Regional Paratransit Development Consulting

Sound Transit is issuing a Request for Quotes and Qualifications (RFQQ) solicitation for Regional Paratransit Development Consulting services to improve ADA paratransit service delivery across Washington State through the integration of booking platforms and service technologies with local agencies. The scope of work encompasses discovery and assessment of the current paratransit technology environment, comprehensive stakeholder engagement, development of functional and technical requirements, data standards definition, system architecture schema development, integration analysis, and production of a complete Request for Proposal for vendor solicitation with proposal evaluation support. Qualified consulting firms must demonstrate strong knowledge and experience of key individuals, relevant firm experience and history in paratransit or similar transit technology projects, and capacity to organize and manage the project over an anticipated one-year completion timeline. Evaluation will follow a best-value approach utilizing four criteria: knowledge and experience of key individuals (300 points), firm experience and history (300 points), capacity and project organization (200 points), and price (200 points), with the lowest proposed price receiving the maximum 200 points. Pricing must be submitted using fully-burdened hourly rates for labor and fixed prices for deliverables across eight line items including system inventory and status, stakeholder engagement hours, workshops, data standards development, system architecture schema, integration analysis, technical RFP development, and proposal evaluation support. Requests for information must be submitted by February 12, 2026, with all proposals due by February 20, 2026, at 9:00 AM local time; Sound Transit anticipates issuing the resulting Purchase Order in April 2026. No pre-quote meeting will be held, though firms may submit questions through the designated Q&A Board.

Sound Transit has not established mandatory subcontracting goals, recognizing that subcontracting may be infeasible for these consulting services; however, firms electing to subcontract must demonstrate good faith efforts to involve small businesses and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. The resulting Purchase Order will be non-exclusive with a one-year firm fixed-price term and optional extension periods. Consultants must obtain Commercial General Liability insurance with limits of at least $2,000,000 per occurrence and Commercial Auto Liability coverage with limits of at least $1,000,000 combined single limit, naming Sound Transit as an additional insured. All work product and intellectual property created under the Purchase Order becomes the exclusive property of Sound Transit. Compliance with Sound Transit's civil rights program requirements, equal employment opportunity provisions, and environmental policies is mandatory. No incumbent vendor or budget range has been identified in the solicitation documents; however, the specific award value and contract pricing will be determined based on the evaluation scores and the quoted prices submitted by qualified responding firms.