The city-parish has received proposals from five firms vying to manage downtown’s public garages, basement parking and surface lots.
Proposals came from ACE, Premium Parking, Republic Parking System, LAZ Parking and Parking Management Company LLC, says Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Veneeth Iyengar. Parking Management Company currently handles valet services for all downtown hotels.
Noticeably absent was Atlanta-based Lanier Parking Solutions, which led the Park Baton Rouge team that had cut a 2016 deal with then-Mayor Kip Holden to modernize and manage public parking downtown. Last year, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s administration rebid the contract, frustrating the firm.
Iyengar says how much money the city-parish spends on the contract depends on what’s proposed. They anticipate selecting a firm by June 1, roughly two-and-a-half months after releasing the RFP for downtown parking management.
Meanwhile, the city-parish still has to issue two other bids related to “on-street parking solutions”—which includes the purchase, enforcement, collections and maintenance of some 800 “smart” parking meters—per Broome’s revised downtown parking strategy.
They anticipate releasing bid documents for the purchase of the meters on May 2, with proposals being accepted June 6 and a firm selected pending Metro Council approval.
A separate RFP for the enforcement, collections and maintenance of those meters will be advertised June 10, adds Iyengar, with proposals opening July 12 and a firm being chosen the next month.
“We’re staggering it because, in order for taxpayers to get best RFP responses, they have to know what kind of equipment they want to deal with,” Iyengar says.
