California issues RFP for first PPP

California is now formally seeking proposals for the first public-private partnership under a new law allowing for the procurement of PPPs statewide.

On Friday the California Department of Transportation and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority issued the final request for proposals (RFP) for the $1 billion Presidio Parkway project.

The RFP’s issuance marks another milestone for a project which has already survived legal challenges and a tough public-relations offensive by a public engineers’ union opposed to its procurement. In May, the California Transportation Commission narrowly agreed to move forward with the PPP despite the legal and public relations challenges.

Presidio Parkway: RFP issued

The three teams California and San Francisco qualified for competition will now have until 10 September to submit their technical proposals for the project and until 24 September to submit their financial proposals, according to a procurement schedule posted on the California Department of Transportation website.

Those three teams are Golden Gate Access Group, which includes Spanish infrastructure developer ACS as an equity member; Golden Link Partners, which includes German infrastructure developer Hochtief and European infrastructure fund manager Meridiam as equity members and Royal Presidio SF Partners, which includes Spanish transport infrastructure operator Global Via as an equity member.

California Department of Transportation has now posted on its website the final PPP agreement for which the three bidders will be competing. In its instructions to the three bidders, the California Department of Transportation outlines that it will be seeking $500 million of federal credit assistance to the project through the US Department of Transportation’s TIFIA lending programme for infrastructure projects. The instructions also ask for a $15 million fee in case the winning bidder cannot reach financial close on the project.

California and San Francisco authorities will ultimately pick one of the teams to design, build, finance, operate and maintain an upgraded version of the southern access road to the Golden Gate Bridge, known as Doyle Drive. The road will be re-named Presidio Parkway upon completion.
The California Department of Transportation estimates the total capital cost of the project at $954 million.

If the project reaches financial close, it will be the first project to be funded under California’s new law allowing PPPs, which went into effect in February 2009.