Mayor James still studying AECOM offer to bid on KCI terminal plan

Kansas City Mayor Sly James and his staff were still doing “due diligence” Friday in reviewing Los Angeles-based AECOM’s bid to shake up the city’s planning for a single terminal at Kansas City International Airport.

AECOM, considered the largest airport design firm in the U.S., issued a letter Thursday to city leaders asking for a chance to bid on the $1 billion project that local engineering giant Burns & McDonnell proposed as an exclusive deal.

On Thursday, the mayor’s office did not comment on AECOM’s offer, saying in a written statement, “We anticipate spending the next 24 hours engaged in initial stages of due diligence to fully review the letter received late this afternoon.”

On Friday, a written statement said: “We are continuing initial due diligence. No further update at this time.”

James and City Manager Troy Schulte have been supporting the proposal that Burns & McDonnell first brought to city leaders earlier this spring offering to privately finance, design and build a single terminal at KCI’s closed Terminal A, which the city would retain and operate.

The offer came a year after James withdrew plans to seek public approval for a publicly financed airport design, saying at the time that the project may need to be handed over to the private sector to develop a plan voters might approve.

Burns & McDonnell came forward with its proposal, which was unveiled earlier this month. The wisdom of whether or not the city should go forward with an exclusive, no-bid agreement with the Kansas City firm has been under debate in the City Council.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Mayor James still studying AECOM offer to bid on KCI terminal plan."