Fairfax County delivered inaccurate information in a resolution passed Monday urging the commonwealth to consider putting multibillion-dollar rail project out to bid, according to a group of contractors vying to build the track.
A motion before the county’s Board of Supervisors alleged Dulles Transit Partners slashed design features and provided suspect cost estimates — driven by “excessively high rates of profit” — for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project. A scaled-back version of the resolution passed that night, asking the state “to seriously weigh the option” of seeking other proposals.
But Dulles Transit Partners, which is made up of Bechtel Infrastructure and Washington Group International, issued a written retort on Tuesday, detailing what it considers the board’s misinformation.
Under what is called a public-private partnership, which some equate to a no-bid contract, the firms have done preliminary engineering work and are on track to enter negotiations with the state for design and construction of the first phase of the Metrorail extension.
The first portion of the project would split from Metro’s OrangeLine before the West Falls Church station and run to Wiehle Avenue. The entire 23-mile track, expected to cost $4 billion and be complete by 2015, will take the line past Dulles Airport.
Dulles Transit Partners contend that design features like escalators, pedestrian bridges and elevators were, in fact, included in preliminary engineering plans. It “stands by the integrity of our team and our cost estimates,” but said it’s too early to talk about indirect costs, fees and overhead because a price proposal has not been submitted to the commonwealth.
The Fairfax board resolution and response to it highlight a growing gap between the wishes of local lawmakers and the apparent intentions of Virginia officials, who are showing no signs of changing their plans to enter talks with Dulles Transit Partners.
