P.M. BRIEFING : Errors Found in Japanese Award
A U.S. company that lost the bidding to build a people-mover system for a new Japanese airport said today there were irregularities in the decision that awarded the contract to Japanese bidders.
Kansai International Airport Co. conducted a briefing today for the 13 bidders on why it chose Niigata Engineering Co. and Sumitomo Corp. to build the system to carry passengers to remote gates at the $7-billion Kansai International Airport being built in Osaka in western Japan.
“With the information provided to us in the meeting today, it is clear that there were irregularities in the procurement process of the people-mover contract for KIA,” said John Tucker, president of AEG Westinghouse Transportation Systems, headquartered in Pittsburgh.
The project earlier had been at the center of American complaints that U.S. firms did not have fair access to the Japanese construction market.
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