MWH with the support of Burns & McDonnell have been selected to manage a comprehensive three year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Kansas City, a citywide effort to coordinate and expedite the delivery of current CIP infrastructure projects and to make long term project delivery improvements.
According to Wayne Cauthen, City Manager of Kansas City, MWH and Burns & McDonnell will help set up an ‘enterprise capital improvement office’ in City Hall with staff from both firms as well as the four participating City departments to form an integrated team. The participating departments include the City’s parks and recreation, public works, water services and aviation divisions.
Already, the CIP team has identified a list of 70 high-priority projects ranging from street improvements, fire station remodels, airfield, and utility upgrades totaling $230 million. The first goal of the CIP project is to improve efficiencies and streamline city systems to improve project delivery. Also important is the expediting of existing projects that have not started construction. Through this initiative, getting construction work started as soon as possible also has a local economic impact as well.
“The contracting approaches that we will be implementing are intended to fully utilize local firms and allow Kansas City firms to fully participate in the CIP infrastructure initiatives,” added Mike Musgrave, MWH’s Project Executive for the project.
“These two companies bring a wealth of knowledge in delivering successful and efficient capital improvement programs. Our goal is to learn from them, build a best-practice model that will support our activities even after they’re gone,” adds John Franklin, Assistant City Manager for Kansas City.
According to City officials, the CIP program will be a catalyst for future successes in economic development, downtown revitalization, and local job growth. In addition to fast-tracking existing projects, MWH and their team will develop a comprehensive management system to assist in the planning and development of all future capital improvement projects. It is expected that the plan will help lead to lower project costs and expedited projects that will allow for greater investment in the civic infrastructure. Most of the CIP projects have been funded and are in various stages of development.
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About MWH
Headquartered in Broomfield, Colo., MWH is a private, employee-owned firm with approximately 6,000 employees worldwide. The company provides water, wastewater, energy, natural resource, program management, consulting and construction services to industrial, municipal and government clients in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, India, Asia and the Pacific Rim. For more information about MWH, please visit the company’s Web site at www.mwhglobal.com.
