Ontario International Airport Authority: HVAC & refrigeration bid work guide

What makes up the Ontario campus

The passenger terminals are commonly referred to as Terminal 2 and Terminal 4, with associated ticketing, baggage and gate areas. Around them are parking facilities, ground transportation, administrative offices, airfield maintenance and operations buildings, and public safety facilities. A large portion of the airport property is devoted to cargo: freight buildings, integrator facilities and warehouse-type structures leased to carriers and logistics operators. Confirm the current inventory with the Authority, because terminal use and cargo development have both changed over time.

Some of the buildings date from earlier eras of the airport's history and others are newer. The result is a campus where equipment age, controls platforms and efficiency standards vary widely from one building to the next.

Heat, scale and cargo

Inland Empire summers push rooftop units and condensers close to their design limits, and coil fouling from dust and airfield particulates quickly reduces capacity. A terminal that was comfortable in spring can become hard to hold in July if the condenser coils are packed with debris. Our rooftop unit guide walks through the failure modes that show up in extreme heat.

Large open volumes, such as ticketing halls and high-bay cargo buildings, depend on long air throws, destratification and good distribution to feel comfortable. Cargo buildings may also contain conditioned offices, break rooms and sorting areas that are only partly conditioned. Some cargo handles perishable goods, so temperature-controlled storage may exist at certain tenant facilities; whether a given building has it is a facility-specific question, and the relevant background is in our food manufacturing and cold storage sector page.

Concessions in the terminals add the usual kitchens, coolers and ice machines. In extreme heat, condensers on exterior or rooftop refrigeration equipment work especially hard, and refrigerant leaks and compressor failures cluster in July and August.

How a joint powers authority generally buys

The Authority is governed by a commission and approves larger contracts at that level. As a public agency it generally competitively bids construction above statutory thresholds and may use qualification-based selection for professional services. Maintenance may be handled through term or on-call agreements. Because the Authority was created by the City of Ontario and the County of San Bernardino, some practices may reflect those parents, but the Authority's own policies control. Solicitations are generally posted on an online portal the Authority designates, and vendor registration may be required. Confirm current thresholds, portals and local or small business preferences directly.

Cargo ramp, terminal ramp and landside

Ontario has several kinds of airside: the passenger terminal ramp, cargo aprons and tenant-controlled areas. Rules can differ between them. A rooftop unit on a cargo building may be reachable only through a tenant-controlled gate, and a tenant may impose its own safety or access procedures on top of the Authority's.

Crane lifts need to account for aircraft movement, height restrictions and wind. Landside access is easier than at many airports, because the site is large and flat, but the ground transportation flows still need to be respected.

Badging, tenant access and escorts

Unescorted work in secured areas generally requires an airport badge with background check and security training. Tenants such as freight carriers may also require their own contractor orientation. The best approach is to ask who controls the gate for each work area and to build the access sequence into the schedule.

• Start the badge process as soon as the roster is known.
• Ask whether the tenant requires insurance endorsements naming it.
• Confirm delivery and rigging routes before ordering large equipment.
• Keep escorted tasks short and scheduled.

Shutdowns, heat and the freight clock

Passenger terminals have morning and evening activity peaks, while cargo facilities are active late at night and early in the morning, which means the quiet window for one building may be the busiest for another. Summer is the worst time to take cooling equipment offline in this climate, so major replacements are often planned for the cooler months and prepared with long-lead equipment orders well ahead.

For emergencies in July, temporary cooling is a design consideration, not an afterthought. A plan that sets out where temporary chillers or spot coolers would connect and who authorizes them can save a day or more when something fails.

Prevailing wage and labor requirements

Public works for a California agency generally require prevailing wage, DIR registration and certified payroll. The Authority's projects may also include workforce, apprenticeship or local-hire provisions, and whether a project labor agreement applies is stated in the solicitation. PLA and prevailing-wage terms, where they apply, are handled by UA Local 250 crews with certified payroll; the prevailing wage guide is the primer. Confirm requirements with the Authority.

How Davinci approaches Inland Empire airport work

Mobilization from the Orange County base is part of the bid, with staging and badging lead time planned in. In a high-heat environment our first questions are about capacity under load: are the condensers clean, is airflow what the design intended, and are controls letting the system work with the weather. A recurring summer failure is usually a symptom of one of those.

Each asset we service is captured in the DaVinci Portal with readings and photos. Related reading: airports, ports and transit, the Inland Empire region, our warehouses industry page, and the bid projects page.

What to have ready

• License, DIR registration and any Authority vendor registration, current.
• Insurance and bonding documents matching the solicitation, plus tenant endorsements where needed.
• A badge roster and a plan for who controls each gate.
• A summer contingency plan with temporary cooling options.
• Long-lead equipment strategy that fits a cooler-months installation.