MBTA seeks Wheel Measurement Devices/Services

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is seeking to procure two (2) Wheel Measurement Systems to be installed at its Green Line Riverside and Blue Line Orient Heights Maintenance Facility Yards. The purpose of the Wheel Measurement Systems is to enable the MBTA's Rail Vehicle Maintenance operations to monitor and schedule wheel sets for wheel trueing and replacement. The systems must provide capabilities such as early identification of excessively worn wheel sets, detection of asymmetric wear, improved wheel demand forecasting, and elimination of manual monitoring. The MBTA has issued a detailed Request for Proposals (RFP) outlining the technical requirements, installation process, software and data management, training, testing, and maintenance. Proposals are due on March 14, 2019, and the MBTA anticipates awarding the contract by March 29, 2018, with a service start date of April 5, 2018. The contract duration is seven months for delivery, installation, testing and training, with an overall 5 year maintenance and warranty period.

The MBTA is seeking proposals from small, minority, women, and other disadvantaged businesses, and will evaluate responses on a best-value basis considering both technical and price factors. No incumbent vendors are specified in the RFP documents. Funding for this procurement will come from the MBTA's capital budget, but the specific funding amount is not provided. The RFP does not mention any set-asides or price preferences, but does require the contractor to coordinate with the MBTA on site selection and integration with the agency's existing Enterprise Asset Management system.