Request for Proposals.pdf

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

2026-2027 Atlanta Regional Transit On-Board Survey

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is seeking proposals for the administration of an activity based Regional Transit On-Board Survey relating to the Atlanta Regional Activity-Based Travel Demand Forecasting Model and the creation of resultant data files. The major objective of the project is to develop a transit travel behavior database for the Atlanta Metropolitan Region that is designed to support periodic updates for ongoing testing of alternative future growth scenarios. The survey also provides a means to update and estimate various model components used in the ARC travel demand forecasting process, including mode choice modeling. The transit rider travel data will supplement the ARC household travel survey data by collecting transit rider data by purpose, length, mode, origin-destination and household socio-economic characteristics. The survey will collect transit trip patterns and associated socio-economic characteristics from 10% of daily transit ridership representative of weekday transit rider behavior. The Atlanta region’s average weekday transit ridership measured in boardings was approximately 200,000 during October 2025 amongst the five transit operators providing fixed route service (MARTA, ATL’s Xpress, CobbLinc, Connect Douglas, and Ride Gwinnett). The survey data is also needed to update the Atlanta regional STOPS model. The Simplified Trips-on-Project Software (STOPS) is a forecasting tool developed by the Federal Transit Administration. ARC is looking for a proposal that demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of data requirements, data collection techniques and quality control measures needed to meet the study objectives. The draft scope of services is included herein.

Through this RFP, ARC will award and manage a contract for data collection, analysis and tabulation required for the Regional Transit On-Board Survey. It is anticipated that available funds for the project will be approximately $1,600,000.00. Assuming completion of all necessary administrative processes, ARC expects to award this contract with an effective date of July 15, 2026. Any contract award for this study is contingent upon ARC receiving adequate funding for this purpose from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

ARC anticipates that a contract will be awarded in June 2026 with all work to be completed by December 31, 2027. The successful firm or team of firms should be prepared to begin work immediately. ARC reserves the right to award all or part of the available funds for this project.

RFP513

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION THROUGH WEBSITE

Electronic Submission Requirements

All proposals must be submitted electronically through the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) procurement website. Proposal submitted by any other method (including email, mail, fax, or hand delivery) may not be accepted unless specified in the solicitation document.

Respondents must register on the ARC procurement website to access the solicitation and submit a proposal. It is the responsibility of the respondent to ensure successful registration and timely submission.

Proposals must be received no later than 4:00 pm EST on Thursday, April 30, 2026.

The procurement system will automatically record the date and submission. Late proposals will not be accepted under any circumstances.

The Respondent(s) is solely responsible for:

• Uploading all required documents;

• Verifying that files are complete, readable, and properly labeled; and

• Ensuring submission is finalized prior to the deadline.

• Only one proposal containing all required information may be uploaded per responder.

ARC is not responsible for technical difficulties, internet outages, user errors, or system delays experienced by the respondent. Respondents are strongly encouraged to submit proposals well in advance of the deadline.

Upon successful submission, the system will provide email confirmation. This confirmation serves as proof of receipt.

QUESTION AND ANSWERS (Q&A)

Question Regarding the Solicitation

All questions concerning this RFP must be submitted electronically through the procurement website by 4:00 pm EST on Friday, April 10, 2026. Question submitted after this deadline or through any other means will not be considered.

To ensure fairness and transparency, respondents are prohibited from contacting any ARC staff, board members, or consultants regarding this solicitation outside of the formal Q & A process.

RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS

Official responses to all timely submitted questions will be posted on the procurement website as a written addendum by 4:00 pm EST on Friday, April 17, 2026. Only written responses issued through the website shall be considered official and binding.

It is the responsibility of each respondent to regularly check the procurement website for addenda, clarifications, and updates. Failure to review posted addenda shall not relieve a respondent from compliance with any requirements of the RFP.

Acceptable responses to this RFP should not exceed a total of 50 pages, inclusive of resumes and firm experience. Covers, end sheets, proposed budget, required forms, required certifications, and an introductory letter shall not count against this maximum. Font size shall be a minimum of 10 points in all cases.

Proposals should provide a recommended approach and schedule for accomplishing the scope of work and should be accompanied by the following documentation:

1. Name of lead firm and any sub-consultants.

2. Point of contact (name, title, and phone number) at lead firm.

3. The firm’s recent experience is directly related to the scope of work.

4. Qualifications and technical competence of consultant/or sub-consultants in the type of work required.

5. Description of experience on similar projects including a list of at least 3 references within the past 5 years, with current contact information.

