ODOT began its procurement process for the Portsmouth Bypass by hosting an industry forum in April 2013 at which it presented project details and its goals for working with a private partner. ODOT gauged interest among potential project bidders and sought feedback on its proposed approach, including the duration of the operations and maintenance period and an appropriate delineation between ODOT's and the private partner's respective responsibilities. ODOT also sought input on whether the P3 agreement should include the operations and maintenance of the new highway only or all, or a portion of, the State and US highway network in Scioto County as well.
In June 2013, ODOT released a Request for Qualifications to identify the strongest private firms to invite to submit detailed proposals. By this time, ODOT had made the decision to exclude the operations and maintenance of additional highways in Scioto County from the private developer's role. ODOT shortlisted three out of four responding private consortia in September 2013 and provided each with a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for their review and comment. This was followed by one-on-one meetings between ODOT and the bidders in February and April 2014 to discuss any identified issues and comments. ODOT then issued a final RFP in April, held another round of one-on-one meetings, and received technical proposals from the three teams in August 2014. Bidders submitted their financial proposals the following month.
ODOT formally announced the project award to Portsmouth Gateway Group in October 2014. The team is composed of three equity partners: ACS Infrastructure Development, an American subsidiary of a large Spanish construction firm; InfraRed Capital Partners, a British infrastructure and real estate investment firm formerly part of the banking giant HSBC; and Star America Infrastructure Partners, an American investment firm practicing in the transportation and environment sectors. Portsmouth Gateway Group's proposal had the lowest maximum availability payment ($25.9 million) among the bidders, although all three bids were within about one percent of each other. The availability payment bids came in about 20 percent below ODOT's estimate. In addition, the private partner's bid for project design and construction ($429.7 million) was more than 10 percent below ODOT's 2013 cost estimate.
The execution of the P3 concession agreement between the state and Portsmouth Gateway Group, known as commercial close, occurred in December 2014. The private consortium then secured financing at the end of March 2015. That month, the Portsmouth Bypass was officially renamed the Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway by the State Legislature.