1-1. IFB 27-01 - Purchase and Installation of Digital Diplays for MST Bus Fleet.pdf

Invitation for Bids

#27-01

For the Purchase and Installation of Digital Displays for the

Monterey-Salinas Transit District Bus Fleet

IFB #27-01 Schedule

Issue Date: Friday, October 9, 2026

Question Submission Deadline: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 5:00 P.M.

Deadline to Submit Bids: Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 1:30 P.M.

Public Opening of Bids: Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 2:00 P.M.

MST Board of Directors Contract Award: Monday, December 14, 2026

Monterey-Salinas Transit

19 Upper Ragsdale Drive, Suite 200

Monterey, CA 93940

Invitation for Bids For

The Purchase and Installation of

Digital Displays for the

Monterey-Salinas Transit District Bus Fleet

Notice Inviting Bids

The Monterey-Salinas Transit District (MST) seeks bids from qualified firms for the purchase and installation of digital displays for its fleet of buses as described in the Scope of Services herein.

Bids must be uploaded to MST's Euna Procurement (Bonfire) eProcurement Portal at https://mst.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities by 1:30 P.M. on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. MST will publicly open the bids on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. PST. Hard copy submissions of bids will not be accepted.

At the time the contract is awarded, Contractor and any approved subcontractors must hold such current and valid Contractor’s Licenses as required by California law.

Contractor must pay prevailing wages and comply with California Labor Code Sections 1770 to 1780, inclusive.

For contracts or subagreements exceeding $100,000.00, the following bonding requirements must be included: Bid guarantee from each Contractor equivalent to five (5%) percent of the bid price;

performance bond on the part of the Contractor for 100 (100%) percent of the contract price; and payment bond in the amount of either (1) 50% of the contract price if the contract price is not more than

$1 million dollars or, (2) 40% of the contract price if the contract price is more than $1 million.

Contractor and subcontractors must be registered with the California Department of Industrial Relations

(DIR) pursuant to Labor Code Section 1725.5. This Agreement is subject to monitoring and enforcement by the DIR pursuant to Labor Code Section 1771.4. The Contractor must post job site notices, as prescribed by regulation. The Contractor shall furnish the records specified in Labor Code Section 1776 directly to the Labor Commissioner, monthly in a format prescribed by the Labor Commissioner.

MST will retain five percent (5%) from each invoice/billing statement submitted in connection with the contract. Upon Contractor’s request, MST will withhold payment of funds from progress payments, pursuant to the requirements of Public Contract Code (PCC) Section 22300, if Contractor deposits in escrow with MST or with a bank acceptable to MST, securities eligible for investment under Government

Code Section 16430, bank or savings and loan certificates of deposit, interest bearing demand deposit accounts, standby letters of credit, or any other security mutually agreed to by Contractor and MST, upon the following conditions: (1) Contractor shall bear the expenses of MST and the escrow agent in connection with the escrow deposit made; (2) Securities or certificates of deposit to be placed in escrow shall be of a value at least equivalent to the amounts of retention to be paid to Contractor pursuant to this section; (3) Contractor shall enter into an escrow agreement satisfactory to MST, which agreement shall https://mst.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities be substantially similar to the form provided in PCC Section 22300; (4) Contractor shall obtain the written consent of the surety to such agreement.

The selected Bidder will enter into a contract with MST effective upon contract execution and issuance of a Notice to Proceed by MST. The contract shall remain valid until the project is deemed satisfactorily completed by MST.

It is the responsibility of the Bidder to check MST's eProcurement Portal for any addenda that may be issued relative to this solicitation. Bidders that accessed any of the bid documents for this solicitation will be notified of the issuance of any addenda.

In order to allow for an adequate evaluation, MST requires an offer in response to this solicitation to be valid and irrevocable for ninety (90) days after the bid due date and time. All Bidders will be notified of contract award, if award is made.