6. Identification of personnel who would work on the study indicating their education and experience.

7. Geographic location of the consultant’s office performing the work.

8. Current workload and availability of such personnel in all required fields of expertise.

9. A proposed project budget in the format at Exhibit B and B-1 to this RFP.

10. Any other pertinent information.

Proposal evaluation will focus initially on the written proposals received by ARC by the deadline stated above. The review of written proposals will be based on the following evaluation criteria, with the relative weights in parentheses:

1. Extensive experience in transit data requirements for estimation and calibration of regional travel models that are sensitive to a broad range of policy issues. (20%)

2. Working knowledge of statistically based sample survey research techniques. (20%)

3. Experience in the training and management of data collection personnel for both tablet PC technology and transit on-board survey questionnaire. (20%)

4. Experience in editing and quality control of surveys to ensure accuracy and completion, and ability to perform data tasks of coding, data entry, verification, and sample expansion. (25%)

5. Relative experience of staff members in firm assigned to project and ability of assigned staff members to complete the project on the required schedule and provide thorough documentation. (15%)

Proposal evaluation will focus initially on the written proposals. Should it be determined that interviews are required, a “short list” of firms will be selected from the proposals received. The short-listed firms will be invited to participate in an interview process with the evaluation committee to be scheduled for the week of May 17, 2026. ARC will confirm an interview time with those firms selected for an interview.

If your firm does not wish to propose on the study, you should notify us of this fact in writing. A negative response will not prejudice consideration of your firm in competing for future ARC contracts. However, failure to respond either positively or negatively will be considered a lack of interest and will result in deletion of your firm from ARC’s consultant file.

SUMMARY TIMELINE

RFP Posted Wednesday, April 1, 2026 Questions Due Friday, April 10, 2026 Question and Answers Posted Online Friday, April 17, 2026 Proposals Due Thursday, April 30, 2026 Interviews Conducted, If Applicable Week of May 17, 2026 Contract Awarded Early June 2026 Work Start Date Wednesday, July 15, 2026 Work Completed Friday, December 31, 2027

CONFIDENTIALITY AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

ARC is subject to the Georgia Open Records law. All proposals submitted will become public records to be provided upon request. Any information containing trade secrets or proprietary information, as defined by state law, must be marked as confidential to prevent disclosure.

Confidential markings must be limited to protected information. Entire proposals marked confidential will not be honored. Additionally, conflicts of interest are governed by the ARC Standards of Ethical Conduct available here: Standards of Ethical Conduct. Respondents must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may arise from the provision of services described herein. Such disclosure should include the name of individual(s) with whom there is a conflict, any relevant facts to the potential conflict, and a description of the internal controls proposed to mitigate any such conflict. ARC’s Staff Legal Counsel will determine whether such disclosure presents a potential organizational conflict of interest that should preclude award to the respondent.

EXHIBIT A

SCOPE OF WORK

I. General:

The work to be accomplished by the Consultant is in support of the following Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Cost Center:

Cost Center 606ETT – Atlanta Regional Transit On-Board Survey

II. Definition of Study Area:

The Consultant will perform all the necessary services provided under this contract within the Atlanta Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) area (“Metro Atlanta”), including the 21-county modeling region. This modeling area currently includes all or parts of the following nineteen counties: Barrow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton. Two additional counties are currently part of the air quality maintenance areas: Bartow and Hall. Any work activities related to the air quality planning responsibilities of the MPO need to survey travel behavior in those counties as well. The following transit systems will be surveyed: MARTA, CobbLinc, Connect Douglas, and Ride Gwinnett, and Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority (ATL)’s Xpress.

III. Work and Services:

Work will involve the development, deployment, data collection, and administration of the Atlanta Regional Transit On-Board Survey.

The Consultant will conduct project management meetings once a month throughout the duration of the contract. The Project Management Plan will define the time, date, location, and format of the meetings.

The Consultant will attend ARC committee, planning team, external stakeholder meetings, and other meetings critical to the successful performance of this scope of services, not to exceed the project budgeted hours and fee. The Project Management Plan will define the total number of meetings.

It is anticipated that available funds for the project will be approximately $1,600,000.00 ($400,000.00 in 2026 and $1,200,000.00 in 2027). Any contract award for this study is contingent upon ARC receiving adequate funding for this purpose from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).

IV. Background and Objectives:

ARC’s last Atlanta regional transit on-board survey was conducted in 2019. Survey efforts have been determined to be necessary due to the 2020-2021 pandemic. Since then, MARTA has planned a bus network redesign, which will be implemented in the Spring of 2026, and that bus network redesign needs to mature throughout 2026, hence the MARTA bus & rail network cannot be surveyed until early 2027. The goal of the Atlanta regional transit on-board survey consists of surveying about 1 out of 10 transit riders in the metro region, or 10% of all daily transit riders. This data will then be utilized to re-estimate and re-calibrate the ARC travel demand model, in conjunction with other travel surveys and origin-destination “Big Data”.

Comprehensive progress reports detailing progress on each task will be submitted to ARC with each invoice, which will occur monthly.

