Uncertainty over how the new Tappan Zee Bridge will be financed prompted one of the four teams selected by the state to bid on the project to scrap its proposal at the 11th hour.
Hudson River Bridge Constructors, led by principal contractors Dragados USA Inc., Flatiron Constructors Inc., Samsung C&T Americas Inc. and Yonkers Contracting Co. Inc., was not among the three consortiums of developers who submitted bids by the July 27 deadline.
The group was unable to submit a proposal when Flatiron Constructors backed out due to financial considerations, a spokesman said.
“We were pleased to be a part of Governor Cuomo”™s efforts to rebuild a new Tappan Zee Bridge,” said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified by name. “Unfortunately, one of our partners, Flatiron, was unable to submit its financial qualifications. Therefore, a bid was not submitted.”
Without Flatiron”™s participation, any bid submitted by Hudson River Bridge Constructors would not have been in compliance with state regulations due to Flatiron”™s inclusion in the team”™s initial statement of qualifications, which was submitted to state and federal transportation officials as part of the bidding process in January.
Flatiron Constructors is a subsidiary of Flatiron Construction Corp., based in the Denver area, and recently completed construction on the Lake Champlain Bridge. Calls to Flatiron for comment were not returned.
The Hudson River Bridge Constructors proposal had been printed and was about to be sent to the New York State Department of Transportation on the day of the deadline when Flatiron gave word that it could not proceed and the proposal was scrapped, multiple sources said.
The state received more than 750,000 pages of documents from the remaining three teams.
Proposals were submitted by Kiewit-Skanska-Weeks, which includes principal contractors Kiewit Infrastructure Co., Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc. and Weeks Marine Inc.; Tappan Zee Bridge Partners, which includes Bechtel Infrastructure Corp. and Tutor Perini Corp.; and Tappan Zee Constructors, which includes Flour Enterprises Inc., American Bridge Co., Granite Construction Northeast Inc. and Traylour Bros. Inc.
State transportation officials have estimated the bridge will cost $5 billion.
Separately, the state released its final environmental impact statement Aug. 1, detailing a number of stringent requirements that the winning contractor must adhere to in order to limit the impact of construction on the river itself and the surrounding communities.
A source with knowledge of the Hudson River Bridge Constructors proposal said Flatiron was “spooked” by the sheer size of the project and uncertainty on the part of state officials over how the project would be financed.
While state officials have said they will resubmit for a loan under the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program when the next round of funding is made available, the amount of funding, if any, awarded to the Tappan Zee Bridge project won”™t be known until well after a contracting team is selected.
Without TIFIA funding available at the start of the project, “the upfront mobilization cost of building this bridge is gigantic,” the source said.
The state has also failed to elaborate on how the remainder of the project would be financed, the source said. The source noted that all of the principal contractors that make up the Hudson River Bridge Constructors team, with the exception of Flatiron, were prepared to move forward regardless.
Additionally, the source cast doubt on the state”™s estimate for the total cost of the bridge, saying that “it”™s going to be a real struggle to get it down to $5 billion” for the teams that submitted bids.
Brian Conybeare, the former News 12 anchor hired recently as special adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the Tappan Zee project, said in a statement that it would take state officials four weeks to review the proposals to ensure they are each complete and in compliance.
Conybeare will be paid a salary of $160,000 annually, including health benefits, and will be eligible for pension benefits after 10 years under the state”™s Tier 6 pension system, said Thruway Authority spokesman Daniel Weiller.
A proposal will be selected in September and the contract will be awarded in October, according to the state”™s request for proposals.
A selection committee made up of state officials, engineers and other experts in the field will make the final determination. The committee”™s members have not yet been announced.
Flatiron is having serious financial problems and has no cash or credit available from it’s parent corporations which is Hochtief AG in Germany, now controlled by Spanish conglomerate ACS. This is why they couldn’t proceed with the Tappan Zee Bridge project. ACS also owns Dragados.