Ava, Camdenton, Republic and the South Fremont Avenue office. The deadline to respond to those RFPs is Feb. 9.

AO, which operates a corporate office at 1111 S. Glenstone Ave., Ste. 2-100, provides social services to the disabled, unemployed, foster youth and those struggling with substance abuse. The company employs 2,000 statewide and recorded fiscal 2008 revenues of $56.6 million, according to past Springfield Business Journal coverage.