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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRFI - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - 9127 TRANSIT FUNDING STUDYRFI Transit Funding Study Page 1 of 7 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 9127 Transit Funding Study I. OBJECTIVE The City of Fort Collins’ (City) goal in issuing this Request for Information (RFI) is to determine the interest and availability of subject matter experts who are interested in entering into a potential contractual arrangement with the City an opportunity to exchange information with the City prior to the issuance of the Request for Proposal (RFP). This RFI is intended to provide both the City and the respondents an opportunity to explore and evaluate funding opportunities for the City’s Transfort Department with respect to the newly adopted Transit Master Plan. It is also the City’s hope that this process will assist the respondents to the forthcoming RFP in providing a more thorough submittal showing their understanding of the needs of the City. II. SCOPE OF WORK The Transit Master Plan (2019) is an ambitious plan to double the amount of transit service provided by Transfort in the next 20 years. The plan focuses on increased frequency (15 minute or better) on the majority of routes with improvements such as three more bus rapid transit (BRT) routes and mobility innovation zones to serve areas not along bus routes. The plan identifies $271 - $308 million in capital improvements (fleet, facilities, and infrastructure) and an annual budget increase from $15.8 million to $30.5 million for operations and maintenance. Presently, the majority (44.5%) of the operating budget comes from the City’s general fund (sales tax) through a competitive biannual budgeting process and the remaining revenue comes from a combination of federal funds, partnership contributions, and other small sources. A copy of the Transit Master Plan can be viewed online at: https://ourcity.fcgov.com/560/documents/4765. To achieve the desired system growth, Transfort is looking for a more stable dedicated funding source. The City has identified the following sections to be fully explored in a funding study: A. Current Funding 1) Operating budget: a) (2019): $19,945,590 i) Fixed Route: $17,857,590 ii) Dial-A-Ride: $2,088,000 b) (2020): $20,385,354 i) Fixed Route: $18,262,354 ii) Dial-A-Ride: $2,123,000 c) Funding sources: Financial Services Purchasing Division 215 N. Mason St. 2nd Floor PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6775 970.221.6707- fax fcgov.com/purchasing RFI 9127 Transit Funding Study Page 2 of 7 i) Federal funding in the form of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5307 grants (~$5M) ii) State funding from FASTER (~$400k) iii) Advertising fees from the buses and bus shelters along the routes (~$300K) iv) Fare and pass revenue and grant funding (which allows youth to travel free of charge on all routes) (~$600k) v) An Agreement with Colorado State University and the Associated Students of Colorado State University to provide enhanced transit services to campus and surrounding areas (~$2M) vi) Revenue from the use of Transfort's bus wash facility on Trilby Road vii) The General Fund or other City sources (~$9M) viii) Dial-A-Ride is funded by FTA 5307 & 5310 grants, passenger fares, and City’s general fund d) Current Funding Consideration: will Transfort be able to rely on the existing amount of general fund commitment even if another dedicated funding source is realized? Or, will the new revenue source need to accommodate the full local amount? B. Future Revenue Needs - Transit Master Plan Goal: (2040) $30.5M annual operating budget and approximately $300 million in capital investment. 1) CAPITAL PROJECTS: Refine action item list for capital investments with exact costs. This item builds on the work in the Transit Master Plan and will clearly identify the capital needs for each new route or increase in service. This will include costs of new fleet (including the goal to go to an electric fleet), repurposing buses that still have life, retiring old buses, shuttles for MIZ or Downtown circulator; infrastructure such as new bus stations (including Mobility Hubs), turn-around facilities, dedicated travel and queue jump lanes, transit signal priority, bus stop enhancements, technology for reporting and to sync transit with other travel modes; facilities such as a new or expanded operations and maintenance facility, and expansion of the Downtown Transit Center. 2) OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE: Refine action item list for annual expenditures with exact costs. This item will build on the Transit Master Plan priority list of improvements including annual costs and inflation value % per year for increasing frequency of routes and adding new routes. Costs include staff: operators, administrative, IT, planning, facilities, facility and infrastructure maintenance, fuel, vehicle maintenance, facilities, utilities, communications 3) PHASING PLAN: This is an important aspect of the study that will identify when and how we allocate funds should we successfully procure a permanent dedicated funding source. For example, if we hypothetically pass a ¼ cent sales tax increase that would provide the revenue we need to operate the transit system in 2040, how do we allocate initial funding when new routes are not yet running? Leverage for grant funding? RFI 9127 Transit Funding Study Page 3 of 7 i) When do we need larger investments such as a new operations and maintenance facility and how would we utilize revenue from sales of existing Transfort-owned land? ii) The Transit Master Plan envisions adding higher frequencies (more buses) to existing routes prior to infrastructure improvements as a phased approach. Perhaps a process model could be created to update transit propensities as land uses change. iii) As revenue and the system grows, how does this affect our status with the Federal Transit Authority (FTA)? C. Future Funding 1. Explore options for on-going Transit Funding (operations and maintenance). Evaluation criteria for each funding option below: revenue generated over time, reliability of source, dedicated source, potential to success (politically, vote), fair and transparent, and ease of implementation and administration. a) Increase sales tax: voter approval of 0.45-0.5% tax b) Partnerships or business head tax: increased contribution from i) Colorado State University (CSU) ii) Poudre School District (PSD) iii) Downtown Development Authority (DDA) (and other business associations) iv) Communities in the region c) Federal Funding d) Transportation Utility Fee e) Improvement district f) Regional Transit Authority (RTA) (e.g. Regional Transit District) g) Advertising h) Hybrid of several options 2. Options for One-time Funding (Capital Improvements) Evaluation criteria for each funding option below: revenue generated over time, reliability of source, dedicated source, potential to succeed (politically, vote), fair and transparent and, ease of implementation and administration. a) Surplus revenue from operating funding (discussed above) b) Transportation Capital Expansion Fee (TCEF) c) Federal grants D. Fare Free Explore moving Transfort to a Fare Free System. Transit ridership is elastic with transit fares meaning that increases in fares will reduce ridership and reduction in fares with increase ridership. Transfort’s goal is to increase ridership and reduce barriers to RFI 9127 Transit Funding Study Page 4 of 7 ridership. a) Currently fares collected equals less than 3% of annual operating budget (at the farebox). b) How much does fare collection, maintenance of ticket vending machines, cash counting/accounting cost on an annual basis? c) Explore regional reciprocity in a fare free system? d) How do we accommodate Dial-a-Ride/Paratransit within the operating standards outlined by the Federal Transit Authority? e) Will Colorado State University and others continue to contribute so their constituents can ride for “free” if the system is already free? E. Best Practices in Peer Communities Build on Section C with examples and details of how other communities are utilizing these funding resources. Each funding source should have an example of where it is implemented in a successful way and provide some overall examples of communities with growing transit systems and ridership. Details should include allocation of budget to various line items including appropriate reserves. a) Dedicated funding b) Hybrid funding c) Fare free systems F. Public Outreach Public engagement is critical in understanding feasibility of funding sources and the community’s appetite for funding transit expansion. Engagement will involve education about the Transit Master Plan and the notion that an increase in funding would be “purchasing” a doubling in transit service. The following questions should be included: a) What is the community’s most palatable funding source? b) How much would community members be willing to spend? c) Would the community be more supportive if the system were free? d) Would a high-frequency and fare free system increase propensity to ride transit? G. Implementation Plan Based on information from sections one through seven, provide a recommendation and preferred alternative. This should include a succinct step-by-step implementation plan with best practices for the process. Some elements to consider: a) Public messaging b) Legal and procedural requirements c) Staff and consultant support d) Timing with budgeting, other funding initiatives, elections etc. RFI 9127 Transit Funding Study Page 5 of 7 III. INTENT OF THE RFI Areas of interest that the RFI is intended to address includes: • Examples of cities that have adopted and implemented expansive transportation goals and programs, and the approaches to funding that were used. • Recommendations for the best way to attract responses to a Request for Proposals from vendors(s) who can help Fort Collins develop a sound financial strategy for achieving it’s transportation goals Very specifically, by inviting responses to an RFI, the City hopes to learn: • Estimates of the costs that could be used to develop a budget for an RFP • Which tasks/elements that RFP needs to include, such as but not limited to: o tasks identified in Section II, Scope of Work o estimated time schedules for various tasks and the appropriate sequencing of various milestones. • Respondents