V. Work Tasks:

The Consultant will complete the tasks described in the Scope of Services to ARC’s satisfaction.

This scope of work outlines the deliverables that the Consultant will provide to ARC to complete the project successfully and meet the project’s overall goals.

Task 1 – Project Management Work Plan & Schedule

With input from ARC staff, the Consultant will describe their technical approach, including a work plan, for implementing this scientific survey. The work plan will identify specific survey data products, schedules, and staff assignment. Please note, all transit on-board survey materials must be in compliance with Section 508 (see https://www.section508.gov), and available in both English and Spanish language forms, including the survey tablet PC technology. Furthermore, survey data privacy and security plans will be provided by the consultant to ARC to ensure the privacy of survey respondents.

The contractual delivery of this task will document the work plan.

Task 2 – Rigorous Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Plan

This technical task will describe a multi-stage approach to ensure survey data accuracy from survey conceptualization to final data analytics. Key components will include check points for inconsistent survey data, and unusually long transit trip journeys / transfers. Automated survey data checks using machine learning should be deployed to flag implausible survey data entries or inconsistent trip patterns. A structured framework with indicators to evaluate the quality of the survey data will be developed, from how survey data is collected to its usefulness and statistical representativeness, including, but not limited to, completeness, logical consistency (for instance on trip start and end times), real-time location and data consistency checks, intra-household transit travel consistency checks, and outlier detection.

The contractual delivery of this task will document the QA/QC plan.

Task 3 – Survey Design and Sampling Plan

The Consultant will develop a survey design based on collecting data using an in-person intercept interview methodology, while leveraging Tablet PC technology, featuring a goal of completing surveys for a statistically representative sample (such as +/- 3% to 5% at the 95% confidence level, variable rate sampling depending on route volume, etc.) of transit riders in the region, as well as fulfilling Title VI requirements, including a strategic Limited English Proficiency approach. The Consultant will also collect boarding and alighting data on sampled routes, develop a weighting https://www.section508.gov/ strategy for expansion of the dataset and an approach for maximizing response of low-income travelers and hard-to-reach / under-represented populations, including the possible use of incentives to increase response rates. The preferred framework will allow any number of datasets to inform a survey multi-criteria expansion, including, but not limited to, boarding counts, on-to-off flow estimates from Atlanta’s Breeze EFC fare payment card, APC/AVL-based boarding and alighting counts, schedule-based GTFS data, and Breeze Card transactions, via iterative proportional fitting or any other method. Develop an LEP populations approach on how to best gather a representative sample that includes those who do not read or speak English.

The contractual deliveries associated with this task will document the survey data collection sampling plan demonstrating a statistically significant representation encompassing all transit riders in the Atlanta region with corresponding confidence levels.

Task 4 – Survey Instrumentation Development & Interview Training Manual

The Consultant will design a survey instrument in English and Spanish (and may likely need more languages), as well as any programming of questionnaires on Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), tablet PCs, web-based or the use of other data collection technologies proposed by the Consultant, including “on-the-fly” geo-coding. Leveraging “Big Data”, passive & automated data, and smart phone applications should also be considered to trace the movements of riders and better inform tour context questions. Short transit trips should be given special consideration and strategically addressed in the proposal. At a minimum, the following data items will be on the instrument:

• Household size

• Number of autos available in household

• Number of workers in household

• Household Life Cycle (retired, presence or absence of children, etc.)

• Age of respondent

• Trip purpose

• Information on complete transit trip

• First boarding stop and last egress stop

• List of all routes planned to use on trip

• Number of routes/transfers to complete trip

• For walk access/egress – Walk distance to transit

• For drive access – Park and Ride lot location

• Other access/egress modes such as on-demand/microtransit (MARTA Reach, Via), taxi, robotaxi (Waymo, May Mobility), TNC (Uber, Lyft), micromobility (personal bike, bikeshare, skateboard, scooter), car share (Zipcar), drop-off / kiss-and-ride, carpool, shuttle, wheelchair, etc.

• Fare payment method

• Origin address and type of place (such as home location)

• Destination address and type of place (such as work or school location)

• How often is this trip made

• Time of Day

• Auto availability for this trip

• Driver’s License availability

• Race & ethnicity of transit riders

• Household Income

In addition, as part of the survey instrument development, including the pilot / pre-test, The Atlanta Regional Origin-Destination Transit On-Board Survey must include two questions pertaining to transit riders’ safety perceptions while taking transit in metro Atlanta. Responses must be tabulated in meaningful, innovative, and creative ways, including geo-spatial references to the urban environment as it relates to presence or absence of sidewalks, while geocoding “on the fly” survey responses via tablet PC technology, including enhanced visualization of survey results addressing the perceived safety and security experience of transit riders.

The Consultant will also develop an interview training manual, detailing the interviewer’s roles and responsibilities, as well as administrative matters pertaining to the survey implementation.

