Ride Gunbarrel & Ride SouthEast On-Demand Transit Services

Boulder County, Colorado is issuing Request for Proposal RFP-256-26 to procure operations and management services for two demand-responsive transit services: Ride Gunbarrel and Ride SouthEast. The services are combined for single-contract bidding purposes, with the successful contractor receiving a contract term of up to five years to operate both services. Ride Gunbarrel will operate up to 13 hours daily, seven days per week within a 4.4-square-mile service area in the Gunbarrel neighborhood, with baseline annual service of 4,641 revenue service hours and optional expansions ranging from 5,534 to 7,064 hours. Ride SouthEast will operate up to 14 hours daily across multiple Southeast Boulder County municipalities (Erie, Lafayette, Louisville, and Superior) plus connections to Broomfield, with Year 1 service of 4,998 hours scaling to 8,670 hours by Year 3. Both services are fare-free, curb-to-curb with door-to-door accommodations for passengers with disabilities, requiring on-demand response within 15-30 minutes. Minimum qualifications require five or more years of recent and relevant demand-responsive transit operating experience within the past seven years. The evaluation criteria allocate 40 points to experience with similar services, 40 points to cost, and 20 points to vehicle fleet appropriateness and facility location. Proposers must submit electronically through the Euna procurement portal by 2:00 p.m. MST on March 27, 2026. An optional pre-bid meeting is scheduled for March 4, 2026, with written inquiries due by March 10, 2026. Interviews are anticipated during the week of April 13-17, 2026, with award notification expected the week of May 4, 2026. The deliverables include all operational expenses encompassing staffing, maintenance, fuel, deadheading, and other costs submitted as a single all-inclusive rate per revenue service hour; monthly and annual compliance reporting; implementation of TCRP G-16 transactional data specification by the second year; provision of ADA-compliant vehicles with minimum 7-passenger capacity, wheelchair lifts or ramps, bike racks, and event-capturing cameras; and operation of a maintenance facility capable of supporting service with relief vehicle deployment within 30 minutes of mechanical breakdown.

The procurement is partially funded by the Federal Transit Administration through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) appropriations and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding, which triggers extensive federal compliance requirements including substance abuse prevention policies, drug and alcohol testing per 49 CFR Parts 40 and 655, ADA compliance, civil rights compliance, debarment and suspension certifications, disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) requirements, domestic procurement preferences, environmental standards, charter service prohibitions, and lobbying activity disclosures. No specific set-aside designations or restrictions limiting the types of organizations that can respond are identified in the procurement documents, though all contractors must comply with federal transit requirements and demonstrate requisite experience. Contractors must obtain and maintain significant insurance coverage including Commercial General Liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 general aggregate, Automobile Liability of $1,000,000 per accident, Workers' Compensation at statutory limits, and Privacy/Cyber Liability scaled by client count. Proposers must register in the System for Award Management (SAM.Gov) and submit a W-9 form as part of the application package. The County has full funding through mid-2029 and partial funding through mid-2031, with no specific overall contract award value disclosed; however, contractors must submit rates on a per-revenue-service-hour basis for varying annual service hour ranges beginning at 8,500 hours or fewer, allowing the County to determine total contract value based on actual selected service levels and rate structures. No incumbent vendor or existing contractor is identified in the procurement documents. All subcontractors at every tier must be required to flow down the same federal compliance requirements and contractual obligations into their respective agreements.