The City of San Antonio awards many contracts to outside vendors during the normal course of business, but the lame duck Council today is expected to vote on the most lucrative contract at its disposal, the deal to exclusively operate the barges on the Riverwalk for the next ten years, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The winner is expected to be one of the two finalists in a process which has become tangled in allegations of improper scoring of the proposals, and claims that the process has been taken over by lawyers and lobbyists.
The two finalists are San Antonio River Cruise, Inc, and Go Rio San Antonio LLC, which submitted vastly different proposals.
San Antonio River Cruises is part of a Chicago based company called Entertainment Cruises, which operates major dining, event, and entertainment cruises in major cities across the nation, including New York, Chicago, and Boston.
In a controversial 'scoring matrix' put together by city staffers, San Antonio River Cruises scored at the top in 'quality of proposal' and 'experience and financial capability.'
The other finalist, Go Rio San Antonio LLC, is fronted by Landry's Restaurants and Hope Andrade, the former Texas Secretary of State and current chair of VIA Metro Transit. Go Rio San Antonio scored tops in factors including local ownership, and narrowly muscled out the Chicago firm for a top total score.
But a third firm, Buena Vista Barges, which finished third in the scoring, isn't going down without a fight.
"We were still bewildered as to why both teams were scored ahead of us due to an arbitrary scoring matrix. We knew what we had to offer was more innovative and, dare I say, better than what both the top two teams have to offer. Yet, we aren’t at the deep pockets of what Landry’s and the Pritkzer Group dba Entertainment Cruises," Buena Vista said in a statement.
Then, there are other controversies. Despite ranking Go Rio number one in its scoring matrix, the same city staff recommended that the contract go to San Antonio River Cruises.
And, there's the involvement of Former Mayor Phil Hardberger. He represents San Antonio River Cruises, and, out of deference to his position as a former Mayor, he was allowed to make a presentation to city staff, while Go Rio San Antonio's lawyer was not allowed to speak. That prompted a revisiting of the entire process.
And many are concerned that this decision will be made by a lame duck City Council. Four members of City Council who will make today's decision, JOe Krier, Mike Gallagher, Ray Lopez and Cris Medina, will not be on Council next month, and two others, Alan Warrick and Roberto Trevino, who, ironically, represents the Riverwalk, are engaged in runoff elections, and their futures won't be clear until after the June 10th election.
The decision comes in the middle of a heated runoff for Mayor as well, so expect both Ivy Taylor and Ron Nirenberg to have a lot to say about today's decision.
The new contract takes effect October 1. City officials hope to have the new barge operator fully up and running in time for the major events next spring, including the Tricentennial and the Final Four.