Template revised April 12, 2018.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No. 8f
ACTION ITEM Date of Meeting August 12, 2025
DATE: August 5, 2025
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Keri Stephens, Director, Aviation Facilities and Capital Programs
SUBJECT: Aviation Planning Services Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Professional
Service Agreements
Amount of this request $0
Maximum value of contracts
$15,000,000
ACTION REQUESTED
Request Commission authorization for the Executive Director to execute two indefinite delivery,
indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts for $7,500,000 each for Aviation Planning Services at Seattle-
Tacoma International Airport totaling no more than $15,000,000 with a three-year ordering base
period and two one-year options. No funding is associated with this authorization. Any work
conducted under these contracts will require additional Commission authorization, either through
the annual operating budget or specific capital funds request.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2022, Aviation Planning executed two IDIQ contracts for Aviation Planning Services totaling
$15,000,000. These contracts are now approaching the end of their authorization capacity and
additional planning services are needed over the next five years.
Planning is required to provide on-going assessment of airside facilities and the three main
functional elements of the airport’s terminal area (terminal building, terminal apron, terminal
landside), which is essential to facilitate review and coordination of proposed airport projects.
These contracts will provide subject matter expertise and additional labor to support staff in
identifying and developing projects within existing facilities and to conduct additional planning and
preliminary design of any proposed projects.
The intent is to execute two $7,500,000 contracts that include a Woman and Minority Business
Enterprise (WMBE) aspirational goal of 15% participation. Once the contracts have been awarded
and executed, the WMBE aspirational goals will become a requirement.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8f Page 2 of 5
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised September 22, 2016; format updates October 19, 2016.
JUSTIFICATION
On-going planning is required to provide Port leadership and project teams information necessary
to guide program development and define projects. Given the recent recovery to pre-pandemic
activity levels and the constrained physical conditions at SEA, large investments in capital
improvements to the airport’s facilities will be needed to meet current and evolving operational
needs of the airport. The first step in developing capital improvement projects is to complete
aviation planning tasks that define the scope of a project and establishes preliminary
requirements. At SEA this planning exercise will be needed for any proposed facility expansion and
becomes even more important without facility expansions.
On-going planning is also needed to identify and develop projects within existing facilities and to
address emerging and sometimes unforeseen issues. Given the often time sensitive and sporadic
nature of the workload, the most cost effective and efficient way to conduct planning is for
Planning staff who have knowledge of Sea-Tac facilities and processes to conduct a portion of this
work in-house and also lead planning efforts that rely on a combination of consultant resources
and in-house expertise from Planning and other departments.
Diversity in Contracting
Port staff has worked with the Diversity in Contracting Department to establish a women- and
minority-owned business enterprise (WMBE) aspirational goal of 15% participation for the
contracts.
DETAILS
Under the Airport Planning Services IDIQ contracts, the consultants shall provide the necessary
professional, technical, and advisory services, including all labor, equipment, and materials to
successfully provide on-call planning support services. Assigned work will consist of providing
studies and producing reports, memos and technical documents for review and approval by Port
staff. Detailed scopes of work and cost estimates will be prepared on an individual basis for each
task.
The IDIQ contracts will be procured according to Port policies and procedures in accordance with
the General Delegation of Authority and procurement policy CPO-1. The Port will advertise and
issue a solicitation. The contracts will be written with specific not-to-exceed amounts and identify
the services required. Each contract will have a contract ordering period (during which the services
may be separately authorized) of three years with two one-year options to extend the ordering
period. The actual contract duration may extend beyond five years in order to complete the work
identified in the particular service directives. Service directives may be issued during the contract-
ordering period and within the total original contract value.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8f Page 3 of 5
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised September 22, 2016; format updates October 19, 2016.
Port staff is partnering with the Diversity in Contracting department in outreaching to small and
WMBE businesses, informing them of the upcoming opportunities that align within the IDIQ scopes
of work.
