Transit Ridership Software for National Transit Database (NTD) Reporting

The City of Santa Monica Department of Transportation seeks proposals for comprehensive transit ridership software to enable efficient collection, processing, and reporting of ridership data from Automatic Passenger Counters (APCs) on its Big Blue Bus fleet to the National Transit Database (NTD) in compliance with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements. This procurement encompasses a complete software solution including system installation and configuration, data migration, integration with existing Trapeze FX/Blockbuster scheduling and Clever Devices CAD/AVL systems, staff training for a minimum of six employees, and ongoing technical support and maintenance. The City prefers Software as a Service (SaaS) or vendor-hosted deployment models, with on-premise solutions explicitly not preferred. Qualified vendors must demonstrate successful FTA approval for APC data at other transit agencies and provide at least three current client references with similar experience. The evaluation will occur in two phases, with Phase One shortlisting the top three proposals based on vendor qualifications (15%), technical solution (20%), demonstrated NTD reporting success (20%), cost (20%), deployment model (10%), implementation approach (5%), and support and maintenance (10%). The contract will be awarded for an initial three-year term with two optional one-year renewal periods at the City's sole discretion. The RFP was released on January 20, 2026, with a deadline for submitting questions on January 27, 2026, and a proposal response deadline of March 2, 2026 at 3:00 PM.

All proposers must comply with Santa Monica's Living Wage Ordinance for contracts exceeding $54,200 and prevailing wage requirements under California Labor Code; the RFP does not identify any specific set-asides for disadvantaged enterprises or restrictions limiting eligible respondents to particular organization types. The City currently operates with 195 buses (71 equipped with APCs) and integrates with enterprise systems including Tyler ERP (Munis), ServiceNow, SharePoint, Laserfiche, and Tableau; vendors must document integration capabilities with these existing technologies and publish public transparency data to the City's Open Data Portal. The City is concurrently procuring Tyler APIs modules and migrating Laserfiche to a cloud environment. Vendors must maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including Commercial General Liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence, Workers' Compensation per California statutory requirements, and Technology Professional Errors and Omissions/Cyber Liability of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence or $2,000,000 annual aggregate, with the City named as additional insured. Proposals must include detailed pricing for software licensing, implementation services, data migration, integration, training, documentation, annual maintenance and support, and optional features, though no specific budget range or award value is disclosed in the available RFP documentation.