ST. LOUIS — As they did in 2020, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Lambert International Airport officials have moved to award a multimillion-dollar janitorial contract after disqualifying the only other company submitting a bid.
The city Airport Commission on Wednesday endorsed a three-year deal not to exceed $29.5 million with Regency Enterprises Services LLC of south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, which has held Lambert’s main cleaning contract since 2016.
Airport managers said Detroit-based LGC Global Facility Management’s rival bid for the work was ruled unresponsive because one of its subcontractors didn’t meet requirements outlined in bid documents.
The new contract is almost twice as much as the contract of up to $15.88 million Regency was awarded in 2020.
But the amount of work also will significantly increase in the new contract, airport officials said. They said Regency will need an equivalent of 160 full-time employees to perform the work, up from 107.
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That’s because of additional locations at Lambert the company will have to clean, partly because Lambert has phased out all but six of its in-house cleaning staff since 2020.
Lambert also cited increased disinfection requirements because of COVID-19 and the need for an increased frequency of cleaning.
The airport also said there had been a sharp increase in the cost of cleaning supplies due to inflation, the addition of a terrazzo floor care specialist and a 10% increase in the hourly rate paid by Lambert to the company, which includes wage hikes for workers.
Roger Lotz, a Lambert spokesman, refused to say whether LGC’s bid was higher or lower than Regency’s. He said because the bid was considered unresponsive, airport attorneys determined that Lambert doesn’t have to disclose the amount.
That’s a different stance than the one taken by Lambert in 2020, when Regency was rehired for three years. The airport disclosed that the disqualified company that year, New York-based Triangle Services, had submitted a lower bid of $15.81 million.
A Lambert briefing paper at the time said Triangle’s bid was unresponsive because a minority subcontractor didn’t meet minimum experience and qualification requirements.
A Triangle executive complained that the airport had treated his company unfairly and that the subcontractor indeed did have relevant experience because it also had a separate window cleaning contract at Lambert.
Lotz said this year’s disqualified bidder, LGC Global, has not protested. The new Regency contract still needs approval from the city’s chief fiscal body, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
The cleaning contract has been a subject of controversy for several years. Regency’s selection in 2020 was in the fourth round of bids for the same contract since 2017. Regency first got the job in 2016 on an emergency basis and previously was a Lambert subcontractor.
Chicago-based United Maintenance won the initial 2017 bidding but abruptly gave it up after Lambert began inquiring about a news report that the firm was accused of reserving jobs in Chicago based on political considerations.
A second round of bids was discarded later in 2017 because of confusion over what was required of companies to get participation by minority- and women-owned firms.
Then, in 2019, the commission awarded the contract to French-owned Atalian Global Services Inc. over the objections of a union, which complained that a ºüÀêÊÓƵ subsidiary had been criticized by two federal agencies.
The city estimate board then failed to ratify that deal. Regency won the next round of bidding.
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Also on Wednesday, the commission OK’d a concessions contract extension that will result in a 4 Hands Brewing-Peacemaker Lobster & Crab combination replacing a Schlafly Brewing-Pasta House location. The contract is with OHM Concession Group LLC.