FAA Contractors Resume Work After Stopgap Extension Passes
Passage of a stopgap Federal Aviation Administration extension bill through Sept. 16 has ended a congressional stalemate—at least temporarily—that had forced the agency to issue stop-work orders on more than 200 airport modernization contracts, including construction and engineering projects, estimated at more than $10.5 billion.
Although most lawmakers have left Washington for a few weeks, senators approved the extension by unanimous consent during a pro forma session on Aug. 5. President Obama signed the bill into law the same day. The bill passed the House on July 20 and includes a controversial rider that trims the Essential Air Service (EAS) program that subsidizes flights to rural airports.
While industry sources say they are relieved the hiatus, which began on July 23 and lasted for two weeks, did not extend through the recess into September, they claim the gap in funding had a significant impact and that they are not confident congressional leaders will be able to work out their differences before the Sept. 16 deadline.
Meanwhile, some firms say they are getting back to work on project sites, while others say they are waiting in a sort of limbo for official notices to proceed. “All [the extension] solved was the immediate shutdown” of the FAA, says Brian Deery, senior director of Associated General Contractors of America's Highway and Transportation Division. “There's a whole lot of uncertainty out there about projects that are moving forward.”
Bismarck, N.D.-based Knife River Corp. was awarded a $10-million taxiway resurfacing contract at Glacier International Airport in Kalispell, Mont., in the spring but still awaits funding.
“We were anticipating funding to be available in June so we could start construction in mid-June for the construction season,” says David Zinke, president of the firm's Mountain States region. “It was July 22 when we were told the project was probably going to be put on hold for the season,” he says. Now that the FAA is back to work, “we don't know where this project stands as far as the priority list—if it's going to be funded or not.”
Lost Time
In California, work is resuming at two major, federally funded projects for air-traffic-control towers in Oakland and Palm Springs. Acknowledging that the general contractors have returned to the construction sites, Ian Gregor, spokesman for the FAA's Western-Pacific region in Los Angeles, said on Aug. 7 that activity would begin as soon as the contractors can remobilize their subcontractors.
At Oakland International Airport, Devcon Construction, Milpitas, has returned to the construction site that hosted 60 workers until the shutdown, according to airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes. The $31-million project consists of a 236-ft-tall tower to replace two aging towers built in 1962 and 1972, respectively. In addition to the employees who were out of work for 14 days, heavy construction equipment costing $6,000 a day sat idle on the jobsite. “It had a major impact here,” Barnes says.
Tom Nolan, executive director of Palm Springs International Airport, said the construction site, with nearly 60 workers, was not fully staffed as of Aug. 7, but Swinerton Builders, San Francisco, the general contractor, was back on-site. The $13.9-million project includes a 150-ft-tall tower and a 7,200-sq-ft base building. Completion is scheduled for early 2013.
In New England, Frank Swanson, president CMGC Building Corp., Bedford, N.H., received notices on Aug. 8 to resume work on two airport projects—one in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the other in Danbury, Conn.—and an $88,500 mechanical-room upgrade at the Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center, located in Nashua, N.H.
While this is good news for Swanson and his workers who will be back on the job, he says it does not cover losses from the 14-day disruption. CMGC lost a total of $10,000 in labor, remobilization and fixed costs for trailers and other items, he says. “We will also have to redo a railing that has been exposed to the weather—that's all lost labor,” he says.
Philip Lander, president and CEO of Atlantic Defense Constructors, Portland, Maine, says his firm had to reassign and demobilize people as a result of the work-stop order for a $935,000 structural innovation and seismic upgrade of a control tower at Portland International Jetport.
“[The work stoppage] has disrupted our schedule and is a big concern since our project is temperature- and time-sensitive for getting windows into the control tower,” Lander says. “We have to move heavy glass with cranes, and we want to complete it in warm weather, before September or October.”
Congressional Logjam
Industry observers say they are worried about the ability of Congress to reach a deal. Both chambers have passed a multi-year reauthorization bill, but a conference committee has yet to be formed because congressional negotiators cannot agree on the essential air-service requirement as well as a potential labor-related provision supported by Republicans.
The House bill would provide $15 billion a year for four years; the Senate bill would provide $17.3 billion a year for the next two years.
“The extension and the debate that went with it didn't resolve the underlying policy issues,” says Jane Calderwood, vice president for government and political affairs at Airports Council International. “But our belief has been and continues to be that the policy issues need to be worked out during the negotiations between the House and Senate on the underlying FAA bill,” not the short-term extensions.
The FAA estimated it was losing $30 million a day during the stop-work period—a loss that will probably not be made up, Calderwood notes. The airport trust fund “will take a hit, and that will have consequences,” she says.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) says it is critical the House and Senate leadership work out their differences in the next few weeks so that a multiyear FAA reauthorization bill can be sent to the president.
However, Mica warns, “If the Senate refuses to negotiate on the few remaining issues, they can be assured that every tool at our disposal will be utilized to ensure a long-term bill is signed into law.”
AGC's Deery says the “political gamesmanship” seen in Congress during the debt-ceiling negotiations and the FAA crisis do not bode well for either long-term reauthorization of agency funding or, of even more concern for some, the highway reauthorization bill. The current highway extension expires on Sept. 30.
“I'm really afraid we could be facing that same sort of stalemate as we get into transportation reauthorization,” Deery says, adding, “This has real-world impact, and it does result in people not getting jobs.”
