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The Maryland Transit Administration has extended the deadline to submit bids for the Light Rail (Purple Line) P3 project.

In mid December the deadline was extended from 9 January to 12 March. The four shortlisted consortia have now received a further five-month extension, until mid August, to submit their proposals.

Two weeks ago we reported that Maryland's new governor Larry Hogan had plans to include some funding for the project in the state's budget. This delay could jeopardize this federal funding that is necessary for the project.

In early January 2014 four teams were shortlisted and later in late July the Maryland Department of Transportation together with the Maryland Transit Administration launched the RFP for the project. The four shortlisted teams for the project are the following:

• Maryland Purple Line Partners: VINCI Concessions, Walsh Investors, InfraRed Capital Partners, ALSTOM Transport and Keolis S.A.

• Maryland Transit Connectors: John Laing Investments Limited, Kiewit Development Company and Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate LLC

• Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP): Meridiam Infrastructure Purple Line, LLC, Fluor Enterprises, Inc. and Star America Fund GP LLC

• Purple Plus Alliance LLC Proposer: Macquarie Capital Group and Skanska Infrastructure Development Inc.

The Purple Line project is a 16-mile light rail line that would run east-west inside the Capital Beltway between Bethesda in Montgomery County and New Carrollton in Prince George's County with 21 stations planned that would provide direct connections to Metrorail's Orange Line, Green Line and two branches of the Red Line, and the MARC Brunswick, Camden and Penn Lines.

The preferred bidder would be responsible for the design, build, finance, operate and maintenance (DBFOM) of the new line for a period of 35 years. The project also involves the equip and supply light rail vehicles.

The total project investment is estimated at US$2.4 billion and according to sources, the state would provide between US$300 and US$700 million. According to sources, the winning consortium is expected to contribute between US$500 million to US$900 million of the total project investment.

This month we have reported about several PPP projects in USA:

• Reconstruction of Interstate 70 East (I-70E) in Colorado
• Florida LYNX CNG fueling stations PPP project
• Illiana Expressway P3 - Indiana portion
• City of San Jose mixed use urban PPP project
• Brent Spence bridge in Ohio
• Seabras-1 telecom project
• I-77 HOT lanes P3 project
• DIA Great Hall redevelopment PPP project
• US Route 35 PPP project in West Virginia