Infra Insight Blog : written by Nossaman LLP Infrastructure attorneys, covers infrastructure project delivery, including Public-Private Partnerships, Operations & Management Agreements, policy, and news.

Ahead of schedule, NTE Mobility Partners has announced that the Texas Department of Transportation’s North Tarrant Express Managed Lanes project has reached financial close. Under the PPP deal, NTE Mobility - a Cintra-led consortium - will build, finance, maintain and operate a 13-mile corridor in the congested Dallas-Fort Worth area. The $2.02 billion project includes funding from $400 million worth of private activity bonds (PABs), $650 million in TIFIA credits, $573 million in investment from TxDOT, and $427 million in equity from NTE Mobility. The project reached commercial close in June 2009.

Last week’s unwrapped bond offering was oversubscribed 2.4 times, highlighting the market confidence in PPP deals. The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System is a 10% equity partner in NTE Mobility, the first pension fund to invest directly in infrastructure development.

Additional segments of the North Tarrant Express will be developed under a pre-development agreement with an affiliated developer, upon successful completion of negotiations. The North Tarrant Express projects, coupled with the IH-635 PPP deal and the Dallas Fort-Worth Connector design-build project highlight the role of the DFW Metroplex as a national laboratory for developing innovative approaches to solving transportation problems.

The North Tarrant Express project is the third PPP deal to reach financial close in 2009, after the I-595 Managed Lanes Project and the Port of Miami Tunnel Project, both in Florida. 

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The Utah Department of Transportation has announced its selection of the Provo River Constructors team to deliver the Utah County I-15 Corridor Expansion (I-15 CORE). Provo River Constructors is comprised of Flour Enterprises, Inc., Ames Construction, Inc., Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction Company, Inc. and Wadsworth Brothers Construction Company, Inc. The group will expand the I-15 freeway by two lanes in both directions from Lehi Main Street to Spanish Fork Main, extend the express lane from University Parkway in Orem to Spanish Fork, rebuild and reconfigure 10 freeway interchanges, replace and restore 55 bridges, and provide additional improvements without decreasing the number of lanes during the majority of construction. 

The Department used an innovative procurement methodology, selecting the proposer who offered to deliver the improvements that provided the best value to the Department for a fixed price set by the Department.  Best value was determined with reference to the ability of specified proposal elements to meet or exceed the project’s goals, values and requirements, as set forth in the procurement documents.

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USDOT has published new program guidance for the TIFIA Program which clarifies project selection criteria and processes. The new guidance is the product of long deliberation at USDOT, which withdrew an earlier proposal last spring. [See USDOT Withdraws Proposed Changes to the TIFIA Program.]

The notice:

• Announces a change in TIFIA selection criteria and processes going forward – rather than the current first come, first served basis for project submission, the new process would pool all letters of interest and apply weighting criteria to choose the “best” projects.

• Requests comments on a potential pilot program that would allow the borrower to pay the government’s subsidy cost for the project.

• Announces funding availability for 2010 (beyond what has been reserved for projects already pending approval).

New selection criteria would weigh projects according to projected impacts on safety, livability, sustainability, economic competitiveness and state of good repair. The new process will implement application deadlines to allow staff time to evaluate projects according to the clarified criteria, prior to submission to the Credit Council for final selection.  For consideration in the FY 2010 funding cycle, Letters of Interest must be submitted by December 31, 2009, using the revised form on the TIFIA website. 

The proposed pilot program could greatly expand the reach of the TIFIA program.   By allowing borrowers the option to pay the full subsidy cost of TIFIA assistance, USDOT hopes to extend credit to qualified projects that would otherwise be denied assistance solely due to funding constraints. Comments regarding the potential pilot program must be submitted by December 31, 2009.

Nossaman will provide a detailed analysis of the notice, which will be available via E-Alert or on the firm’s website.  

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The closing of the Port of Miami Tunnel Project deal was just short of miraculous, given the tight financial markets and the political ups and downs of the project procurement. Novel risk allocations helped ensure the success of the deal. The current issue of Public Works Finance includes an excerpted discussion of the risks and the way the Florida Department of Transportation chose to address them. The full text of Port of Miami Tunnel: Digging Through Novel Risks is available on Infra Insight.

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