Council committee approves program-management contract layer for airport modernization

The Mobility Committee approved an emergency ordinance authorizing the Director of Port Control to hire one or more professional consultants to provide program management services for the Terminal Modernization Development Program (TMDP).

The director said the contract will cover design preconstruction management, construction management, risk and change management, quality assurance, safety, operational readiness and transition. The work is intended to augment existing staff so the city can deliver a multi-phase, land-side program that extends into the early 2030s.

The director explained the contract structure as a two-year base with two three-year options exercisable by future legislative authority and said the city may contract for up to $15,000,000 per contract year as a maximum. Dennis Kramer described the role of the contract as a separate layer from the PASI team: Pasley (the existing executive program management team) will provide oversight while the new consultant team provides additional program managers, project engineers and schedulers. The director said the program-management team will be based at the airport program management office that is being built to support CLEVOLUTION.

Committee members noted the scale of the overall program; the director described the TMDP as a long-term, multi-hundred-million-dollar program requiring sustained staffing and governance. The ordinance passed committee and will proceed to further legislative steps to authorize option periods if and when needed.