Joint Request for Proposals for Reloadable cEMV Transit/Parking Payment Cards

This joint Request for Proposals (RFP #26-03) is issued by ten California transit and transportation agencies—Monterey-Salinas Transit District (MST), Ventura County Transportation Commission, Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority, Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, Humboldt Transit Authority, San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority, Nevada County Transit Services, Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District, Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency—seeking qualified proposers to design, develop, and deploy a reloadable contactless EMV (cEMV) payment card solution for public transit and parking services. The solution must provide both physical and digital cEMV cards that enable riders without access to bankcards or mobile wallets to load cash onto cards at retail locations, with funds available within ten minutes, and to use these cards exclusively at participating agencies' cEMV payment acceptance devices. Key deliverables include card issuance and management without Know Your Customer requirements, online balance inquiry capabilities, fraud protection mechanisms, multilingual customer support in English and Spanish, and agency reporting with API access functionality. The solution must replace the agencies' existing closed-loop card systems and address the needs of current cash-paying customers across transit vehicles, parking meters, and off-street parking locations. Proposers will be evaluated on a 100-point scale based on solution functionality (40 points), firm and key personnel experience (30 points), cost competitiveness (20 points), and implementation and management plan detail (10 points). The question submission deadline is February 6, 2026, at 12:00 PM, with proposals due March 13, 2026, at 2:00 PM; product demonstrations are scheduled for the week of April 20, 2026, with full deployment required by January 1, 2027. MST administers the procurement on behalf of all agencies, and each agency retains the right to independently execute contracts subject to internal approval processes and available funding.

The RFP does not identify specific set-aside designations for disadvantaged business enterprises or small business enterprises; however, contractors must comply with federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) program participation requirements, with MST having placed a moratorium on certain DBE participation mandates as of October 3, 2025, though contractors must still submit required documentation and comply with reporting and prompt payment obligations to subcontractors within thirty days of receiving payment. No incumbent vendors or current service providers are identified in the available documentation. Proposers must integrate with existing agency infrastructure, including terminal vendors such as Kuba (ABT3000 model) and Prodata (ABT3000 model) systems already deployed across participating agencies. Contractors must maintain comprehensive insurance including General Liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate), Professional Liability ($2,000,000 per claim), Cyber Liability ($1,000,000 per claim), Commercial Automobile Liability ($1,000,000), and Workers' Compensation coverage, and comply with federal requirements, data privacy and security standards established by the California Attorney General, and PCI Data Security Standard compliance. Estimated annual fare revenue across all participating agencies exceeds $12.9 million, with individual agency card issuance estimates ranging from 200 cards (Nevada County Transit Services) to 1,051,577 cards (Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District), though the contract is not to exceed an amount to be determined by the selected proposer's cost proposal. The contract term is three years from the effective date with two optional one-year renewal periods exercisable at MST's sole discretion, and proposals are firm for 90 calendar days from the submission deadline.