The City of Bozeman has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Gallatin Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization's (GVMPO) inaugural Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). This plan will look at least 20 years into the future and must align with federal, state, and local requirements. The planning area encompasses Bozeman, Belgrade, and parts of Gallatin County. The full RFP is available at https://www.bozeman.net/Home/Components/RFP/RFP/1773/121.

Purpose and Objectives

The LRTP will guide how the region prioritizes and invests in roadways, transit, and nonmotorized infrastructure while ensuring safe and efficient multimodal connections. Because this is GVMPO's first LRTP, additional data gathering and assessment may be required to evaluate current and projected conditions thoroughly. The plan must be adopted by December 29, 2026; the selected consultant will have an estimated 18 months to complete this work.

Scope of Services

Task 1 – Project Management and Administration

The chosen consultant will coordinate regularly with GVMPO, track progress through monthly reports, and maintain a quality assurance plan to keep the project on schedule and on budget.

Task 2 – Community Engagement

Public outreach will follow GVMPO's forthcoming Public Participation Plan. A Community Advisory Panel (CAP) will be utilized to hear local perspectives, and coordination with policy-making (TPCC), technical (TTAC), and transit (UTD Board) committees will be essential.

Task 3 – Existing and Projected Conditions

The consultant will analyze current roads, bridges, transit, pedestrian, and bicycle networks, then forecast needs over a 20-year horizon. Attention to land use, safety, connectivity, and population needs is a core requirement.

Task 4 – Additional Transit Focus (Contingent on Separate Agreements)

An expanded transit component may be added to assess future ridership potential, infrastructure (bus stops/stations and maintenance facilities), and enhanced high-frequency corridors. Work under this task will only proceed upon finalizing separate agreements and must be tracked separately.

Task 5 – Plan Development and Recommendations

Using data from earlier tasks, the consultant will work with stakeholders to estblish local goals, propose improvements and policies, record performance metrics, and build a financial plan. Coordination with MDT for scenario modeling is also expected, although MDT will perform the actual modeling.

Draft and Finalize LRTP

The final deliverable must be accessible, comply with ADA and WCAG 2.2 standards, and feature a dashboard to track performance measures. Feedback gathered from the community and relevant committees will guide development and revisions before final approval.

Proposal Requirements

Firms must submit details about their team, approach, experience, workloads, timeline, cost, and nondiscrimination compliance. Optionally, firms may include any substantive changes to the Professional Services Agreement. Submittals must follow the order in the RFP, and incomplete proposals may be disqualified.

Key Dates and Submission

Publication Dates: December 21 and January 25, 2025

Proposal Deadline: January 31, 2025 (5:00 p.m. MST)

Evaluation Period: February 3 – 7

Interviews (if needed) and Consultant Selection: February 10, 2025

Proposals must be 15 pages or fewer and emailed as a single PDF (max 25MB) to procurement@bozeman.net before the deadline. Late or incomplete submissions will not be considered.

Amendments and Questions

All clarifications or amendments will appear on the City's website. Questions about this RFP must be sent by January 10, 2024.

Contacts

Administrative/Procedural Questions:

Mike Maas, City Clerk
(406) 582-2321, procurement@bozeman.net

Scope of Services Questions:

Jeff Butts, MPO Manager
(406) 577-7416, jbutts@bozeman.net

Selection Procedure and Criteria

A review committee will score proposals based on a point system covering team profile, approach, experience, workload, timeline, and cost. Proposals may be selected outright or followed by interviews with finalists. Price (cost) scoring will use the State of Montana's Ratio Method, in which the lowest-cost proposal receives the maximum points, and others receive proportionally fewer. By responding, firms agree to meet State of Montana laws, nondiscrimination rules, and City requirements.

The City may accept or reject any proposal if it believes doing so is in its best interest. Once a firm is selected, a contract will be negotiated to finalize details of the LRTP development.