The Board of Public Works abruptly postponed a vote Wednesday on a lucrative, long-term contract to run the concessions at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport that has been the source of controversy for almost three years.
The 20-year contract was set to go to Fraport Baltimore Partnership LLC, which has run concessions at Baltimore-Washington International for the last two decades under various corporate names. But it was pulled from the agenda as the meeting began, extending the uncertainty surrounding the future of the retail, dining and other hospitality operations at the state-owned airport.
An item is almost always placed on the BPW agenda when state agency officials believe it will be approved by the three-member board, and removed only if members start to have pointed questions about a proposal, putting its approval in doubt. The board consists of Gov. Wes Moore (D), State Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) and State Treasurer Dereck Davis (D).
Participants in a high-stakes government procurement process, including the bureaucrats who vet contracts, are discouraged from speaking publicly until a contract is awarded. In a statement to Maryland Matters Wednesday, Maryland Department of Transportation spokesperson David Broughton said the agency was working “with the many stakeholders involved in this important long-term contract to ensure that all questions are addressed.”
MDOT’s head of procurement, Valerie Radomsky, told Maryland Matters that she expects the contract to be back on the BPW agenda for its next meeting on Feb. 12. Broughton said he could not confirm that.
The fact that the airport contract, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, is likely to remain with the longtime incumbent was never a sure thing. In fact, since the fall of 2022, state officials have tried to steer the contract to other companies — twice.
Even now, as MDOT officials recommend staying with Fraport, executives at one of the other companies that competed for the airport contract, BWI Experience Partners, is breaking with protocol and publicly claiming that their bid was superior — and that the agency’s procurement process has been flawed.
“Governor Moore has put forward a clear vision for building wealth for Maryland residents and local companies,” said Greg Reaves, CEO of Mosaic Development Partners, a Philadelphia company that is one of the partners in BWI Experience Partners. “Based on our understanding of MDOT’s own scoring, this MDOT recommendation does not achieve those objectives. BWI Experience Partners’ proposal is stronger on local equity, prioritizes Maryland companies and workers and exceeds [federal guidelines for minority business] participation.”
BWI Experience Partners is a partnership between a national airport concessions company, Vantage Airport Group, and several Black entrepreneurs from the mid-Atlantic, including Gregory “Steve” Proctor Jr., a prominent State House lobbyist, Alexandra M. Hughes, a former chief of staff to two Maryland House speakers, and Eben Smith, president and CEO of Three/E Consulting Group and a former Prince George’s County official.
Click here to read the rest of the story written by Josh Kurtz over at Maryland Matters
