Vote for Lakeview Commons concessionaires on Tuesday

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - There may be new vendors at Lakeview Commons this summer. At the 9:00 a.m. South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting on Tuesday, February 20, City staff will present the results of the bidding process for concessionaires at both the food and beverage concession and non-motorized watercraft rental service.

Staff's recommended concessionaires are Sierra-at-Tahoe for the food and beverage services at Lakeview Commons, and Tahoe City Kayak and Paddleboard for the watercraft rentals. The Council will take their consideration into their vote.

The City opened the process in November for proposals from current and perspective vendors and received applications from six businesses for the non-motorized watercraft rental service and two for the food and beverage operations.

Lakeview Cafe has had the food and beverage concession since Lakeview Commons opened as has South Tahoe Stand Up Paddle for the rental concession.

After a process that had staff members score each proposal based on a list of criteria, and conduct interviews of the top three in each category, it is being suggested City Council award the food and beverage concession to Sierra-at-Tahoe and the boat rentals to Tahoe City Kayak and Paddleboard.

The six applicants for the non-motorized concession:
1) South Tahoe Stand Up Paddle
2) Sierra- At- Tahoe
3) Day Go Adventures
4) SUP Tahoe
5) Kayak Tahoe
6) Tahoe City Kayak and Paddleboard

The two applicants for the food and beverage concession:
1) Lakeview Cafe
2) Sierra- At-Tahoe

A total of five reviewers representing various departments evaluated the proposals. Each proposal was scored on the following criteria:

1) Cover letter introducing the company and summarizing key aspects of services to be provided. (0-15 points)
2) Experience, Background and Qualifications (0-25 points)
3) Proposed Concession Plan including concept and theme development, design and
quality of improvements and staffing (0-30 points)
4) Compensation Schedule; in this category, the proposal offering the highest
compensation to the City would receive the maximum points and all other proposals
would be scored lower as a percentage of the highest compensation (0-30 points)
5) Financial Capacity; proposals were to identify their ability to provide adequate capital to maintain continuous operations and fund any improvements identified in their proposal. (pass/fail).

The Boat Launch proposals included the following additional criteria:
6) Completeness and Comprehensiveness of the proposal (pass/fail)
7) References; respondent shall provide three (3) professional references (pass/fail)

Out of 100 points, Sierra At Tahoe earned 92.00 pts, and Lakeview Cafe 80.30 pts for the food concession.

On the submitted proposal worth 100 points, South Tahoe Stand Up Paddle had 88.3 pts, Sierra-at-Tahoe 87.3 pts, Tahoe City Kayak and Paddleboard 82.3 pts, SUP Tahoe 78 pts, Day Go Adventures 77.3 pts and Kayak Tahoe 55.8 pts.

The top three were then invited back for interviews with reps from the City's Finance Department, Public Works and Recreation Services. Each bidder was presented with the same ten questions. Questions presented related to scope of services, quality of services, risk management, proposed compensation schedule, knowledge of laws governing non-motorized water craft, and response to a safety scenario.

The final scoring for the non-motorized concessionaires were as follows:
Tahoe City Kayak and Paddleboard 86.87
South Tahoe Stand Up Paddle 80.50
Sierra-At-Tahoe 78.07

As of Friday, there has been one bid protest letter received by the City. Anthony Spatucci of Day Go Adventures filed the letter but more may be received prior to Tuesday's meeting.

It is proposed that whichever group if approved they approve will have a three-year contract.