Infra Insight Blog

On October 27, 2014, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) soliciting statements of qualifications (SOQs) from qualified firms interested in submitting proposals for the design and construction of the $900 million I-405 Improvement Project (the Project) through a design-build contract. OCTA is seeking a private firm that is experienced in managing, designing and constructing general use roadways.

The Project will consist of designing and constructing an improvement that generally adds one general-purpose lane in each ...

A Federal Court has ordered the Department of Transportation (DOT) to respond to a lawsuit filed by three environmental organizations—Earthjustice, Sierra Club and ForestEthics—in which the parties asked the court to order DOT to respond to the organizations’ request for an emergency order banning the use of DOT-111 tanks cars for the shipment of crude oil by rail.

DOT has 60 days to provide the Court with a response to Sierra Club’s lawsuit, which alleges that DOT is in violation of the law for failing to respond to its Unsafe Tank Car Petition.  The petition, filed with DOT on ...

California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., has signed California Senate Bill (SB) 785. As my colleague Nancy Smith has observed, enactment of SB 785 is a major step forward for the State of California, because now many more state and local agencies can use design-build.

One of the immediate benefits of this change is that the much-anticipated Caltrain electrification project will be able to proceed as a design-build procurement. The authority of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (JPB) to issue design-build contracts was slated to expire at the end of this year, but SB 785 ...

Nossaman is assisting friends at the University of California, Riverside with publicizing the following two job opportunities.

The first position is a newly-refined position as Director of Capital Asset Management, reporting to a new Assistant Vice Chancellor for Capital Asset Strategies.  Responsibilities of the Capital Asset Management (CAM) unit will include real estate projects (on campus and off campus), leases, licensing, space management, GIS services, faculty housing, public-private partnerships and related matters.

The second position is the new Assistant Vice ...

With the enactment of Senate Bill 785, the State of California has taken a major step forward in authorizing state and local agencies to use design-build.  Although many California agencies have the ability to use design-build without the need for specific enabling legislation, other agencies require specific design-build legislation in order to be able to use design-build effectively, either because they are precluded by law from using a best value selection process for design-build or do not have the ability to bundle design and construction into a single contract.

The new ...

The inaugural P3s for Public Buildings Summit will be held on November 17-18, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, FL. The summit will be hosted by the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships and the Performance Based Building Coalition.

The summit will explore ways that P3s can be developed and implemented to replace the nation’s deteriorating public buildings, including schools, hospitals, courthouses, universities, police stations and prisons.

• Topics of discussion will include:
• Financing of projects;
• Federal policy challenges and solutions;
• Case studies of ...

On September 17, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s Panel on Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) released its report and recommendations.  The group, empaneled in February of this year, was tasked with examining issues regarding public-private partnerships across all aspects of the Committee’s jurisdiction.  The panel held two hearings and seven roundtable discussions in addition to other meetings and briefings. The report recognizes that the nation’s infrastructure needs are extraordinary and P3s in certain situations can provide innovative ...

The FHWA published its final Core Toll Concessions P3 Model Contract Guide (Guide) on September 10, 2014 as part of its mandate under MAP-21 to develop standard public-private partnership transaction model contracts for the most popular types of public-private partnerships.  The Guide serves as an educational tool to assist states, public transportation agencies, and other public officials in developing their own public-private partnership agreements. 

The FHWA determined an educational approach is preferred to prescriptive requirements based on feedback received during a ...

The Florida Department of Transportation reached commercial and financial close on the I-4 Ultimate Project in the urban Orlando area.  The $2.3 billion deal is the third transportation P3 project in Florida developed through an availability payment structure, and is the largest availability payment transaction ever undertaken in the United States.

FDOT entered into an agreement with I-4 Mobility Partners OpCo LLC, a consortium led by Skanska Infrastructure Development Inc. and John Laing Investments Limited.  The Concessionaire will design, construct, finance, maintain and ...

Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts will soon become a reality for many cities and counties looking for a mechanism to perform some functions previously done by redevelopment agencies.  Senate Bill 628 (SB 628) passed the State legislature on August 30, 2014 which, when signed by the Governor, would expand the use of Infrastructure Financing Districts.

SB 628 authorizes the legislative body of a city or county to establish an enhanced infrastructure financing district, adopt an infrastructure financing plan, and issue bonds, for which only the enhanced infrastructure ...