On July 8, 2010 Gwinnett County issued a request for qualifications, or RFQ, for firms interested in entering into a public-private partnership to operate Briscoe Field. This is the next step in the Federal Aviation Administration-sponsored pilot program that will help County officials study airport privatization options and possible changes in operations. Potential options may include privatization as a general aviation airport or the addition of scheduled passenger air service.

Qualification submittals will be received until 2:50pm on August 16 at the Gwinnett County Purchasing Office, 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Qualification submittals will be publicly opened and only names of submitting firms will be read at 3:00pm that same day. A list of firms submitting qualifications will be available the following business day at http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/.

Following the opening, an evaluation team will assess the submittals and develop a short list of pre-qualified firms that demonstrate the financial resources and management capability to improve and operate the airport. These firms may be asked at a later date to submit financial and technical proposals on potential airport privatization and operations should the County decide to move forward with the next steps in the process. If an agreement is reached with a firm, the County then would submit a final application to the FAA. There is no timeline for the FAA to complete its review.

Final approval by the FAA will be based on a number of conditions that include the private operator's ability to ensure continued access to the airport on reasonable terms, continued safe operations, continued maintenance and improvements, security, decreased noise and environmental impacts and continued operation of the airport in case the private operator goes bankrupt or other defaults.

"Moving forward with the RFQ is important because it will allow us to learn more about the best use of Briscoe Field and an array of privatization opportunities," said Commission Chairman Charles Bannister. "When we learn more about the airport operation options and interests, we can then involve the community in helping us weigh our options."

Congress authorized the airport privatization pilot program in 1996 "to explore privatization as a means of generating access to sources of private capital for airport improvement and development." Chosen airports would be exempt from repaying federal loans invested in their facilities.

Click here for a fact sheet about the potential airport privatization process.