Looking for transportation-related contracting opportunities? Try Texas!
by Mary Scott Nabers
CEO of Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
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Forty-three of the recent transit awards have been made in Texas.
These funds will open up thousands of contracting opportunities for private sector firms. Purchasing will include vehicles, new facilities, infrastructure and construction services, facility rehabilitation, maintenance, safety and security equipment, radios and all types of technology.
The largest transit award in Texas is more than $87.2 million and the funding went to the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. These funds will be used for High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, purchase of 19 light rail cars and for construction of transit shelters.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) was awarded $78.3 million, which it will use to construct a northwest-southeast light rail line. DART also captured another $61.2 million for other light rail construction.
San Antonio's VIA Metro Transit Authority will spend $30.2 million on 29 replacement buses, fare equipment and facilities construction. El Paso's Sun Metro plans to build Glory Road and Westside transit terminals with its $15.1 million award, and will rebuild 25 buses and purchase 200 accessible bus shelters. Computer hardware and software will be purchased as well as automated vehicle locator systems.
Not all of the awards in Texas were multi-million-dollar grants. The City of Tyler was awarded $968,500 that it will use to replace five buses, build shelters and purchase trash receptacles.
Hardware and software and new radios will be purchased with an award of $192,500 granted to the City of Grand Prairie for its transit service. DART will replace its radio system for light rail with the more than $300,000 grant it received. The Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission in Victoria plans to purchase nine replacement buses with a $775,000 award.
In addition to the $6.7 billion already allocated, 45 other grant requests from across the country with a combined value of $346.5 million are currently being reviewed. If approved, that would increase the number of grant awards nationwide to more than 700, valued at $7.5 billion.
The Recovery Act also made available $1.5 billion in discretionary funding that USDOT can award to support major capital infrastructure investments. Transit projects are eligible for these grants and eligible entities have until mid-September to apply for them.
Transportation-related contracting opportunities are plentiful in Texas.
