b'18 SAN BAGGAGE The $95 million bid was $85 million Equipment from SICK reads bar codes and validates base plus $10 million in add alternates the dimensions of each bag for security and sortation.that Turner and Introba identified as potential need to have items they wanted to give SAN the option of including. The Value of Advance NoticeAs the winning candidate, Vanderlande benefited from the intelligence it gathered during the longer-than-usual estimating process. A lot of times, these bids come out of nowhere, Thompson remarks. That makes it incredibly difficult for firms to assemble the estimating, engineering and operational expertise required to produce a responsible bidmuch less assemble the right team to execute it should they win.There are a lot of resources required But he and Wheeler knew theyd need ayou? What are the rules of the road forto put a proper bid together, but also fundamentally different approach to finddoing work there? These are not smallto be ready to hand it over to a project $14 million in reductions.questions. They influence cost, risk,execution team, Thompson explains. If Instead of waiting to issue a traditionalsafety and schedule; and getting answersthe request is coming out of nowhere, request for proposals, they chose toto them eliminated many potential issuesthen even if I can find a way to put a price open up the estimating process, keepingbefore drawings were even completed. to it, who am I handing it off to?all four industry players engaged as theIn retrospect, Kessler says thereKnowing the SAN project was on the design evolved and treating them aswas significant value in involving thehorizon and what it would entail allowed collaborators rather than future bidders. baggage handling system contractorsVanderlande to prepare more effectively. What followed was an effort thatwhen their expertise could still have theBecause this was a known entity for so spanned months and included an on-sitemost impact. By the time the officiallong, it gave us the ability to plan and Industry Day for each baggage handlingrequest for proposals went out inbring in quite a few system contractor. As the processSeptemberabout nine months afterof the people from continued, the projects collaborative tonethe first conversationsrequests forour Operations side, deepened. Instead of basic informationmore information were minimal and thesays Doug Alewelt, sessions, the events became a forumscope was aligned. Armed with ampleVanderlandes for real dialogue, with engineering teamsinformation about the project, one of theexecutive project from each candidate working side-by- original four bidders bowed out, and themanager. We really side with Introbas designers as the plansothers were able to provide realistic, moregot a head start onDOUG ALEWELTmatured. Importantly, critical questionsfinely tuned proposals. the project before we about access, sequencing, staging andThe results spoke for themselves.even knew it was our project to work on.operational realities surfaced early. On the final bid, all three remainingThat early clarity built trust, reduced Jonah Thompson,contractors were aligned at $95 million,redesigns and created an environment senior accountwhich was $10 million under budget. Wewhere problems could be solved early.executive withattribute that to all the discussions andIntroba was more than half finished Vanderlandemaking sure that everybody understoodwith the design when Vanderlande Industries, put inthe project scope as best as theywas brought in. But unlike a traditional months of work onpossibly could, Kessler relates. handoff, this was an overlapping initial estimates andHe says all of the bidders were strongtransitiontwo organizations working in the companys finalJONAH THOMPSON candidates when the final interviewsparallel toward the same finish line.response to thebegan, and Vanderlande ultimatelyWe really got involved right after the eventual request for proposals. Duringsecured the contract due to the depth,60%, Alewelt says. That was a good the Industry Day for Vanderlande, hepreparation and detailed phasing workpoint for us to come in and provide remembers asking, Have you thoughtin its final presentation. Proposinganother set of eyes to make sure nothing about laydown space? Will there beBrock Solutions for the system controlswas overlooked. Only minor adjustments a spot for our team to embed withstrengthened its appeal, he adds. January | February 2026AirportImprovement.com'