Mayor Adams’ administration urged to probe NYC helipad contract over conflict of interest allegations

An aviation company executive is calling on Mayor Adams’ administration to launch an investigation into concerns that a competitor had an unfair advantage in winning a lucrative helipad contract from the city’s economic development agency.

Adam Trenk, CEO of Thoroughbred Sea & Air, made the request for a probe into the competitor, Saker Aviation, in a Wednesday letter to Kevin Kim, Adams’ commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services. Both companies bid on the contract.

As first reported last week by the Daily News, the city Economic Development Corporation’s decision to issue the contract for operating the Pier 6 helipad in Manhattan to Saker has raised conflict of interest concerns due to the fact that Saker’s chairman, William Wachtel, is law partners with Morris Missry, who sits on the EDC board.

According to Trenk, Thoroughbred Sea & Air submitted a bid on Sept. 20, 2022 that would have required it to pay the city 34% of its gross revenue in fees to operate the helipad as a baseline. In November, Thoroughbred made a final offer slightly higher than the first, with a proposed baseline fee rate of 34.7%, according to a bid supplement reviewed by The News.

Saker, which has operated the helipad since 2008, proposed in its final offer for continuing to run the site a baseline fee of 36% — 1.3% higher than Thoroughbred’s, an award notice from the EDC confirms. It’s unclear what baseline rate Saker proposed in any previous versions of the bid.

Trenk claimed in his letter it’s “impossible to imagine” Saker would’ve boosted its offer in such a way “without some inside information, given that for nearly 15 years Saker had not been paying more than 20% of gross revenues,” a reference to fees the firm paid on past contracts.

“Saker’s close connection to an EDC board member, when coupled with the pricing in Saker’s proposed contract for the heliport, warrants investigation and careful review,” Trenk wrote in the letter. “[Thoroughbred] is concerned, among other things, whether [Thoroughbred’s] competitive information was shared with Saker during the procurement process.”

Trenk — who declined to comment beyond his complaint — asked the Department of Small Business Services to probe his claims. Specifics about pending bids for city contracts have to be kept confidential to avoid any given party gaining an unfair advantage by knowing about their rivals’ offers.

But the EDC, which was looped in on Trenk’s correspondence, told The News on Thursday that it will handle a “review“ of his claims, citing procurement process protocol.

EDC spokesman Jeff Holmes vehemently denied Trenk’s allegations.

“It is disappointing that the Daily News is once again carrying water for a disgruntled company that failed to win a city contract and spreading baseless allegations about a rigorous selection process,” Holmes said. “We absolutely reject the false claim that confidential information from one submission was shared with another bidder.”

Saker CEO Sam Goldstein declined to comment. Wachtel told The News last week that Missry had “no involvement whatsoever” in the Saker contract.

EDC’s ethics bylaws require board members to withdraw themselves from any matter where “personal and/or financial interest conflicts or may conflict with the interest of the Corporation.” They must also disclose any such conflicts on annual disclosure forms.

Last week, EDC confirmed Missry had not recused himself from the Saker matter, despite his tie to Wachtel.

However, an EDC rep said at the time that “there was nothing to recuse” since the helipad contract never went before the board, which “as a matter of course” does not involve itself directly in the corporation’s “individual procurements.”

“[The EDC] board is not involved in any way with this RFP selection, and the continued accusations of a conflict of interest have no basis in fact,“ Holmes said Thursday, using an acronym for “Request for Proposal.”

EDC records show Saker stands to take in tens of millions of dollars from the new contract for the helipad, which is mostly used by helicopter companies catering to wealthy tourists and business executives who work in the area.

Though the EDC plans to let Saker keep running the helipad, the matter must be approved at a joint hearing by the corporation and Adams’ Office of Contract Services on March 3.

Trenk argued that hearing should be postponed until an investigation has been conducted.