Staff recommends that the Council approve the agreement for $2,125,304 with Gillig, LLC to purchase four Heavy-Duty Diesel Transit Buses.

The City of Billings MET Transit system was notified by the Federal Transit Administration on March 14, 2022, of its successful application and award of competitive Bus and Bus Facility funds to purchase four diesel buses as well as perform facility updates. In fulfillment of this award, MET Transit is requesting authorization to purchase four (4) diesel powered 35-foot Gillig buses using an in place and in effect multi-state purchasing agreement held and executed by the State of Washington.  This agreement competitively established heavy-duty bus prices with available options for the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, and provides the ability for governments across the nation to utilize the purchase options available under said contract. The City of Billings has received authorization from the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services to purchase vehicles using available contract options.  As pricing continues to escalate across the board for both vehicles and technology, MET Transit is requesting to finalize a purchase agreement to avoid additional price increases that are expected to be as high as 15% above current levels; using the existing multi-state agreement to complete this purchase as opposed to a published City of Billings bid will greatly assist in expediting the purchase timeline. Further, as MET's fleet now primarily consists of 32-foot heavy-duty buses, MET is prioritizing adding replacement 35-foot vehicles to the fleet in order to ensure increased capacity is available on routes should the need arise; current State of Montana purchasing agreements only make 32-foot buses available. Regarding the vehicles themselves, MET's previous fleet consisted of 19 Gillig heavy-duty transit vehicles (two of which are still being used) that were utilized well beyond their minimum useful life, thus MET has a long established relationship with the vehicle manufacturer and is confident in their ability to produce a quality product.   Aside from the City of Billings purchase agreement to execute this purchase, the master Washington State contract with Gillig is also attached for review.

City Council may:

• Approve the purchase of four Heavy-Duty Diesel Transit Buses for a total of $2,125,304; or
• Not approve the purchase and advise staff on how to proceed.

Purchase of the four heavy-duty transit buses will be executed using a combination of Federal funding and local funding at 15% local and 85% Federal across the entire project. MET Transit has adequate local capital reserves to execute this project and is utilizing Section 5339(c) competitive funds and Section 5339(a) formula funds awarded by the Federal Transit Administration; this project was budgeted and approved in the FY23 annual budget. Pricing details are as follows:
 

Item	QTY	Local Funds/Unit	Federal Funds/Unit	Unit Price
Gillig 35-foot Heavy-Duty Bus	4	$79,698.90	$451,627.10	$531,326.00
	Totals:	$318,795.60	$1,806,508.40	$2,125,304.00