When asked why they had not imposed the same constraint on the TIFIA program during the passage of MAP-21 last year, the budget experts reportedly said it was an inadvertent mistake that they would fix in the next highway reauthorization in 2014.

Until recently, Australia’s Transfield Services had been the maintenance subcontractor for the NYNJ Link Partnership project company. It pulled out, however, leaving Macquarie to price that work in the group’s bid, which was won on the basis of the lowest-priced, qualifying proposal.

Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Inc. is a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin Group and represents more than 60% of its business. This debarment is the longest ever agreed to in a World Bank settlement and followed an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

“This case is testimony to collective action against global corruption,” said Leonard McCarthy, World Bank Integrity Vice President.

The mayor’s insistence on selling the distressed city’s utilities apparently convinced the Lehigh Valley Authority (LCA), the city’s largest water customer, that it needed to prevent a private takeover. The result was a dangerously aggressive bid on an onerous contract, says an equity analyst.

“My advice to investors would have been negative if one of the private bidders had won,” he says. “They’d never recover their capital, and the ratepayers are going to take it in the neck.”

The team offering the most scope, shortest concession period between 30 and 40 years and lowest guaranteed revenue stream takes the prize.

Funding is lined up, and environmental permits and 97% of the right-of-way are in hand for a major expansion of the highly congested 21-mile corridor. URS is updating favorable toll revenue forecasts, and the design is 60% complete.

They may no have a choice. Spanish and French concession developers have vast experience operating and maintaining toll roads. But only four U.S. maintenance specialists are capable of bidding PPPs—Transfield Services, Roy Jorgensen Associates, Infrastructure Corporation of America, and DBI Services. That’s not enough for the increasingly long bid lists in the over-heated PPP market in the U.S.

PennDOT is moving quickly to make good on a promise by the governor to address Pennsylvania’s embarrassing position of having more deficient bridges than any other state.

The technical score of the Spanish-South Korean joint venture led by Dragados was ranked 20% higher than that of Tutor/Zachry/Parsons. But Tutor’s low bid of $985 million won the day with a combined price (70%) / technical (30%) score of 90.55 vs. 89.68 for Dragados.

“Seems like an inauspicious start,” says a California transportation veteran. “They were going to do a public opening of the price but didn’t, and then it ends up this close!”