Atkins begins work on Denver GO Bond Program

Atkins is providing program management services for the 2017 GO Bond Program, which will include more than 460 infrastructure improvement projects throughout Denver. (Map courtesy of City and County of Denver)

Denver — Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, received the green light from Denver City Council to provide program management services for the City and County of Denver’s General Obligation Bond Program (GO Bond). Through its initial $19 million, five-year contract, Atkins will help the city manage its comprehensive effort to provide critical maintenance, enhance existing facilities and improve infrastructure to better meet the needs of a growing city. SNC-Lavalin acquired WS Atkins plc on July 3, 2017.

“Drawing from our national program management experience, we will work with the city to deliver cost-effective solutions for implementing the GO Bond Program,” said Ken Hawkins, Vice President, Atkins. “Our past performance with the City and 21 years of project work in Colorado provide beneficial insight for responding to the needs of Denver’s growing community.”

In November 2017, voters approved the $937 million GO Bond Program and its seven portfolios, which contain a variety of public infrastructure improvement projects ranging from transportation and mobility to public safety systems to parks and recreation facilities.

“Our residents said ‘yes’ to significant investments in the future of our city,” said Mayor Michael B. Hancock. “As these community-supported projects get underway, the expertise and support we will get from Atkins will help ensure the success of the 2017 GO Bond Program.”

The Atkins team’s immediate task is project scoping and scheduling, working with city staff to prioritize projects within each portfolio, determining phasing of each task of GO Bond implementation. Scheduling and project scoping and prioritization will be critical in helping city financial officials determine when bonds should be issued. Other program management tasks Atkins will provide include:

• Program management oversight.
• Program controls.
• Program status reporting.
• Best practices implementation and integration.
• As-needed project management support to project teams.

The city anticipates the first bond issuance will take place in mid-2018, which will signal the start of scheduled GO Bond projects. Construction of more than 460 capital infrastructure projects is planned over the next 10 years.