DEPARTMENT: Center City Development & Operations Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: John Jacks
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: District 1
SUBJECT: Professional Services Agreement with METALAB for River Barge Design, and amendment to Rio San Antonio Cruises River Barge Concession Contract
SUMMARY:
These ordinances approve the following:
A. A professional services agreement with METALAB to complete construction documents for watercraft design of a new river barge fleet and construct a prototype barge. The new fleet is anticipated to be constructed and fully operational for the City's Tricentennial celebration.
B. The execution of an amendment to the Rio San Antonio Cruises (RSAC) River Barge Concession Contract, extending the contract expiration date from September 5, 2016 to September 30, 2017, and authorizing RSAC to increase prices for barge tours, taxis, and charters and to pay the City 52% of its adjusted gross sales beginning May 1, 2016.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In fall of 2015, the City decided to separate the river barge design from the River Barge Concession Request for Proposals (RFP) solicitation process and initiate two separate processes: a design competition for the new river barge fleet and a solicitation process for the operation of the fleet. This separation enables the operation experts to compete without the distraction of designing a barge and it also eliminates the financial hardship of financing the fleet and, therefore, increases participation in the process.
On October 30, 2015, the City and The American Institute of Architects, San Antonio Chapter (AIA San Antonio) launched an international design competition for a new river barge design. A panel of 11 jurors reviewed 12 anonymous submittals for the first phase of the competition and selected three finalist teams to move into the second phase of the competition based on design innovation, functionality, operational considerations, constructability, and sensitivi...
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