Waterloo Community School District
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS TO PROVIDE STUDENT TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
The Waterloo Community School District (hereinafter referred to as “District”) requests written, sealed proposals from qualified Contractors to provide the District with Student Transportation Services, as further described in this Request for Proposals (RFP) and the attached Contract for Services (Contract).
District Contact and RFP Schedule of Events
The sole point of contact at the District for all matters related to this RFP is as follows. No contact between prospective respondents and the District is permitted, except as expressly allowed by the Schedule of Events, and all such contact shall be addressed to the District’s designated representative:
Michael Coughlin, Chief Financial Officer
Waterloo Community School District
1516 Washington St
Waterloo, Iowa 50702
(319) 433-1830
Proposal Due Date: Monday, February 27, 2023, 3:00 PM CDT
No proposal shall be accepted after the due date and time as specified.
Event | Target Completion Date |
RFP Release Date | Wednesday, February 8, 2023 |
Pre Proposal Conference | Friday, February 17, 2023 |
Questions Due from Vendors | Monday, February 20, 2023 |
Proposal due date | Monday, February 27, 2023 |
School Board approval of Contract for Services | Monday, March 13, 2023 |
Commencement of services | August 1, 2023 |
The online Pre-Proposal Conference is optional, but strongly recommended for all prospective respondents. The online meeting will be conducted at 10:00 AM CST as follows:
Meeting link
meet.google.com/xea-qway-ouo
Join by phone
(US) +1 518-945-0141
PIN: 325379251
Summary of the Requirement
The District seeks to establish a contractual partnership with a commercial provider of pupil transportation services. The stated objective is to serve the students of the District through the provision of high quality, safe, effective, and efficient transportation services. The District is seeking a positive working partnership with a contractor dedicated to the same objectives. While price will be a factor in the selection of the contractor, a demonstrated ability and a willingness to work cooperatively with the District in achieving its objectives will also be a determining factor.
Attachment A – Contract for Services shall be executed by the District and the selected contractor. It documents the specifications for the required services and the governing terms and conditions of the partnership. No alterations or modifications to the Contract for Services as drafted are allowable in the contractor’s submission, except as expressly included in any amendment that may be issued to this RFP prior to the proposal submission date.
The prospective contractor is advised to thoroughly review the Contract for Services and to expressly consider its requirements in the construction of its proposal. The proposal submissions shall be utilized to assist in the comparison, evaluation, and selection of a preferred contractor. This RFP and the selected contractor’s proposal will not be included as part of the resulting Contract for Services.
The following summary of services is provided for the purpose of introduction only and shall have no bearing on the requirements as stated in the Contract. Currently, home-to-school and various midday transportation services are provided to approximately 6,000 eligible students attending 3 high schools, 4 middle schools, 11 elementary schools, 8 preschool centers and 1 Career and Technical Education Courses (CTE) building. Services are provided on 2 primary transportation tiers using a total of 55 route buses. Additional transportation is provided to support athletic and extracurricular programming.
Relevant operating statistics for all scheduled bus routes currently planned for operation as of the date of this RFP is included as Attachment B – Current Services Summary. The prospective contractor should consider this information in developing its proposal and pricing but is advised against considering this data as definitive or entirely reflective of the route packages that will be in place for the start of any agreement resulting from this solicitation.
Requirements for Submission
Proposal Submission Format
All submissions must follow the submission format specified in this section. The District seeks clarity and brevity in the prospective contractor’s description of its qualifications and experience to provide the required services, and in particular its proposed methodology and track record in forming a working partnership with the District. Excessive verbiage, marketing materials, or information not expressly required by this RFP is not desired. The District reserves the right to reject any and all proposals or to waive any informalities, irregularities, or technicalities in any proposal should it be deemed to be in the best interest of the Waterloo Community School District to do so.
Proposal Content
The contractor’s proposal shall be submitted in a format consistent with the order of the numbered sections as follows:
- Identifying Information – Include the full legal name(s) of the parent company submitting the proposal and the company that will be providing the proposed services, if different. Provide the legal address of the company(s). Provide the full name, email address, and telephone number of the contractor’s designated contact for the submission. This person must be vested with the authority to speak on behalf of the contractor in all matters related to the proposal and must be available during the entirety of the process outlined in the schedule of events above. This section of the proposal must be signed by the designated contact person.
