JAA considers outsourcing maintenance jobs; Companies could handle work from custodial to baggage screening.

The Aviation Authority is looking for companies that are interested in handling maintenance for Jacksonville International Airport.

Later this month, according to a letter sent to maintenance workers, the authority plans on posting a formal Request for Qualifications and Interest. This will be "the first of many steps to testing the market for alternative facility and maintenance options," the letter from Executive Director John Clark said.

The "full spectrum" of maintenance work at the airport, from custodial work to management of the airport's baggage screening system, could be included .

Such a broad approach, the authority argues, makes it different from other times the authority has tried outsourcing: It had limited success with hiring a German firm to run the JIA baggage screening system, and an experiment in hiring a custodial company several years ago led to complaints of an unclean terminal and dirty bathrooms.

The process of looking for an outside firm began in January, when maintenance workers were told to submit details of their jobs to the authority with an eye toward seeing what could be done by third-party firms. At the time, the authority said the request for qualification could go out in early spring.

In his letter, Clark reiterated statements he made in January that a decision had not yet been made, with the authority reserving the right to "accept or reject any and all responses, amend, and/or cancel this process at any time."

Still, the 100 or so skilled maintenance workers who would be affected by such a process are concerned.

"He says he's testing the waters," said Marcus Rau, president of the Florida Council of Industrial and Public Employees UBC 2081, which represents the workers. "Well, me and a lot of others are looking for jobs."

Companies will probably have four to six weeks to respond to the RFQ, an authority spokesman said.

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