The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) Board of Directors awarded a $1.37-billion contract to the joint venture team of Tutor Perini/O & G to build the second section of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project to Century City. The board also established a budget of $2.4 billion for the project.
The award is based on the firm’s competitive proposal, which was about $500 million lower than other competitor bids.
“Today’s contract award to Tutor Perini brings us one step closer to fulfilling our promise to bring fast, reliable, high-capacity subway service to the Westside,” said John Fasana, Metro Board Chair and Duarte City Council Member. “We now have the funding in place and the contractor onboard to expedite delivery of this high priority, regionally beneficial transit project for Los Angeles County.”
In early January, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $1.5 billion in new federal grants and loans to Metro to build section two of the project.
In recommending the contractor for the award, Metro conducted a thorough and extensive competitive bidding process. The Tutor Perini team was deemed to have the best overall proposal through a combination of technical, project management and price components. All three proposals submitted were comparable on their technical merits, but the Tutor Perini team had the best value proposal.
Tutor Perini/O&G and its major subcontractors have delivered subway tunnel projects for the Central Subway project in San Francisco, the University Link in Seattle and the East Side Access project in New York.
Another large project the contractor successfully helped construct is the World Trade Center - Greenwich Street Corridor for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Completion of the second subway section is anticipated no later than 2026 per a funding agreement with the Federal Transit Administration and Metro is aiming to possibly finish the project at an earlier date. The second section will add another 2.6 miles to the Purple Line with one station at Wilshire/Rodeo in downtown Beverly Hills and a station in the heart of Century City.
A third and final section will extend the subway to the Westwood/VA Hospital. Construction of the third section is planned to begin as early as 2019.
Metro is now building the first section of the Purple Line Extension between the current subway terminus at Wilshire/Western and Wilshire/La Cienega with three new stations.
Tutor was involved in construction of the original Metro Red Line. The contractor built segments 2 and 3, completing section 3 to North Hollywood six months ahead of schedule and within the project’s budget.
“This team has a recent history of delivering successful tunneling projects across the globe,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “Metro is confident this contractor will play a critical role in helping us build the world-class public transportation system we have promised to voters.”
Metro intends to implement a strong oversight plan with experienced staff to ensure the project is completed as intended and remains on time and on budget. That includes ‘executive partnering’ between Metro and the contractor up to the CEO level to resolve project claims and changes. Metro will also pursue a collaborative approach to third-party issues.