The contractual deliverable of this task will document the survey methodology, the survey instrumentation, as well as the interview training manual.

Task 5 – Conduct and Evaluate Pre-Test / Pilot-test

The Consultant, with guidance from ARC, will conduct a pre-test / pilot-test to evaluate the survey methodology and instrument. This test will include all aspects of the survey process and include all forms of existing transit in the Region. The Consultant will evaluate the results and make recommendations for revisions to the survey instrument and/or sampling plan.

The contractual deliveries of this task will document the pre-test procedures, results, evaluation, and any proposed changes to the survey instrument, survey methodology, or interview training manual.

Task 6 – Administration of the Transit On-Board Survey in Metro Atlanta

The Consultant will conduct a full survey using the survey procedures finalized in Task 5. For a survey to be complete, it must include answers to the following variables: Trip purpose, origin and destination locations, mode of access to transit, household size, household vehicles owned, household workers and household income. For teenagers and young adults living at home, income information is desirable, however they may have no way of knowing this information. For these two groups, blank income information will be accepted only if household location is provided.

Furthermore, to ensure that the results may also be used for Title VI reporting purposes, a complete survey must also include race, ethnicity and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) status.

In addition, this survey shall include a supplemental regional one-day transit rider tour diary survey to better understand transit trip switching behavior in metro Atlanta. Completing an analysis of that supplemental survey administered to a subset of people that responded to the transit on-board survey will provide ARC staff with useful findings about transit trip switching behavior. The supplemental survey shall contain detailed information on the respondents’ travel patterns throughout a travel day in the form of a travel diary. In total, the survey should contain data on 1,000 participants who made transit trips as part of their tours on the survey day. This survey will capture data on respondents who have changed their travel mode from transit to another mode within a single tour. This will allow ARC to better understand reported trips that have switched to other modes from transit trips in the previous leg. This survey will explore the tours that had the respondents switching to/from transit and other modes in any of their tours. The resulting dataset will be useful for its intended purpose, which is to better understand the tour characteristics of transit users.

In particular, the survey will be useful to better understand the propensity and willingness to select transit as part of complex (multi-trip) tours. Transit passenger on-board surveys often miss this information because they intercept only one trip out of the entire daily travel. Ultimately, the data should be able to usefully answer the following, empirically derived, transit rider travel behavior questions in metro Atlanta:

• Do age, employment status, household auto availability, and access to an automobile have a bearing on the decision to switch from transit?

• Are frequent transit users more likely to switch to other modes in a tour? If so, are they from auto-sufficient households?

• Is there a higher propensity to switch from transit when the purpose of the trip is discretionary than when it is mandatory (e.g., work, school) or for maintenance-type activities (e.g., shopping)?

• Are walking and autos approximately equally likely trip modes used in combination with transit? How about carshare/TNC?

• Does the probability of switching mode from transit increase as the day progresses? What percentage of the total trips in the PM peak and the Evening period were switched from transit?

ARC defines percentage switching from transit in a tour in the following manner: The survey respondents will report their mode to arrive at an activity location for each trip. The percentage switching from transit in a tour represents the conditional probability of switching mode from transit for each categorical response. For instance, as an example, X% of walk trips switching from transit in a tour means that about X% of all walk trips followed a transit trip in the same tour.

The contractual delivery of this task will include completed transit on-board surveys, documentation on response rates as well as measures used to minimize illogical data and non-sampling biases.

Task 7 – From Transit Survey Data Analytics to Transit Behavior Storytelling

This task will creatively and effectively combine descriptive statistics narrative with transit survey data visualization dashboards to make survey data more compelling and understandable for a broad audience, ranging from the public to decision-makers and policymakers, to planning partners and stakeholders, and savvy technical modelers and planners. This task should be able to answer a variety of questions and provide insightful information, such as, but not limited to: Are people making fewer transit trips than before the pandemic, or shorter trips? Are transit trips distributed differently across weekdays than they were pre-pandemic? Which population segments, for instance, low income or higher income, have experienced the biggest changes in terms of transit trip frequency and transit trip length? What is Metro Atlanta’s transit market segmentation? A detailed trip length frequency distribution illustrating how many transit trips fall into specific length categories (distance and time separately) will allow the reader to visualize trip patterns and calibrate ARC’s travel demand model via a histogram where the horizontal axis represents meaningful trip length bins, while the vertical axis will show the relative frequency of trips in each bin. Transit trip chaining from a travel behavior perspective will also be explicitly represented from the survey data, illustrating the perspective of “a day in the life of a metro Atlanta transit rider” via various demographic and ethnic groups, just to name a few examples. Consolidated daily activity patterns will be described and characterized, as well as intra-household interactions for transit riders.

