Schools open, ASAP

NEW ORLEANS--There wasn't a building in sight in early July, but by the first day of school in September there will be 11 schools on eight campuses here. The project is part of a program called "Recover School District," designed to get the children of New Orleans, whose schools were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, back in school by this fall. In July, Houston-based ASAP Security was getting ready to do the IT infrastructure, intercom and fire alarm installation for the project. ASAP announced in June it had won the $2.3 million project in conjunction with the general contractor who will be putting the buildings together. "The schools are going to be modular-type buildings," said Mike Monsive, chief executive officer for ASAP Security. "They arrive in 10 or 12 sections; they piece them together and all you have to do is tie in the electrical and plumbing and power it up." Monsive's part of the contract will require lots of coordination. "It's extremely challenging," he said. "The majority of the building is complete and we've got to get in and get out quickly," he said. Monsive just finished a similar school project in Houston. When the work is done, "you can't tell it's a modular building, they have nine-foot ceilings. It's not like portable buildings, there will be full classrooms, a cafeteria and library and principal's office." ASAP has been in business for a little over five years. Monsive has 11 employees and does security, fire, CCTV and access control. He's also into manufacturing, having invented a portable surveillance system for job sites (search "Necessity and Invention" at www.securitysystemsnews.com). Fire makes at least 40 percent of ASAP's work, Monsive said. He's involved in several retail and national accounts, such as Academy Sports and Outdoors, a national chain based in the South. In cases such as the school project here in New Orleans or other projects outside of Houston, Monsive subcontracts the work out to "security companies like us ... In those cases we turn into project managers," he said. "We're there for backup and our technicians do project management." With this school project, he said, "we have hired local talent to help us along."