15-Scope of Services - RFB 5827.docx

Please Quote As Follows B-5888

Office of Finance Department of Procurement & Risk Management 5225 W. Vliet Street, Milwaukee, WI 53208

(414) 475-8880 • mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us Fax (414) 475-8387

SCOPE OF SERVICES: RFB 5827 for Transportation for Field Trips

Bids will be accepted no later than 11:00 AM CST on August 5, 2025.

1.0 Items Requested

1.1 Services

MPS seeks yellow bus transportation for school-sponsored field trips. General field trips are scheduled to various destinations by all MPS schools and some departments. The blanket contract resulting from this RFB will be for a three (3) year term and is anticipated to commence September 1, 2025 and continue through August 31, 2028.

Services shall be in accordance with all terms and conditions herein and the “General Specifications and Operating Procedures, effective July 1, 2023”, attached hereto as Attachment A and referred to hereafter as “Specifications”. The Specifications are subject to change prior to contract award and may also be updated throughout the term of the blanket contract.

1.2 Provisions

Services must be provided in yellow buses only. Human Service vehicles, as defined by Wisconsin State Statutes, are not permissible for use on any portion of the resulting contract. Only vehicles meeting the age requirements listed on Attachment A under Section G-20 of the Specifications will be accepted for this blanket contract. Contractor will be required to provide the size vehicle necessary to accommodate all students, including, in some instances, students with orthopedic busing needs.

Field trips within the metro-Milwaukee area will generally be scheduled between the hours of 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM. The buses scheduled for field trips within metro-Milwaukee will not be required to stay with the group if the duration of the event is scheduled for more than 3 hours and said trip is an indoor trip. All outdoor field trips, defined as ‘trips without adequate facilities to utilize during inclement weather situations’ require the bus to stay with the group regardless of duration. These trip destinations are listed in Appendix C.1.

Field trips outside of the metro-Milwaukee area may also be scheduled outside of the hours of 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM. The buses may be required to stay with the group in these instances regardless of the event duration or if the trip is an indoor trip due to the location distance from the school. These trip destinations are listed in Appendix C.2.

Field trips for MPS field trips will occasionally take place with an earlier start and will require a pick-up before 9:00 AM and a return after 2:00 PM. The earliest pick-up required will be 8:20 AM, the latest return will be at 3:00 PM. Students need to arrive at the destinations by 9:00 AM at the earliest and depart at 2:30 PM at the latest. These trip destinations are listed in Appendix C.3.

Additionally, MPS field trips may occasionally require an orthopedically-equipped bus. Orthopedically-equipped buses shall accommodate no fewer than four wheelchairs and no fewer than six ambulatory students. Vendors capable of providing orthopedic busing should complete Appendix C.4. See §4.1 for more specific information regarding orthopedic bus requirements.

The destinations listed in Appendices C.1, C.2, C.3, C.4, and C.5 may not constitute all school field trip destinations that will be visited over the term of the awarded blanket contract. For destinations not listed in the Appendices, vendors will be asked to provide a quote/confirmation for services.

On some occasions field trips may occur outside of regular school days/hours. In these instances, vendor shall honor the bid price for the bid destination so long as the initial pickup for the trip is from a MPS site.

MPS field trips that require overnight stays will include a Per Diem in accordance with the following rates: $60 per day and $30 per half-day. Half-day rate shall be charged when leaving to return occurs prior to 12:00 PM.

All responsive vendors that meet the minimum requirements of this RFB will be awarded a blanket contract for field trip busing and requested to provide services to all MPS field trip destinations, even those not listed in this RFB. See § 5.0 for more specific award information.

Services awarded per this blanket contract may not be assigned or subcontracted, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of MPS’s Department of Pupil Transportation Services. Contractors with more than one terminal location may submit a separate bid for each site. Contractor must indicate from which location each destination is being bid.

2.0 Bid

The items specified in this RFB will be used for bid evaluation and award purposes only.

Orders will be placed by end users for quantities as needed. Quantities listed are merely an estimate for the term of the blanket contract. MPS does not guarantee the amount that will actually be purchased. Bidders must be officially authorized provide the items identified below.

2.1 Pricing

Complete Appendices C.1, C.2, C.3, C.4, and C.5. Bids returned without Appendices C.1, C.2, C.3, C.4, and C.5 may be deemed non-responsive and rejected. If a bidder chooses not to bid on a specific destination listed in Appendices C.1, C.2, C.3, C.4, or C.5, then “No Bid” should be listed next to the destination.

Deadhead to and from the terminal will not be paid. For the purposes of this RFB, deadhead is defined as “the miles and hours that a vehicle travels when out of revenue service.”