If you have any questions related to the procurement process, please contact:

Monterey-Salinas Transit

19 Upper Ragsdale Drive, Suite 200

Monterey, CA 93940

Attention: Steven Bruno, Purchasing Agent

Phone: 831-264-5884

Email: sbruno@mst.org

History and Overview of MST

Monterey-Salinas Transit District (MST) was created by state law AB644 and formed July 1, 2010.

MST succeeds Monterey-Salinas Transit Joint Powers Agency formed in 1981 when the City of

Salinas joined the Monterey Peninsula Transit Joint Powers Agency which was formed in 1972.

Current members of MST are the Cities of Carmel, Del Rey Oaks, Gonzales, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Salinas, Sand City, Seaside, Soledad, and the County of Monterey.

A board of directors with a representative from each member jurisdiction governs the agency and appoints the General Manager.

MST serves a 159 square-mile area of Monterey County, Northern San Luis Obispo County, and

Southern Santa Cruz County. MST’s 36 routes serve an estimated 437,325 population within the

County of Monterey.

For more information about MST, log onto http://www.mst.org/.

SOLICITATION TIMELINE

All submissions must be received by MST NO LATER THAN 1:30 P.M. on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. MST will deem a submission as non-responsive and will not accept a submission past this time.

Bids must be submitted through Monterey-Salinas Transit’s Euna Procurement (Bonfire) eProcurement portal. If you are not already registered, please do so at www.mst.org/procurement and select “Become a

Vendor.”

mailto:sbruno@mst.org http://www.mst.org/ http://www.mst.org/procurement

SCOPE OF SERVICES

As part of a comprehensive overhaul of our digital content systems, MST has selected Message Point

Media (MPM) as their agency-wide content management system. Testing of this system ahead of planned procurements of compatible display hardware has been conducted and MST is seeking a vendor to provide and initially install this hardware on our Gillig heavy-duty fleet of buses.

The goal of this procurement is to obtain display hardware that is open-standards, and commercial-off-the-shelf friendly, is sufficiently self-contained in nature as to allow the removal and relocation to future

Gillig buses if required and allows for a reasonable amount of self-maintenance by trained MST staff.

To achieve these goals, MST is open to any solution that meets the overall requirements as stated in this solicitation, leaving the specific selection of hardware and firmware up to the discretion of the vendor.

Additionally, MST is asking that bidders provide for the installation of the awarded procurement, to be performed on a schedule that is mutually agreed upon by the agency and the vendor at the time of contract signature, in conjunction with sufficient knowledge-transfer of the installation process as well as the functions of the display hardware to allow MST staff to maintain the systems in partnership with the vendor for the life of the deployment.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

MST has selected Message Point Media (MPM) as their content management system.

The MP.TV platform is an open-standards and highly flexible content management system, which supports a broad range of operating systems, including (but not necessarily limited to):

• Android

• Windows

• Linux

• macOS

• ChromeOS

More information can be obtained at this URL: https://www.mpmedia.tv/platform#open

Given this measure of flexibility, MST is not placing any requirements on the operating system being used to drive any display system adopted by the responding bidder. Instead, MST is requesting that any display unit meets the following operational requirements:

• Units must use an operating system that allows for the direct installation of the MPM MP.TV application. Any display unit that uses its own proprietary Content Management System (CMS) application to act as a bridge or connector to the MP.TV CMS will be considered a non-responsive bid and disqualified.

• Units must be able to receive operating system updates related to security or stability for a period that, at minimum, matches the available updates provided by the operating system vendor for the entirety of that operating system version lifecycle. For example, if the display is using Android v.16, the display vendor must provide a way to promptly support all security and stability updates released for Android v.16 until the OS end-of-life. The Bidder can provide for these updates as https://www.mpmedia.tv/platform#open part of a warranty/maintenance agreement or optionally can provide MST with the means to update or verify that updates are occurring via a commercially available systems management tool.

