The master concession up for grabs at Saipan Airport includes duty free and various other items including food and beverage.

The Commonwealth Ports Authority (CPA) is to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a master concession at Francisco C.Ada/Saipan International Airport.

According to CPA documents seen by TRBusiness, the master commercial concession (post-security) includes duty free products and various other items including food and beverage.

In addition, the winning bidder will have the exclusive right to offer vending for departure lounges, currency exchange, postal services, telephones, luggage carts and any other services to tourists or the public.

It will also have the non-exclusive right to offer services such as massages, cell-phone charging stations and wireless communications.

EVALUATION PROCESS

The evaluation process will be conducted by the in-terminal concession evaluation committee and based on a 100-point scoring system. Bidders will assessed on the proposed concession fee (30 points), plans to improve the airport infrastructure (25 points), attractiveness of the proposed duty free programme (10 points), ability to deliver the proposed duty free programme (10 points), attractiveness of the proposed food and beverage programme (10 points), Improvement of the Airport passenger experience (10 points) and Airport Disadvantage Business Enterprise program (5 points).

CPA is aiming to complete the evaluation process and proposal rankings within six week following the end of the proposal period.

The incumbent duty free operator is DFS Saipan Limited, which has been the master concessionaire since 1985, when it entered into a 20-year agreement with CPA. Twelve years later, it was announced the agreement would be extended until 13 November 2015 — the extension was due to come into force on 13 November 2005.

But on 13 October 2015, the CPA informed DFS the extension was no longer on the table and that it was pressing ahead with an RFP. DFS was informed it could continue operating on a monthly basis until the concession was awarded. News of the possible CPA duty free tender was reported by TRBusiness back in 2015, when it seemed DFS Saipan’s existing contract might be routinely extended.

The evaluation process will be based on a 100-point scoring system. Source: Commonwealth Ports Authority.

With Lotte Duty Free operating the controversial Guam Airport duty free concession since 2013 — the legal wrangle between DFS Group and the A.B. Won Pat International Airport Authority linking variously to the awarding of the 10-year Lotte contract continues to rumble on — there is every chance Lotte and DFS could go head to head for this master concession.

Saipan is located just 219 kilometres from Guam, so Lotte might well see this an excellent opportunity to add to its portfolio in the vicinity.

DFS began operations on the island of Saipan back in 1976 and has been an important business in the small local community ever since. It was typically hands on When Typhoon Soudelor smashed into the Pacific island on 2 August 2015. This caused more than $20m worth of damage and made several locals homeless among the small resident population.

Besides contributing money and resources, DFS created its own appeal fund for its staff who were affected and raised nearly $92,000 in just one month from individuals worldwide.

The retailer’s association with the island dates back many years, so perhaps DFS, which also runs a T Galleria in Beach Road, Garapan, Saipan, will participate in the tender in the hope of continuing its long-standing partnership with CPA.