The fallout of Denver International Airport’s first failed attempt at the Great Hall project still haunts Denver District 5 Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer.

That project fell apart in 2019 and quickly devolved into a “he said, she said, they said,” debacle, she said at a Tuesday Land Use Transportation and Infrastructure meeting. Committee members discussed the proposed Colfax Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. 

A new, on-call contract related to the BRT system caused some concern for Sawyer.  The contract with Triunity LLC is worth $17.8 million and ends on Dec. 31, 2027, and covers owner’s representative professional services. These services include anything from program management, pre-construction support, independent cost estimating and construction oversight, according to Jonathan Stewart, the director of the Colfax BRT program. 

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“The main reason we’re doing it is it allows us to bring in the proper resources at the right time depending on where we are within the project lifecycle,” he said. “It allows us to adapt and right size the team based on field conditions and market conditions.”

But the contract brought back bad memories for Sawyer of the initial, failed, start for DIA’s Great Hall project. 

In 2019, city officials terminated the original $1.8 billion contract with Madrid-based Ferrovial Airports and Saunders Construction as general contractor on a terminal expansion project to improve security and check-in areas. It was marred by delays and cost overruns. It started as a $650 million project. City council members and airport officials described the breakup as a “messy divorce.”  Greeley-based Hensel Phelps took over the Great Hall project. 

While the airport was able to recover from that quite well, Sawyer said, she remained cautious due to the apparent similarities of the contracts. Sawyer made clear her caution was reserved for this contract, not the BRT project itself.  

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At times, the city will need to employ subject matter experts who are not on the city’s payroll. The contract with Triunity allows the city to “grab” those individuals from the company, make use of their expertise through a specific work order, and then allow them to return to their work with Triunity. 

The open-ended nature of work orders and calling on what is essentially a temporary employee concerned Sawyer. She wanted to know whether the contract contains clear and specific milestones and dates.

There is an end date and an implementation schedule, according to Travis Bogan, Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure’s director of special projects, but more specific milestones and dates will be determined by “task orders.” 

“My concern is I don’t want to end up in a position like we did with the Great Hall, where we have handed over to someone else all of the decision making and all of the major specifics that come with a project like this,” Sawyer said. “I’m concerned the same thing is going to happen here because there are no guardrails.” 

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The city did, however, learn some lessons from the Great Hall debacle according to Stewart. He said those lessons are a big reason why the city decided to pursue a construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) form of delivery. This gives the city more control, especially on price. 

“That’s a big reason why we’re using the on-call contract, because we don’t necessarily have to spend all that money,” he said. “Back to the CMGC, we have a lot more control over the contractor with this kind of delivery method.” 

Other guardrails exist, including quarterly briefings and an executive oversight committee — which Bogan said will help the city understand where the project stands over all. However, no councilmember is on the oversight committee and when Sawyer asked why that is, Bogan had no answer. 

The Colfax BRT project is anticipated to cost between $250 and $300 million and be complete by 2026. The Denver City Council has already approved a contract worth $24.1 million with Parsons Transportation Group Inc. for design services. 

A traffic study and environmental study are currently underway and will be released upon completion.