DEPARTMENT: Center City Development & Operations
EXECUTIVE LEADS: Carlos J. Contreras, Assistant City Manager; Kevin Barthold, City Auditor
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT: A briefing and presentation on the river barge concession contract
Background
The City originally issued an RFP for an operator for the river barge concession in June of 2014. The RFP sought a new barge design and an innovative operation reflective of the City's history and culture which would be attractive to both tourists and locals. An evaluation committee interviewed the two firms that were responsive to the RFP: Rio San Antonio Cruises (current operator Pat Boone) and Rio Way Cruises (a joint venture between Ed Torres, Lisa Wong, and Hope Andrade). The committee had serious concerns about the adequacy and quality of both proposals and never completed final scoring of the proposals.
In response to the evaluation committee's concerns and with City Council agreement, in the summer of 2015 City staff separated the river barge design from the concession operator solicitation and issued two separate solicitations. In accordance with the revised approach, the City will buy and own the new fleet and the operator will maintain the fleet and lease it from the City. With City Council's concurrence, AIA San Antonio launched the river barge design competition in October 2015. The 11 member jury included a naval architect, artist, restaurateur, and a variety of key potential users. Additionally, all but one member of the jury was local.
AIA San Antonio received 12 anonymous submittals for the first phase of the competition and the jury selected three finalists for the second phase of the competition based on the following:
* Design innovation;
* Functionality;
* Operational considerations;
* Constructability; and
* Sensitivity to San Antonio's culture.
After receipt of public input through a public open house process, the jury selected METALAB's design as the competition wi...
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