The Port of Alaska's terminal design contract is up 50 percent and rising again

The design contract for replacing Terminal 1 at the Port of Alaska is up for its third increase Tuesday. Approval would push it to as much as $16.1 million, about 50 percent above the 2023 award, and the port director told the Assembly last month that coming back for more is an annual event.

The municipality awarded the contract to GHD-WSP JV in April 2023 for $10.75 million, plus $1.08 million in change-order authority, the headroom for work added after a contract is signed. Twelve change orders and amendments since have brought its value to $13.95 million. The Assembly added $717,753 in November 2024 and $1.5 million this March. Tuesday's request adds $2.1 million more in authority.

The money would carry GHD-WSP through the rest of this season and through 2027: reviewing contractor questions and submittals, evaluating contractor proposals to cut cost by changing materials or methods, and providing quality assurance on testing, site visits and as-built drawings.

Port Director Terry Umatum previewed the request at the Assembly's infrastructure committee on Aug. 20. "Every year I got to come back and ask for change order authority," he said.

The new terminal puts a seismically capable berth 140 feet seaward of the current one, which the port says should reduce sedimentation, improve room for berthing ships and support the ship-to-shore cranes shippers and terminal operators need. Construction began March 16 and is scheduled to finish in 2029, part of the $2.8 billion Port of Alaska Modernization Program. The port serves about 90 percent of Alaskans.

Tuesday's $2.1 million comes from a 2023 state legislative matching grant rather than from the cargo surcharge that funds the broader program. That surcharge nearly triples on Jan. 1, from $8.05 to $22.76 per ton.