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Bombardier calls for review of TTC bidding process
THE CHRONICLE-JOURNAL
07/26/2008

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Local head-scratching over Toronto‘s decision not to go ahead with Bombardier‘s bid to fill that city‘s order of 204 streetcars continued Friday while the company called for a review into the bidding process.

“We‘re still hoping that the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) will realize that Bombardier can deliver quality work on time,” said Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Mary Long-Irwin.

The streetcar contract, had it been awarded to Bombardier, would have translated into 600 jobs for about eight years at Thunder Bay‘s rail-car plant.

Bombardier engineers met with their TTC counterparts Friday morning to discuss the bid‘s rejection, but came away dissatisfied and called for a review into the entire process.

“The company is concerned that the competitive bid process was cancelled prematurely and that the TTC, in the absence of a new formal, transparent process, is now meeting with other vendors who did not respond to the (request for proposals),” the company said in a news release.

Concerns that the cars proposed to be built by Bombardier weren‘t up to snuff are unfounded, the company said.

“These vehicles are safe, will not derail on curves and can handle all of Toronto‘s hills,” Bombardier Transportation vice-president Mike Hardt said in the release.

Bombardier, which is currently filling a TTC order for new subway cars, became the lone bidder for the big streetcar contract when German manufacturer Siemens Transportation unexpectedly pulled out of the running.

Long-Irwin said Bombardier‘s bid should be considered competitive because it was prepared before Siemens dropped out.
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