Mayor Ashton Hayward has repeatedly hinted in public meetings, press releases and Facebook videos that OHM Group might sue the city if the company is not awarded the airport food concessions contract. Hayward claims that he is protecting the city from a lawsuit.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) for food concessions on page 19 clearly states the city reserves the right to award the contract to a vendor other than the higher bidder.
“The City reserves the right to accept the proposal other than the highest financial offer and to reject any proposal that is not responsive to this request.”
The Pensacola City Council did nothing wrong in rejecting the mayor’s recommendation for OHM.
The city also has the right to reject all proposals and start over, see page 2: “The City of Pensacola reserves the right to accept or reject any or all submittals, to award to multiple firms, to waive any submittal informalities and to re-advertise for bids when deemed in the best interest of the City.”
Both sentences have been standard clauses in city RFPs for years. The Pensacola City Council did nothing wrong granting a month-a-month extension, in the absence of any recommendation from the mayor to keep food service at the airport, while the RFP was being reissued.
Read rfp-13008-airportfoodbev copy.
The mayor still might wind up in court, just not with OHM.