Contract favored by MidAmerica Airport officials is $1 million higher than lowest bid
Officials at MidAmerica Airport are asking the St. Clair County Public Building Commission to approve a new security and firefighting contract that would cost nearly $1 million more than the lowest bid.
The five-year contract to staff the airports security and emergency response team through AVPORTS, a Virginia-based airport operations and management contractor, would cost the county $1,865,389, which is the highest among the four bids the airport received.
The lowest bid came from Wisconsin-based Pro-Tec Fire Services, which has held the firefighting and security contract at MidAmerica since 2008. It’s bid was $842,500.
The other bids came from Arizona-based Rural Metro at $1,092,000 and St. Louis-based Garda World at $1,613,125.
Airport Director Bryan Johnson said the contract with AVPORTS would provide emergency response, airport operation area inspections, fire inspections at the airport, Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting, and airport operations and security services, which are required by the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration, and the state.
“It is not the lowest bid,” Johnson said. “We went through the standard RFP (request for proposal) process, went through the selection process and the negotiation process.”
According to the proposals, the major difference between the highest bid and lowest bid is in manpower and wages. AVPORTS’s bid has about $1,002,650 in wages going to 18 individuals, including a chief of public safety, deputy chief, five shift captains, six public safety officers and five airport operation officers.
The low bid from Pro-Tec Fire Services would employ 12 employees at a wage total of $598,008.
The pay for those employees also would be different. AVPORTS would pay its chief of public safety and deputy chief $80,0500 and $70,000, respectively. Pro-Tec’s bid has the chief earning $70,000 and $65,000 and the deputy chief earning $65,000.
Shift captains under the AVPORT contract would make $25 an hour and public safety officers and airport operation officers would make $20 an hour. The Pro-Tec contract would have shift captains earn $15.50 an hour, public safety officers earn $13.25 an hour and airport operation officers earn $14 an hour.
Johnson did not respond to a request for further comment on how AVPORTS’s proposal differed from the others.
If approved, the funds will come out of the airport’s $5.2 million operating budget for 2021.
Johnson said the decision to go with AVPORTS was made based on several interviews performed by members of the Public Building Commission and other officials from MidAmerica Airport. The bids are graded on a scale from 1-100 weighing how fully they meet the needs of the airport.
The Public Building Commission was originally set to vote to accept AVPORTS’s bid on Thursday, but Johnson asked for a delay on the vote citing changes in the contract, including consideration of adding more positions and changes in scheduling.
It has not been made clear if those changes would raise the cost of the proposed budget in AVPORTS’s bid.
At the commission meeting Thursday, Johnson said the bid will be voted on at next months’ meeting.
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 7:00 AM.