Houston First Parking Management RFP

Houston First Corporation operates the city’s finest arts and convention facilities to position Houston as a world-class destination. Houston First manages more than ten city-owned buildings, plazas and parking facilities. Walker worked with them to develop a request for proposal solicitation and invite experienced parking management firms to submit proposals to manage and operate their Theater and Convention District parking facilities.

In the past, the Theater and Convention District parking facilities were operated by three separate firms, and with the governing management agreements expiring at approximately the same time of year, Houston First desired to contract with one firm to manage the entire system. The Houston First system is comprised of six parking structures with almost 8,000 spaces, and nine surface lots with over 1,600 spaces. In addition to the structures and lots, the successful firm would also be engaged to oversee and manage the Hilton Americas garage and valet parking operation, which serves the five-star convention hotel that resides adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Working closely with Houston First, Walker developed a parking management services request for proposal and drafted two Addendums with responses to all questions submitted by the operators. Additionally, after receiving proposals from eight qualified firms, Walker prepared a summary of all responses, as well as a cost summary and evaluation matrix that was used by Houston First’s evaluation team to assess the quality of the submittals and choose three firms for short-list operator interview sessions.

Based upon the overall evaluation process, Houston First successfully entered into a parking management agreement with one qualified third-party parking management provider. Moreover, when the consolidated annual operating budget submitted by the successful respondent was compared to the actual operating expenses paid for three firms to operate and manage the same portfolio during the prior fiscal year, annual savings of almost $900,000 were projected for Houston First Corporation.