A Denver City Council committee voted unanimously to approve more than $25 million in contracts for three airport janitorial and cleaning companies.

Flagship Airport Services, Kleen-Tech Services, LLC and JanCo FS 3 DBA Velociti Services each received the go-ahead from the city’s Business, Arts, Workforce, Climate and Aviation Committee on Wednesday, May 21.

If approved by the full City Council body, California-based Flagship Airport Services would see a $13 million amendment to their current contract to address increases in prevailing wages driven by a 2021 collective bargaining agreement, for a new contract total of $196 million.

Director of Airport Operations Services LaQuisha Shaw stated that prevailing wages increased in a manner higher than anticipated by both Flagship and the Airport.

A follow-up agreement conducted last fall increased contract wages by $1 per hour.

“While the hourly wage did go up, it also drove an increase to the fringe rates (benefits) that are associated with it that we’re required to pay,” Shaw explained. “And that also drives the payroll taxes and insurance up.”

Shaw added that the airport has a contractual obligation to pay the prevailing wage increase.

In 2021, members of the Service Employees International Union 105 voted to strike over low wages and workloads.

City officials also note that the airport’s cleanable square footage has increased, and fixtures and facility layouts in the main terminal have “unique cleaning requirements” that have led to higher costs.

Kleen-Tech Services, LLC could also see a contract amendment. The proposed resolution seeks to add $4 million and extend an existing janitorial agreement with the airport by one year, resulting in a new contract total of $9.2 million and an end date of March 31, 2027.

Additionally, Atlanta-based Velociti Services would enter into a three-year contract with DIA worth $8.5 million to provide window cleaning services for Concourse A, Concourse B, Concourse C and Airfield Outlying Buildings.

“This contract is a three-year contract with two one-year options to extend at $8.5 million,” Shaw said. “The overall scope of the contract really focuses on cleaning the windows, glass surfaces and ledges of the facility, providing services throughout each of the concourses, all of our firefighting stations, the training facility, the de-icing building and the glycol facility.”

Denver International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and a significant economic engine for the state of Colorado, generating over $47.2 billion annually.

The contracts are not final until the full City Council approves the committee’s recommendations in June.