Calif.’s Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) released a Request for Proposals for the manufacturing and delivery of eight streetcar vehicles that will serve the OC Streetcar project in Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

Plans for the $298-million project are in the design and engineering phase, and the OC Streetcar is scheduled to begin operating in approximately four years.

OCTA continues to work closely with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) officials during each step of the planning process. The project has entered into FTA’s New Starts program. It got a major boost earlier this year when $125 million for the OC Streetcar was included in the President’s 2017 fiscal budget, signaling strong federal support.

Other funding is coming from the state, which has awarded the project $25.5 million in cap-and-trade funds, and from local sources, including Measure M, Orange County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements.

Proposals received in response to the request for streetcars will be weighted on the following criteria:

• Technical requirements: 50%.

• Cost and price: 40%.

• Qualifications, related experience: 10%.

Interested firms can attend a pre-proposal conference on Jan. 10 and the deadline to submit a proposal is April 28, 2017.

The OC Streetcar’s 4.1-mile route will serve Santa Ana’s thriving downtown and important job centers that include county and local government offices and courthouses in the Civic Center. The OC Streetcar route will also connect with 18 of OCTA’s busiest bus routes. It is expected to carry up to 7,500 passengers per day within its first year of operation.

Up to six streetcars at a time are planned to run along the route, stopping every 10 minutes during peak hours at 10 stations in each direction. Two streetcars will serve as spare vehicles.

Construction of the OC Streetcar is scheduled to begin in 2018 with testing and operation expected to start in 2020.