Written by
Railway Age, Editor-in-Chief
The MTA is pleased to release a revised Request for Proposal for “MS21001 Operation and Maintenance of Infrastructure and Structures Supporting Long Island Rail Road Access into Grand Central Madison Terminal: Passenger Facilities and Retail Development and Management”!
MTA Construction & Development Company (MTA C&D) is seeking proposals for one or more qualified service providers to (i) operate and maintain infrastructure and related structures supporting The Long Island Rail Road Access (LIRR) into the new Grand Central Madison (GCM), and (ii) perform retail development and management services for the new Madison Concourse.
Customers taking LIRR to Manhattan will arrive at the new 700,000-square-foot GCM Terminal which runs alongside Madison Avenue from 43rd Street to 48th Street, and the new Madison Concourse, which is one level below Grand Central Terminal’s Dining Concourse. Once fully completed, Grand Central Madison Terminal and the new Madison Concourse will have retail and restaurants, spacious waiting areas, free Wi-Fi and real-time departure information. The MTA expects about 45% of all LIRR passengers will use GCM.
The two distinct scopes of work for this contract are: (i) the Retail Scope of Work (to be performed by a master lessee), and (ii) the Facilities Scope of Work (to be performed by a facilities maintainer). A third Scope of Work (related to rail facilities) was deleted and removed from the RFP. Prospective proposers may propose on one or both Scope of Work. Accordingly, proposers need not propose on both scopes.
The MTA has progressed the RFP to finality: it has reached agreement with labor representatives of all impacted crafts with respect to the scopes of work, and a Cooperation Agreement has been executed; and the MTA has created The MTA Grand Central Madison Concourse Operating Company, a new MTA agency to manage the contracts.
Additionally, in connection with the Facilities Scope of Work, MTA C&D solicited feedback from the contractor community and revised the RFP to make it more contractor friendly as set forth, in part, below:
1. The term of the Facilities O&M Agreement has been reduced to an initial five (5) year term, with two (2) three (3)-year options.
2. The cost of certain capital replacement work originally included in the Facilities Scope of Work has been shifted from the facilities maintainer to the MTA Group.
3. The ‘Facilities Maintenance Fee’ will automatically adjust annually based on increases to CPI.
4. Performance of the Facilities Scope of Work is now encouraged by monetary incentives and disincentives.
Detailed information about the RFP is available on the MTA web http://mta.info/capconstr/procurement/cc_solicitations.htm
The MTA looks forward to working together!