I don’t see why this has blown up in the City’s face either. It seems like they are offering RAPS the very thing they have long wanted. Now, the City says that indeed was their intent.
Apparently, when the City put out their second RFP (after rejecting an initial offer on the first RFP), they forgot to include a requirement for an offer to purchase the locomotive. Then they revised this second RFP by adding a requirement for an offer to purchase.
I think that I had understood that RAPS felt they could not respond to the RFP because it contained to provision to purchase the locomotive, and also that it required expensive liability insurance. I am not sure how the insurance issue might be resolved. However the current RFP does offer the locomotive for sale, so it would seem that RAPS should be satisfied with that detail.
Actually, when I read the current RFP with the offer to sell the engine, I interpreted the City’s intention with the RFP was basically a response to the demonstrated interest that RAPS has in owning and using the locomotive. The RFP seems to precisely to clear the way for RAPS to take over the engine just as they have long wanted to do. So I do not understand why RAPS failed to respond to the RFP.