NYC Transit opened bids September 28 for hardwood crossties — 6-by-10-by-13-foot timbers milled to spec — and only two vendors quoted. Appalachian Timber Services LLC came in low on the largest of the solicitation's two line items at $2,543,937.50. Stella-Jones Corp was the only other bidder, at $4,214,225 — 65.7% higher.
This solicitation is split across two line items and will be awarded by line, so the numbers above cover just the biggest piece of it; the second line item isn't broken out in the posted tab. But on the line that is, the gap between the two bidders is enormous for a two-horse race — Stella-Jones's number is nearly two-thirds again as much as Appalachian's.
Timber pricing on transit tie orders swings hard on where the wood is sourced and cured, and hardwood crossties are a specialty product — this isn't lumberyard stock, it's timber milled to a railroad spec, treated, and sized for track work. A spread this wide between two vendors suggests very different supply positions: one firm may be quoting off inventory already on hand, the other pricing a fresh mill run.
With only two bidders on a multi-million-dollar materials contract, NYC Transit doesn't have much competitive tension to lean on here — the agency's real leverage was whichever number came in lower, and that's Appalachian's. For timber suppliers who sat this one out, a $1.7 million gap between the two firms that did bid is a signal there's room to compete on this program going forward.