Proposals for lease of city parking assets due today
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Pittsburgh officials will be hoping for a big number today when they receive proposals from as many as seven firms pre-qualified to bid on the city's proposed lease of parking garages and meters.
The seven have until 4 p.m. to submit proposals.
City and parking authority officials will open the proposals behind closed doors, just in a case another round of bidding is necessary, mayoral spokeswoman Joanna Doven said.
If the highest bids are close, those bidders will have an opportunity to submit additional proposals called the "best and final offer." Ms. Doven said the do-over could entice a higher bid for the city, which is looking to boost its pension fund by year's end.
On the other hand, if one bid is far-and-away the highest, the city tonight will announce the high bidder and the sum it's offering for the parking lease, Ms. Doven said.
Even then, the lease is far from a done deal. It still must win the approval of a wary City Council.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has said a 50-year lease of parking garages and meters should yield at least $100 million to cover parking authority debt and $200 million to kick into a troubled pension fund. But he hopes the deal would generate much more than $300 million.
M. Ravenstahl said a quick infusion of cash is necessary to keep the state from taking over the pension fund at the end of the year. He said the state would increase the city's annual pension payments, forcing the city to raise taxes, cut services or both.
Despite council's concern over whether the lease is the best way to boost the pension fund, the mayor's office pre-qualified the seven bidders in April. The bidders include investment firms and parking operators, including the company that's a partner in Chicago's privately managed parking system.
Mr. Ravenstahl's proposal is controversial for many reasons, including the 50-year length of the lease and the parking rate increases that would be part of the package. He has included garage and meter increases to make the deal as attractive as possible to the bidders.
The best-and-final-offer round would kick in if the high bid and at least one other offer are within 10 percent of each other. In that case, the high bidder and any other bidder meeting the 10 percent threshold would be eligible to submit a revised offer, Ms. Doven said.
Proposals will be opened behind closed doors tonight so bidders don't know each others' numbers if another round is necessary, she said. If the city moves to a best-and-final offer, she said, it won't immediately say how many bidders are involved in that step.
Best and final offers would be due by 4 p.m. Sept. 20.
Officials have invited a judge to sit in on today's opening, saying that's a way to demonstrate "transparency" when the public is being kept out.
First Published September 15, 2010 12:00 am
