San Diego International (SAN) has come under fire for failing to retain the score sheets used to tally points earned by companies bidding on concessions, which are being revamped next year.
SAN revealed the winners of 10 food and retail concessions packages in August and the winners of an additional six packages in September. Three formal protests were filed – by Diego Concessions Group, Nine Dragons Inc. and XpresSpa – but all were denied. Unsuccessful bidders seeking a tally of the scores their proposals earned were told the scoring worksheets were not retained.
“Staff followed the established policy and only retained the individual rankings and final rankings,” says Katie Jones, spokeswoman for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “The scoring worksheets were simply a tool to be used in the panel’s evaluation for a final ranking of the proposals, and as such were not kept.”
Jones says the process hasn’t been jeopardized.
“We were consistent in our treatment of all bidders, and at the end of the day there was integrity of process,” she says.
In nine of the 16 packages, contracts were awarded to companies that did not offer the highest rent projections.
“Rent projections were an important part of the process, but there is much more to selecting the concessionaires, including their proposed brand, menus, staffing plan and the financial condition of the bidding company,” Jones says. “We also wanted to be sure we got a good mix of local flavor and established national brands. The ultimate goal is to give our passengers the best airport experience we can, and we feel the companies selected can help us provide that.”
Jones says the airport authority is reviewing its procurement process for the future, including evaluating software that would help standardize scoring practices and possibly eliminate the use of scoring worksheets.
Concessions industry consultants say that given the litigious environment surrounding recent concessions bids, more and more airports are seeking to minimize their exposure. Speaking about airports in general, Stuart Holcombe, managing partner of Travel Retail Partners, says individual scores may be discarded to reduce the potential for challenges.
“Until the board takes enough heat from individuals saying it’s not an open and transparent process, then I think the airports are going to take advantage of it,” Holcombe says. “Why subject themselves to harsh criticism and potential legal challenges?”
Bruce Boudreau, director of LeighFisher, says some airports want to avoid the prospect of individual scores being picked apart or second guessed. Noting the “intense competition for concession contracts and, in many cases, aggressive lobbying and contesting of awards by unsuccessful proposers,” LeighFisher suggests airports be prepared.
“We recommend that airports assume that there will be contesting of the results and bullet-proof their selection criteria and evaluation procedures in anticipation of a challenge,” Boudreau says.
The SAN concessions program is transitioning from a master concessionaire model to a multiple prime model. The eight food and beverage packages were awarded to High Flying Foods (three packages), HMSHost Corp. (two packages), SSP America (two packages) and Mission Yogurt. On the retail side, winning companies were Hudson Group (two packages), The Paradies Shops, PGC-PCI, Stellar Partners, ZoomSystems, Project Horizon and Spa Didacus.
SAN isn’t the only airport facing controversy about its concessions bids. In what appears to be becoming the norm for nearly all high-profile concessions contract awards, Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX) is facing a challenge to its evaluation panel’s decision to award a contract for roughly half of its Terminal 4 food and beverage concessions to SSP America.
According to the Arizona Republic, Areas USA objected to the award to SSP but the Phoenix Aviation Department this week denied Areas USA’s objections and upheld the decision. The newspaper reported that Areas had argued SSP fell short of fulfilling some bidding requirements, among other concerns.
An earlier bid process for the another package of Terminal 4 food and beverage concessions resulted in HMSHost winning the contract. SSP America filed an unsuccessful protest to that award.
