LANSING – The Michigan Department of Transportation took major heat from members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday over questions surrounding the department’s request for proposal process, as well as why railroad company Talgo is the only company to submit a bid to Michigan on a high-speed rail project.
Critics have charged the RFP was written for Talgo to win it in the end, but department administrator Tim Hoeffner contends he doesn’t know why Talgo was the only one to submit a proposal.
“We issued the RFP and it was basically for any and all who wished to propose,” he said. “We knew it was a relatively small universe (of) three or four companies.”
Sen. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) asked about a provision, for instance, that only those with existing cars would be considered. Mr. Hoeffner didn’t deny that, explaining it is a “long and arduous process to vet a new piece of equipment,” which could take too long to not only build but inspect.
Another point of questioning was how well the company had been received elsewhere. In Wisconsin, for instance, the state terminated the contract, and France is suing Talgo.
“I think we have a responsibility to vet the credentials of the people we work with,” Kahn said, adding his concern that the department seemed disinterested in current news about Talgo.
But Hoeffner maintained that the department was in the middle of reviewing the RFP and just because it was doing so, that did not mean Talgo had actually won the contract. He said his understanding of the issue in Wisconsin is that they had gone through the procurement process, entered into a contract and moved forward with construction, but there was a “change of heart” by the rail passengers and the state decided to terminate the agreement.
The department admitted there were some “shortcomings” about Talgo, one being its lack of interoperability with the current track holder, Amtrak. Sen. Morris Hood III (D-Detroit) asked if the department could rescind the RFP and re-open the process, to which Mr. Hoeffner said the department always has the opportunity to terminate a contract but right now it is only evaluating the RFP submitted.
Despite the criticism from most of the committee, Hood said he feels the department is doing its job the way it’s supposed to, but the only question is whether the bidder, Talgo, is qualified or not.
“I don’t see where you did anything wrong. I don’t see where the process is flawed. But we have a bidder we don’t know if they’re qualified or not. The other question is: Why did we only have one bidder?” he said, asking to hear from other prospective companies who chose not to put in a bid.
But Kahn said he thought that was not appropriate for the time being and that the matter would be transferred to a transportation committee, such as the Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, for further discussion. Hood agreed.
“At the end of today, I’m going to ask Senator Pappageorge (to set up a meeting) so we understand the RFP process, the quality of proponents, and RFP versus requests for information, RFI, in a genuine sense,” Kahn said.
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