CL OUT TEAM WITH HEAVY MINORITY PARTICIPATION WINS $210 MILLION AIRPORT OVERSIGHT CONTRACT
A clout- heavy team with 54 percent participation by minorities and women has scored a $ 210 million contract to oversee construction projects for the next decade at O’Hare and Midway airports.
A joint venture that calls itself the “Connect Chicago Alliance” was the highest- ranked of five teams vying for the motherlode of a “program management contract.”
It marks a pivotal step in the gate and terminal expansion project billed as the largest in O’Hare history and the $ 400 million makeover tailor- made to confront Midway’s biggest weaknesses and passenger annoyances: parking, security and concessions.
The joint venture is led by Chicagobased Jacobs Engineering Group.
Its members include Ardmore/ Roderick, African- American contractors with a 15 percent share; GSG Consultants, a Latino partner, and J. A. Watts, a women’s business enterprise, each with a 10 percent cut; Bradshaw Consultants and Globetrotter Engineering, minority business enterprises with 5 and 4 percent respectively.
The team also includes smaller participation by Synchronous Solutions; Synnov Group; CKL Engineers; SQN Associates and Sanchez & Associates.
The combined, 54 percent participation — 41 percent by companies owned by minorities and 13 percent for firms controlled by women — was billed as one of the largest in O’Hare history.
The joint venture will replace CARE Plus, which has been paid $ 98.9 million since January 2011 to provide both program management and construction management services at both O’Hare and Midway.
Aviation Department spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said the Connect Chicago Alliance was chosen after a “thorough process to oversee a high volume of both existing and new work” at O’Hare and Midway.
That includes the massive makeover and expansion of passenger terminals and gates known as “O’Hare 21 program.”
During a selection process that dragged on for months, a rival bidder raised questions about the role on the selection committee played by Jonathan Leach.
Leach resigned last summer as O’Hare’s $ 159,096- a- year chief operating officer and went to work for Chico & Nunes, a Chicago law firm that has long represented Ardmore, whose president and CEO is former Chicago Buildings Commissioner Cherryl Thomas.
The complaint — and an allegation that the Connect Chicago Alliance may have gotten advance warning about the timing of its allimportant oral presentation to the selection committee — triggered an investigation by Inspector General Joe Ferguson, according to a losing bidder.
Leach could not be reached for comment.
The inspector general’s office and Chief Procurement Officer Jamie Rhee refused to confirm or deny the investigation.
But Rhee said if there had been any lingering concerns, the massive contract would not have been awarded.