Denver airport officials propose additional $560M and acceleration of construction work

Dive Brief:

At a meeting of the Denver City Council's Local Disaster Response Committee last week, Denver International Airport (DIA) CEO Kim Day asked members to consider five contract amendments that would increase the facility's current construction budget by up to $560 million but allow work to be accelerated during the COVID-19-related period of low traffic volume. DIA's current five-year capital budget is $3.5 billion.
The extra work would focus on the East and West Concourse areas and be spread among five contractors. The $700 million contract issued to the joint venture of Turner Construction and Flatiron Construction would be increased up to $940 million, with the Holder Construction and FCI Constructors joint venture contract of $655 million seeing an increase of up to $920 million. Jacobs' design contract would increase up to $85 million from $65 million, as would HNTB's contract. Program manager WSP USA's $45 million contract would rise to a maximum of $60 million.
Airport staff said that the original contracts issued to all five contractors are task order-based and that the amendments would also be subject to the same terms. Task order contracts offer flexibility as to where and when work is done, and if conditions warrant, the work can be stopped easily. The full city council is expected to vote on the proposal later this month.

Dive Insight:

Officials said that expanding the scope of work under these contracts will allow the airport to:

Leverage the mobilization of existing contractors;
speed up delivery of the work;
peduce overall program costs by using the same construction teams;
make more opportunities available for MWBE contractors;
and let contractors retain existing employees and hire additional personnel.

The scope of work under the new amendments includes:

Completion of airline support space;
Design for restrooms, concessions, commuter areas and other elements of the existing concourses as part of a renewal program;
and a construction option for the concourse renewal.

Not part of the $560 million is work at the $770 million Jeppesen Terminal project, although airport staff reported to the city council members that work in baggage areas is ongoing and that spending for this part of the airport had been adjusted to reflect a later completion date of 2024 at the earliest.

Some work was halted last year after DIA terminated the Ferrovial-led Great Hall Partners group that had entered into a contract with the airport to execute the project as part of a public-private partnership. DIA has since settled all claims with Great Hall Partners and work is underway with new program managers, designers and contractors.

Also taking advantage of less traffic in the wake of shutdowns and stay-at-home orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are some state DOTs.

The Florida DOT has expedited more than $4 billion worth of infrastructure projects, including the 21-mile, $2.3 billion I-4 Ultimate Project in Orlando. Crews will reportedly be able to complete several sections at least one month earlier than anticipated.

The Indiana DOT has taken the opportunity to accelerate work on Interstate 70, while the California DOT (Caltrans) has been able to push up some projects and perform maintenance work in the San Francisco area because of lighter traffic.