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Redmond airport staff pause parking-system contract after procurement protest
Summary
Airport staff told the council they had selected T2 Systems to replace the 18-year-old parking revenue control system but pulled the approval after the city received a protest letter; staff recommended deferring final action until legal review and vendor coordination.
Redmond city staff presented a proposal to replace the airport's 18-year-old parking revenue access system but asked the council to delay approving a contract after the city received a procurement protest.
Jade Hawkins, security manager at Redmond Airport, told the council the current system was at "end of life" and that most replacement parts were sourced overseas, making repairs slow and costly. She said the airport tested four vendors and "landed on the ideal, which is a hybrid system," citing T2 Systems for offering multiple payment options, license-plate reading redundancy and North American parts delivery.
"We are just going to pull that back for informational purposes for tonight only," Hawkins said, explaining that a protest from a competing vendor arrived late in the procurement process. Hawkins also said the switch to a hybrid ticket-and-mobile-payment model would reduce paper-ticket ingestion failures and add options such as Apple/Google Pay and barcode scanning.
Councilors asked about privacy, accuracy and operational reliability of license-plate readers. Hawkins said the automated readers are "about a 90 accuracy rate" and that staff would still be able to manually handle cases where a plate is obstructed or a ticket is lost. Kurt Newton, the airport's facilities maintenance manager, estimated the new equipment's longevity at "generally in 12 to 15 years." He also said vendor training would extend across the installation period and likely include multiple days of on-site instruction so in-house staff could perform the majority of routine maintenance.
Scott Brang, the city's procurement and payables manager, said the protest letter arrived late the previous night and staff had begun the required process. "We received it, protest letter, late last night," Brang said, and recommended deferring final approval until the city attorney can review the protest and staff can coordinate with the vendor. The mayor and staff indicated the item will be carried to the Feb. 10 meeting for further action.
Next steps: staff will complete the protest review with legal counsel, continue vendor communications and return to council with a recommendation at a later meeting.
