Tire Lease

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) in Denver, Colorado is requesting proposals for leased tires and associated tire maintenance services for its bus fleet, with proposals due November 4, 2026 and a non-mandatory pre-proposal briefing on October 14 via Microsoft Teams. RTD has not specified a Small Business Enterprise participation goal but encourages SBE subcontracting and documentation of diversity efforts.

The scope is a turnkey tire lease and maintenance contract covering RTD's three service divisions (Platte Division in Denver, East Metro Division in Aurora, and Boulder Division in Boulder). The contractor must supply radial tires for intercity, city (40' transit and 16th Street mall), and articulated bus types; install traction-type snow tires seasonally; and provide mounting, dismounting, repair, rotation, balancing, weekly fleet inspections (daily for 16th Street vehicles), and inventory management across all RTD facilities. Tires on privatized vehicles are excluded. RTD currently operates up to 58 percent of fixed-route service in-house. The contractor must comply with Colorado waste tire regulations and DOT/FTA substance abuse testing requirements under 49 C.F.R. Parts 40 and 655, with annual MIS reporting due February 15.

Pricing is structured per-tire-mile for each tire group plus a fixed monthly service cost, with all labor, materials, equipment, tools, and disposal included. Pricing must remain firm for at least six months from contract commencement. Annual escalation requests are capped at five percent and require evidence that the Producers Price Index for truck and bus tires has increased by fifty percent or more than the proposed escalation. The incumbent is Michelin North America. The successful contractor must purchase existing tire inventory from the predecessor within thirty days of commencement at an estimated buy-out of $1,059,751 and sell its inventory to the successor contractor at contract termination based on remaining usable tire miles.

The contract term is one year commencing January 1, 2027, with four optional one-year renewals and RTD's unilateral right to extend by up to six additional calendar months. Evaluation is based on cost (40%), quality of proposal (20%), tire quality and fuel economy (10%), contractor qualifications (10%), service process (10%), and references (10%). Questions are due October 21, 2026 at 2:00 PM, with RTD's written responses due by October 28 at 4:00 PM. RTD anticipates final selection by November 25, 2026. Proposals must remain valid for 90 days from the due date. The contractor must maintain Commercial General Liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate), Commercial Automobile Liability ($1,000,000 combined single limits), Workers' Compensation and Employer's Liability ($1,000,000), and Umbrella/Excess Liability ($5,000,000 per occurrence and aggregate).