by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Major changes are in store at the Guam International Airport Authority, as the agency's board of directors finally awarded the contract for specialty retail concession worth tens of millions of dollars. It was a process that started nine months ago, and during a special board meeting this afternoon the airport board finally awarded the highly lucrative specialty retail concession contract.

Jess Torres, GIAA vice-chair said, "The chair would like to call for a vote on Item 3-b - there being no further discussion, can I see a show of hands to accept management's recommendation of Proposer A? Let the record reflect that there's three of our members voting, and the motion carries." Airport executive manager Chuck Ada said, "Mr. Chairman, the designation for Proposal A is Lotte Duty Free Guam, LLC.

Negotiations will now commence with Lotte Duty Free, which is tasked with developing, constructing and operating the specialty retail concession at the airport's main passenger terminal. Lotte Duty Free Guam CEO Sung Hun Park said, "I really appreciate the selection of the airport as a long partner in Lotte Duty Free. We will do our best to contribute to Guam Airport in future ten years and we propose a long lasting partnership with the airport. I will have brief conference later," he stated.

The contract term is for ten years. Lotte DFS beat out three other bidders - including the current concessionaire, DFS Guam. Ada says the agency wants to proceed with negotiations as soon as possible, noting, "Based on the negotiations we enter into on Wednesday there are some items that we want to make sure that are beneficial to the airport and obviously they're going to have some concerns as well hopefully it will go as fast as possible."

It has not yet been determined how much Lotte will pay in rent, as those details have not been disclosed yet. The current concessionaire pays $7.3 million annually in rent; as a result of the new request for proposal, the airport is expecting to see an increase in rental revenue above and beyond what the current concessionaire is paying. Additionally, as a result of the new RFP the current retail spaces are in for a major renovation and there's a potential for an arrivals retail space.

Meanwhile, there's been no word whether DFS plans to appeal, as has been widely speculated. DFS Guam's Jim Beighley declined to comment, as they left today's board meeting and would not confirm whether his company will be filing a protest of today's award.