The contractual deliverables of this task will include a series of insightful dashboards and visualization tools, as well as thematic narratives describing transit travel behavior in the Atlanta region, while creatively weaving in transit rider behavior findings with on-board survey data trends and patterns.

Task 9 – From Transit Survey Data to Travel Demand Modeling: The Seamless Data Pipeline

This task will break down the data silos and bridge the gaps between the transit survey database and travel model estimation for the mode choice model component of the ARC ActivitySim model, as well as the ARC STOPS model application. The data pipeline architecture will clearly illustrate the process for transforming transit survey data into a format ready for ActivitySim and STOPS while eliminating the need for manual data handling. The strategic design and framework will define how survey data is processed and moved to ActivitySim and STOPS, ultimately delivering it to its final format for model estimation use, while ensuring efficient and reliable data flows. Furthermore, as deemed necessary, data fusion techniques and methods will be developed and implemented, as well as machine learning algorithms to detect transit travel behavior patterns in the survey data.

This task will also include a transit linked trip decomposition analysis. This on-board survey decomposition analysis will measure the overall representativeness of survey records relative to linked and unlinked trips on an individual transit route basis. The decomposition analysis will examine each record and the recorded sequence of routes and will tabulate boardings for each route using this information. After all records have been examined, total boardings by route will be summarized and compared with the observed level of boardings. The result of this analysis will help ARC determine the relationship between observed and estimated boardings by route. The findings from the decomposition analysis will show how well the overall results from the on-board survey represent the system. In fact, at the overall level, there should be a very small difference between the total boardings calculated from the summed linked weight factors and the observed ridership. The routes that deviate the farthest from the summed linked factors should be compared to the observed counts to determine if those are routes with low volume ridership, therefore a higher inherit error probability.

The Consultant will also build trip tables for each detailed trip purpose, then transform unlinked trips into linked trips, and implement the linked trip decomposition test to check for transfer bias in the survey sample. The trip tables will be assigned to ARC’s travel demand model networks, and the results will be analyzed for the ability of the trips to be assigned. The model’s transit skimming and path-building procedures will be evaluated to ensure the Origin-Destination paths match the survey results. The ability to assign survey trip tables will be key to determining the completeness of the survey. Once any inconsistencies are resolved, the Consultant will propose and implement the weighting and expansion of the survey data to provide an expanded dataset. The Consultant will also perform descriptive statistical analysis on the weighted and unweighted datasets.

The contractual deliverables of this task will include data pipelines diagrams and scripts needed to transfer the transit survey data into useable formats for the ARC ActivitySim model and for the ARC STOPS model application, the linked trip decomposition analysis, as well as the accompanying traffic assignment results.

EXHIBIT B

PROPOSED PROJECT BUDGET

Budget Category

Total Cost

1. Direct Labor

Staff Person / Position # Hours $ Rate / Hour $ ----- Staff Person / Position # Hours $ Rate / Hour $ ----- Staff Person / Position # Hours $ Rate / Hour $ -----

Direct Labor Total Cost

2. Overhead Costs (per OMB Circulars A-87 & A-122)

Overhead Percentage Rate Direct Labor Total Cost (from #1)

Total Overhead (Overhead Rate * Labor Cost)

3. Other Direct Costs

Item Unit or Total Cost $ -----

Total Other Direct Costs

4. Subcontracts

Subcontractor / Role $ -----

% Rate

Total Subcontracts

5. Travel

Air Travel Taxi / Shuttle Rental Auto Private Auto

Total Travel

6. Profit

Profit Margin

Total Direct Labor (#1) + Overhead Costs (#2)

Total Profit

Total Estimated Budget

# Trips $ Fare $ ----- # Trips $ Fare $ ----- # Days $ Daily Rate $ ----- # Miles $ Mileage

Rate

% Rate

TOTAL

EXHIBIT B-1

PROPOSED PROJECT BUDGET BY TASK

2026-2027 Atlanta Regional Transit On-Board Survey Total Budget ($)

Task 1 – Project Management Work Plan & Schedule

Task 2 – Rigorous Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Plan

Task 3 – Survey Design and Sampling Plan

Task 4 – Survey Instrumentation Development and Interview Training Manual

Task 5 – Conduct and Evaluate Pre-Test / Pilot-test

Task 6 – Administration of the Transit On-Board Survey in Metro Atlanta

Task 7 – From Transit Survey Data Analytics to Transit Behavior Storytelling

Task 8 – From Transit Survey Data to Travel Demand Modeling: The Seamless Data Pipeline

TOTAL COST

EXHIBIT C

CONTRACT FORMS

EXHIBIT D

CONTRACT SAMPLE BOILERPLATE

ARC Contract Number

UP _______________

CONSULTANT AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT, entered into as of this _____ day of __________, 202_, by and between CONSULTANT/VENDOR in Atlanta, Georgia (hereinafter referred to as the "Consultant") and the ATLANTA REGIONAL COMMISSION (hereinafter referred to as "ARC").

