In September 2005, IFA released a Request for Toll Road Concessionaire Proposals and four teams submitted bids in October 2005. The highest bidder was Indiana Toll Road Concession Company (ITRCC), a joint venture between Cintra (a large Spanish contractor) and Macquarie Atlas Roads (a toll operating arm of a large Australian investment bank). ITRCC's bid of $3.8 billion was nearly one billion higher than that of the next highest bidder.
The Indiana General Assembly was considering Major Moves program legislation when it met in January 2006. The bill included the 10-year funding plan as well as authorization to lease the ITR. The Assembly approved the program, including the ITR concession in March 2006.
Opposition to the ITR lease continued through the procurement period. A group of individuals and the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, a consumer rights advocacy group, sued to prevent the lease from going through. In early June 2006, a judge ruled that the group would be required to post a $1.9 billion bond to continue with the lawsuit. The bond represented half the proposed purchase price offered by the Macquarie-Cintra joint venture. The group was not successful in raising funds to post the bond, ending the lawsuit.
The state awarded ITRCC a 75-year concession in June 2006. As part of the concession, ITRCC pledged to spend $200 million on capital improvements to the facility during the first three years of the lease and approximately $4.4 billion over the life of the concession. By leasing the facility, the state would be able to retire $225 million in debt. It allocated the remainder of the lease proceeds to several funds used solely to pay for infrastructure projects throughout the state.