Six teams respond to Indiana’s Illiana RFQ

Six teams have responded to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) issued last November by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) for the state’s 12-mile portion of the Illiana bi-state toll road project, the two agencies said in a statement.

Illinois, which is responsible for the other 35-mile section of the toll road, announced the five bid teams responding to its RFQ in December 2013.

The two states are working together on Illiana, a 47-mile greenfield, controlled access highway that will link Northwest Indiana with Chicago’s southern suburbs in Illinois, but are are separately procuring their own public-private partnership (PPP; P3) to deliver their respective parts of the project.

“The IFA and INDOT are honored to see interest from such qualified and experienced companies,” Indiana Public Finance Director Kendra York said. “We will thoroughly review the teams’ qualifications and announce a short list of proposers that [will] be invited to respond to a final Request for Proposals [RFP],” she added, but did not specify when the shortlisted teams would be announced.

The consortia responding to Indiana’s RFQ, several of which comprise the same companies interested in the Illinois portion of the project, are:

– Illiana East Mobility Partners – led by Cintra;
– Illiana Open Road Innovators – teaming SNC-Lavalin Capital with UIF GP, and Zachry Construction Corporation;
– Indiana Corridor Transportation Group – with ACS Infrastructure Development and Fengate Capital Management;
– Indiana Mobility Partners – teaming Fluor Enterprises with Plenary Group USA;
– Isolux Infrastructure Netherlands BV LLC – led by Isolux Infrastructure Netherlands; and
– WM Indiana – Illiana Partners LLC – led by Meridiam Infrastructure and Walsh Investors.

The entire project is estimated to cost $1.3 billion with Indiana’s portion accounting for $270 million of the total.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and INDOT have been working with the Federal Highway Administration since 2011 in planning the project. Illiana, which was conceptualised in 2007, has proved politically controversial.

The most recent hurdle was overcome in October last year when the policy committee of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) approved the project despite the objections of CMAP’s board.

Indiana has several large-scale transport infrastructure projects underway, but for Illinois the Illiana Corridor would be the first P3 of its kind.