Regional Transportation District

Regional Transportation District (RTD), headquartered in Denver, Colorado, operates as a public not-for-profit transit agency that acts as a prime recipient of federal grants and a direct vendor of transit passes to multiple civilian federal agencies, competing in full-and-open procurements with no set-aside designations. RTD's federal footprint consists almost entirely of grant awards from the Federal Transit Administration (CFDA programs 20.507, 20.525, 20.526, 20.500, and 20.534) supporting preventive maintenance, capital asset replacement, and transit-oriented development planning for its eight-county Denver metropolitan service area, alongside a recurring portfolio of small purchase orders for annual EcoPass (transit fare media) programs sold directly to federal agencies.

The Federal Transit Administration dominates RTD's customer concentration, funding 164 of 336 total awards in the source data—nearly half of all activity—centered on formula grants for preventive maintenance of bus and rail vehicles, fixed guideway track, electrical substations, and Americans with Disabilities Act paratransit operations. Recent representative FTA grants include a $116.6 million formula grant (CFDA 20.507) awarded June 24, 2026, for preventive maintenance and ADA paratransit services; a $332.4 million formula grant awarded December 16, 2025, for the same maintenance and operational scope; an $87.6 million State of Good Repair grant (CFDA 20.525) awarded July 28, 2025, for fixed guideway and rail system preventive maintenance; and a $233.479 million Federal Transit Capital Investment Grants project grant (CFDA 20.500) awarded November 6, 2024, for construction and environmental mitigation of the East Colfax Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project in Denver and Aurora. Smaller FTA awards fund transit-oriented development planning, FlexRide shuttle service optimization, and rail infrastructure replacement design.

Beyond FTA, RTD holds a secondary but persistent customer base of civilian agencies purchasing EcoPass programs—transit passes that enable federal employee commuting in the Denver region. The Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 represents the largest non-FTA customer by both award count and dollar value (13 awards, $3 million combined potential value), placing annual purchase orders ranging from $35,000 to $49,000 for multi-year EcoPass renewals. The Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology accounts for 12 awards totaling $900 thousand, primarily for annual EcoPass purchases serving NIST employees in Boulder, Colorado. Smaller recurring awards come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission ($39,185 contract for 2025–2029), the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Attorney's Offices, and the Department of Justice. These EcoPass awards uniformly carry no set-aside designation and are procured as firm fixed-price purchase orders under full-and-open competition, with RTD as the sole qualified provider of regional transit services in its service area.

RTD holds a position on Indefinite Delivery Contract DTOS5911D00525 (7 task orders, $3.5 million combined potential value), supporting the Department of Transportation's Immediate Office of the Secretary, though the source does not detail the task order scope. FTA planning grants carry named subrecipients including the City and County of Denver, the City and County of Broomfield, the City of Golden, and Smart Commute, though RTD serves as the prime recipient and direct grant administrator in all cases.

Recent activity shows growth: 3 awards in 2026 (year-to-date through late June), 14 awards in 2025, and 8 awards in 2024. However, the source data reflects a significant dollar-to-award ratio distortion: combined potential value across all 336 awards totals $15 million, while combined obligated dollars exceed $6.9 billion—indicating that source reporting captures the recent award stream (small EcoPass orders and recent FTA formula grants) while historical data reflects massive prior-year FTA obligations tied to pandemic relief and capital projects. Within the next twenty-four months, 13 awards with combined potential value of $73 thousand face ultimate completion, presenting minimal recompete exposure relative to the historical grant portfolio underlying RTD's operations. RTD has no subcontractor role and does not compete under 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, or other SBA set-aside categories; all work is performed directly by RTD as a public agency in the mixed-mode transit systems NAICS (485111) and public-transit fare media PSC code.