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ONR "well positioned" for contract, union rep says

The union representing about 400 Ontario Northland Railway employees says the company stands a good shot at obtaining an Ontario government contract. Details are included in the following news release issued today around 4:30 p.m.
BayToday Staff
The union representing about 400 Ontario Northland Railway employees says the company stands a good shot at obtaining an Ontario government contract.

Details are included in the following news release issued today around 4:30 p.m.:
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ONTC bid well positioned for next phase in GO Transit review

CAW Local 103 was advised late this afternoon by the ONTC bid team that Ontario Northland's bid to refurbish 121 of GO Transit's bi-level commuter coaches came in a virtual dead heat at just over $81M with Moncton New Brunswick's IRSI during the public tender opening in Toronto today.

IRSI's bid came in about $700 lower per coach than ONTC's, however GO Transit must still conduct a thorough review
of the tender documents prior to any actual contract awarding.

"Going into today's public tender opening, we knew we would be very competitive and the bid team delivered on that, however there is still an evaluation process that GO
Transit will be conducting prior to final awarding of the contract by end of February. We are confident that following GO's full scope of work review, Ontario
Northland's comprehensive bid formula will win the contract" said CAW President Brian Stevens.

Ontario Northland was one of only three final bidders for a multi year contract to refurbish GO Transit rail cars along with Bombardier (Thunder Bay) and IRSI (Moncton).

Bombardier which is just now concluding Phase II-III refurbishing for GO Transit was well off the mark coming in at over $86M. Only $95,000 separated IRSI and ONTC at today's initial tender opening for the full 121 car, eight- year program.

"There are distinct competitive advantages to our bid in terms of skills, location, infrastructure and overall program management which GO Transit must take into
consideration during the next phase of their evaluation process. Once they review all the technical data contained in the tender documents, we are confident they will come to the conclusion that ONTC's bid provides them the best overall value," Stevens said.