RTD Press Release

The Regional Transportation District has released the Request for Proposals for the Eagle P3 Project, the public-private partnership venture that will complete several FasTracks projects through one collective contract. As planned, the RFP was delivered to three pre-qualified teams on Wednesday.

The $2.3 billion Eagle P3 Project will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the East Corridor from Denver Union Station to Denver International Airport, the Gold Line to Arvada and Wheat Ridge, a short segment of the Northwest Rail Corridor to Westminster and the commuter rail maintenance facility.

“The release of this RFP represents two years of hard work and innovation by scores of people to craft a partnership that will help deliver a large portion of the FasTracks program,” said Phil Washington, RTD’s Interim General Manager. “This P3 project will serve as a model for public entities across the nation that are looking to partner with the private sector to build major public projects, especially at a time when cash flows are being severely impacted by the economy.”

In 2008, RTD short-listed three teams to compete for the P3 contract. The teams include:

Denver Transit Partners:
• Fluor Enterprises, Inc.
• Macquarie Capital Group Ltd.
• Ames Construction
• Balfour Beatty Rail, Inc.
• Alternate Concepts, Inc.
• HDR Global Design Consultants

Mile High Transit:
• John Laing
• HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions
• Bombardier
• Flatiron Corporation
• Archer-Western
• Aldridge Electric
• AECOM
• CH2M-HILL

Mountain-Air Transit Partners:
• HSBC
• Siemens
• Veolia
• Kiewit
• Herzog
• Stacy and Witbeck
• HNTB Corporation
• Mass. Electric Construction Co.

Proposals from the bidding teams are due in spring 2010. RTD expects to select a final team in June 2010.

A growing number of public entities are pursuing public-private partnerships as a way to benefit from upfront private equity to help build major infrastructure projects. While P3 projects are more common internationally, RTD’s Eagle P3 Project represents a unique model for a major transit project in the United States.

FasTracks is RTD’s voter-approved transit program to expand rail and bus service throughout the RTD service area. FasTracks will build 122 miles of commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and redirect bus service to better connect the eight-county District. The FasTracks investment initiative is projected to create more than 10,000 jobs during the height of construction, and will pump billions of dollars into the regional economy.

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UPDATE: The RTD board Tuesday night approved the issuance of the Eagle P3 request for public-private partnership proposals, along with the increased stipends to the unsuccessful bidders and the $20 million payment to the winning bidder in the event RTD later cancels the project.

The vote was 14-0, with Director Bill James absent but sending a statement of support.

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RTD board members tonight will consider increasing the $1.75 million stipends it is offering to each of the three teams of bidders on the FasTracks lines to the airport and Arvada-Wheat Ridge, to $2.5 million each, to encourage them to stay in the chase for the innovative and risky public-private partnership.

That’s in addition to a new $20 million fee RTD will take up tonight to be paid to the winning team in the event it signs a deal with RTD and the transit district later backs out.

It is all part of a vote to release a request for proposals by the end of the month to the three teams.

The public-private partnership idea is part of RTD’s strategy for bringing down the upfront costs of FasTracks, now $2.2 billion underwater with expenses over finances if it wants to finish on the original schedule of 2017.

The winning private team would enter into a concession contract with RTD to provide significant private financing – up to $1 billion – plus a design-build project delivery approach similar to that used by RTD and CDOT on the successful T-REX highway-transit project, and then capped off with a 40-year operating and maintenance agreement with the private partner. Under the concession, the private team would receive annual payments from RTD in exchange for providing the system and operating it to RTD schedules and standards.

Capital Metro’s beleaguered commuter rail project will face further delays after federal regulators turned up a defect in the “vital logic” of the signals used to tell trains to slow down and stop when there is trouble ahead, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

In addition, the Federal Railroad Administration officials, during a visit to Austin last week, “strongly urged” Capital Metro to compile a “systems integration” document on running both freight and passenger trains along the same 32-mile track from Leander to downtown Austin. Capital Metro, because it plans to operate the freight trains at night and the passenger trains during the day, had not previously put together the report, board member Mike Martinez said.

New Mexico’s commuter rail service, Rail Runner Express, will add Sunday service by the Labor Day weekend, says Gov. Bill Richardson.