With construction of the Mass Rapid Transit system underway in 1983, Contract 151 called for the procurement of rolling stock—150 cars in Phase One and an option for 246 cars in Phase Two. In what the "Financial Times" described as "a time when manufacturers were begging for orders" for the global rolling stock market, competition for the contract was intense. At least eight companies from around the world submitted bids for what they had nicknamed the "Big One". Bidders included Metro-Cammell with Singapore Automotive Engineering, Kawasaki Heavy Industries with three Japanese manufacturers, MAN with AEG, Siemens and Brown, Boveri & Cie, Francorail with Alsthom-Alantique, SOFRETU and Singapore Shipbuilding and Engineering, ASEA with Sembawang Shipyard, and a Bombardier Transportation-led consortium with Hawker Siddeley Canada and Brown Boveri Canada.