The California High-Speed Rail Authority has called for contractors to submit their qualifications to bid on the 60-mile phase of construction from Fresno south to the Tulare-Kern County line near Bakersfield.

Firms will have until December 6 to submit their statement of qualifications. The Authority will then review these applications and establish a shortlist of the most highly qualified firms to provide design-build services for the project. Firms will be selected based on experience, technical competency, ability to perform and other factors. The shortlisted firms will then be eligible to submit formal design-build proposals in 2014.

The design-build contract is estimated at $1.5 to $2 billion.

The Authority expects that the procurement attracts a number of major national and international construction and design firms. Firms are likely to form teams, including large numbers of sub-consultants, to deliver work on this scale.

Funding for this contract was appropriated in Senate Bill 1029 (Chapter 152, Statutes of 2012) and approved by the state legislature in July 2012. It allocated $2.61 billion of Proposition 1A funds to match $3.24 billion in federal funds for a total of $5.9 billion to begin construction on the first 130 miles of high-speed rail infrastructure in the Central Valley.

Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons joint venture was recently awarded a contract to construct the first segment of the California high-speed rail system. The contract is valued at approximately $985 million.

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