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Good Morning Guys,


Our meeting with CAF and HNTB went well yesterday. CAF outlined their
company/HSR expertise and were able to openly question the HNTB project
management team on aspects of their plan for the Tampa-Orlando corridor. A
couple of key points that came out of the discourse are below:


1) Speed: When asked about the specs. that will be included in the RFQ,
Adrian Share (Program Director for Florida Rail Enterprise – THE guy)
responded that it would be “performance based” and would more than
likely *require
a proven-speed of 186 mph*. As you know, CAF doesn’t currently have a train
in operation that goes that speed (developing a prototype that can go 220
mph and will begin testing soon). We need to determine who (HNTB/FL Rail
Enterprise or FRA) is pushing for the speed threshold and ensure that it
doesn’t prevent CAF from submitting a bid. Adrian repeatedly said that it
was the FRA that was pushing for this requirement, but
Virginia/Tomar disagreed.


2) Timeline: Adrian and his team largely reinforced the timeline as we
knew it. Below are key dates:

-Week of 10/25: FL Rail Enterprise hears about additional $1.12bn in
federal funding (in addition to the $1.25 awarded through ARRA, will
largely complete funding for the Tampa-Orlando

Route)

-November 8-9: HSR Conference. Critical for CAF. Is essentially a
matchmaking opportunity.

-Late November: RFQ released with a one month turnaround time (teams will
need to be formed by then)

-March 2011: RFP issued to *shortlist* (3-4 consortia)

-Late 2011: Selection of winning team

-2012: Begin construction


3) Consortia: Adrian largely reinforced the list of consortia that he
gave Eric last time they spoke. It was evident that we should focus on the
SNCF/Bechtel and Fluor Daniel/Balfour Beatty teams as they are still looking
for a rolling stock manufacturer. I'd suggest we reach out to Fluor Daniel
ASAP. Their Board of Directors are here:
http://www.fluor.com/about_fluor/leadership/board_of_directors/Pages/default.aspx
if
you guys want to see if we have any connections at that level.


There were some additional points made that we can discuss on our call next
Tuesday. Let me know if you have any questions and Lorenzo please add
anything I missed!


Best,


Mike


Mike Muldoon

Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC

1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW

Suite 705

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 333-1880

mmuldoon@rosemontseneca.com <eschwerin@obblaw.com>

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