RFP:105F-26 Shuttle Bus Services

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is requesting proposals to establish a pool of qualified shuttle bus operators providing turnkey replacement services—vehicles, drivers, and supervision—for planned and emergency subway, commuter rail, and bus service disruptions, with proposals due November 4, 2026, and a pre-bid conference on September 22, 2026.

The MBTA will award contracts to multiple vendors from this pool. The two-year contract term runs April 1, 2027, through March 31, 2029, with three one-year renewal options available through March 2032. The estimated total contract value is approximately $120 million distributed among awarded vendors. Work scope includes on-call weekend shuttle services (approximately 618.5 bus hours weekly: 57.5 Friday, 289.0 Saturday, 272.0 Sunday) and accessible van services (287 hours weekly across seven days). Project assignments vary from single-vehicle one-day deployments to operations exceeding twenty vehicles for extended periods.

Bidders must submit pricing via Form C establishing hourly rates for bus-and-driver operations, supervisory costs, field staff support, and van operations. All rates must include loaded costs encompassing insurance, maintenance, vehicle costs, overhead, management fees, facility costs, pull-out times, driver breaks, fuel, and materials. Contractors must maintain MBTA-specified minimum insurance: $1 million per occurrence Commercial General Liability, $1 million combined single limits Automobile Liability, $1 million Workers' Compensation and Employers Liability per accident, and $5 million Umbrella Liability. All policies must be placed with Massachusetts-authorized carriers holding Best's ratings of A- or better, include the MBTA as an additional insured, and provide 30 days advance written notice for any cancellation.

Bidders must pass financial stability and legal compliance evaluations and achieve minimum technical scores across six evaluation criteria: bidder experience and qualifications, operations and service delivery, vehicle maintenance and service continuity, low-floor vehicle availability, accessibility and regulatory compliance, and vehicle communications and GPS technology. All personnel performing services are subject to the MBTA's Drug and Alcohol Policy incorporating 49 CFR Parts 40 and 655, with pre-employment, random, reasonable-suspicion, post-accident, return-to-duty, and follow-up testing required. All contractors must comply with Build America, Buy America requirements for FTA-funded projects and the MBTA Standard Terms and Conditions.

Questions are due October 10, 2026, at 2:00 p.m., with official answers published by October 15 at 2:00 p.m. Proposals are due electronically via COMMBUYS on November 4 at 2:00 p.m., with virtual public bid opening at 2:30 p.m. the same day. Bidders must keep proposals open for 180 days from the due date.