Salt Palace Convention Center | Deseret News Archives
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County is redoing a competitive bidding process for catering and concessions at the Salt Palace Convention Center and the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy after a company that was passed over for the bid raised red flags about “extremely concerning” and “irreconcilable” conflicts of interests within the process.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson says a subsequent review of the selection showed there was a “clear conflict” that made the process “questionable,” leading her to scrap the bid reward and issue a redo — but she did not indicate any further consequences would come of the botched selection process.
“We take a lot of pride in our systems and methods, but we’re the first to acknowledge when mistakes are made, and I think that’s what happened here,” Wilson told the Deseret News Wednesday.
Wilson said that while the county is acknowledging the “hiccup,” county officials aren’t “in a panic” over it, calling it an “innocent mistake.”
But officials representing a company that lost the bid, Levy Premium Foodservice — which would have given the county the highest revenue returns according to a county analysis — allege that two members of the county’s selection committee had blatant conflicts of interest with the winning company, Utah Food Services, and expressed concerns about the fact that no one discovered those conflicts until they did their own digging.
County documents obtained by the Deseret News through an open records request show Levy protested the awarded contract to Utah Food Services, raising red flags of conflicts of interest with selection committee members Scott Beck and Julie Rhoads. Both members were listed as references for Utah Food Services.
In an Aug. 12 request for an administrative hearing to respond to the county’s initial denial of their protest because county officials originally determined the protest was not timely under county code, Levy’s attorney, Christopher Hogle, wrote to the mayor that neither Rhoads nor Beck fully “disclosed in their conflict forms that they were serving as references for Utah Food Services.”
“Neither of them should have served as members of the selection committee, and the (request for proposals process) is tainted by their participation,” Hogle wrote, adding that it’s “shocking” they were allowed to participate on the selection committee.
“Although Mr. Beck’s and Ms. Rhoads’ conduct is appalling and egregious, the remaining members of the selection committee are not without blame,” Hogle wrote, raising questions why other committee members did not raise concerns about the apparent conflicts.
Beck, when reached by the Deseret News on Wednesday, declined to comment. Rhoads and Utah Food Services officials did not return requests for comment.
Alison Weber, chief communications officer for Levy, told the Deseret News that Levy, through an open records request, discovered that Beck and Rhoads were references for Utah Food Service after being perplexed by their failed bid — which she said doesn’t happen often for the Chicago-based company where staff “prides ourselves on doing business the right way.”
Troubled that Levy’s “references and food quality” scores were low even though none of Levy’s references were ever contacted, Weber said Levy officials “dug deeper” to find out more details of how they were scored.
“That’s what led us to learning the committee members served as references, and that’s something we’ve never experienced before,” Weber said, noting Levy participates in bids all around the country and comes to expect “a fair and transparent process.”
“Because the county is entrusted with selecting vendors and contractors on behalf of taxpayers, the public procurement process demands objectivity and transparency,” Hogle wrote. “It must be insulated from even the hint of impropriety or cronyism.”
County documents show the selection committee gave Utah Food Services the highest overall score over Levy and a third competing company, Culinary Crafts. Utah Food Services was given the highest scores for “proposer qualifications,” “references and food quality,” and “management and operations” and selection committee preference points, while Levy received a higher score for its pricing proposal and “concepts and marketing.”
County documents also showed Levy was estimated to bring in more than $22.9 million in profit for facilities over three years, whereas Utah Food Services was projected to bring in less, at about $18 million over three years. The county estimated Levy would bring in a gross combined revenue of over $69 million over three years, while Utah Food Services would bring a gross combined revenue of more than $59 million over three years.
Discovering Beck and Rhoads had provided references for Utah Food Services was “disappointing,” Weber said, adding that it threw into question whether the selection committee was biased.
Neither Beck nor Rhoads explicitly listed in their conflict of interest forms they were references for Utah Food Services, though Rhoads did say under the “unrestricted conflicts of interests” section of her form that she has “worked with and recommend Utah Food Service (and) Culinary Crafts for many years” and she was “very excited and anxious for this process.”
Beck under the “unrestricted conflicts of interest” section on his form wrote he has “served on local community boards with representatives from Culinary Crafts and Utah Food Services and has socialized with them at the events.”
Jason Yocom, division director of the county’s contracts and procurement, said in a statement that the county will be issuing a new request for proposals in the coming months.
“Salt Lake County takes its procurement responsibilities seriously, and seeks to conduct the process with the utmost integrity, fairness and in accordance with county policies and procedures,” Yocom said.
Wilson said she considers the conflicts to be an “innocent mistake,” but she has directed staff to look at “how we can assure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Mistakes can be made, and in this case there was a clear conflict,” the mayor said. “And that clearly does not meet our standards.”
“There’s a reason we’re starting over,” Wilson said. “We feel confident that we will get it right, and I’m certainly taking a look at how we can do things better in contracts and procurement, as I am in other areas of county government.”
Weber said Levy is “encouraged there is going to be a fair process at this point.”
“We’re really pleased that the reevaluation process is taking place,” Weber said. “This is a piece of business we would really love to win, and we would love to win it through a fair and transparent process.”
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