LTC 224-2013 Ovations Food Service MIAMI BEA
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. 224 -2013
LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Matti H. Bower and Member of the City C mmission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: July 2, 2012
SUBJECT: Ovations Food Service
This Letter to the Commission (LTC) is to transmit to you the attached letter from
.Ovations Food Service regarding the City's Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) for Food and
Beverage services for the Miami Beach Convention Center. The letter informs the City
that Ovations will no longer seek to contest the City's decision pertaining to the food and
beverage agreement.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
JLM \ #B \MAS
C: Jose Smith, City Attorney
Kathie G. Brooks, Assistant City Manager
Raul Aguila, Chief Deputy City Attorney
Max A. Sklar, Tourism, Culture and Economic Development Director
F:VNF0I$ALLWaxITCD1LTC10vations ITN Letter LTC.docx
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SPECTACOR
3601 South Broad Street • Philadelphia, PA 19148 -5290 • p 215.952.5217 • f 215.389.9579
pweinberg@comcast-spectacor.com
PHILIP I. WEINBERG
Executive Vice President
General Counsel
June 26, 2013
VIA EMAIL AND OVERNIGHT DELIVERY
Jimmy L. Morales
City Manager
City of Miami Beach
1700 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
RE: Ovations Food Services, L.P. — ITN No. 2013ME
Dear Mr. Morales:
As you know, I am General Counsel to Comcast - Spectacor, L. P. and its various partially and
wholly owned subsidiaries including Global Spectrum L.P., the contract manager of the Miami
Beach Convention Center and Ovations Food Services, L.P., an unsuccessful responder with
respect to the above - referenced ITN. I have previously written you expressing our concern with
respect to the manner in which a non- binding opinion of the Miami- Dade Ethics Commission
(addressing whether the mere fact that Comcast - Spectacor has an ownership interest in both
Ovations and Global Spectrum) became the basis to eliminate Ovations from further
consideration as a food and beverage provider at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
I now write at the request of Peter Luukko, Comcast - Spectator's President and Chief Operating
Officer, to inform you that we have conclusively determined not to pursue any protest or other
judicial action seeking to set aside or otherwise contest the City of Miami Beach's decision to
award a contract under the above referenced ITN to a responder other than Ovations. To
reiterate what Peter has directly expressed to you, it is simply not our desire to litigate an issue
such as the one involving the Convention Center ITN with a valued customer and business
partner, no matter how disappointed we are with the determination that was made. That said and
in the interests of full disclosure, I do want to inform you that Comcast - Spectacor has retained
counsel to ask the Miami- Dade Ethics Commission to review and reconsider its previous
opinion involving Comcast Spectacor and Ovations. As you know, we consider that opinion to
be based upon an incomplete and unclear record, to be poorly- reasoned and as having the
potential to wrongfully and unfairly impact our ability to carry on our business in other locations.
For all of the reasons that Ovations disqualification was unfair to Ovations, public entities like
Philadelphia Flyers • Global Spectr.:rnm • Ovations Food Services • PaciolanTM • New Era Tickets • Front Row Marketing Services'
Wells Fargo Center • Flyers Skate Zone • Comcast - Spectacor Charities • XFINITY Live! Philadelphia
Comcast- Spectacor.com
Jimmy L. Morales
City of Miami Beach
June 26, 2013
Page 2
better articulated record with respect to what constitutes an impermissible conflict of interest in
the public procurement area. However, whether or not you are able to weigh in on that issue, we
do want to again assure you that the Convention Center food and beverage contract award is
behind us and we look forward to serving the City of Miami Beach for many years to come.
y trt. y ours,
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