procurement

North Carolina Turnpike Authority now envisage making their choice of tag/reader system mid-January, three months later than anticipated. Jim Eden chief operating officer says the procurement - formally "Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) Technology" - is the most difficult and far-reaching, and that they need time to get the decision right.

An alien paragraph that infiltrated the RFP was at the root of problems with Utah DOT's procurement for a toll system for the  I-15 HOT Lanes, officials say. Glenn Deitiker, president of Telvent Caseta says his company believed they'd won the contract when the prices were announced.

Utah DOT awarded TransCore the toll systems contract for the I-15 HOT Lanes despite the fact that it was the highest cost of three competing proposers. Summary documents obtained after we first wrote show the the bids for the build part of the project were Telvent-Caseta $8.1m, ETC $10.7m, TransCore $11.3m.

ACS State & Local have won two of the three major toll systems contracts just announced for the Triangle Expressway in North Carolina - Roadside Toll Collection and Back Office Systems. Washington Division of URS won Operations Services.

Georgia toll authority's I-85 HOT lanes procurement saw three companies bidding sticker tag transponders at $1.59 (TransCore), $1.79 (Neology) and $3.05 (Sirit). These are far and away the lowest prices ever bid for toll transponders in the US. The prices are for ISO 18000 6C (EPC GEN2) standard tags (6C), never to our knowledge specified before in any US toll procurement and never before offered by vendors.

TransCore have made their first sale of eZGo Anywhere transponders as part of a $16.3m contract to support tolls in HOT lanes on I-15 through Salt Lake City Utah.

Georgia state tollers have got an impressive five bids to supply new toll technology, initially to be deployed in toll/HOT lanes being built in I-85 northeast of Atlanta. I-85 with all respect to Georgia is a fiddly little toll project of small inherent importance to the industry. But the bidders clearly see it as a foot-in-the-door project that could open the way to serious toll system sales elsewhere.

Mississippi DOT (MsDOT) have announced "suspension" of the procurement process for a private sector concession to build the state's first tollroad in the modern era - Jackson Airport Parkway.

Georgia State Road and Toll Authority (Georgia Toll) have begun procurement of new toll systems to be initially deployed on I-85 toll express lanes northeast of Atlanta but intended to replace those currently used on GA400, and to be a standard for tolling elsewhere in the state.

Florida DOT is restarting the procurement of a toll concession to build and operate the Jacksonville First Coast Outer Beltway. This week they lodged a notice withdrawing the first procurement which was delayed about a year while the state obtained legislation exempting concessionaires from property tax.

Mark IV, manufacturers of E-ZPass transponders and readers for the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) members claim that rivals TransCore are violating several of their patents on the Greenville Southern Connector.

Mark IV is well positioned to win the E-ZPass recompete. Close analysis of the Request For Proposals (RFP) from the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) indicates it will be difficult for competitors to put up competitive bids. Indeed implementing any new technology from the existing Mark IV transponders will be tough.