- Qualifications, Experience, and References – Provide a brief but complete description of the contractor’s qualifications and experience to provide the required services. At a minimum, include a description or illustration of the organization structure for the parent company and company proposed to provide the service, if different. Provide a history of the subject organizations, and information to illustrate the size and scope of their operations. Include in this section a minimum of three (3) references for which the contractor is currently or has recently been providing similar services, including location, name and contact information. The District will contact these customers as part of the review of proposals.
- Methodology and Approach – Provide a brief but complete description of the contractor’s proposed organization, systems, methodologies, and processes for providing the required services in a way that will clearly meet or exceed the requirements of the Contract for Services.
- Driver Staffing – A particular emphasis must be placed on the contractor’s proposed methodologies and mechanisms for providing a sufficient number of qualified drivers to staff all routes as designed. The District’s confidence in the contractor’s proposed methods will weigh heavily in the scoring of proposals.
- Additional Relevant Information – While not encouraged, should the contractor feel that additional information concerning its proposal is important to the evaluation but not explicitly required by this RFP, it should include it in this section.
- Pricing Proposal – Complete and submit the Proposal Pricing Forms (Attachment C) separately and in their entirety, as described in the Proposal Submission Instructions and Requirements below. The contractor may, at its own discretion, duplicate these forms in a manner that will better enable their submission. The content and format must be reproduced in their entirety, however, to be considered in compliance with the requirements of this RFP.
Proposal Submission Instructions and Requirements
A representative of the contractor is encouraged to attend the optional Pre-Proposal Conference as specified in the Schedule of Events above.
One (1) complete electronic copy of the contractor’s proposal documents must be submitted via email to the District’s designated representative and received not later than 3:00 PM CDT on the Proposal Due Date specified in the Schedule of Events above. Proposals received after this time will be returned unopened to the contractor and will not be considered.
The contractor’s Pricing Proposal (Proposal Content Item 5) must be submitted as a clearly identified separate file in the submission.
No proposal may be withdrawn for a period of ninety (90) days after the Proposal Due Date at which time it may be withdrawn should no contract have been awarded.
Review of Proposals and Contract Award
Qualified proposals will be reviewed by a committee established by the WCSD for the purpose of evaluating the Contractor’s wherewithal and desire to provide the required services. Final scoring of each proposal will be attributed on a weighted basis as follows:
- The Technical Proposal shall account for sixty percent (60%) of the final score.
- The Price Proposal shall account for forty percent (40%) of the final score.
Technical Proposals will be subjectively evaluated and scored relative to multiple criteria. These criteria, in order of most to least importance from top to bottom, are as follows:
- Contractor’s organization, methodologies, processes, and procedures with a particular emphasis on the assurance of qualified driver availability.
- Demonstrated responsiveness to the requirements of the Contract for Services (Attachment A).
- Demonstrated ability and commitment to partner with the WCSD in the delivery of transportation services.
- Contractor’s experience in providing similar services, not necessarily within the State of Iowa. Should the contractor not currently operate in Iowa, the District will place emphasis in its evaluation on the contractor demonstrating sufficient knowledge of the legal and operational requirements for student transportation services within the State of Iowa.
- The qualifications of the Contractor’s management team.
- The strength of the Contractor’s references.
Once each proposal has been evaluated in this manner, the Price Proposals shall be opened and compared. The Contractor(s) that present the most compelling proposals for a combination of responsiveness and price may, at the sole discretion of the District, be invited to participate in an in-person interview process. Following any interviews, a final recommendation for a preferred Contractor will be identified and submitted to the School Board by the Superintendent along with a recommendation to award a contract.
Post-Award Activities and Requirements
It is the intent of the District to award a contract to the successful vendor in accordance with the Schedule of Events. Immediately following the notice of intent to award, and for the period between that notification and the commencement of services, the successful Contractor is expected to work in close cooperation with designated representatives of the District to ensure a successful transition with the incumbent vendor.