Miles SmithThe Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Office of Public-Private Partnerships is accepting unsolicited proposals for transportation projects from the private sector through April 30.
Private companies are invited to offer ways to deliver projects that would improve roads, bridges, rail, aviation and ports. Proposals can also include more efficient ways to manage existing transportation-related services and programs, PennDOT said.
Projects are approved by Pennsylvania’s P3 board. Successful proposals are not always awarded to the company that submits them.
“Projects that are approved by the P3 Board must be competitively bid,” a PennDOT spokesperson told Government Market News. “When the project RFP is issued, all interested parties must respond, including the submitter of an unsolicited proposal, if that is the type of project being procured.”
Proposals were most recently submitted in October 2023. The state’s P3 office is currently evaluating proposals related to truck parking, electric vehicle infrastructure opportunities and bridge bundling, Penn DOT said.
The state’s P3 law allows PennDOT and other transportation authorities and commissions to partner with private companies to participate in delivering, maintaining and financing transportation-related projects.
Pennsylvania’s P3 law has been leveraged for several major infrastructure projects since it was signed into law in 2012, including an $899 million Rapid Bridge Replacement Project, a project to build compressed natural gas fueling stations for public-transit buses and the Major Bridge P3 Program.
PennDOT holds an unsolicited proposal period in April and October each year.
The private sector may also submit applications for non-PennDOT-owned assets directly to the P3 board this month, PennDOT said.
