Canadian vehicle manufacturer Grande West Transportation Group Inc., whose Vicinity bus runs on compressed natural gas (CNG) or diesel, has completed an independent third-party audit of its Buy America assembly and financial bill of materials on its Vicinity bus in order to meet current Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements.
According to Grande West, Buy America provisions ensure that transportation infrastructure projects are built with American-made products. This means that local, state and federal government investments in public transit are able to support an entire supply chain of American companies and their employees. The Vicinity finished bus is required to contain a minimum of 65% U.S. content in order to be included as a vendor for federally funded projects, the company says.
Grand West used third-party Buy America accredited auditors in order to review the its U.S. assembly process and procedures, as well as the bill of materials and supplier Buy America certificates for component parts in the Vicinity product. The assembly process was verified and validated. Additionally, the Vicinity has scored “best in class” at FTA’s Altoona Testing in Altoona, Pa.
Jean-Marc Landry, CEO of Grande West, says, “This Buy America third-party audit is a key milestone in proving out our ability to bid on and deliver to U.S. federally funded transit opportunities. Grande West has a large pipeline of potential opportunities, many of them in the public transit sector. We expect the U.S. to be our largest opportunity for future growth in Vicinity sales and expect sales to ramp significantly in 2019 as we continue to focus our efforts on U.S. sales.”
Grande West designs, engineers and manufactures midsize, multi-purpose transit vehicles for public and commercial enterprises. The heavy-duty Vicinity bus is available in 27.5-, 30- and 35-foot models powered by clean diesel or CNG, the company says.
Interesting article. Congrats to Grande West Transportation Group.