May 11, 2012 > BART Board hears staff recommendation for Fleet of the Future contract BART Board hears staff recommendation for Fleet of the Future contract Submitted By BART BART staff recommended that the Board of Directors authorize award of a contract to build the next-generation Fleet of the Future to North American-based Bombardier, on April 26, 2012. Bombardier bid the lowest price and earned the highest technical score in the competition to build BART's new cars. In choosing Bombardier, the Bay Area would pay $184M less than with the second-place proposer, the French company Alstom. Bombardier would assemble the cars in America with 66 percent domestic content. State and federal laws and regulations leave the BART Board with only two options when they vote on the issue, currently scheduled to occur on May 10, 2012. It can award the contract to Bombardier, the highest-scoring proposer, or vote to repeat the entire selection process. To repeat the process would mean a delay of about 18 months during which workers would remain idle, with no guarantee of comparable bids in the next round, plus additional costs for BART. For more information about the Fleet of the Future, visit www.bart.gov/about/projects/cars/index.aspx