Janitorial services provider facing delay of new contract
City councilman wants questions answered before doing $115M deal
Questions are emerging about the performance of a city contractor that has provided Denver airport janitorial services for decades, just as it’s set to win a $115 million contract.
City Councilman Kevin Flynn, who received a copy of the protest letter filed by a losing bidder last week, on Monday night triggered a one-week delay in the council’s consideration of the maximum five-year contract with ISS Facility Services. Council rules allow any council member to initiate a one-time delay of a contract, and ISS’s deal will be back at the council for a vote Feb. 20.
“It’s unfortunate that questions come up at the last minute like this,” Flynn said before the meeting, adding that he’s heard similar concerns informally from another losing bidder’s representative. “But it’s a very large contract, and there is some controversy around it. So we deserve to hit the pause button and get some answers. I don’t want to vote on something that still has lingering questions.”
Triangle Services, based in Valley Stream, N.Y., alleged in its protest letter to a Denver International Airport contract administrator on Feb. 6 that San Antoniobased ISS failed to submit management and quality-control reports required under its current contract, resulting in its termination last fall of a quality assurance manager. The company also has underperformed on carpet cleaning and floor stripping and waxing, the letter says, and it alleges that ISS’s recent site managers haven’t met experience qualifications for that position.
Finally, the letter suggests that ISS’s winning bid would charge the city too much.
DIA already is pushing back on the claims in the protest letter and defending its selection of ISS, but that effort did not head off a delay Monday.
Scott Murray of Triangle wrote that DIA’s evaluation committee, made up of DIA officials and industry representatives, likely would not have recommended the selection of ISS for the new contract if it had known of the past performance issues.
DIA spokesman Heath Montgomery said it wasn’t unusual for a losing bidder in a high-value contract at DIA to lodge a protest. ISS has “met all of its obligations under the existing contract,” he said.
“In fact, airport staff report that ISS responds to any issues that we bring to their attention in a positive, professional and supportive manner,” Montgomery wrote in an email. “ISS has been an excellent partner over the course of the existing contract, and ISS has not received any vendor deficiency penalties.”
A DIA presentation to a council committee last month says it has reworked its cleaning contracts in the last year, in part to respond to a need for more frequent restroom cleanings as passenger traffic grows. DIA says the contract contains new performance standards that the contractor must meet, or else face monthly deductions on its invoice.
ISS plans to hire more workers and use technology to keep tabs on cleaning needs, the presentation says. It also proposed to use more minority- and womenowned subcontractors than other bidders.
The new cleaning contract covers the terminal, all three concourses, the airport office building and outdoor areas in the hotel and transit center. It also includes snow removal on sidewalks and at bus shelters in airport parking lots.
Besides Triangle, the other losing bidders were ABM Aviation, Flagship Facility Services, Midwest Maintenance Company and United Maintenance Company.
Triangle’s contention about the contract price is speculative, because DIA typically does not release all bids on a contract until the contract has been finalized and it has denied Triangle’s document requests. The letter says the price protest was based on an assumption that the final contract value, at $114.9 million, likely reflects “a significant reduction” from ISS’s original bid in negotiations with DIA — which the letter suggests was the highest bid received.
Montgomery said ISS was neither the highest nor lowest bidder for the three-year contract, which comes with the option for two years of extensions. But not all bidders were invited to interview with the selection committee.
Flynn said the extra week of consideration by the council may resolve any concerns.
“I hope there are very good responses to this, but it’s very difficult to cast a vote (on so much spending) while there are still these questions that I need to have resolved,” he said.
ISS says on its website that the company has 425 employees working at DIA, and they clean its facilities round-the-clock. The company had a cleaning contract at Stapleton International Airport until DIA opened in 1995, and it’s handled janitorial work there ever since.