It is recommended that the Mayor and City Commission approve the Resolution authorizing the Administration to negotiate with South Pointe Café, LLC, for management and operation of concession facilities located at South Pointe Park and the Flamingo Park Aquatic Center.

On September 15, 2010, the Mayor and City Commission adopted Resolution No. 2010-27485, authorizing the Administration to enter into negotiations with Blissberry LLC ("Blissberry"), the top- ranked proposer pursuant to Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 34-09/10, for the management and operation of a food and beverage concession at the South Pointe Park Pavilion Building. A Concession Agreement with Blissberry was executed pursuant to Resolution No. 2010-27485 with a term ending in November 30, 2015 for a yogurt bar and grill concession.

Prior to the expiration of the original Concession Agreement, Blissberry requested a five (5) year extension to the original Concession Agreement. On May 6, 2015, the Mayor and City Commission adopted Resolution No. 2015-29008 accepting the recommendation of the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee to waive the competitive bidding requirement and approving an extension to the original Concession Agreement with Blissberry until November 30, 2020. Subsequent to the extension, at Blissberry’s request, the Concession Agreement was assigned to South Pointe Cafe LLC on September 1, 2016.

On September 14, 2020, prior to the November 30, 2020 Concession Agreement expiration date, South Point Café LLC requested another five (5) year extension, through November 30, 2025. Pursuant to a committee referral, South Point Café’s request for an additional five (5) year extension was discussed at the September 23, 2020 meeting of the Neighborhood and Quality of Life Committee ("NQLC"). The request was denied and, instead, NQLC recommended to the City Commission that the Administration be directed to issue a competitive solicitation to seek proposals for a replacement agreement with a concessionaire for the South Pointe Park Pavilion. On October 14, 2020, the Mayor and City Commission, via Resolution No. 2020-31457, accepted the recommendation of the NQLC and directed the Administration to issue a competitive solicitation for a replacement agreement and, further, approved, via a waiver of competitive bid, a one (1) year extension to the Concession Agreement with South Point Café LLC through November 30, 2021.

In anticipation of the expiring agreement, on May 12, 2021, the Mayor and City Commission authorized the issuance of Request for Proposals (RFP) 2021-137-ND for Management and Operation of Concession Facilities Located at South Pointe Park and the Flamingo Park Aquatic Center.

On May 13, 2021, the RFP was issued. A voluntary pre-proposal conference to provide information to proposers submitting a response was held on May 27, 2021. The Department issued bid notes to 4,298 companies utilizing www.periscopeholdings.com website. 59 prospective bidders accessed the advertised solicitation. RFP responses were due and received on July 23, 2021. The City received a total of two (2) proposals from the following firms: SSG Food & Beverage, Inc. and South Pointe Café, LLC. However, the proposal from SSG Food & Beverage, Inc. was deemed non-responsive for failure to meet the minimum requirements of the RFP regarding prior experience and could not be further considered. Therefore, only the proposal received from South Pointe Café, LLC can be considered.

The RFP states that, in the event that only one responsive proposal is received, the City Manager, after determination that the sole responsive proposal materially meets the requirements of the RFP, may, without an evaluation committee, recommend to the City Commission that the Administration enter into negotiations. Accordingly, the Evaluation Committee process was not required.

The Procurement Department and the Facilities and Fleet Management Department have verified that South Pointe Café, LLC has met all of the requirements of the RFP. South Pointe Café, LLC is the incumbent currently operating the facilities and has performed well. The firm is proposing to provide an annual minimum guaranteed revenue to the City in the amount of $50,000 a year, an increase of $14,000 over the current revenue received by the City for the facilities. Notwithstanding, through the negotiation process, the parties will be able to fine tune revenue, menu options and service level expectations.

Based on the 2019 resident survey, 28.8% of residents visit South of 5th Street. In order to increase the appeal of locations South of 5th Street and thus how visited this area is, the City intends to contract with an experienced concessionaire to manage and operate the concession facilities located at South Pointe Park and the Flamingo Park Aquatic Center.

After considering the proposal received and staff’s analysis, I recommend that the Mayor and City Commission approve the resolution authorizing the Administration to enter into negotiations with South Pointe Café, LLC; and further authorizing the City Manager and City Clerk to execute an agreement upon conclusion of successful negotiations.