Phoenix Sky Harbor Construction: Procurement, Bonds and Airside Insurance

The Aviation Department's design and construction opportunities page names the procurement processes it uses for construction: job order contracting, design-build and construction manager at risk. Each method changes when bonds are furnished and how much is bonded. A JOC contractor typically bonds each task order or the contract maximum as the solicitation specifies, while a CMAR firm often provides preconstruction services first and furnishes construction bonds when a guaranteed maximum price is set. The solicitation controls those steps.

The City's tabulations, awards and recommendations page, read for this page, listed several aviation items with a status of pending Council approval. They included a two-step CMAR for TRACON demolition and a West Hold Bay expansion, a two-step CMAR for Taxiway A connector strengthening and reconstruction, an engineering services contract for North Infield paving and drainage tagged FAA and ADOT and an aviation architectural job order contract. Pending Council approval means a recommendation rather than an approved award. The listing showed no dollar values. The FAA tags indicate federal funding on part of the airside work, which typically brings federal contract provisions into the bid documents.

Because the owner is a city, Arizona's public works statutes in Title 34 apply. A.R.S. 34-222 requires a performance bond and a payment bond, each "in an amount equal to the full contract amount," and says the bonds "shall not be executed by an individual surety or sureties." A contractor whose program relies on an individual surety or a nonadmitted market needs a different surety before bidding Sky Harbor work.

A.R.S. 34-221 governs retention. The statute lets the owner retain 10 percent of each progress estimate and limits later retention to no more than 5 percent once the conditions in the statute are met, and it lets the contractor substitute qualifying securities, such as assigned money market or deposit accounts, for retained amounts. Read the current statute and the contract's payment article for the exact release conditions. Bid security amounts are set in each solicitation.

None of these rules decide whether a surety will support a given job. Capacity, the size of a CMAR guaranteed maximum price against work on hand and indemnity terms come from the surety's own underwriting, subject to the terms of the bonds issued.

The clearest airport-specific insurance rule we could read is not in a construction contract. It is the Aviation Department's Vehicle Identification and Insurance Information sheet, used by Airport Operations and the Security Badging Office for companies that need to drive on the airfield. The file is labeled as revised in 2025, and it says: "Each company must carry a combined limit of at least $5,000,000 in Automobile Liability and/or Excess or Umbrella Liability," with "At least $1,000,000 of this combined limit" in automobile liability.

The sheet also says the policy "shall not contain any restrictions on coverage concerning operations on or near airport premises," that "Binders are not accepted" and that the City of Phoenix must be endorsed as an additional insured for liability arising from the contractor's activities. Vehicles are identified as owned, non-owned or hired.

This sheet applies to airside driving privileges, not to every Sky Harbor contract. A paving or utility contractor with a $1,000,000 auto policy and a $2,000,000 umbrella can meet a contract exhibit and still fall short of the airside driving rule. Some auto and umbrella forms carry airport or aircraft exclusions, so the policy wording needs a check before the badging office asks for evidence.

The 2025 sheet says employees must undergo fingerprint-based criminal history records checks, attend the required training and obtain airport badges. Badge lead time, training seats and escort requirements belong in the schedule, especially for trades that start on the airfield in the first weeks.

An older version of the same sheet, from 2009 with later updates, also listed a security threat assessment and a per-vehicle airside vehicle permit for vehicles with temporary logos. We treat the 2025 sheet as controlling and suggest confirming current steps with the Security Badging Office. The badging decision belongs to the City; a broker can assemble certificates and endorsements but cannot badge a firm or speed the process.

We found no official City of Phoenix or Sky Harbor page that names an owner-controlled or rolling wrap-up for the airport's capital program. That does not mean one cannot appear on a particular contract; it means a bidder should price its own general liability, workers' compensation, auto, umbrella and any pollution requirement from the solicitation's insurance exhibit unless the bid documents say otherwise. The contract insurance exhibits for current CMAR work sit in the OpenGov packages, which we did not read.

The Aviation Department's opportunities page says small businesses can obtain SBE certification to do business with the City. On FAA-funded work, the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise rule in 49 CFR Part 26 applies, and the U.S. Department of Transportation changed that rule through an interim final rule issued on September 30, 2025. We could not read a Phoenix document stating how Sky Harbor now sets contract goals, so check the current solicitation for any DBE or SBE requirement and for labor and wage terms.