No Public Bid Opening for Airport Site Today
The Airport Director, Chairman, consultants, and staff will open bids for the present airport privately on Monday, Sept 25, and will take up to 10 days to evaluate the bids.
Seems the press would want to know at least the bid amounts and whether they are responsive to the Request for Proposals. The agenda for the 9/26 board meeting does not have an item on the bids. After all this build-up, the airport board should be more transparent than this, if for no other reason than fair treatment of bidders. If the District enters negotiations or “clarification” on the amount or terms of any bid before announcing all bids, there may be a fairness issue.
The terms of RFP are very unusual because the board cannot grant title to the property until a new airport is operational - bidders are asked to provide an irrevocable Letter of Credit for the bid amount and then wait for the decommissioning in the future to obtain title. The delay is because the airport has grant covenants with FAA that require the property to remain in aviation use until a replacement is opened.
The airport intends to use the LOC as collateral for construction loans. The uncertainties may affect the bid amounts or responsiveness to terms - anything less than an irrevocable LOC would diminish a bid’s collateral value.