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Council approves $8.24 million contract for Taxiway Kilo; FAA grant covers majority of project
Summary
The council approved AM 2550 awarding construction contract to Ahtna Construction and Primary Products Company LLC for Taxiway Kilo and related improvements at Wasilla Municipal Airport; the Federal Aviation Administration is the primary funder under a grant arrangement.
The Wasilla City Council approved AM 2550 on Wednesday to award a construction contract to Ahtna Construction and Primary Products Company LLC for construction of Taxiway Kilo and related improvements at the Wasilla Municipal Airport. The contract award is listed at $8,243,859.20 and is pending receipt of a Federal Aviation Administration grant.
Council Member Rubio asked for clarification about the grant and the city’s share. A city staff member explained the grant arrangement is a cost-share relationship with FAA reimbursement tied to final contract amounts. The staff summary given to the council stated the FAA is expected to provide about $7,200,000 toward the project, with the city’s share and other ineligible costs totaling roughly $3.3 million when all ancillary contracts, contract administration and inspection are included. The overall project cost including ancillary work is described in council discussion as “just above $10,000,000.”
Council members were told the $12 million figure discussed earlier in project planning represented a planning ceiling used for FAA purposes. Actual federal reimbursement is determined by the final contract amounts and allowable cost categories under the FAA agreement; because the bid results were lower than the top-range estimate, the final grant reimbursement adjusts accordingly.
The contract award motion was moved by Council Member Caudill and seconded by Council Member Rubio and passed without objection. City staff noted a remaining project contingency of approximately $750,000 that would cover change orders; any significant change orders were said to be returned to council for approval.
The AM and the ordinance appropriating FAA funds for the airport project were presented together; the council earlier adopted Ordinance Serial No. 2528 to accept and appropriate a 15% increase to the FAA grant in the amount of $596,763 for the airport project. City staff indicated they had the grant award paperwork and were coordinating final funding and contract administration steps with both FAA and the city’s finance department.
The contract award and grant documents will be finalized after FAA documents are executed and the city completes its internal contract processing, and the city advised council members that staff would return with any required change orders for council approval.