this RFI are encouraged to offer any additional information that may be helpful in assisting the City in its research. The City may invite some respondents to this RFI to participate in discussions for the purpose of further information sharing and gathering. The one-on-one meetings are a chance for the respondent and the City to exchange information and questions related to the City purchasing process, operations and services conducted by Transfort, as well as getting to know each other, their capabilities, their needs and more about their business. While there will be a question period during the RFP, the RFI one-on-one discussion will be the only time respondents are allowed to discuss the needs of the City, informally. Respondents are not required to attend an RFI one-on-one discussion with the City. IV. REQUESTED INFORMATION As part of the City’s commitment to Sustainable Purchasing, electronic proposal submission is preferred. Proposals shall be submitted online through the Rocky Mountain E- Purchasing System (RMEPS) at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/city-of-fort- collins by 3:00 PM MST (RMPES clock) on April 8, 2020. Note: please ensure adequate time to submit proposals through RMEPS. Proposals not submitted by the designated Opening Date and Time will not be accepted by the system. Please include the following minimum information in your response: A. Company Information 1. Company name, address, website address. 2. Organization Type (Corporation, Subsidiary, Partnership, Individual, Joint Venture, Other). 3. The name and contact information (email, phone) of the company representative responsible for providing further information. RFI 9127 Transit Funding Study Page 6 of 7 4. A brief overview of the company’s capabilities, experience and role in providing plans for a Sustainable Materials Management system. B. Consultant Guidance Briefly address your input to the elements stated above in Section II, Scope of Work. C. Budgetary Cost and Schedule Estimates 1. Provide budgetary estimates that address costs for consulting services. 2. Provide budgetary estimates for recommended applicable software to include initial licensing cost, implementation, training, and on-going maintenance. 3. Provide high-level schedule recommendation with major milestones for the project as detailed in Section II, Scope of Work. D. Corporate Expertise Briefly describe your company, your products and services and other information you deem relevant. V. FUTURE RFP Information obtained from this RFI will potentially be utilized to develop a budget offer for the City’s 2021/2022 budget. Subject to funding approval, the City plans to issue an RFP for a funding study. The City is also pursuing grant funding, which if obtained, would allow for the issuance of the RFP in mid-2020. Subject to funding approval, the City intends to launch an RFP at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/city-of-fort-collins. Responses to the potential, future RFP will not be limited to those who take part in the RFI process. Questions during the RFP process will be received via email and answered via addendum issued to all. There will be no RFP pre-proposal meeting. After RFP responses are received, the City will evaluate the proposals. Information to be considered during these evaluations will be that which is submitted in response to the RFP only. A short list of firms will be developed from the evaluation and those firms may be invited to participate in an interview. VI. SCHEDULE The overall schedule is estimated as follows: • Issuance of RFI March 18, 2020 • Deadline for Questions March 27, 2020 • RFI Responses Due April 8, 2020 • RFI Discussion Period April/May 2020 The following date is tentative: • Issuance of RFP To be determined RFI 9127 Transit Funding Study Page 7 of 7 VII. QUESTIONS Questions should be directed to Beth Diven, Buyer, at bdiven@fcgov.com in written format. Please format your e-mail to include: 9127 Transit Funding Study in the subject line. The deadline for question submittal is March 27, 2020 at 5:00pm. VIII. MISCELLANEOUS A copy of the RFI may be obtained at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/city-of-fort- collins. This is ONLY a REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) and should not be construed as intent, commitment or promise to acquire the products and services presented by respondents. The City of Fort Collins will not be obligated to any respondent as a result of this RFI. The City is not obligated for any cost incurred whatsoever by respondents in the preparation of the Request for Information. This RFI is for informational and budgetary planning purposes only. Should grant funding be obtained or budgetary funds be approved for this initiative in the next budget cycle, the City will post a Request for Proposals. Confidential or proprietary information should not be included in your response. The City is a governmental entity subject to the Colorado Open Records Act, C.R.S. 24-72- 200.1 et seq. (“CORA”). All responses to this RFI are subject to public disclosure by the City pursuant to CORA and City ordinances. Please do not submit any information which you consider to be confidential and/or proprietary.