Work group hires CNS-led consultant team; literature review, baseline due in February

The Commercial Aviation Work Group on Tuesday introduced the consultant team selected to support a yearlong effort to assess aviation capacity and options for Western Washington, the group’s chair said.

The consultant team is led by CNS with Steer, Kaplan Kirsch, and Stephenson Associates on the roster. Mark Champney, identified as the CNS program director, told the work group the contract will be an on‑call master agreement with individual task orders for literature review, public engagement and new research. "We're not quite there" on contract execution, Champney said, but the team is preparing a succinct literature digest and an initial baseline the group can review at the February meeting.

Why it matters: the legislature asked the work group, in ESSB 51 61, to evaluate long‑term commercial aviation needs in Western Washington, to consider capacity in adjacent jurisdictions, and to investigate both expansion of existing facilities and possible greenfield alternatives. The consultant’s early work is intended to establish a shared, digestible baseline of existing studies and capacity projections so subsequent technical work and public outreach can proceed without duplicating prior effort.

Key details: Champney said the team will deliver a targeted literature review and a demand‑vs‑capacity profile as the first deliverable. Steve Van Beek of Steer summarized high‑level trends the team will track, including airport funding limits, growing public‑private partnership activity, climate and sustainability constraints, multimodal opportunities, equity/engagement challenges, and international supply‑chain uncertainty that affects cost estimates.

The team signaled it will produce multiple task orders rather than a single monolithic contract — for example, separate task orders for literature review, public engagement, and any new technical studies — each with defined scope, schedule and fee so the work group can cost and prioritize items ahead of a June budget request to the Legislature.

What they said: Champney described the effort’s structure as "scope, fee, schedule, and an expected deliverable" for each task order. Van Beek said the February baseline should answer: what is the near‑term demand profile and what capacity exists to meet it.

What’s next: The work group voted to authorize the consultants to proceed with the initial tasking discussed in the meeting. The consultant team plans to present the literature review and baseline material at the February meeting, which members discussed scheduling for Feb. 20–24 (with Feb. 24 mentioned as a preferred date).