Competition for Airport Pact Renewed : Government: The commission votes to reopen the process for the parking concession that seemed certain to go to an ally of Mayor Bradley.

In a surprise move, the Los Angeles Airport Commission voted Monday to reopen fierce competition for a multimillion-dollar parking contract that once seemed certain to go to a company whose partners include a longtime ally of Mayor Tom Bradley.

The commission’s 4-1 vote followed an often heated discussion that laid bare the competition to manage parking at Los Angeles International, Van Nuys and Ontario airports--the largest public parking enterprise in the country with about $52 million in annual receipts.

Until Monday’s meeting, the three-year contract appeared destined to go toAMPCO Parking in a joint venture that included Business Systems of America, a minority-owned consulting firm whose president is Bradley ally and former City Council candidate Homer Broome.

While AMPCO proposed to charge $12.8 million a year, or $800,000 more than a company recommended by staff, a majority of commissioners opted for AMPCO at a Jan. 11 meeting on grounds that it made the best presentation of its plan to manage the lots.

But on Monday, the commission backed away from that position. The change of position hinged on AMPCO’s price and, perhaps more important, a staff report raising doubts about whether Broome’s company would have any “hands-on” responsibility in the venture.

The staff report, presented by the airports’ manager of contract administration, Ramon Olivares, found that although AMPCO made a good-faith effort to include companies owned by women and minorities, it offered insufficient proof that Broome’s firm would have any real authority.

“The bottom line is that in our opinion . . . Business Systems of America is not . . . a true joint venture partner,” Olivares told the commission.

“From what you’ve told me,” Commissioner Jack Tenner told Olivares, “there is no indication, even remote, that this is a hands-on operation.”

“That is correct,” Olivares said.

Although disputing that claim, Dennis Nasabel, AMPCO executive vice president, was unable to persuade commissioners--even those who previously supported him--that the joint venture should receive the contract.

Commissioner Johnnie Cochran, who like Tenner had supported AMPCO, said he had pushed for the company because it had made the most comprehensive presentation on how it would improve the lots and parking revenue. But he said it becomes a “real problem” that there is “no indication of hands-on involvement.”

The issue of active involvement by women- or minority-owned firms at the airport has loomed significant since disclosures in 1989 that a small number of City Hall insiders--women and minorities--collected about $7.3 million for little or no work from airport contracts designed to help women and minority firms.

After making it clear they would not award the contract to AMPCO, commissioners deadlocked on selecting any of the other four companies vying for the contract.

Finally, the panel voted 4 to 1 to reopen the competition. The vote was opposed by Tenner, who believed that the contract should be settled, and left many of AMPCO’s competitors almost as frustrated as that company’s officials.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Gil Barnett, president of Parking Concepts Inc., the company recommended by airport staff and an advisory panel that reviewed the proposals for months.

Although the commission did not outline guidelines or a timetable for a new contract, it was understood that the parking lots will continue to be run by Five-Star, which also will compete anew for the contract.