Staff Writer
A measure to give local businesses and companies with a Northeast Florida presence an advantage in winning Jacksonville Aviation Authority contracts was approved by the organization’s board Monday.
The local preference initiative will give local businesses a 5 percent edge in bidding on contracts for goods and services with the Authority.
Contracts involving federal aviation funds and those for Florida Department of Transportation projects through the Authority cannot be a part of the policy.
Steve Grossman, CEO and executive director, has said the local preference initiative was a goal when he joined the JAA in September.
Currently, around 60 percent of the $23 million the JAA awards in contracts goes to local businesses, said JAA Procurement Manager Monica Frazier.
The local preference policy will simply reinforce the commitment to local business and community, she said.
The local preference policy will apply to businesses from Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
In addition, those companies within the region that submit their qualifications can receive up to five points to their overall rankings when being considered.
During her presentation to the board, Frazier gave an example of a local company bidding $100,000 for a project along with an out-of-region company bidding $96,000, respectively.
Under the local preference policy, the local company’s bid would actually be placed at $95,000 and be considered the lowest bid. It still would be awarded at $100,000.
“We always try and do the right thing,” said Grossman. “We know spending our dollars locally is the right thing and ... a major goal of the Authority is to be a major economic engine in the community. This formalizes that.”
While he said he doesn’t expect out-of-region companies to relocate or open offices locally only for the incentive, Grossman said he hopes such a preference policy would encourage larger companies to open satellite offices within Northeast Florida.
Those out-of-region companies that subcontract work to local companies on projects would also be eligible to receive part of the local preference perk.
Tentative qualifications call for a business or local office to be within the seven-county area for a year before submitting a bid or qualifications and have at least three employees.
Additional details will be discussed over the next couple of months and the program will be rolled out in October.
City Council member Bill Bishop, the Authority’s Council liaison, warned the board of defining local preferences and the possibility of other airport authorities doing the same and hampering Jacksonville businesses that reach outside the area.
“We (Jacksonville businesses) go outside of the city, all over the place, for work,” said Bishop. “The last thing we want is others, in this case airport authorities, to say ‘well, if you’re going to do that to our people, we’re going to do that to your people,’ and you start this trade war going on and it’s a downward spiral.”
Grossman doesn’t believe the majority of projects will be decided by the preference policy because bids aren’t usually close.
He considers the incentive a step toward helping the local economy.
“From my perspective, it helps JAA become a more integral part of the community and keeps more of our locally generated dollars in the community,” he said.
The board voted 5-1 in favor of the policy.
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