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African American Businessman Disputes Ranking In Airport Concession Bid
With billions of dollars at stake, 11 bidded contracts were accepted for consideration in operating concessions at Tampa International Airport.
Since the list of how those businesses were ranked for the concessions, there has been talk that the process was not fair and was far from being in- clusive.
George Tinsley, who cur- rently operates a number of concessions at TIA, submitted his bid, and was ranked second in the package 4 category be- hind HBF Tampa. HBF will be representing brands Chick-Fil- A, Boar’s Head, Bay Coffee and Tea Company, Potbelly Sand- wich Shop, illy espressamente and Qdoba Mexican Grill.
Aside from TGI Friday’s Tinsley operates Starbucks and at least three other busiesses at the airport. His bidded package contained 6 restaurants and he scored well in all categories.
According to TIA spokesperson Emily Nipps, they received a protest about the rankings from Tinsley, who represents Tinsley- Bridgeman.
“Mr. Tinsley’s attorney contacted us to protest where his client was ranked.
“Mr. Tinsley is not a prime contractor on concessions; he will be a sub-contractor. He thinks he should have been se- lected as a prime contractor. He is contending that HBF, who was ranked ahead of him, was ranked too high, didn’t meet all of the criteria, and he should have scored better.”
Joseph W. Lopano sent a 7- page letter to the attorneys representing Tinsley-Bridge- man with this statement: “It is my intention to recommend to the Authority’s Board of Direc- tors that Tinsley’s protest be rejected as it is without merit and that the contract for Pack- age 4 be awarded to HBF
Tampa Partners JV, LLC.” Lopano finalized his state- ment by saying Tinsley waived any argument that the proposed HBF joint venture arrangement was not in com- pliance when he failed to raise the argument when the pro- posal were evaluated on
January 21, 2015.
GEORGE TINSLEY .....protesting bidding process and feels he should have ranked higher.
According to the scoring numbers released, HBF scored 91.3 and Tinsley-Bridgeman scored 84.9.
Janet Zink, Media and Government Relations Direc- tor at TIA said as far as Mr. Tinsley’s complaint is con- cerned, he’s protesting 4 of the 11 bids that were accepted.
“The Board (Hillsborough County Aviation Board) will vote on the 7 that have not been protested, and at the end of the meeting, discussions will begin on the 4 under protest.
“The staff will recommend rejecting the protests, and the protesters will have an oppor- tunity to speak. Before any vote is taken on the selections, the protests will have to be dealt with.”
Zink said the Board will vote to either accept or reject the protests. After that, they
will vote on the winners.
“The four bids being protested will have no impact on the passing of the remain- ing 7. Each of the four will be
considered individually. “Even if the Board accepts the protests, that won’t stop the awards from being given. The Board may decide to wait before considering the protested bids and even then an award can be made. We
want to resolve everything.” Nipps said Mr. Tinsley will continue to operate con- cessions at TIA because he’s the sub-contractor on the win- ning bid submitted by Host In-
ternational. Tinsley-Bridgeman will op-
erate three Starbucks Reserve Restaurants, Cigar City Brew- ing, Gasparilla Bar and Cigar City Tap Room.
TIA Chief Executive Officer
FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-A