OTTAWA, Ont. – The City’s light rail transit project will be known as “Confederation Line.”

The Rideau Transit Group, a consortium led by A.C.S. Infrastructure Canada, won the bid to build the first phase of the $2.1-billion, 12.5 km system.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Ottawa-Orleans M.P. Royal Galipeau were on hand for the meeting at Ottawa City Hall Wednesday morning.

A.C.S Infrastructure is based out of Spain and would lead a consortium of builders including Ellis Don, Veolia Transportation, S.N.C. Lavalin and several others.

Some eyebrows lifted when the bid was announced and S.N.C Lavalin, the massive Canadian engineering firm, was included.  The former C.E.O. is facing fraud charges while another executive is facing money laundering charges.    

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is not worried, saying the new C.E.O. of S.N.C Lavalin, Bob Card, who is a former senior executive with the Denver-based engineering firm CH2M HILL, has the right background. “I have confidence in his ability and the new executive team at S.N.C Lavalin to get the job done with the other partners.”

“I wouldn’t have taken the position without looking at the books,” Card told 1310News. “The board is behind me and they know that is the condition of my being here. So, I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this event.”

The winning bid is reportedly a fixed bid, which means A.C.S. would be on the hook for any cost overruns. The company has to work within the borders of a $2.1-billion price tag and the city expects the project to come in below that.

“Costs will be monitored closely,” said Ottawa City Councillor Stephen Blais. “The challenge given to the light rail team was to bring this plan on time but also on the original budget of $2.1-billion. We had to shave off several hundred million dollars for installation.”

Not everyone agrees.

“Massive infrastructure projects like this rarely hit the financial mark,” said Ian Lee at the Sprott School of Business. “Invariably they come in over budget, on average in the literature I have looked at, around 30 per cent.”

The contract for the 12.5 km transit system still needs council approval this month. The city will unveil the plan to the public through a series of open houses running through December 19. Click here for a schedule.

Council will review the plan on December 12, with a vote set for December 19.

If approved, LRT trains should be on test runs by 2017 and fully operational in the spring of 2018.

The two losing bids went home with $2-million each for entering the competition, but taxpayers will never see what they had to offer.