The state appears close to awarding a contract to operate the concession operations at BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport. Photo courtesy of BWI Marshall Airport.
The state is moving closer to awarding a lucrative 20-year contract to operate the concession operations at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport – a year and a half after Gov. Wes Moore (D) pulled the plug on the original procurement process, which was fraught with controversy.
Maryland Matters has learned that a Maryland Department of Transportation review committee has recommended awarding the contract to URW/Harbor Bankshare, a partnership between international development company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE and Harbor Bank of Maryland. URW is best known for building and operating shopping centers, including four in Maryland. The Public Works Council is expected to vote on the advice at the end of this year.
High-priced government tenders are often shrouded in secrecy, and the agencies conducting these tenders and the companies bidding for the contracts are generally not allowed to speak publicly.
When David Broughton, an MDOT spokesman, was asked this week to confirm that the agency’s review committee favored URW/Harbor Bankshare to manage all concessions at BWI, and a series of related questions, he responded only: This is still an active procurement, and the Maryland Department of Transportation expects to submit the item to the Board of Public Works for approval by the end of the year.”
But correspondence obtained by Maryland Matters between the agency and the companies that did not receive approval from MDOT’s screening committee shows that URW/Harbor Bankshare was the best choice, “taking into account both the technical and financial factors set forth” in the state’s call for bids. .
Fraport/BWI Partners, the incumbent concessionaire that has managed the contract under various company names for 20 years, was second, according to the documents published in late August. BWI Experience Partners, a partnership between Vantage Airport Group, operator of national airport concessions and six black entrepreneurs from Maryland, finished in third place. An entity called Asur/RMD BWI JV, which is affiliated with ASUR, a Mexican airport services company, finished fourth.
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Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is best known for building and operating shopping centers around the world, including Westfield-branded shopping centers in Potomac, Wheaton, Hyattsville and Annapolis. It also operates concessions in select terminals at New York’s JFK International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.
The company ultimately chosen by the Board of Public Works for this contract will oversee the concessions – food, beverage, retail and other hospitality services – at BWI for 20 years, working with several leaseholders and subcontractors who operate the stores, restaurants and operate snack bars. and other commercial services at the busy state airport.
But this award of contracts is never a done deal until the Board of Public Works votes — and even then there is an appeals process.
While this tender has not yet sparked controversy over the tender that Moore canceled shortly after taking office in 2023, there still appear to be some unanswered questions that board members could ask – Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) and Treasurer Dereck Davis ( D). ) – take a break.
First, Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield signaled its intention to withdraw from the US market in 2021, and has since lost real estate, including the Annapolis Mall in August – although it has reinvested in certain other sectors. developments. Is the company committed to keeping its US airport contracts? The CEO of URW’s airport division, Dany Nasr, resigned in August after a year and a half in the role.
“This trip was extraordinary, driven by our mission to improve the travel experience by putting people at the heart of everything we do,” he wrote to colleagues upon his departure.
BPW members may also want to know why the MDOT review, according to people with knowledge of the process, did not include interviews with the companies or requests for “last and best offers,” a standard practice in procurement. They may want to know who was on the MDOT screening committee. It is understood MDOT took over the contract decision from the Maryland Aviation Administration, which operates BWI, and its administrator, Ricky Smith, after Moore canceled the tender last year.
Additionally, BPW members may want to know whether Westfield’s bid was the best to meet the state’s ambitious Minority Business Enterprise goals, which Moore has made a priority, particularly for state government contracts.
The state initially began advertising for a new airport concessionaire in mid-2022, during the administration of former Gov. Larry Hogan (R). The Maryland Aviation Administration, a division of MDOT, has issued a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) asking for bids for the contract, which is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars for both the vendor and state coffers.
But as Maryland Matters first reported, the process quickly drew criticism after the Aviation Administration twice amended the RFP in a way that appeared to favor one company: New Market Development Joint Venture LLC, a politically connected company which was launched just months before the offer. started. One change, which related to the level of experience required to operate concessions at BWI, clearly benefited New Market Development because without the change the company would not have qualified for the contract.
In November 2022, MAA staff recommended awarding the contract to New Market Development, whose majority owner is Major Riddick, a former chief of staff to the ex-Gov. Parris Glendening (D) has been a fixture on the Maryland political and government stage for years.
New Market Development wanted to be one of the few minority-owned companies to run an airport concessions program in the U.S., even though most airport procurement contracts require federal rules to prioritize minority- and women-owned companies for many subcontracts.
Riddick has operated fast-food franchises at BWI and at the Pittsburgh airport for years, but has no experience running a broader concession contract.
In December 2022, before the Board of Public Works moved to vote on the Aviation Administration’s recommendation, the MAA sent a brief notice to all bidders stating that the contract process was being suspended. Fraport sued the state that same week, attempting to block New Market Development from winning the contract. It also said it would challenge any award of the BWI contract to Riddick’s company with the state’s Board of Contract Appeals — although MDOT officials said at the time that this particular contract could not be challenged with that board.
Fraport, an international company that manages airport concessions around the world, has been allowed to temporarily retain the airport concession contract that his predecessors first won when former Governor Bob Ehrlich (R) was in power. The company’s other concession operations include Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and terminals at JFK and Newark Liberty International Airport.
A month after taking office, in February 2023, Moore announced that he wanted the tender process for airport concessions to go back to the drawing board.
“BWI Marshall is an economic engine for our state and our region,” Moore said at the time. “The retail and concessions program is a key element to the airport’s growth and success, and my government is committed to carefully designing a new tender and procurement process that encourages robust competition, fairness and facilities that align with values and standards of our government. short- and long-term economic strategies.”
When the state solicited bids a second time, MDOT, rather than the Aviation Administration, became the lead agency for evaluating the proposals. Time will tell whether the state’s top leaders believe the agency has succeeded this time.
