Template revised January 10, 2019.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No.
8e
ACTION ITEM
Date of Meeting
June 13, 2023
DATE: May 26, 2023
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Kathy Roeder, Director of Communications, External Relations
SUBJECT: Competition Waiver for Rising Tides and Tailwinds Airport 75th Anniversary Edition
Amount of this request:
$136,000.00
Total estimated project cost:
$136,000.00
ACTION REQUESTED
Request Commission authorization under Revised Code of Washington 53.19 for competition
waiver authorizing the Port to specify local non-profit HistoryLink as the writer, designer, and
publisher of an SEA Airport 75
th
Anniversary edition of “Rising Tides and Tailwinds.”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
HistoryLink wrote and published the original “Rising Tides and Tailwinds” book for the Port’s 100
th
anniversary in 2011. The book comes with an understandable focus on the maritime side of our
work, especially given that for the first 40 years of the Port’s history there was no airport.
This anniversary edition will update the cover with an airport focus, include an anniversary
edition foreword, and include additional chapters on the opening of the International Arrivals
Facility, the formation of the Northwest Seaport Alliance, the coming suite of improvements
under Upgrade SEA, new sustainability initiatives, the creation of the Office of Equity, Diversity,
and Inclusion, and response to the pandemic.
The Port will use the anniversary edition during a series of celebration events marking the
airport’s 75
th
Anniversary. We will continue to use the book for the next several years. The
estimated 2,000 item print run will offer extensive opportunities to use the book at domestic and
international customer events, in employee engagement, and in community relations. The Port
made its first run of “Rising Tides and Tailwinds” last for nearly a decade.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $136,000, including writing, design, project
management, printing, and delivery.
The project will be funded primarily out of External Relations promotional budget.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8e Page 2 of 4
Meeting Date: June 13, 2023
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
JUSTIFICATION
The purpose of this waiver request is to use HistoryLink’s proprietary design and knowledgeable
writing staff to efficiently update the book for an anniversary edition. We request a competition
waiver because it is not cost effective or reasonable to compete this work.
• Not cost effective. Working directly with local nonprofit HistoryLink allows us to pick up
the book exactly where we left off. HistoryLink already has all of the research notes,
design layout, the font type, the photography and all of the graphic treatments. It is a
significant cost saving to the Port to work with the existing product rather than having a
new designer layout the book and the new anniversary edition sections. That process
would essentially double the cost of the work. While the Port of Seattle published the
book and owns the copyright to it, the final product was published in partnership with
History Link. They consider layout and design files to be proprietary items.
• Not reasonable. In the initial development of “Rising Tides and Tailwinds” HistoryLink
was found to be an exceptional, local resource for documentary writing and
publishing. HistoryLink efficiently combines design, research, and writing under one
umbrella. HistoryLink is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation established in 1997 to
pioneer innovative approaches to historical research, education, and publishing. Its
primary public service activity is production of HistoryLink.org, the free online
encyclopedia of Washington state history and the nation’s first original encyclopedia of
community history created expressly for the Internet. HistoryLink offers historical
research and publishing services for organizations with upcoming anniversaries. The
services provided by HistoryLink include counseling organizations on historical research
strategies, conducting historical background and photo research for an organization’s
own use, research, design, and publish historical books, and design historical displays for
anniversary events. HistoryLink has published at least a dozen other similar anniversary
style books, making the organization uniquely qualified to expertly update Rising Tides
and Tailwinds for the Airport.
Diversity in Contracting
There are no aspirational goals for this competition waiver.
DETAILS
The Port will use the anniversary edition during a series of celebration events marking the
airport’s 75
th
Anniversary. We will continue to use the book for the next several years. The
estimated 2,000 item print run will offer extensive opportunities to use the book at domestic and
international customer events, in employee engagement, and in community relations. The Port
made its first print run of 2,000 copies of “Rising Tides and Tailwinds” last for nearly a decade.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8e Page 3 of 4
Meeting Date: June 13, 2023
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
Scope of Work
The project entails researching and writing a new chapter to account for major milestones of the
last decade, updating the cover and adding more airport photography, adding a special
anniversary edition foreword, updating existing copy and photo captions as necessary
throughout to adjust for changing circumstances or the opportunity to improve context.
Estimated not to exceed costs for the project and a 2,000-copy print run include:
- Research and Writing: $25,000
- Editing: $14,000
- Design: $14,000
- Management: $23,000
- Printing: $60,000
Schedule
All research, writing, editing, and design should be completed before January 31, 2024. The book
will need to go for printing to be ready for celebration events to begin July 2025.
Cost Breakdown
Total Project
Research, writing, editing
$39,000
$39,000
Design and management
$37,000
$37,000
Printing
$60,000
$60,000
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
Alternatives to an anniversary edition include producing a video documentary or a shorter
printed piece. In fact, we plan to produce a few video documentaries anyway to recognize the
75
th
anniversary.
Video is fleeting, however, and books have lasting power.
The Communications team strongly prefers having a substantive, physical item like a book for
anniversary events in 2025 and to use it at customer appreciation and employee recognition
events for the next several years.
The costs are higher than the initial research, writing, and editing and print run from 2011. In
2011 we spent $49,000 to update the Port’s history book. In 2023 we anticipate spending up to
$76,000. In 2011 we spent $24,000 to print 4,000 copies. Costs for all aspects of printing for
small-scale projects have skyrocketed in the last decade.
The 2024 publication will continue a 50-year Port tradition of providing history books on a budget
by updating previously published material. The 2011 Rising Tides and Tailwinds book was based
on a 1976 book published for the Port of Seattle and authored by Padriac Burke, “A History of
the Port of Seattle.”
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8e Page 4 of 4
Meeting Date: June 13, 2023
Template revised June 27, 2019 (Diversity in Contracting).
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Cost Estimate/Authorization Summary
Capital
Expense
Total
COST ESTIMATE
Original estimate
$0
$136,000
$136,000
AUTHORIZATION
Previous authorizations
0
0
0
Current request for authorization
0
136,000
136,000
Total authorizations, including this request
0
136,000
136,000
Remaining amount to be authorized
$0
$0
$0
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS REQUEST
None
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
None