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For Immediate Release
For more information contact:
Steve Kratzer
Marketing and Business Development Representative
steve.kratzer@optimabus.com
316-779-7700 ext. 344 Optima Bus prepares for big Florida orderORDER WILL MEAN MORE JOBSWichita, KS – April 25, 2006 – The Miami-Dade County (Fla.) Commissioners will meet Tuesday to vote on the $178 million contract. The company is confident enough that it will be awarded the contract that is has scheduled a news conference Wednesday with local and federal officials. The contract with Miami-Dade County, if approved, calls for Optima to build 300 of its 30-foot Opus buses over five years. The contract has an option for 300 more buses. This is the largest 30-foot bus contract ever, said Michael Monteferrante, chief executive of Optima. "It's jobs, jobs, jobs, at this point," Monteferrante said. The company will hire more than 50 assemblers, plus 20 engineers, contract administrators and technical writers. The company employs more than 180 people. The company is upgrading and reconfiguring the plant on 77th North and Hydraulic. Another sign of the company's optimism for the future: Its newly rebuilt paint shop will be big enough to hold 40-foot and 60-foot buses -- models the company doesn't yet make. The company will also formally announce its first contract for its hybrid diesel-electric bus next week, Monteferrante said. Production on the hybrid will start next year. Winning the Miami contract wasn't easy. Last fall, the company thought it had beat out three other bus companies when Miami-Dade County staff members recommended Optima. But before the contract could get final approval, a competing bidder appealed the recommendation. The county sent the contract back out to bid. Optima rebid the contract and again gained staff recommendation for the purchase in March. BY DAN VOORHIS The Wichita Eagle
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