New York Selects Companies To Bid on Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement

The Tappan Zee replacement bridge project is underway, and one of the first steps involves picking the companies that can bid on the project.

The state has released the list of four qualified competitive bidders for the new Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River.

Statements of qualifications were received from five design-build consortiums and four groups were deemed qualified after a thorough multi-agency technical review.


The qualified bidder groups include:
• Hudson River Bridge Constructors, a group including Dragados USA, Inc., Flatiron Constructors, Inc., Samsung C&T, E&C Americas, Inc., and Yonkers Contracting Company, Inc.

• Kiewit-Skanska-Weeks Joint Venture, comprised of Kiewit Infrastructure Co., Skanska USA Civil Northeast Inc., and Weeks Marine, Inc.

• Tappan Zee Bridge Partners, a Bechtel/Tutor Perini Joint Venture, comprised of Bechtel Infrastructure Corporation and Tutor Perini Corporation

• Tappan Zee Constructors, comprised of Fluor Enterprises, Inc., American Bridge Company, Granit Construction Northeast, Inc. and Traylor Bros., Inc.

After design-build proposals are submitted and reviewed, one of the four short-listed consortiums will be selected later this year to construct the new bridge.

Many of the companies involved are major contractors with business throughout the New York City metro area, but one name sticks out - and not in a good way.

Dragados USA was booted from significant portions of the MTA's East Side Access project, and that move is expected to cut two years off the construction of that multibillion dollar project.

I would be leery of this particular bid, but the other consortium involve major transnational contractors. For instance, Kiewit was involved in the Willis Avenue Bridge reconstruction effort and structural refits on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge but it's also involved on the Oakland Bay Bridge project.

What we have to look for is a low-ball bid that is designed to win the bidding, although the costs will end up far higher than anticipated. We should also look for performance based milestone bonuses.