Alstom's bid was $194.2 million. Bombardier's bid was 19 percent higher at $230.3 million.
"We had been working on an enhanced offer and were disappointed we didn't get a chance to present it," said Maryanne Roberts, spokeswoman for Bombardier in Horsham. "We weren't anticipating an award until January."
The project involves gutting PATCO's 120 cars and replacing the interiors, the brake and propulsion systems, the lighting and messaging systems, and the heating and cooling systems. The stainless-steel car shells, wheel assemblies, and traction motors will be reused.
The whole project, including design and construction, is expected to take about five years.
PATCO officials said buying new cars would have cost about twice as much.
Thomas Martin, Bombardier general manager for sales and business development, wrote in a letter sent last Monday to DRPA contract administrator Howard Korsen: "As per our previous discussions, we were under the impression that a BAFO [best and final offer] would be requested by the DRPA, and have been working very hard on cost-saving ideas for a BAFO, which we feel would provide great benefits to the DRPA."
Martin said the best-and-final-offer process would have allowed DRPA "to negotiate the best value for itself, its toll payers, and its riders."
Roberts said Bombardier's alternate approach "would have been to offer new car shells."
Alstom offered a proposal that was "consistently superior at prices that were consistently lower," PATCO general manager Robert Box told the DRPA operations and maintenance committee Wednesday.
The bidding process took nearly two years. After initial proposals were received in August 2009, a third company, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles of Spain, was eliminated as noncompetitive.
