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TxDOT to consider public-private partnership for Grand Parkway
By Marie Leonard Friday,
Community Impact Newspaper
08 July 2011
HOUSTON — Texas Department of Transportation officials are in the early stages of considering a public-private partnership to develop portions of the Grand Parkway, Houston’s third outer loop.
TxDOT stopped accepting responses July 6 for a request for information about how the state agency could develop the parkway with a public-private partnership.
When state legislators passed HB 2255 this spring, it gave TxDOT the authority to investigate what a public-private partnership could mean for the Grand Parkway. A public-private partnership is a means by which a public agency, like TxDOT, can partner with the private sector to deliver a project.
“This legislation gives us the authority to look at how we can [develop the Grand Parkway] in a partnership where there are shared risks and gains in terms of being able to deliver the project in an efficient timeframe that preserves the interest of the state,” said Raquelle Lewis, TxDOT spokesperson.
TxDOT issued the request for information June 10 in an effort to gather potential strategies from partners interested in the project, Lewis said.
“If you look at it from the big-picture perspective, TxDOT has been looking at the option of a public-private partnership for many years,” she said. “The biggest catalyst has to do with the lack of funding and the need to look at an array of solutions to bring forth projects that are critically needed in terms of transportation.”
A public-private partnership could include working together with a company in terms of a number of steps, relative to design, construction, maintenance or operation of a project, Lewis said.
“It could be a combination of any of those,” she said. “That’s what we are exploring at this time.”
The public-private partnership could affect Grand Parkway segments E, F-1, F-2, G, H and I-1. Segment E runs from IH 10 to Hwy. 290. Segment F-1 runs from Hwy. 290 to Hwy. 249, north of Cy-Fair, and Segment F-2 will connect Hwy. 249 to IH 45, south of Tomball.
Although funding is different for each segment, the responses from the request for information could focus on how the state constructs segments yet to be built, like F-1 and F-2, or how sections are maintained after construction, Lewis said.
If TxDOT decides to enter into a public-private partnership to develop the Grand Parkway, an agreement will most likely be awarded next summer, according to a timeline on the request for information.
According to the request for information timeline on TxDOT’s website, the following dates could signify how the agency will move forward investigating a public-private partnership:
-One-on-one meetings: July 2011
-Request for qualifications issued: August 2011
-Proposer submission of qualification statements in response to RFQ: October 2011
-Proposers eligible to submit detailed proposals: November 2011
-Draft RFP to short-listed proposers: November 2011
-One-on-one meetings with short-listed proposers: December 2011
-Final RFP issued to short-listed proposers: January 2012
-Proposer submission in response to RFP: May 2012