BART seeks industry input on key federal stimulus project
Oakland Airport Connector on fast track to construction
BART is looking for industry input to begin the process of building the long-awaited transit connection between the Oakland Airport and the Coliseum BART Station that will be quicker, easier and more efficient than the current connection – the AirBART bus.
BART has until the end of the year to award a contract to build the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project or it will lose $70 million in federal stimulus money. The connector project would create and/or support approximately 13,000 construction-related jobs and generate $1.2 billion in economic activity according to the formulas from the American Public Transportation Association.
BART SEEKS INPUT FROM CONTRACTORS ON APRIL 21
BART is holding an industry forum for the construction and the automated people mover industries on April 21, 2009, at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission offices in Oakland to provide an update on the re-launch of the OAC project procurement and to seek market feedback. In addition to a public presentation, there will also be the opportunity for one-on-one discussions for those participants who are heavy civil or Automated People Movers (APM) system contractors and have delivered transit systems of similar scale.
Recently, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) allocated $70 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to the OAC, as well as an additional $70 million in discretionary funds from Regional Measure 2 (RM2), and state and local partnership funds in an attempt to accelerate the project’s completion. Receiving the ARRA funds entails meeting very aggressive schedule deadlines set by MTC. The project must be out to bid by June 2009 and awarded prior to the end of 2009 or the ARRA funds will be reallocated. As a consequence, BART is planning a procurement approach that will fast track award of the project.
The forum will be held on April 21, 2009 at 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at MTC’s offices in Oakland. Companies/Individuals must register in advance for the forum at www.bart.gov/OAC. Requests for one-on-one meetings by firms and/or teams should be submitted to: Sharla Sullivan at [email protected] or 510-287-4982 by heavy civil or APM system contractors that have delivered transit systems of similar scale.
BACKGROUND ON PROJECT FUNDING
BART’s previous efforts to procure OAC as a Public Private Partnership were impacted by affordability constraints such as technology and civil costs as well as a significant decline in passenger traffic at Oakland International Airport. In addition to the ARRA and MTC funding, the new procurement differs from the prior in several significant ways. BART is considering adapting several key performance specifications that will still allow for meeting the capacity goals, but will permit a broader range of technology solutions in order to increase competition. In addition, the contract will not include a responsibility to provide project financing. BART anticipates concurrently letting Design-Build and long-term Operate-Maintain contracts in which an integrated team comprised of design, construction and systems technology firms will be responsible for all design, construction, integration and startup, followed by operations and maintenance during revenue service for a term of 20 years or more.
ABOUT THE OAKLAND AIRPORT CONNECTOR
The initial system will have two stations and will operate on a 3.2-mile exclusive right-of-way with automated driverless vehicles. Based upon pre-existing funds and the MTC allocations, BART anticipates a capital budget (excluding previous expenditures and BART in-house costs) of approximately $415 million.