tactics yesterday against three American companies that recently complained about Government's handling of the Airport bidding process.

"I want to vigorously defend the procedures we've undertaken,'' the Hon.

Grant Gibbons said at a news conference. "These companies knew the rules of the game upfront. I was surprised by the lack of professional etiquette among some of these firms.'' Dr. Gibbons was responding to a barrage of criticism from three of the nine foreign-based companies that were invited to bid for the contract to run the Airport, which reverts to Bermudian hands after the US Navy pulls out on September 1, 1995. Among the companies that made the complaints were JIL Systems Inc. of the Washington DC area, California-based Lockheed Aviation and Johnson Controls of Florida.

The companies claimed, among other things, that the New Zealand firm Government had hired to oversee the bids discouraged "creative'' submissions, that it was ignorant of the US Federal Aviation Administration's exact role and that a "major conflict of interest'' emerged when the company that was hired to write the specifications for the contract was also allowed to bid.

Yesterday, Dr. Gibbons disputed those claims point by point, saying that "putting out a tender of this sort'' always ran the risk of "sour grapes'' among those who lose out.

"We made it clear at the (August 24) bidding conference that we were looking for innovative ways to approach this,'' the Minister said in reference to the "creativity'' charge.

He added that Airways Corporation of New Zealand Ltd. had been in on the process from the very beginning and was well-equipped to answer queries about the FAA's involvement.

Last week, JIL Systems' director of business development said Airways Corporation staffers were unable to answer his questions and then failed to get back to him after promising to do so.

"Airways Corporation was part of the negotiations with the FAA. They certainly had a good understanding of the FAA's role,'' Dr. Gibbons said, adding: "The extent to which the FAA would be involved was also put in writing. I really don't understand why this should become an issue.'' The Minister, who stressed that Airport plans were on schedule, also defended the controversial inclusion in the bidding of Serco Aviation Services, the large British owner of Canadian-based Thompson Hickling Aviation Inc.

Thompson Hickling was the company Government retained to write the specifications for the contract.

"We made no secret right from the beginning that Serco would be allowed to bid,'' Dr. Gibbons said. "Just because they were more knowledgeable doesn't mean they should have been eliminated.'' He added: "If you have an engineer that comes to look at a problem with your roof and then you put the contract out to tender, should you allow that engineer to be excluded from bidding? Of course you shouldn't. And that holds true for Serco.'' Although only two bids were received by the September 30 deadline, Dr. Gibbons said they were "two excellent bids'' that actually represented four of original nine bidders.

In addition to Serco's, a bid was also made by US-based Allied Signal Technical Services, which has teamed up with Bermuda Aviation Services, Barton ATC Inc. and AeroMet Inc. The latter two, both from the United States, were among the nine firms invited to bid.

Dr. Gibbons said a successful bidder should be announced by the end of the month, when further negotiations are required.

The Hon. Grant Gibbons