WITNESSETH THAT:

WHEREAS, ARC desires to engage the Consultant to render certain services hereinafter described in connection with an undertaking or project (hereinafter referred to as the "Project") which is to be wholly or partially financed by a grant from the United States Department of Transportation, (hereinafter, along with the appropriate auditing agency of the entities making such grant, referred to as "the Concerned Funding Agencies");

WHEREAS, the Consultant desires to render such services in connection with the project;

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and the mutual covenants and agreements hereinafter contained, the parties hereto agree as follows:

1. Engagement of the Consultant. ARC hereby agrees to engage the Consultant and the

Consultant hereby agrees to perform the services hereinafter set forth in accordance with the terms and conditions herein.

2. Scope of Services. The Consultant shall do, perform and carry out in a satisfactory and proper manner, as determined by ARC, the work and services described in Attachment "A" which is attached hereto and made a part hereof.

3. Time of Performance. The services of the Consultant are to commence immediately upon execution of this agreement. Work and services shall be undertaken and pursued in such sequence as to assure their expeditious completion and as may be required in Attachment "A."

All work and services required hereunder shall be completed on or before DATE.

4. Compensation. The Consultant shall be compensated for the work and services to be performed under this agreement as set forth in Attachment "B" which is attached hereto and made part hereof. Compensation for work and services in the performance of this contract shall not exceed $AMOUNT.

5. Approval of Subcontracts. None of the work or services to be performed under this agreement by the Consultant shall be subcontracted without the prior written approval of ARC's Executive Director or her authorized agent. If such approval is requested, all subcontract documents shall be submitted to ARC's Executive Director or her authorized agent, for her review and approval prior to the execution of such subcontract. Further, if requested by ARC's

Executive Director or her authorized agent, the Consultant shall provide ARC with such documentation as ARC's Executive Director shall require, regarding the method the Consultant used in selecting its subcontractor. The Consultant acknowledges that if work or services to be performed under this agreement is financed solely or partially with federal funds, the selection of subcontractors is governed by regulations requiring competition between potential subcontractors or adequate justification for sole source selection. The Consultant agrees to abide by such regulations in its selection procedure.

6. Prompt Payment and Retainage. The prime contractor agrees to pay each subcontractor under this prime contract for satisfactory performance of its contract no later than 30 days from the receipt of each payment the prime contract receives from ARC. The prime contractor agrees further to return retainage payments to each subcontractor within 30 days after the subcontractor’s work is satisfactorily completed. Any delay or postponement of payment from the above referenced time frame may occur only for good cause following written approval of ARC. This clause applies to both DBE and non-DBE subcontracts.

Any contractor found not to be in compliance with this clause will be considered in breach of contract and any further payments will be withheld until corrective action is taken. If contractor does not take corrective action, contractor may be subject to contract termination.

7. Assignability. The Consultant shall not assign, sublet or transfer all or any portion of its interest in this agreement without the prior written approval of ARC.

8. Amendments. ARC may require changes in this agreement. Except for termination for cause or convenience, such changes, including any increase or decrease in the amount of the Consultant's compensation shall be incorporated in written amendments to this agreement.

Amendments to this agreement may be executed on behalf of ARC only by ARC's Executive Director and Chairman.

9. Insurance. The Consultant will have and maintain insurance coverage that complies with the laws of the state of Georgia, as well as reasonable and prudent business practices. Such insurance shall at least include Worker’s Compensation, Public Liability, Property Damage, and Valuable Papers coverage.

10. Indemnification. The Consultant shall hold harmless and indemnify ARC, its officers, directors, and employees form and against losses, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, that may be based on any injury to persons or property caused by the negligent performance of services under this agreement by the consultant or any person employed by the consultant.

11. Formal Communication. Formal communications regarding this agreement shall include, but not necessarily be limited to correspondence, progress reports and fiscal reports.

All formal communication regarding this agreement shall be in writing between the person executing this agreement on behalf of the Consultant (executor) and ARC's Executive Director. However, the Consultant executor and ARC's Executive Director shall each have the right to designate in writing to the other an agent to act in his or her behalf regarding this agreement. Any restrictions to such designation must be clearly defined in the written designation.

In this regard, ARC’s Executive Director hereby designates the ARC Chief Operating Officer as her agent for purposes of this contract only, except for Amendments and Terminations.

12. Reports. The Consultant shall furnish ARC with narrative progress reports, in such form and frequency as may be specified by ARC's Executive Director or her authorized agent, outlining the work accomplished by the Consultant during the period, including the current status of the Project, and the percentage of work which has been completed.

