The governor did not say how high the initial bids were or how many qualified for the additional time.
"The bids are sufficient that I think the Legislature has to give this a hard look," he said at a news conference to announce the delay. "Are the bids as good as they would have been ... nine months ago, before financial conditions in the country dipped?
No."
But Rendell said he was happy with the results so far.
"Given what's happened to the market recently, absolutely," he said. "You know, it's not a great time to be doing this and would that we had done it a little earlier, but it is what it is."
Rendell plans to submit the largest bid to the General Assembly for its consideration, but acknowledged that "it may be difficult" to get the Legislature to act by the end of June.
The winning bidder will have to post a $100 million letter of credit that can be forfeited if the Legislature signs off on a deal but the bidder backs out.
Rendell has proposed a 75-year lease of 500 miles of the turnpike system to raise billions of dollars to repair crumbling roadways, rebuild decaying bridges and help subsidize mass transit costs.
A long-term turnpike lease would replace the multi-billion-dollar transportation funding law that passed the General Assembly last summer. That law would add tolls to Interstate 80, among other things, and has engendered bitter opposition among the people and businesses located along the major east-west artery.
Rendell said he was pushing to have the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the state Transportation Department submit documents by the end of this week to the federal authorities who will be approving or rejecting the I-80 tolling conversion.
He said he will ask U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Mary Peters to expedite consideration of the I-80 tolling plan.
"If I were a legislator, I'm not sure I would want to vote this in a vacuum," Rendell said of the turnpike leasing plan. "I'd want to know what happened to I-80 first."
Under terms of the turnpike lease for which Rendell sought bids, the operator could increase tolls by 25 percent early next year and then annually by 2.5 percent or the consumer price index, whichever is higher.
