Public Transit Management, Operations, and Maintenance for Transport of Rockland

The County of Rockland, New York, is issuing Request for Proposal RFP-RC-2026-011 to select a qualified firm to provide comprehensive public transit management, operations, and maintenance services for the Transport of Rockland (TOR) fixed-route bus system under Federal Transit Administration Third Party Contracting Guidance. The procurement encompasses all management, administrative, technical, mechanical, and vehicle operator staffing necessary to operate the TOR system's fleet of 45 county-owned vehicles across 11 fixed routes and 3 local loops, including daily operational oversight, preventive and corrective maintenance, scheduling, routing, road supervision, safety and accident investigation, fare collection, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) support, and customer service during both normal and emergency operating circumstances. Qualified offerors must demonstrate equivalent or comparable fixed-route transit management experience with at least one contract serving a fleet of 30 or more vehicles or two concurrent contracts of equivalent size and scope, along with three references and detailed management and implementation plans addressing staffing, maintenance, training, safety and security, ADA compliance, and transition procedures. The contract term runs five years from August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2031, with a county option to renew for one additional five-year term, utilizing a firm fixed-price compensation model with a fuel cost adjustment clause. Key dates include a pre-proposal conference on February 24, 2026, a fleet review site visit on March 1, 2026, a written questions deadline of March 19, 2026, with official responses on March 26, 2026, proposal submission by April 9, 2026, at 3:00 PM, evaluation through May 8, 2026, notice of intent to award on May 19, 2026, and contract award and approval anticipated for June 15, 2026.

The procurement includes no specific Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goal, though DBE Bidders List Response Forms must be submitted by all prime contractors and subcontractors. The current contractor operating the TOR system is TransDev, Inc., operating under a competitively-bid contract where the County provides the 45 vehicles and retains fare revenue. Offerors must comply with employee protective agreements under 49 U.S.C. Section 5333(b) and Department of Labor guidelines, with priority hiring afforded to existing county transit service provider employees under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, and must maintain comprehensive insurance including commercial general liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate), automobile liability ($1,000,000 combined single limit), excess umbrella liability ($10,000,000), garagekeepers liability ($10,000,000), workers compensation, and disability benefits. Offerors must submit a $250,000 bid deposit and demonstrate financial ability with working capital of at least 25 percent of the annual proposal amount while not having filed for bankruptcy within the past five years; a performance bond equal to 25 percent of the first year's annual contract price is required at contract execution. The TOR system operates approximately 1.94 to 1.97 million revenue miles annually with historical fare revenue of $2.1 to $2.9 million (2016-2019), with total 2024 operating expenses of $21,126,098 comprising $16,807,608 for fixed-route operations and $4,213,813 for demand-response operations, funded through Federal Transit Administration grants, New York State Department of Transportation funds, and local county matching funds; the anticipated contract value for the initial five-year term and optional five-year renewal period can be derived from the 19,715,848 total revenue miles across the ten-year contract period using the pricing submission spreadsheets.