13. Financial Reports. In addition to other records required by this contract, the Consultant agrees to provide to ARC such additional financial reports in such form and frequency as ARC may require in order to meet ARC's requirements for reporting to the Concerned Funding Agencies.

14. Review and Coordination. To ensure adequate assessment of the Consultant's project and proper coordination among interested parties, ARC shall be kept fully informed concerning the progress of the work and services to be performed hereunder. The Consultant may be required to meet with designated representatives of ARC and the Concerned Funding Agencies from time to time to review the work and services performed. The Consultant shall be given reasonable written notice of such meetings.

15. Inspections. Authorized representatives of ARC and the Concerned Funding Agencies may at all reasonable times review and inspect the Project activities and data collected pursuant to this agreement. Except where specifically prohibited by law, all reports, studies, records, and computations prepared by or for the Consultant under this agreement shall be made available to authorized representatives of ARC and the Concerned Funding Agencies for inspection and review at all reasonable times in the Consultant's office where data is normally accumulated.

Approval and acceptance of such material shall not relieve the Consultant of its professional obligation to correct, at its expense, any errors found in the work unless such errors can be shown to be caused by inaccurate or incomplete information provided by ARC.

16. Maintenance of Cost Records. The Consultant shall maintain all books, documents, papers, accounting records and other evidence pertaining to costs incurred on the Project and shall make such material available at all reasonable times during the period of the agreement, and for three years from the date of final payment under the agreement, for inspection by ARC, the Concerned Funding Agencies, and if the work and services to be performed under this agreement is wholly or partially funded with federal funds, the Comptroller General of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives. The Consultant shall include the provisions of this paragraph in any subcontract executed in connection with this Project.

17. No Obligation by the Federal Government. ARC and the Consultant acknowledge and agree that, notwithstanding any concurrence by the Federal Government in or approval of the solicitation or award of the underlying contract, absent the express written consent by the Federal Government, the Federal Government is not a party to this contract and shall not be subject to any obligations or liabilities to ARC, the Consultant, or any other party (whether or not a party to that contract) pertaining to any matter resulting from the underlying contract.

The Consultant agrees to include the above clause in each subcontract financed in whole or in part with Federal assistance. It is further agreed that the clause shall not be modified, except to identify the subcontractor who will be subject to its provisions.

18. Status as Independent Consultants. Nothing contained in this agreement shall be construed to constitute the Consultant or any of its employees, servants, agents or subcontractors as a partner, employee, servant, or agent of ARC, nor shall either party to this agreement have any authority to bind the other in any respect, it being intended that each shall remain an independent Consultant.

19. Consultant's Personnel. The Consultant represents that it has, or will secure at its own expense, all personnel required to perform the services under this agreement. Such personnel shall not be employees of ARC, nor shall such personnel have been employees of ARC during any time within the twelve-month period immediately prior to the date of this agreement, except with the express prior written consent of ARC. Further, the Consultant agrees that no such former ARC employees shall be involved in any way with the performance of this agreement, without the express prior written approval of ARC.

20. Employees' Rate of Compensation. The rate of compensation for work performed under this project by a staff member or employee of the Consultant shall not exceed the compensation of such person that is applicable to his or her other work activities for the Consultant. Charges for salaries and wages of individuals shall be supported by time and attendance and payroll distribution records.

21. Interest of Consultant. The Consultant covenants that neither the Consultant, nor anyone controlled by the Consultant, controlling the Consultant, or under common control with the Consultant, nor its agents, employees or Consultants, presently has an interest, nor shall acquire an interest, direct or indirect, which would conflict in any manner or degree with the performance of its service hereunder, or which would prevent, or tend to prevent, the satisfactory performance of the Consultant's service hereunder in an impartial and unbiased manner. The Consultant further covenants that in the performance of this agreement no person having any such interest shall be employed by the Consultant as an agent, Consultant or otherwise. If the Consultant contemplates taking some action which may constitute a violation of this paragraph, the Consultant shall request in writing the advice of ARC, and if ARC notifies the Consultant in writing that the Consultant's contemplated action will not constitute a violation hereof, then the Consultant shall be authorized to take such action without being in violation of this paragraph.

22. Interest of Members of ARC and Others. No officer, member or employee of ARC, and no public official of any local government which is affected in any way by the project, who exercises any function or responsibilities in the review or approval of the project or any component part thereof, shall participate in any decision relating to this agreement which affects his or her personal interests or the interest of any corporation, partnership or association in which he or she is directly, or indirectly, interested; nor shall any such officer, member or employee of ARC, or public official of any local government affected by the project, have an interest, direct or indirect, in this agreement or the proceeds arising therefrom.

23. Officials Not to Benefit. No member of or delegate to the Congress of the United States of

America, resident commissioner or employee of the United States Government, shall be admitted to any share or part of this agreement or to any benefits to arise herefrom.

