Staff recommends that the City Council approve Amendment 15 with Morrison-Maierle, Inc. for the engineering services associated with the construction of a new Cargo Ramp Slot 5 in the amount of $713,210.

On May 5, 2022, the City Council approved a five-year contract with Morrison-Maierle, Inc. (M-M) to provide all pre-design and scope of work activities, survey, construction inspection and oversight, and project closeout for the Aviation and Transit Department for all civil engineering work required during the five-year term.  This base contract with M-M is amended each time a new project is undertaken.  Amendment 15 for $713,210 will provide funding for M-M to prepare plans and specifications, provide bidding assistance, construction administration, field observation, and project closeout reports for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in order to build a new cargo ramp.

This project will construct a new large 137,000 square foot aircraft parking ramp for cargo operations to take place on, called Slot 5.  Slots 1 - 4, which are directly east of this new ramp were built between 2002 - 2013 and are at capacity many times throughout the year and especially during the holidays when packages are being transported; therefore, additional ramp space is needed.  UPS and FedEx continue to increase the number of flights and up-size their aircraft each year; subsequently, in 2023 they loaded and unloaded approximately 50 million pounds of freight, which makes BIL the busiest cargo airport in Montana and overall ranks number 63 throughout the entire United States.  The Airport plans to build the new Slot 5 ramp in the summer of 2024. It will take 120 days to complete and cost approximately $8 million.  This project includes 23,000 cubic yards of earth removal, relocation of an existing underground power line, the installation of 56,000 square feet of 16 inch concrete, 81,000 square feet of asphalt, storm drain pipe infrastructure, a concrete block retaining wall, airfield lighting improvements, along with many other miscellaneous items.                

The scope of work and associated engineering fees for these services have been reviewed by Adurra Engineering from Cody, WY and negotiated by staff and subsequently approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  The FAA requires that all engineering fees be reviewed by a second contracted engineering firm to verify that these fees are reasonable, fair, and equitable.  Ardurra Engineering was contracted to perform the secondary review, providing staff with an independent cost estimate to negotiate the fees with M-M.

City Council may:

• Approve Amendment 15 for the engineering fees with M-M; or,
• Not Approve Amendment 15 with M-M, delay the project and advise staff on how to proceed

The total cost of the engineering services in Amendment 15 is $713,210.  These fees will be funded 90% with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant funds and 10% with local match funds.  The FAA's grant funding will be $641,889 and the City's local match will be $71,321.  The local match funds are budgeted and available in the Airports Capital Account and will be reimbursed at a later date through the Airport's Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) program.  Ultimately, all of these engineering fees are paid for and essentially do not cost the City or Airport anything.