Missouri company gets $30m contract to manage high-speed rail construction in Kern County

HNTB Corp., a Missouri-based engineering and consulting firm, was awarded a five-year contract worth up to $30 million to serve as the construction manager for a 22-mile stretch of high-speed rail construction in northern Kern County.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s board of directors awarded the contract at its meeting Tuesday in Sacramento. HNTB is headquartered in Kansas City and has seven offices in California. The company was selected from among three firms that submitted statements of qualification for the job.

The section of the high-speed rail route from the Tulare-Kern county line to Poplar Avenue near Shafter, northwest of Bakersfield, will be the third construction section in the San Joaquin Valley.

Five teams of contractors are in contention to design and build the segment, but have yet to submit their bids for the work. Once a construction contractor is chosen by the rail authority, HNTB and its subcontractors will oversee the construction work through inspections and testing, technical and environmental compliance, cost controls and managing risk.

The other two construction sections in the Valley are a 29-mile portion between Fresno and Madera and a 65-mile stretch from the south end of Fresno to the Tulare-Kern line.

This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Missouri company gets $30m contract to manage high-speed rail construction in Kern County."