Orange County supervisors could not agree Tuesday on either of two bidders for valet parking service at John Wayne Airport, leaving the current vendor in place on a month-to-month basis.
Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who would have had the tie- breaking vote on the five-member board, decided to abstain and instead directed county officials to consider crafting a new request for proposals and running it by the county board.
Spitzer told City News Service he did not want to outright reject one of the bidders, but because that company’s bid was $1 million more than the competitor, he thought it best to abstain and let officials restart the bidding process.
Spitzer said he was inclined to support the bid from LAZ Parking, because of the $1 million difference with Parking Concepts Inc., the only vendor to provide the service at the airport since 2001.
County officials also recommended going with LAZ, but that proposal also ended up dying due to a 2-2 split, with Supervisor Janet Nguyen abstaining.
Nguyen said she could not support either vendor because both planned to increase fees for car washes.
“I’ve never voted on an increase in fees,” Nguyen said. “I won’t vote for either firm.”
Board Chairman Shawn Nelson said the bidding process appeared to be flawed because neither company wanted to continue using online payment software called ZipPark, although the RFP made it mandatory. LAZ offered details in its proposal for new software, but PCI did not.
“So the guy who took us literally is going to be punished” by not spelling out a new software system, Nelson said. “You cannot tell someone you are obligated to do it this way and then reward someone for doing it the other way.”
Another issue surfaced when PCI officials complained that a LAZ executive had an in-law in the ZipPark company, Supervisor John Moorlach said.
The last time the county asked for bids for the valet parking service, five companies sent in proposals, Moorlach said. This time, only two companies bid for the contract, indicating rival executives did not feel they had a shot, he said.
PCI will stay on the job on a monthly basis for the time being.
— City News Service