Ticket Vending Machine (TVM) Replacements (5% SBE Goal)

Regional Transportation District in Denver, Colorado is requesting proposals for removal and installation of Ticket Vending Machines across its service area under a best-value RFP, with proposals due July 28, 2026 and a pre-proposal briefing on June 3, 2026. A 5% Small Business Enterprise participation goal applies — proposers must demonstrate good-faith efforts to meet the goal or document why it cannot be met.

The scope encompasses removal and disposal of 185 existing TVMs and installation of 173 new units: 113 at existing TVM locations, 54 along the East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit corridor, 1 at Civic Center Station, and 5 spares, with an option to purchase 6 additional units for Denver Union Station Bus Concourse. The contractor must furnish, configure, integrate, and commission all hardware, software, and firmware for a complete, fully operational fare vending solution. The new equipment must be PCI compliant (existing machines exceed their 14-year useful life and are non-PCI compliant). TVMs must support multilingual interfaces (English and Spanish as required, plus Russian, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean), integrate with RTD's Account-Based Ticketing system, accept cash, coin, credit, debit, and mobile wallet payments with 99.99% contactless uptime, and be remotely configurable by RTD authorized users without vendor involvement. The contractor must maintain qualified on-site personnel including a project manager, field supervisor, licensed electrician, and concrete workers; provide five years of proven TVM installation experience; and meet defined Service Level Agreement standards with one-hour response for Severity 1 issues and 24/7 support availability.

The estimated contract value is $18.24 million for the base 18-month period, with an additional $1.2 million in optional eight-year warranty and maintenance coverage (eight one-year extension periods plus one six-month extension option available at RTD's unilateral discretion). The contract is fixed-price with compensation allocated prorationally upon each station's acceptance on a rolling basis. Liquidated damages are $350 per day for schedule delays. The contractor must comply with ADA requirements, National Electric Codes, grounding and bonding specifications, security protocols including annual SOC 2 Type 2 reports and PCI-DSS attestations, and federal asset disposition requirements. Work must be scheduled to minimize disruption to approximately 20-plus hours of daily RTD transit operations and coordinate with the ongoing Downtown Rail Reconstruction Project (expected completion August 31, 2027). The contractor is responsible for all permits and must utilize RTD's web-based project correspondence system (Asite) for all communications.

Evaluation criteria are weighted: technical requirements compliance (30%), base cost (20%), option year cost (15%), firm qualifications (10%), staffing and management (10%), concept and design (5%), open architecture approach (5%), and schedule/project management (5%). Phase 2 evaluation assesses SBE participation on a pass/fail basis. Proposers must submit 5% proposal security, Buy America certification, and three years of financial statements. Proposals are valid for 90 days. RTD anticipates oral presentations the week of August 18, 2026 via Microsoft Teams, with final selection by August 31, 2026, subject to RTD Board approval and appropriation of necessary funds. The inquiry period closes June 9, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. RTD reserves the right to reject all offers and re-solicit.