BREAKING: Formal Protest Of I-24 Procurement To Be Filed Today

Competing bidder to allege the state and winning bidder altered the concession fee payment schedule

NASHVILLE – One of the competing bidders in Tennessee's I-24 Southeast Choice Lanes procurement has filed a formal protest of the award to the Ferrovial-led DriveTN team. The complete filing will be made public Thursday morning. This follows a lawsuit brought last week against the Tennessee Department of Transportation over the lack of transparency surrounding the bid.

DriveTN's headline offer of a $24.8 billion concession fee, against roughly $7 billion from the next-highest bids, has raised questions among analysts and industry observers. According to the protest, the state and the winning bidder may have materially modified the payment terms and schedule on which that fee is owed. If so, the number that won the procurement may not be the deal Tennessee thought they signed.

The $24.8 billion figure drove the entire outcome. The Transportation Modernization Board approved DriveTN on August 19, and the state touted the fee as the largest in U.S. history for an interstate express lanes project. Independent analysts noted that TDOT's formula for scoring concession value had not been made public. Analysts who follow Ferrovial have also questioned the investor return implied by the bid.

On October 5, a competing bidder sued TDOT in Davidson County Chancery Court. The suit alleges the department violated the Tennessee Public Records Act by refusing to release the winning contract, financing details and internal communications about the award. TDOT reached commercial close with DriveTN on September 30. More to come throughout the day.