Airports Aim Higher With Alternative Project Delivery

Airports across America with major capital programs underway are trying to push alternative project delivery methods to new levels, although design-bid-build is still used for a majority of horizontal work.

“Are we ready to spend more time on integrated project delivery?” asked Mike Kenig, vice chairman of Holder Construction Co., speaking to attendees of the Airport Construction Strategy Summit, held last month in Kansas City, Mo. The summit was sponsored by Airports Council International-North America, Airport Consultants Council and the Associated General Contractors of America. Kenig noted that the concept of “target value,” as opposed to a guaranteed maximum price, is still rare in airport contracts. He added, “We have no consensus on what the design-build choices are,” e.g., low-bid or qualifications-based.

Geoff Neumayr, chief development officer with San Francisco International Airport, emphasized the idea of progressive design-build as a qualifications-based and best-value contract where “the owner progresses to a price” with the team. He said that fixed-fee design-build contracts were posing a serious issue: “Builders sue designers when you push for fixed fees.”

Robert Alfert, partner with the law firm Nelson Mullins, noted that Orlando International Airport, in the midst of a $4.2-billion capital program, is utilizing construction manager-at-risk with GMPs for various components.

Dwight Pullen, director of the Aviation Center for Excellence with Skanska USA, said that before submitting to requests for qualifications, “we examine if we have the right players and skills. Can we get insurance for some consequential damages? How do the terms impact cash flow?” The contractor also looks at the owner’s experience with design-build, the availability of qualified subs and the political landscape, he said.

Collaboration early on is key. “I’ve seen progressive design-build where [stakeholders] weren’t involved until the 30% stage,” said Pullen. “That’s not very progressive.”

Aileen Cho, ENR's senior transportation editor, is a native of Los Angeles and recovering New Yorker. She studied English and theater at Occidental College, where a reporter teaching the one existing journalism course encouraged her to apply for the LA Times Minority Editing Training Program. Her journalism training led to her first stories about transportation, working as a cub reporter with the Greenwich Time. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Many of her experiences with engineers and contractors have inspired material for her alternative theater productions way, way off Broadway. For ENR, Aileen has traveled the world, clambering over bridges in China, touring an airport in Abu Dhabi and descending into dark subway tunnels in New York City. She is a regular at transportation conferences, where she finds that airport and mass transit engineers really know how to have fun. Aileen is always eager to hop on another flight because there are so many interesting projects and people, and she gets tired of throwing her cats off her computer in her home office in Long Beach, California. She is a very conflicted Mets/Dodgers fan.

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