A trio of American contractors outbid four other teams vying for the contract to build the first segment of California's high-speed train system in the San Joaquin Valley -- at several hundred million dollars less than state engineers estimated.
The consortium of Tutor Perini Corp. of Sylmar, Zachry Construction Corp. of Texas and Parsons Corp. of Pasadena offered the low bid of less than $1 billion. Recent estimates suggested the bids would likely come in at $1.2 billion to $1.8 billion.
Five construction teams submitted bids in January to the California High-Speed Rail Authority for the first 28 miles of the rail line from east of Madera to the south end of Fresno.
The Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons bid of $985,142,530 was deemed the "apparent best value" by the rail authority, based on a total score that considered both the price and the technical expertise of the competing companies.
(more on CA high-speed rail's first contract . . . )
