Three bids came in on Nov. 19 for the biggest steel job on the West End Line, and the spread between them is wide enough to drive a D train through. MTA Construction & Development's tab for Contract C34938R, Structural Repair and Painting from 9th Avenue Portal to Stillwell Terminal in Brooklyn, has Tully Construction Co. on top at an evaluated $309,233,742. That is an apparent low, not an award.
This is an A+B contract: the A is the contractor's gross sum price, and the B adds a value for railroad-supplied services such as flagging and track access. Every bidder carried the same B, $5,180,292, so the A price decided it. Tully's A was $304,053,450. C.A.C. Industries was second at $317,520,000 A ($322,700,292 evaluated), and Gramercy Group was a distant third at $532,760,000 A ($537,940,292 evaluated).
Tully's margin over C.A.C. is $13,466,550, or 4.4% on the evaluated totals. Gramercy's number sits 74% above Tully's. With three bids, the median is C.A.C.'s $322.7 million. The solicitation notice listed the job at $100 million and up, set goals of 15% MBE, 15% WBE and 6% SDVOB, and gave a 1,277-day substantial-completion term. The work is repair and replacement of columns and other structural members, plus abrasive blasting and painting of the elevated structure. Funding is 100% MTA.
This is the second time the MTA has asked the market to price this stretch of line. In 2023 it advertised Contract C34938, which bundled the same elevated-structure painting with structural repairs and track replacement at the 9th Avenue station. Five firms bid it on Nov. 29, 2023: El Sol Contracting/ES II Enterprises JV led at $213,675,000 A ($218,965,421 evaluated), followed by C.A.C. at $332,013,040 A, Judlau at $338,254,595 A, Ahern Painting at $347,437,734 A, and Tully last at $389,201,579 A. No award for C34938 appears on C&D's 2024 or 2025 award lists. Instead the work came back in pieces. The station work is now Contract A36203, which opened Oct. 30 with J-Track LLC low among nine bidders at $23,482,015 A ($25,869,015 evaluated). The line painting is this contract. Separately, in January 2025 C&D awarded $45.9 million in column-base repair work on the same 9th Avenue-to-Stillwell stretch to Empire Control Abatement.
Put the two new lows side by side and the A prices total $327,535,465. That is $113.9 million more than the single 2023 low for the combined job. The scopes are not a line-for-line match, so treat that as a market signal, not a like-for-like comparison. What did change is who showed up. El Sol, the 2023 leader, did not bid the line-painting rebid, and Tully went from last of five to first of three.
Why this matters. A $300 million painting and steel contract on an active elevated line means years of blasting, containment, steel replacement and track-access work across southern Brooklyn. The thin field, and the $215 million gap between second and third, say few shops can carry structural painting at this size right now. That gives the firms that can a lot of leverage.
What to do next. Painting, containment, steel fabrication and erection subs, flagging crews and scaffold suppliers should price to Tully's number and watch for the award. The apparent low is not an award. On the station piece, A36203, J-Track's apparent low is worth a call for track, concrete and waterproofing trades. The board listing is RFI-001904.
Update, Sept. 28, 2026: C&D's award list shows C34938R awarded to Tully Construction Co., Inc. on June 18, 2026, for $304,567,450, with goals listed as 9% MBE, 9% WBE and 4% SDVOB. The station contract, A36203, was awarded to J-Track LLC on Dec. 26, 2025, for $23,482,015.