Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Works

TO:	Thomas M. Markus, City Manager
FROM:	Charles F. Soules, Director of Public Works
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Casey Toomay, Jason Stowe, Mark Thiel
DATE:	March 25, 2016
RE:	RFQ for Airport Engineering Services

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires local General Aviation Airports to have an engineer of record to assist airports with projects, programs, and compliance with FAA regulations.  The engineering/consulting firms are selected following a qualification based selection (QBS) process outlined by the FAA.  Firms are selected to provide services for a 5-year period.  This does not preclude choosing another firm for a specific project, however the selection process takes significant time and typically the engineer of record has a lot of project development information which is beneficial for securing FAA funding.   Therefore, typically the engineer selected in this process will complete projects developed over the next 5-year cycle.

The selection process includes:

Ø Receiving qualifications from interested firms

Ø Review by the selection committee, consisting of City Staff and Airport Board Members

Ø Interviewing by the Airport Board

A recommendation for the selected firm will be presented to the City Commission for approval.

This selection process does not conclude in any specific contract, it is merely selecting a firm for upcoming projects.  With that said, the FAA currently has programed to fund the wildlife fence around the perimeter of the airport property for Federal Fiscal Year 2017, which will be obligated in October of 2016.  After this selection process, the City will ask the selected firm to prepare a Scope of Services for this project and present the project and contract to the Commission for approval.

Projects currently on the FAA’s 5-year Airport Capital Improvement Plan (ACIP) are attached.

Action

Authorize staff to request qualifications for the engineer of record for the Lawrence Municipal Airport.