by Sunny Astorga
Staff Writer
For the next 20 months, Aramark will serve University of Houston students, faculty and staff who eat on campus.
The proposal to extend Aramark's contract passed unanimously in a short Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
Aramark will remain on campus until December 1998. At that time, administrators hope to have a proposal for a new contract approved.
"We hope, even in the context of the extension, to make some advancements," said Elwyn Lee, vice president of student affairs and enrollment services.
According to Lee, advances such as adding both a hot-food service and a couple of food carts outside the Horizons cafeteria in the Moody Towers are part of the plan for improvement.
Ann Lamar, executive director of auxiliary services, said a Request for Proposal, through the assistance of the consultant hired by the Cornyn Fasano Group, will be ready this summer. A Request for Proposal tells bidders the parameters of how, and on what, to bid.
"The Request for Proposals will be distributed to potential bidders near September and October," Lamar said.
Lamar added that vendors' proposals should be in by December or January and about 90 days will be taken by the RFP Committee to review them.
A recommendation will then be made by the committee, on which two students serve.
"Preliminary negotiations with the possible contractor will be made. And in the August 1998 Board of Regents meeting, the contract that will begin in December will be submitted," Lamar said.
Lee said the new contract will be for at least three years, but it is important to shoot for a five-year contract.
Long-term contracts, Lee said, are more effective in getting the food service contractor to invest in improvements for the university.
"With a long-term, it's easier to make improvements. There's more time to advance the establishment," Lee said. "(More time) is better to improve upon the infrastructure."
Whether the answer to better service is a long-term contract or not having a contract at all is debatable among those in food service operations.
Murray Stopherd, assistant director of housing and food services at The University of Texas at Austin, said while some of UT's on-campus food service is contracted out, the food service provided to residents is self-operated.
"The university and the University Housing and Food Services operate the food services. They are not obligated to a particular food contractor. It is self-funded. We raise our own revenue," Stopherd said.
Stopherd added that response time for student requests and concerns are more rapid when compared to that of a contractor.
"Self-operated food service contractors do a better job," Stopherd said. "Food service contractors export money. In self-operated food service, the money students pay is reinvested into our system. With the contractor, (students' money) also pays for all sorts of fees."
While students' money does pay for certain administrative services, Stopherd said it still stays within the university.
"It's a 100 percent package. It is funded by the students and supported by the students."
Lamar said the university also awaits the consultants' recommendations to merge all UH universities under one contract.