24. Compliance with Requirements of the Concerned Funding Agencies. The Consultant shall be bound by the applicable terms and conditions of the Grant Contract between ARC and the Concerned Funding Agencies which said Grant Contract is on file in the offices of ARC and is hereby made a part of this agreement as fully as if the same were attached hereto. ARC will notify the Consultant in writing of any applicable changes within a reasonable time after ARC has received appropriate notice of such changes from the Concerned Funding Agencies.

25. Federal Changes. Consultant shall at all times comply with all applicable U.S. DOT regulations, policies, procedures and directives as they may be amended or promulgated from time to time during the term of this contract. Consultant's failure to so comply shall constitute a material breach of this contract.

26. Rights in Documents, Materials and Data Produced. For purposes of this agreement, "data" includes, but is not limited to, writings, sound recordings, computer programs, photographs, films, videotapes or other graphic representations and works of a similar nature. ARC and the Concerned Funding Agencies shall have the right to use same without restriction or limitation and without compensation to the Consultant other than as provided in this agreement. The Consultant acknowledges that matters regarding rights to inventions and materials generated by or arising out of this agreement may be subject to certain regulations issued by the Concerned Funding Agencies.

27. Data and Software Licensing. During performance of the work covered by this Agreement

ARC may provide certain data or software products, such as aerial photography, roadway analytics/traffic data or commercially available planning data and software, to the Consultant that have been obtained from various sources under specific licensing agreements. The Consultant acknowledges that any data or software that ARC may provide hereunder is provided as a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license for the Consultant or its Sub-consultants to use the data or software for the work covered by this Agreement only. The Consultant shall not redistribute, republish or otherwise make this data or software available to any party not covered by this Agreement. The Consultant or any Sub-consultants shall not use this data or software for any work not covered by this Agreement. The Consultant further acknowledges that upon completion of the project covered by this Agreement all data and software provided by ARC will be returned to ARC and all copies of the data or software residing on the Consultant’s or Sub-consultant’s computer systems will be removed.

28. Publicity. Articles, papers, bulletins, reports or other material reporting the plans, progress, analysis or results and findings of the work conducted under this agreement shall not be presented or published without first submitting the same to ARC for review and comment.

No such presentation shall be made until comments have been received from ARC regarding such review; provided, however, if such comments have not been received by the Consultant within thirty calendar days after such submission, it shall be presumed that ARC has no objection thereto. ARC's comments, objections, reservations or disagreements regarding such material shall be accommodated as ARC shall specify.

29. Assurances. The Consultant hereby assures and certifies that it will comply with the appropriate regulations, policies, guidelines and requirements (as applicable), including, but not limited to, 2 CFR Part 200, “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards,” 48 CFR 31, “Contract Cost Principles and

Procedures,” Executive Order 12372, “Intergovernmental review of Federal programs,” U.S. Office of Management and Budget Circular Nos. A 21, “Cost Principles for Educational Institutions,” and A 133, “Audits of States, Local Governments and Non-Profit Organizations,” or other requirements imposed by ARC or the Concerned Funding Agencies concerning requirements of law or project matters as expressly made applicable by ARC herein, as they relate to the application, acceptance, use and audit of federal funds for this federally assisted project. Also, the Consultant gives assurance and certifies with respect to this agreement that:

a. For all agreements:

i. It possesses legal authority to apply for this agreement, and, if appropriate, to finance and construct any proposed facilities; and, any required resolution, motion or similar action has been duly adopted or passed as an official act of the Consultant's governing body; that proper authorization exists for the filing of the application, including all understandings and assurances contained therein, and directing and authorizing the person identified as the official representative of the Consultant to act in connection with the application and to provide such additional information as may be required, and, upon ARC approval of its application, that the person identified as the official representative of the Consultant is authorized to execute an agreement incorporating the terms of its application.

ii. It understands that the phrase "federal financial assistance" includes any form of loan, grant, guaranty, insurance payment, rebate, subsidy, disaster assistance loan or grant, or any other form of direct or indirect federal assistance.

iii. It will comply with Title VI of the Civil Right Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352 and 42 USC 2000d) and in accordance with Title VI of that Act, no person in the United States shall, on the ground of age, handicap, religion, creed or belief, political affiliation, sex, race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any project or activity for which the applicant receives federal financial assistance and will immediately take any measures necessary to effectuate this assurance. The Consultant shall take affirmative action to ensure that qualified applicants are employed and qualified subcontractors are selected, and that qualified employees are treated during employment, without regard to their age, handicap, religion, creed or belief, political affiliation, race, color, sex or national origin. Such action shall include but not be limited to the following: employment, upgrading, demotions, or transfers; recruitment or recruitment advertising; layoffs or terminations; rates of pay or other forms of compensation; selection for training including apprenticeship, and participation in recreational and educational activities.

The Consultant shall in all solicitations…