I gather that the RAPS group has approached the City in the past and had discussions about purchasing the locomotive and their plans for displaying and caring for it. But for some reason, a deal was never made. Maybe it was simply because there were unresolved questions, and the City might naturally take some time to consider the possibilities and get their people up to speed on the ideas. But whatever the reason for no deal being made, we know the City must have seriously considered what RAPS was proposing as evidenced by the City’s RFP today.
It seems to me what the City wanted to do was to open up the field by putting out a formal RFP. Obtaining competitive bids and a proposal for the related plans might help put the RAPS proposals into perspective. It also would make the process more fair and objective, as opposed to just making a deal with the first party to offer one. From RAPS’ perspective, this RFP would have been better than if the City had simply said no to whatever offer they had made, if any was made.
In terms of putting out a formal RFP in order to make the deal more fair and objective, the City might have felt that it would have been improper to first pick up the phone and give RAPS a sort of heads-up on the plan. That would appear to give the RAPS group favoritism in what was to be a fair and objective process.