At the Board of Public Works meeting last week, Gov. Wes Moore (D), Treasurer Dereck Davis (D) and Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) were public and intentional about the need to restart the procurement process for a highly lucrative contract to operate concessions at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, which had fallen apart following allegations of favoritism weeks earlier.
All three officials pledged their commitment to a fairer, more transparent process. And they voted unanimously to indefinitely extend the contract of the current longtime concessions operator on a month-to-month basis, until a permanent vendor can be selected.
But at the same meeting, the Board of Public Works also voted, without debate or explanation, to draw out the term of another longtime airport contractor in another bidding process that has also become mired in controversy. That dispute is now headed to the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals, with a hearing scheduled for this Wednesday.
At issue in the second airport contract fracas is the Maryland Aviation Administration’s decision to boot the company that, in its current iteration or through its corporate predecessors, has held a key service contract at the airport for more than three decades. The company, Menzies Aviation, maintains mechanical operations on passenger loading bridges, baggage and baggage claim conveyor systems, automatic door systems and manual doors, power gates, fire doors, wheelchair lifts and checked baggage inspection systems at BWI and at Martin State Airport in Middle River.
These services may be less visible than the retail, restaurant and hospitality concessions that became ensnared in the higher-profile contract fight and charges that the process had been rigged. But they’re no less vital to the airport’s operations. And the dispute offers another window into the highly competitive and lucrative world of providing services at major airports — and into the state’s cumbersome procurement process.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Josh Kurtz over at Maryland Matters
