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Controller urges tighter rules after preliminary review of airport contract awards
Summary
The City Controller27s office presented a preliminary Jan. 11 assessment saying airport concession awards were largely competitive but flagged improper commissioner-bidder contacts and recommended strengthening statements of incompatible activity, training, codification of communication prohibitions, and better central tracking of contract-related disclosures.
The San Francisco Controller27s office told the Ethics Commission on Monday that, while most airport concession leases between 2015 and 2020 were awarded through competitive solicitations, investigators found instances in which an airport commissioner allegedly contacted a potential bidder and did not report the contact, a practice that undercuts procurement safeguards.
The controller27s preliminary assessment, presented by Mark De La Rosa and other office staff, summarized federal allegations involving an attempt to influence airport lease awards and detailed five sets of recommendations: require boards and commissions to revise policies limiting members27 involvement in procurement; provide annual SIA (Statement of Incompatible Activities) training and require annual affirmations of compliance; amend city law to codify prohibitions on selective assistance to proposers; include and enforce communication restrictions in solicitation documents; and centrally collect and track contractor disclosure forms so approvers see potential conflicts before awarding contracts.
The report drew on an internal audit that found the airport27s Revenue Division generally followed solicitation rules and that a competitive process produced the winning bids in the cases the controller reviewed. But the presentation said it also found at least one instance in which a commissioner met with a proposer during a restricted period and did not report that contact, and it urged stronger, citywide standards and more visible enforcement.
Commissioners pressed the controller27s staff on where the legal disclosures currently live and how the city could expand reporting. Commissioner Bush raised concerns that nonprofit funders and commissioners27 nonprofit affiliations may obscure relevant relationships; staff said contractor-contribution disclosures (forms 126f2 and f4) are tracked by the Ethics Commission but not always linked in the city27s central procurement or financial systems. Deputy Controller Todd Reachton said the office is tracking legislative and administrative responses to its recommendations and will address improved central tracking in future reports.
The controller27s office also recommended that the Ethics Commission and the city attorney consider codifying prohibitions in department SIAs, and that departments include explicit bidder-communication restrictions in solicitation documents so potential proposers know the rules. The office said it will publish additional reports on related departments in the coming months and will work with the commission on training and policy changes.
The Ethics Commission did not take formal action on the controller27s presentation Monday but discussed next steps, including working with staff to explore legislation and tracking mechanisms. "We want to make sure we have time for substantive discussion about what we as the Ethics Commission might do going forward," Chair Tara Ambrose said.
