How to Think About the Construction Bid Delay

On Thursday, June 7, the News Herald reported that the deadline for airport construction bids had been pushed back two weeks so the Airport Authority could respond to the more than 500 questions submitted by the seven qualified bidders.

On Friday, June 8, the News Herald published an editorial expressing their view on the delay. It’s interesting. In reading the editorial, I got the impression it was actually two editorials in one, expressing two different points of view.

On the one hand, the News Herald seemed to be criticizing the delay. They rightly pointed out that in the construction business, time is money.

Then, in a turn that felt rather abrupt, the News Herald said:

“Opening the new airport on schedule is less important than building one [an airport] that fulfills expectations… Ensuring the project’s long-term viability is far more important than clinging to notions that everything’s going forward without a hitch.”

With these sentences I think the News Herald hit the nail on the head. The paper rightly points out that delays are common in large-scale construction projects, especially something as complex as an airport.

Our Airport Authority has an awesome responsibility to this community to manage the relocation and construction process in a fiscally prudent manner. That entails clearly defining the construction contract, what is expected, what is to be delivered and when.

If they need to take time to get it right, we should support them, not criticize them.

So when a news article (and especially the headline) focuses on the delay rather than seeking to explain the context for the delay, public understanding suffers.

A couple of weeks delay now may save many weeks - and significant dollars - of haggling over differences of opinion about what was called for in the bid process and the Statement of Work later.

My watchword to those who want to see this airport built is this: Patience.

We are fortunate to have a very experienced, knowledgeable and talented Airport Authority and Airport Executive Director. We need to give them the space to do their job, and do it right.

I believe this airport will be built, it will be built right, and it will be in service close to the scheduled delivery date. But we have to keep moving forward one deliberate step at a time.

Here’s a post to help you get a sense of where we are in the process.