Denver's short-term rental monitoring contract ran out in April. A backdated extension, without a new bid, heads to the Council
The $97,253 amendment keeps the listing-tracking service through 2029 but drops monitoring of long-term rental listings. The city says it can't afford to rebid the work now.
Denver uses an outside company to find short-term rental listings, like those on Airbnb and Vrbo, and match them against city licenses. That contract ended April 11. An amendment to restart it, dated from April 12, cleared the Finance and Business Committee on consent Nov. 10 and is on the Nov. 17 Mayor-Council agenda (26-1711, meeting).
Why it matters: Denver only allows short-term rentals in a host's primary residence, with a license. Monitoring software is how the city finds hosts who skip the license or break the rules.
The amendment
From the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection's request:
- Adds $97,252.70, for a new total of $833,252.70.
- Adds three years. The old term ran June 1, 2021, through April 11, 2026. The new one runs April 12, 2026, through April 12, 2029.
- Drops a service. The amendment "discontinues monitoring services for long-term residential rental listings."
- Adds accessibility rules, requiring the vendor to meet standards set by the Colorado Office of Information Technology.
The resolution names Neumo Group LLC. The request lists the vendor as Linebarger Analytics & Information Services LLC, of Austin, Texas. This is the contract's third amendment.
Why there's no new bid
The original contract was competitively bid. Because the extension would push it past five years, the city's contracting rules required a reason. The department cited "Economic Factors are Unfavorable to Re-bid":
This service is critical to enforcing the city's short-term rental licensing and platform accountability requirements. DLCP and TS do not have budgetary resources to re-bid the contract at this time. The extension of the contract will provide for enforcement continuity while allowing TS to budget for the research and resources needed to prepare an RFP in the future
TS is the city's Technology Services department.
What our records add
The last extension cost far more. In December 2023 the Council approved a second amendment adding $469,000 and two years, to April 11, 2026, for "investigation services and residential rental program identifications" (23-1849). That brought the total to $736,000. The new three-year extension is about a fifth of that amount. The request doesn't break down the cost, but the earlier work included long-term rentals, which this amendment drops.
Long-term rentals need licenses too. Denver began requiring licenses for long-term rentals after a 2021 Council vote (our story). The request doesn't say how the city will now find unlicensed long-term rentals.
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The Council has rewritten the short-term rental rules several times. It allowed short-term rentals in a primary residence in 2016 (16-0261), tightened the definition of primary residence and added reasons to deny licenses in 2020 (20-0240), and later that year defined booking services and gave the licensing director subpoena power (20-1229).
What's next
Tuesday, Nov. 17: Mayor-Council. Nov. 23 or later: a Council vote, likely in the resolutions block unless a member calls it out.