5 Companies Invited to Bid for Next Portion of California High Speed Rail Project

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has invited five companies to submit bids for the second contract to build part of the state’s high-speed rail line. The winning bidder will be expected to complete a 65-mile stretch of the line from southern Fresno to the Tulare-Kern county line. The Request for Proposal issued Thursday for Construction Package 2-3 (CP 2-3) states that each company’s proposal must be submitted by September 2 of this year. The California High-Speed Rail Authority is using a design-build contract for the project and will chose the winning bid in November.

According to Authority CEO Jeff Morales, “All five teams passed a rigorous review process to become qualified to bid on this project. The Authority looks forward to seeing what these teams come up with and we anticipate the bids to be very competitive.” Tutor Perini Corp., a combination of Zachry Construction and Parsons Corp., won the bid for the first contract to build the rail line between Madera and Fresno. They were invited along with four other consortiums to bid for the $1.5 to $2 billion CP 2-3 contract. The other four companies include:

California Rail Builders, a joint venture that includes Ferrovial Agroman U.S. Corp. and Granite Construction.

Dragados/Flatiron/Shimmick, a consortium that includes Dragados USA Inc., a subsidiary of Spanish firms Grupo ACS and Dragados S.A.; Flatiron West Inc. of San Francisco; and Shimmick Construction of Oakland.

Golden State Rail Partnership, which includes OHL USA Inc., a subsidiary of Spain's Obrascón Huarte Lain S.A. and Samsung E&C America Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of South Korea's Samsung Group.

Skanska-Ames Joint Venture, a team that includes Skanska USA Civil West California District Inc. (a subsidiary of Sweden's Skanska) and Minnesota-based Ames Construction Inc.

Once the bids are received, the Authority will evaluate and score each team’s proposal. The technical aspect of each bid will be weighted as 30 percent of the overall score, and the cost will comprise 70 percent of the score. The team with the highest score will be awarded the contract. The Authority is also looking for a Project and Construction Management Team to oversee the CP 2-3 phase of the rail line. The Project and Construction Management Services portion of the CP 2-3 contract is estimated to be worth $45 to $65 million. The RFP states that the design-build team will be responsible for delivering final designs for bridges, culverts, trenches and tunnels, utility relocations, aerial structures, grade separation, security and drainage. The actual laying of the track is not included in the contract and will be awarded separately at a later date.