No concessions yet on airport contracts

Last week, competition over concession contracts at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport pitted Threadgills and Black’s BBQ against Parkside and 24 Diner. The discussion featured a lot of debate over which contract represented the most “local” package. In the end, citing a lack of clarity over the precise nature of the scoring process and lack of access to the bids of the contenders that did not win (including the Threadgill’s package), City Council opted to postpone the item to today’s agenda. In the meantime, representatives for HMSHost, which represents the winning bid, reached out to the Austin Monitor to stress their local bona fides, which include the fact that Austin-based D.C. Garrett Group is a 25 percent equity partner in the bid. As stated earlier, we still don’t have access to the other bids, but representatives for HMSHost stress the extensive scoring process that earned them the recommendation for the contract. “The competitiveness of the process here can be compared with that of the Olympics, both in stature and in precision – making it all the more thrilling when we received the highest score,” said D.C. Garrett Principal Rick Garrett. “While we were surprised by the delay, we look forward to highlighting all of the ways our proposal earned the most points and unanimous recommendation of the Airport Advisory Commission.” HMSHost scored 84.84 points and Paradies Lagardère, which represents the Threadgill’s group, scored 84.58 points. Council has set a 3:30 p.m. time certain for the issue at today’s meeting.