PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Multiple companies have shown an interest in rebuilding the defunct westbound Washington Bridge, after a first round of bidding ended in July with no interest from contractors. Halmar International LLC and Walsh Construction Company II, LLC submitted documents along with joint submissions from American Bridge and MLJ and Skanska and Aetna. “I think it's wonderful for the state of Rhode Island that these large multinational companies have the confidence in Rhode Island to come here and want to compete for our work," RIDOT Director Peter Alviti said at an unrelated event in Richmond on Tuesday. Tuesday at noon was the last chance for interested bidders to respond to the state's Request for Qualifications and submit key criteria and signal interest to replace and rebuild the westbound Washington Bridge, which was shut down nearly a year ago. The state opened a new two-step procurement process for the Washington Bridge reconstruction project in mid-October, which was something RIDOT said a majority of companies that participated in a Request for Information said they'd prefer. The number of companies that responded to the RFQ will be whittled down to two qualified design-build companies that will move on to step two of the procurement, known as the Request for Proposals (RFP). The shortlist will be announced on Dec. 11, the one-year anniversary that the bridge was closed down after RIDOT said engineers found a "critical failure of some bridge components." RIDOT said the two finalists will provide competing cost and technical proposals, and that a winner would be chosen on June 6, nearly a year after Gov. Dan McKee's administration had initially said it expected to have bids in place. The winning contractor would begin design and other pre-fabrication work next July, but likely wouldn’t be able to work onsite until sometime in 2026, after substructure demolition is completed. The losing finalist will be paid $1.7 million for being willing to put together an unsuccessful offer, which McKee said he hopes will encourage companies to come forward with proposals. The state’s first bidding process for a new bridge ended in failure in July, after no companies submitted bids. “I have no regrets. I think the process is going exactly the way DOTT had originally intended it to go, and I think this speaks for itself," Alviti said Tuesday. The lack of interest came after Rhode Island was poised to file a lawsuit against several companies who had previously worked on the westbound Washington Bridge. In August, the state sued 13 companies involved in the process. In an effort to get more companies to submit bids, RIDOT said it would offer "an increased $1.75 million stipend" to the unsuccessful shortlisted company to help cover the costs associated with crafting their technical and cost proposal. RELATED: Washington Bridge timeline extends demo to late 2025; no target date for new bridge The same day the state announced the new two-step procurement process, McKee and RIDOT Director Peter Alviti announced the state was pushing back its target date to finish demolition of the old westbound bridge until the end of 2025. The estimated cost to demolish the bridge climbed to nearly $100 million after the McKee administration decided to expand the project to include tearing down the bridge’s substructure. In March, state officials initially estimated the total cost to demolish and replace the bridge would be $250 million to $300 million, though they cautioned that those figures were highly preliminary estimates. Alexandra Leslie ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup SIGN UP NOW