City Council Votes to Alter Bidding for Concessions at LAX : Contracts: Critics had charged that specifications by the Airport Commission favored a company with strong political ties to Bradley.

The Los Angeles City Council intervened Wednesday in a lucrative contract for food and beverage concessions at Los Angeles International Airport, altering the bid specifications to counter charges that the process was unfair.

The unanimous vote threw open the bidding for the world’s largest airport food and beverage operation. The decision comes amid assertions that the Airport Commission had stacked the deck to favor Concessions International, a major subcontractor of food and beverage services at LAX with strong ties to Mayor Tom Bradley.

Last month, the commission issued specifications for the multimillion dollar contract that conflicted with recommendations from airport staff. A staff memo warned that the commission’s action “gives the appearance of tailoring” a proposal to one potential bidder.

Critics said the commission had rushed the process so that the outgoing Bradley-appointed commissioners could make the decision before their terms end in July. The commission had voted on the specifications even though a consultant, hired for more than $100,000, had not yet issued a final report.

Commissioners have denied that they rigged the bidding, saying they moved forward quickly so a company would be in place when the contract expires at the end of May.

At issue before the council Wednesday was a decision by the commissioners to require that 17% of the food and beverage concession be subcontracted to disadvantaged firms, a figure significantly lower than the 30% recommended by the Airport Commission staff.

After more than an hour of debate and heavy lobbying by rival companies, the council supported Councilwoman Ruth Galanter’s plan to re-establish the 30% figure.

Disadvantaged firms are defined as those with less than $30 million in gross annual receipts. City officials say a significant number of them are minority- or women-owned companies.

The 17% figure was particularly helpful to Host Marriott, the Washington company that has held the contract for decades, and Concessions International, a black-owned company based in Atlanta that is Marriott’s major subcontractor. Those companies pushed for the lower figure because they could qualify more easily if they did not have to team up with as many disadvantaged companies.

The new rules go directly against the proposals by Host Marriott and Concessions International. The larger percentage for disadvantaged companies is no help to large minority-owned companies such as Concessions International--which has given tens of thousands of dollars over the years to Bradley’s political campaigns.

The council rejected on a 9-5 vote a plan by Council President John Ferraro and Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores to require that only 25% of the contract go to disadvantaged companies.

Although Galanter billed her proposal as an exercise in fairness, others charged it was really a show of power politics.

“You have multiple agendas going on,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. “You’ve got people on the council who are very, very angry with the Airport Commission.”

He also suggested that other minority groups were trying to use the council to block a city contract for a black-operated concession.

“You have scaled-down racial politics,” Ridley-Thomas said, noting that among those seeking to alter the process were a Latino-owned company and an Asian-American-owned company.