• Units must be able to support both 802.11g or better WiFi connectivity as well as 4G or better cellular modems, and be in-the-field-configurable to use one or both for updates. MST currently is using ATT FirstNet for many of its cellular devices and support for that network is also a minimum requirement.

• Equipment warranty and repair/replacement policies, both inclusive at the time of implementation and additional-cost extended if so offered, must be clearly stated in any bid, and will be considered part of the total cost comparison.

• Mean-time-between-failure rates (MTBF) or comparable reliability information for similar deployed solutions must be provided with any bid.

SOLUTION SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

MST currently operates a fleet of 83 Gillig Heavy Duty Buses, in both diesel and battery-electric configurations. For this bid, MST is seeking to equip each bus with two ceiling-mounted displays, plus 4 additional units to be retained as spares or for future deployment; for a total of 170 display units.

• MST has decided that the ideal format and positioning for these displays will be low-profile ceiling placed units with a landscape display format.

• MST is requesting that any displays offered be full-color, high visibility displays, that are capable of auto-adjusting for lighting conditions and are capable of providing a content-rich environment, including advertising and graphical animation if so desired.

• MST is requesting that two display units be installed to each Gillig bus at allow for greater visibility to all passengers. Since the desire is that both displays provide identical content as provided by the MP.TV system, MST is comfortable with display solutions where a single CPU drives both displays in a mirrored configuration as well as two fully independent units, with the exact solution being at the discretion of the vendor.

• Approximate dimensional width of the ceiling is 50”, with dimensional width between the passenger handrails 36”.

• Experience with providing and installing displays for Gillig heavy duty buses is highly recommended.

APPROVED EQUALS

In order to establish a basis of quality, certain materials, processes and type of machinery and equipment, or kinds of materials may be specified on the plans or herein, either by description of process, or by designating a manufacturer by name, or by referring to a brand of product designation, or by specifying a kind of material. It is not the intent of these bid documents to exclude other processes, equipment, or materials of equal value, utility, or merit, which are approved by MST.

ATTACHMENTS

The following attachments are hereby made part of this Invitation for Bids:

Appendix A.01 – Sample Contract

Appendix A.02 – Federal Requirements

Appendix B – Required Forms

Appendix B.01 – Certification of Contractor Regarding Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters

Appendix B.02 – Federal Tax Delinquency and Conviction Certification

Appendix B.03 – Certification of Restrictions on Lobbying

Appendix B.04 – Monterey-Salinas Transit Bidder Form

Appendix B.05 – Non-Collusion Affidavit

Appendix B.06 – Build America/Buy America Certification

Appendix B.07 – Proposer’s Statement Regarding Insurance Coverage

Appendix B.08 – Proposer’s Information Sheet

Appendix B.09 – Compliance or Exceptions to the Sample Contract

Appendix B.10 – Subcontractors Statement of Eligibility

Appendix B.11 – Price Proposal

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

Interested companies/firms must submit a Cover Letter with their Bid. The Cover Letter shall include:

• Company name, address

• Owner information with positions responsible for completing the scope of work

• Contractor’s license number

• Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) registration number

• Years in business

• Any additional certifications needed to complete the scope of work

• Two (2) letters of reference from current clients (preferably other governmental or corporate clients)

• Bid bond as required by the bond requirements included in this Invitation for Bids.

In addition to the Cover Letter, Bidders must complete and submit all forms included in Appendix B –

Required Forms. The Bid amount must be provided on the Price Proposal Form included in Appendix B.

Special instructions for forms referencing Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs): As a result of the

DBE Program Interim Final Rule issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation on October 3, 2025, fields/columns on forms requesting DBE status/certification are not applicable at this time. Please leave those fields/columns blank.

Work covered must be performed by a company/firm experienced in construction of a similar nature and scope. Subject to approval of MST, Contractor may subcontract any work to be performed under this

Contract. However, the election to subcontract work shall not relieve Contractor from responsibility or liability which it has assumed under this Contract and Contractor shall remain liable to the same extent that its liability would attach, as if the work had been performed by Contractor's own employees.