Scope of Work
The professional, technical and advisory services are to address a broad range of airport facilities
and operations including: airside, terminal, cargo, airport support, airline support and landside
planning; conceptual design; capital programming; airport operations; and Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulatory, planning
considerations.
The scope of work includes studies under the broad headings of aviation planning, and related
studies. These studies include, but are not limited to, the following activities:
1. Airport data collection and facility inventories.
2. Facility demand/capacity analysis.
3. Alternatives development/assessment.
4. Site planning and facilities space program development.
5. Cost estimation.
6. Airfield modeling.
7. Terminal planning.
8. Traffic analysis.
9. Aircraft parking and gate area planning.
10. Preparation of or updating of the airport layout plan.
Schedule
We estimate that these contracts will be executed in Q4 2025 and have a three-year ordering
period with two one-year options to extend the ordering period. Each service directive will specify
the duration and schedule associated with the task or tasks involved.
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
Alternative 1 – Build up in-house staff on a limited duration basis to provide required planning
services
Pros:
(1) Over the length of the work, this option may show cost savings
Cons:
(1) Time to build up adequate staff with the necessary specific skill sets would take 18 to 24
months. This would substantially hinder the Port’s ability to conduct planning and provide
timely information to the capital project decision making process.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8f Page 4 of 5
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised September 22, 2016; format updates October 19, 2016.
(2) The type of work needed has an expected lifespan and will not be continuous. Adding full
time in-house staff would create long-term costs and would provide expertise that would
not be needed during certain times of the work. Under these circumstances of a limited
duration hire, it would be difficult to attract and retain talent.
(3) To be cost effective, the new Port staff would need to have a broad set of specific skills
which would be difficult to acquire in a manageable number of additions. Consultants
have staff with these specific skills and can utilize them on an hour-by-hour basis as
needed.
This is not the recommended alternative.
Alternative 2 – Separate procurement for each task
Pros:
(1) Separate contract procurements would allow consulting firms multiple opportunities to
compete for each individual task.
Cons:
(1) This alternative would increase overhead and administrative costs to the Port, as we
would need to manage more procurement processes and contracts.
(2) This alternative may add months to each task to complete the procurement process for
each individual project and would impact the ability to meet the needs of the airport.
(3) Costs to the consulting companies may increase as they would be responding to multiple
procurements.
This is not the recommended alternative.
Alternative 3 – Single procurement resulting in two IDIQ contracts
Pros:
(1) This alternative would ensure the Port has the necessary professional, technical and
advisory resources available to assist with time critical planning efforts and delivery of
potential future capital work.
(2) Small business participation will be a contract requirement.
(3) This alternative would minimize the number of procurement processes necessary for
timely completion of tasks and reduce overhead and administrative costs to the Port and
consultants.
Cons:
(1) This alternative would limit the number of opportunities available to firms to compete
for more discrete packages of work.
This is the recommended alternative.
COMMISSION AGENDA – Action Item No. 8f Page 5 of 5
Meeting Date: August 12, 2025
Template revised September 22, 2016; format updates October 19, 2016.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Charges to these contracts will be from the Aviation Division’s operating expense budget or from
capital funds under separate Commission authorization. Consequently, there is no funding request
associated with this authorization.
Annual Budget Status and Source of Funds
There is no funding request associated with this authorization. Individual service directives will be
executed to authorize the consultant to perform any specific work on the contract against
approved budget authorizations and within the total contract amount.
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS REQUEST
None
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
August 9, 2016 – Commission authorization for the Chief Executive Officer to execute up to
four IDIQ contracts for Airport Planning Services totaling no more than $10,000,000.
October 23, 2018 – Commission authorization for the Chief Executive Officer to execute up
to two IDIQ contracts for Airport Planning Services totaling no more than $15,000,000.
March 8, 2022 – Commission authorization for the Chief Executive Officer to execute up to
two IDIQ contracts for Airport Planning Services totaling no more than $15,000,000.
