The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority on Wednesday approved a $1.6 billion contract with two engineering firms to build the first half of Metrorail to Dulles, as well as another $100 million contract to help manage the project.
In a unanimous vote, MWAA cemented its agreement with Bechtel Infrastructure and Washington Group International — together organized as Dulles Transit Partners — to design and construct the rail’s initial 11.6-mile phase from West Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue. The move follows months of closed-door negotiations that ended in late March.
“I don’t think any time in the history of the authority will a vote have so much impact on this region for the better,” said MWAA Chairman Mame Reiley.
The first phase’s total cost could be as much as $2.7 billion. The Federal Transit Administration is still considering whether to approve federal funding to cover a large portion of that.
The deal is moving forward under a controversial public-private partnership that critics, including MWAA Board Member Robert Brown, have attacked as noncompetitive and overly favorable to the two contractors.
The contract uses Virginia’s Public Private Transportation Act, which allows governments to skirt the traditional bidding process in favor of direct negotiation with contractors. Brown, who nevertheless voted for the contract’s approval, said the law “severely handicapped” the airports authority, and failed to live up to its promise of providing a fixed price for the rail. Only about 60 percent of the price is finalized under the contract.
“We have achieved the worst of both worlds,” he said. “We do not have competitive bidding, and we do not have a fixed price for this contract.”
The authority also approved a five-year, $20 million per year project management contract with Fort Worth, Texas-based Carter & Burgess, which will take on some administrative, information technology, public relations and planning management roles, among other tasks.
The firm drew fire earlier this year when it issued a highly negative review of an independent proposal to run about 3.4 miles of the rail through a tunnel under Tysons Corner — a concept counter to MWAA’s and the state’s existing plans for an aerial track. Critics charged that Carter & Burgess was courting MWAA at the time and slanted the study in order to win the management contract.
“It is undeniable that there was a very significant conflict of interest by the parties engaged to review the tunnel documents, and today it has been made explicit,” said Scott Monett, president of the pro-tunnel group Tysonstunnel.org.
The FTA, however, recently backed the group’s conclusions on the tunnel, saying proponents had understated cost increases and delays.
A Carter & Burgess spokesman could not be reached Wednesday.
