Short Range Transit Plan

Ben Franklin Transit - Procurement has issued request for proposal, solicitation RFP 26-14.

Ben Franklin Transit (BFT) seeks consultant services to develop a Short Range Transit Plan (SRTP) to guide transit service, operational, and financial strategies for the next 1–5 years. The SRTP is both a strategic guide and a practical resource document: it identifies proposed service changes at the route level, specifies the headcount and operator resources required to deliver those changes, and provides the capital and financial inputs that feed BFT's hiring plans, fleet procurement, and annual budgeting. A clear and reliable financial picture is foundational to this effort: BFT needs a defensible understanding of its current and projected financial position to evaluate the feasibility of every service, resource, and capital recommendation in this plan. The financial assessment and scenario modeling described in this scope (Section 5) should be treated as a foundational input that the rest of the plan builds on, not a standalone analysis. The primary deliverable of this engagement is the Short Range Transit Plan, a standalone, Board-adopted document structured for future integration as a dedicated section or appendix of BFT's annual Transit Development Plan (TDP). All analyses, reports, and supporting documents produced during this engagement exist to inform and populate the SRTP.

Responses are due October 5, 2026 at 2:00 PM PDT.

Questions must be submitted by September 28, 2026 at 2:00 PM PDT.

A non-mandatory pre-proposal conference is scheduled for September 21, 2026 at 9:00 AM PDT at Microsoft Teams meeting (There will not be an in person meeting) Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/241474699141022?p=UZF9YqVoM7K2TQqtut Meeting ID: 241 474 699 141 022 Passcode: mS9Jz3YN ________________________________________ Need help? | System reference Dial in by phone +1 253-527-1980,,398422381# United States, Tacoma (844) 640-7974,,398422381# United States (Toll-free) Find a local number Phone conference ID: 398 422 381# For organizers: Meeting options | Reset dial-in PIN.

Contact: Rob Orvis, Procurement Manager (rorvis@bft.org, (509) 318-5862).

The full solicitation document, addenda and the question-and-answer thread are on the agency's OpenGov portal at https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/bft/projects/299480. Responses are submitted electronically there, and a free vendor account is required before you can upload one.