Airport Consultants Get No-Bid Contract For Study

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Airport Consultants Get No-Bid Contract For Study

By Eugene Driscoll

THE NEWS-TIMES

DANBURY — In Iraq and Afghanistan, they've been awarded millions of dollars to build everything from highways to hospitals.

In Ghana, they helped the government restructure its civil aviation authority.

In Mozambique, they fixed airports ruined by years of civil war.

They are even in Timbuktu, where they are planning ways to expand the aviation industry.

They are workers with the Louis Berger Group, Inc., a multinational, half-a-billion-dollar-a-year engineering consulting company hired by city officials this week to analyze security at Danbury Municipal Airport.

The contract comes after a man allegedly stole a small plane from the airport June 22 and took it on a drunken joyride to the Westchester County Airport in Harrison, N.Y.

Police said Philippe Patricio, 20, of Bethel, stole the plane at about 11:30 p.m. and took off with two 16-year-old passengers. He faces a bevy of criminal charges in New York and Danbury, plus possible civil sanctions from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The theft angered airport neighbors, some of whom said they've been complaining for years about lax security at the airport. They said the perimeter fence at the airport is crumbling and gates around the airport are often left open.

Five days after the theft, Danbury airport administrator Paul Estefan met with Peter J. Byrne, a senior aviation planner with the New Jersey-based Berger Group, to talk about security issues at the airport.

Then, on July 6, the Common Council voted to award the Berger Group a $25,000 contract without putting the contract out to bid.

Mayor Mark Boughton said the city has never awarded a contract without a bidding process during his tenure. However, the mayor said the city is pressed for time and the security study is important.

"Louis Berger has done work at the airport already. We've had good experiences with them. They are internationally known as airport consultants and we think we'll get our best return on our investment because we will be able to do the study quickly with a high level of confidence," he said.

Estefan said the city wants a definitive answer as to whether the airport needs security upgrades.

"We're going to be thorough. We want to know — 'What do we have to do to our system? Do we have to enhance it? Do we have to improve it or is it OK?'" Estefan said.

Estefan said the company's reputation speaks for itself. One of the consultants involved in the Danbury study helped write the voluntary airport security guidelines issued to small airports by the Transportation Security Administration.

"We picked them because of their expertise and their qualifications," he said.

Calls to the Berger Group offices in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. were not immediately returned.

However, the company sent the airport administrator a letter this week detailing the scope of the security study.

In addition to Estefan, the consultants will interview police, firefighters, airport business owners and officials from the FAA and the Transportation Security Administration to get an idea of security issues at the airport.

The consultants will inspect the airport, focusing on the areas "that are most prone to tampering," Berger consultant Peter Byrne said in the letter.

Among the items the inspectors will look at: the perimeter fence, the access road gates, perimeter lighting, signs, tenant access control — even vegetation growth around the airport.

The consultants will eventually submit a report to the city with recommendations. Those recommendations could suggest the airport install security devices such as closed-circuit television cameras, alarm systems or perimeter security lights.

Strat Sherman, spokesman for the Danbury Airport Neighbors Association, a group that complains about quality of life issues surrounding the airport, said he's not convinced the Berger Group will do an independent study.

In the days after the airplane theft, Danbury police were dispatched to the airport after someone left a gate open. Also, The News-Times reported that one gate had an electric lock that required a numbered code to open. However, the combination was printed on the lock for all to see.

Sherman said Danbury officials haven't acknowledged the airport has a security problem..

"(The Berger Group is) a competent group, but their default position tends to fall with (airport administrator) Mr. Estefan," Sherman said. "I also think they are capable of overcoming that, but it is laborious."

Contact Eugene Driscoll at edriscoll@newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3348.