The work to be performed under this contract is, by definition, a Public Works Project. Potential firms must be registered with the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and abide by all applicable DIR regulations for the duration of the contract term and any option terms thereof, including those that govern prevailing wage.

This project will be paid for in part or in whole using Federal Funds and/or Caltrans Grant Funding. The contractor must agree to abide by all applicable Federal Requirements provided in Appendix A.02, These clauses are not negotiable. In addition, bidders must not be debarred or suspended in any way. A search of the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) will be conducted to confirm.

By submitting a Bid, Contractor certifies as to meeting the following requirements:

1. Has completed within the past three (3) years a minimum of three (3) projects of similar nature and scope to the work being bid and the type of work completed is similar to that being bid.

2. Maintains a permanent place of business, with a minimum of five (5) years in business.

3. Has access to all necessary equipment and has organizational capacity and technical competence necessary to do the work properly and expeditiously.

4. Will provide a financial statement with your Bid, which evidences the company/firm has adequate financial resources to complete work being bid, as well as all other work the company/firm is presently under contract to complete.

5. Has a record of satisfactorily completing past projects.

A public opening of bids will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 via Microsoft

Teams. Bidders are welcome to join should they choose to do so. This is not mandatory. If you would like to attend, please request the Microsoft Teams link from Steven Bruno, Purchasing Agent at sbruno@mst.org no later than 1:30 P.M. on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.

A contract may be awarded, pending approval of the Monterey-Salinas Transit District Board of

Directors, to the lowest responsible bidder responsive to the solicitation. Any requested information omitted from your bid packet will result in your bid being deemed non-responsive.

If you have any questions regarding this solicitation, please submit them via MST’s Bonfire Portal no later than 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. An addendum to this IFB will be issued answering any questions received by the deadline.

BOND REQUIREMENTS

For contracts exceeding $100,000.00, the following bonding requirements must be included: Bid guarantee from each Bidder equivalent to five (5%) percent of the bid price; performance bond on the part of the selected Bidder for 100 (100%) percent of the contract price; and payment bond in the amount of either (1) 50% of the contract price if the contract price is not more than $1 million dollars or, (2) 40% of the contract price if the contract price is more than $1 million.

mailto:sbruno@mst.org

RIGHTS OF MST

This IFB does not commit MST to enter into a Contract, nor does it obligate MST to pay for any costs incurred in preparation and submission of bids or in anticipation of a contract.

MST may investigate the qualifications of any Bidder under consideration, require confirmation of information furnished by the Bidder, and require additional evidence or qualifications to perform the

Services described in this IFB.

MST reserves the right to:

1. Accept or reject any or all bids at its sole discretion.

2. Cancel this solicitation at any time, for any reason, at its sole discretion.

3. Issue subsequent Invitation for Bids.

4. Postpone opening for its own convenience.

5. Remedy technical errors in the Invitation for Bids process.

6. Approve or disapprove the use of particular sub contractors.

7. Negotiate with any, all, or none of the Bidders.

8. Solicit best and final offers from all or some of the Bidders.

9. Waive informalities and irregularities in bids to the extent permissible under applicable law.

10. Award a contract to other than the lowest bidder.

The proposals received become the exclusive property of MONTEREY-SALINAS TRANSIT

DISTRICT. At such time as a contract award is made by MST, all proposals submitted in response to this

IFB shall become a matter of public record and shall be regarded as public records, with the exception of those elements of each proposal which are trade secrets as the term is defined in California Government

Code 6254.7 and which are so marked as “TRADE SECRET,” “CONFIDENTIAL,” OR

“PROPRIETARY.” MONTEREY-SALINAS TRANSIT DISTRICT shall not in any way be liable or responsible for the disclosure of any such records or portions thereof, including, without limitation, those so marked if disclosure is deemed required by law or by an order of a court. Proposals that indiscriminately identify all or most of the proposal as exempt from disclosure without justification may be found technically unacceptable