As listed on Attachment A in Section G-44(E) Fuel Adjustment Provision of the Specifications, providing for monthly adjustments to price, will not apply to this contract. Prices quoted must be firm for one year, after which an escalator may be invoked if vendor’s price has increased. Any request for a price increase must be made in writing to MPS’s Director of Business Services or his/her designee at least 60 days in advance of the effective date of the increase and verified by a letter from the supplier and/or published price sheets. Any price increase will be based on diesel gas costs only and will not exceed 10% of the bid price at any time during the term of the awarded blanket contract. Any increase must be memorialized prior to its effective date in the form of a contract modification signed by authorized signatories of both parties.

Likewise, any de-escalation in price will be passed on to MPS. Vendors are obligated to treat price decreases as equally as price increases during the term of the blanket contract.

2.3 Cancellations, Home-to-School Interruptions due to delays from Field Trip Site, and Non-Performance Penalties

If a trip is cancelled by a school or department within twenty-four hours of the scheduled trip, no fee shall be incurred by MPS. However, if a trip is cancelled within twenty-four hours of the trip departure time, a maximum $35.00 fee may be charged to the school or department that requested the services.

If a trip overlaps with home-to-school runs in the afternoon and there is an unforeseen delay from the field trip site, vendors may charge up to $30 per thirty (30) minutes students have not yet boarded the bus. These charges must be verified by submitting a GPS report with your invoice in the Field Trip Smartsheet.

In instances in which the vendor no-shows for a specific trip, vendor will incur a penalty of 1.5 times the cost of the trip, which shall be credited to the account of the school or department that requested the trip. If desired, vendor shall be afforded a dispute resolution process facilitated by Pupil Transportation Services.

3.0 AWARD STATEMENT

MPS will “award” each specific field trip location to one contractor, i.e., that contractor will be the preferred provider for that location and all MPS schools seeking to book trips to that location will look to the preferred provider first. Awards will be made to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder complying with all requirements and specifications. Low bidder will be determined by the “flat rate, per bus, per round trip amount” quoted in Appendices C.1-C.5 for each location listed.

However, given the volume of MPS field trips, the preferred provider may be unable to service all MPS schools seeking to book trips. For that reason, contracts for any and all field trip destinations will be awarded to all responsive and responsible bidders as secondary providers. When the preferred provider is unavailable, or in cases where the field trip location has not been designated in this RFB, MPS schools will look to the secondary providers to provide service. By responding to this bid, bidders agree to provide such services at the flat rates quoted in the appendices (C.1-C.5) of this bid.

MPS will award each location to one preferred provider based on the rate offered. However, the scope of each contract will also provide for service to all locations as secondary providers at the flat rates quoted in this bid.

Vendors who fail to respond to this RFB will not be allowed to provide any field trips within the District during the duration of the awarded blanket contracts and possible subsequent extensions unless all awarded vendors are unable to fulfill service requests.

The Director of Procurement & Risk Management, or his/her designee, will be the final judge as to whether an item meets the specifications for this RFB.

3.1 Calculation

Except as provided herein, MPS will not check a bidder’s math.

If an apparent low bidder makes a mathematical error in arriving at the extended line totals, MPS will interpret the error in the manner most beneficial to MPS, make commensurate adjustments to the unit price, (i.e., by holding the bidder to the unit price listed on the bid even if it conflicts with the extended line total divided by the number of units; or by holding the bidder to the unit price arrived at by dividing the extended line total by the number of units, even though less than the unit price actually listed) and make the award on that basis.

If an apparent low bidder makes a mathematical error to MPS’s benefit in the summation of the extended line totals, MPS will allocate the difference between the correct total and the listed total equally among all items bid to arrive at a lower adjusted unit price for each item bid (as initially adjusted above if there is a mathematical error in arriving at the extended line totals).

If an apparent low bidder makes a mathematical error to MPS’s detriment in the summation of the extended line totals, MPS will make the award based on the correct summation of the extended line totals and hold the bidder to the unit price listed (as adjusted above if there is a mathematical error in arriving at the extended line totals).

4.0 Minimum Bid Requirement(s)

4.1 Orthopedic Buses

Orthopedically-equipped buses shall accommodate no fewer than four wheelchairs and no fewer than six ambulatory students. Vehicles used for transporting orthopedically impaired students – including both motor vehicles designed for carrying more than ten persons (school bus) as well as those vehicles designed to carry ten or fewer occupants (multipurpose passenger vehicles) – must follow all applicable WI State Statutes as defined in Trans 300, all federal regulations as defined by 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §571, as well as all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) applicable to their Gross Vehicle Weight Rating category.

4.2 Minimum Bid Requirement(s):

1. Respondent will comply with the Specifications as listed in the Specifications (“Attachment A”).

2. Respondent agrees to enter into MPS’s standard Busing Contract.

5.0 Resulting Contract

Respondents agree to enter into MPS’s standard Busing Contract.

The following documents are herein expressly incorporated by reference to this RFB: the MPS Terms and Conditions for Bids dated April 14, 2014; and the awarded bidder’s responsive bid. In the event of a conflict of terms, the order of priority will be: (1) the RFB; (2) the MPS Terms and Conditions for Bids dated April 14, 2014; and (3) the awarded bidder’s responsive bid.

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