Changing the Hidden Landscape

$130 million TIA security enhancements project is first of its kind in nation

At Tampa International Airport, Skanska USA Building is leading a nationally unique design-build effort to install an inline baggage screening system and security enhancements. The project is at the forefront of a nationwide trend toward baggage and security systems that are out of sight to airline passengers, more technologically advanced and give the flying public a travel experience similar to that of pre-9/11.

by Scott Judy

Deep inside Tampa International Airport, mostly hidden from view, Skanska USA Building's Atlanta-based Aviation Group is transforming both the airport's fundamental operation and passenger experience.

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority's use of design-build for its $130 million Outbound Baggage and Security Enhancements contract is considered the first time ever that a project of this type has been delivered by this method.

"Nobody else has done any design-build of a baggage-sortation/security project," said Jim Clemens, vice president with Skanska and the contractor's project director for the Tampa contract. "We dreamed all this up. There are five or six other facilities that have inline systems working, but none of them are as large or as complex as this."

Rud Mueller, director of architecture for project owner HCAA, concurred.

"There are installations of these inline baggage systems at other airports, but of the top 25 airports in the country, I believe we're going to be the only airport that's going to be 100 percent inline baggage screening," he said.

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The project will provide TIA with high-speed conveyance of checked baggage incorporated with an inline explosives-detection system or EDS. Tagged bags will be computer monitored throughout their trip from check-in until placement on the plane. And while the new baggage system is the main focus, "We're not just throwing a conveyor up in the air," Clemens said.

Skanska's contract also includes a 20,000-sq.-ft. addition to the new Airside E terminal to accommodate baggage sortation for carriers flying from Terminal D, as well as the construction of two new baggage-sorting facilities located next to Airsides A and F. The first of these, a $16.8 million building called A Sort, measured roughly 55,000 sq. ft. and was built in 17 weeks. The second, about 35,000 sq. ft., was scheduled for substantial completion by May. At the conclusion of this phase, 100 percent of all bags leaving Tampa will go through inline EDS and all ticket lobby screening will be removed.

A Complex Project

Work started in September 2002 and is scheduled to conclude in March 2005 when Beck of Tampa completes its design-building of a new Airside C terminal that will be used mostly by Southwest Airlines. The baggage system Skanska is building will tie into the new Airside C. When this segment is functional, it will mark the end of the $130 million contract.

Though the new structures are airside, the most important activity takes place underneath the landside terminal. That's where Skanska and its extensive team of subcontractors are tying new conveyors into existing systems and helping get the 24 new EDS machines up and running.

The screened bags are "clean" by the time they leave the main terminal and head to the airside facilities, but it's a long and sometimes strange trip through TIA's complex system.

The layout of TIA with a small central terminal and a hub-and-spoke design of airside terminals presented a challenge to the baggage system design. To provide a system that screened all bags, a modular design with screening loops was developed allowing for groups of EDS modules to address the needed capacity of the system. It also enabled the system to fit under the landside terminal between the passenger baggage pickup lobbies.

The system therefore requires complicated computer logic systems and is "dramatically more difficult from a design and operation standpoint," Clemens said.

Jeff Clemens, Jim's brother, serves as Skanska's systems manager and oversees every detail related to the installation of the new baggage-screening system.

"Because of all of the PLC programming, the timing issues, and making sure the system works properly, this has got to be one of the most challenging [baggage-screening] projects," he said.

Deep Into the Culture

Overcoming the complexities of the system's design has required a thorough understanding of the carriers' requirements, expectations and operations. Process engineers and others on the design-build team examine every aspect of each airline's operations, and even suggest better ways of doing things.

Jeff said this involvement is a "handy thing for the airlines, because they're looking for answers to all kinds of different things, and we can provide them with those answers. And a lot of times it betters their operation."

Jim added that the process engineers "look at everything - whether they (airlines) should be checking in people in a line here, or whether they should put the international flights over there. That's the kind of stuff we have to do all the time in order to be able to control the inputs to these systems."

Of course, making all of these changes from the old to new conveyors systems without disrupting the operations is as critical as can be. "We can't shut them down ever," Clemens said.

To that end, Skanska first must make sure that every superintendent and every subcontractor understands exactly when and where changeovers are to occur, and coordinate closely with airline representatives and airport authorities.

This type of direct and intimate involvement with the operations of a facility as complex as a major U.S. airport makes this project different from most, added Clemens.

"We have to be constantly on watch that whatever actions we're taking are not causing negative reactions to the operational availability of this airport," he said. "We have to have supervision available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because if a belt brakes or a roller bearing fails, if there's a software issue or whatever, we have to be on top of that within seconds.

"And if we can't make a fix to the mechanics or the electrical aspects of the hardware, we have to go into contingency plans to bring additional resources to the project and move baggage by hand if we have to. There's no way we can stop the progress of this baggage, or else you're going to have jets sitting on the runway."

Design-Build

Essentially the project boils down to its design-build nature. From its first-in-the-nation status to the interactive suggestions to the airlines, everyone agrees design-build makes it all possible.

"Design-build is a huge part of the equation because it allows us to not have the year or whatever to plan and then get to the task at hand," said Lou Russo, HCAA's senior director of planning and development. "We were immediately able to respond and start to make those changes."

Design changes were easier than in traditional delivery methods, said HCAA's Mueller.

"With all of the revisions that have come down this year, it would have been much more difficult with a separate designer and constructor to accommodate those changes if you were working in the traditional manner," he added. "Having a design-builder that's responsible for the entire delivery of the project has really benefited us because we've been able to make revisions and modifications ongoing, as opposed to having them first designed, then provided to a contractor, priced, negotiated and then authorized."

Jim Clemens is a design-build disciple who's turned into a missionary.

"We've got to get the story out," he said. "We've got to tell [owners] that, 'If you've got a hard project; if you've got a tight budget, if you want to save money and do it fast - faster than you ever thought you could do it - you need to go with design-build."

Getting subcontractors to understand their responsibilities under the design-build method - including bidding a complex project based on incomplete design documents - has been a major focus for Skanska.

"They are given a very solid understanding of what design-build means to Skanska and our team here," Clemens said. "We actually have contract language that indicates that they have responsibilities for identifying things that may not yet be totally defined in their design packages."

Therein lies the trick.

"It's a difficult thing to take a 60-70 percent developed set of drawings, give them to a subcontractor community and say, 'I want some good, solid, hard pricing,'" Clemens added. "So there's a lot of back-and-forth between the superintendents, the project manager and the subcontractor at bid time to make sure there's a full grasp of what the scope is, and that minor scope development is not scope creep. You have to create that mindset with everyone."

Of course, the owner's mindset is the most important one. So far, it remains positive.

"Overall it's been a pretty pleasurable experience," Russo said. "There are so many personalities involved in trying to make everyone happy. It's certainly a task that is hard to accomplish. We're very satisfied with how they've handled that and their coordination efforts."

Key Players:

Owner: Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, Tampa
Contractor: Skanska USA Building, Aviation Group, Atlanta