Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in USA has announced that three teams will be invited to submit proposals for a program to preserve 140 acres of PennDOT-owned land in Chalfont, Bucks County through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The land will be transformed into a mitigation site capable of providing on-demand mitigation credits for PennDOT and private-development projects.

Federal and state regulations require that impacts of infrastructure improvements to the environment be mitigated through replacement. The conventional approach is to develop project-specific mitigation sites that satisfy the improvement impacts. This P3 project aims to preserve and transform the 140 acres in Chalfont into a mitigation site. By creating this mitigation site, PennDOT will be able to deliver infrastructure projects in a faster and more economical way. The Chalfont site offers an opportunity to mitigate environmental impacts in a heavily urbanized area. By creating a mitigation banking site, PennDOT will also preserve open space by curbing future development on the 140-acre location.

The teams were scored and selected based on criteria including experience and technical approach; relevant experience and qualifications of key personnel; and their plan to deliver all required elements of the Required Project Services. The teams invited to submit proposals are First Pennsylvania Resource LLC, RK&K, Circa - Cultural Resource Management, Hunt Engineering; Magnolia Land Partners LLC; and Restoration Systems LLC, GAI Consultants Inc.

A draft Request for Proposals (RFP) will soon be issued to the teams with a final RFP issued in the summer. Proposals will be due by the fall, with an award made in winter 2019-2020.

The selected team will be responsible for the maintenance of the land associated with the credits for a period of no less than 30 years, with the ability to sell excess credits with an opportunity for revenue sharing.