TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The state agency that runs the Florida Turnpike is at odds with House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) over the way contracts are awarded for providing food and gasoline at the turnpike's eight service plazas, said the Associated Press. The turnpike agency said it wants to combine the contracts so that one vendor can bid to run the food and gasoline concessions at the plazas.
That is one way of luring vendors willing to spend money to make needed renovations at the 1980s-era facilities, AP said. Officials said it is an industry trend, and it makes financial sense.
Rubio [image-nocss] said that is anticompetitive and shuts out small Florida businesses that want to be players in the turnpike concession. One of those small Florida businesses happens to be owned by one of Rubio's friends, but the speaker says that is not his motivation and is defending his position. Even if Rubio wins the fight and manages to keep the state law the way it is—separate contracts—he would not have any say in the awarding of the actual contract, he said. That would still be up to the state Department of Transportation, which means Rubio's friend, Max Alvarez, may not benefit.
Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, a division of the state Department of Transportation, has been pushing for more than a year to consolidate the contract.
Currently, Bethesda, Md.-based HMSHost Corp. has the foodservice contract, while Pompano Beach-based Martin Petroleum Corp. of Florida has the gasoline business. The contracts expire at the end of this year.
Turnpike officials said the change is needed to lure major private-sector bidders who run similar joint-concessions in other states and who have lots of money. They want a company to take over the concession and put as much as $200 million into upgrading the plazas. Many major industry players are not willing to put that kind of money forward if they have to split the plaza contract.
And the turnpike's director of concession management, Rick Nelson, said that in the past, when the agency has sought to get gas stations at the plazas rebuilt as part of the contracting requirements, nobody bid for the gasoline business.
Officials at the turnpike agency insist that the service plaza business is moving this way around the country. They point to several other states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland, that are seeking one vendor to run service facilities.
Rubio said the proposed change is probably being pushed by a big vendor who wants to take over the plazas and make more money. And if one company could take over the whole plaza business it would shut out companies like Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, a family-owned Miami company run by Alvarez, a Rubio supporter.
Rubio acknowledged that he has spoken with Alvarez's company about the issue, but he insisted he is not "greasing the skids" for anyone, arguing instead that it just seems unfair. "There's only a handful of companies in the world set up" to run a successful foodservice operation and gas stations, said Rubio. "The list of people who could potentially bid on a mega-contract is much smaller than those who can bid now."
Turnpike officials dispute that idea. "I think you would see a lot more interest," if they're consolidated, said Nelson.
James Ely, executive director of the turnpike, said the primary goal is not to help any particular vendors, but to provide a better place for drivers to get a bite and wake up in the middle of what can be a boring drive. And to get a private company to pay for it. "I would rather use the private-sector model than taking money off a guardrail project or resurfacing," Ely said.
Rubio said that even if the contracting law does not change, there is no guarantee Alvarez's company would bid, or would win if it did. "The Legislature doesn't award bids, and I don't have any influence over the bid process," Rubio said.
Questions about Rubio's interest in service plaza contracting were first reported Monday by The Miami Herald. The language about how the contracts are to be awarded is spelled out in legislation that goes along with the state budget known as "proviso language."
The newspaper also noted that turnpike officials have at least one ally in favor of the change, Sen. Dan Webster (R).
Nelson Diaz, who represents Alvarez as a lobbyist, said his client is not hiding his interest. Alvarez bid for the gasoline contract once before and lost out, and may bid again. But Diaz said even if Alvarez does not bid, he is concerned about the policy. Shutting out smaller companies that might be able to seek the business is anticompetitive, he said. Diaz said he also believes only two or three companies tend to bid on the joint-service plaza contracts around the country.
One of those is the current Florida food vendor HMSHost, which is projected to reap $6.6 million in food revenue from its Florida contract this year. Florida turnpike officials say HMSHost, part of a major multinational company, has some agreements in other states to run the entire plaza business, but contracts the fuel part out to gasoline-only companies, something that could happen in Florida as well.
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