Staff recommends the City Council reject all bids received in connection with the MET Transit Transfer Center Security Upgrade project.

On November 14, 2024, City Administration approved Amendment 21 with the Aviation and Transit Department's contracted A&E firm, Morrison-Maierle, for the design, engineering, and project management of a video surveillance (security camera) project to update MET's Transfer Center facility video surveillance systems, located at 220 N 25th St and 264 Stewart Park Rd. This project consists of adding surveillance to the Stewart Park Transfer Center and updating the Downtown Transfer Center facility security camera systems. The updates will provide enhanced video coverage for both MET properties. This project will include the installation of new cameras, related wiring and other infrastructure, and a new primary video recorders for file storage at each site and required a small amount of groundwork at the Stewart Park facility; this project will improve the overall security of both facilities by providing high quality video that may be referenced should an event occur. This project also supports the annual requirement of 49 USC 5307 requiring a minimum expenditure of apportioned Federal Transit Administration funds on security projects.  Based upon the recently executed MET Transit METroplex security camera update project as well as other typical costs, the engineer's estimated budget for the project was $250,000.  The project was advertised in the Yellowstone County News on February 13, 2025 and closed on March 04, 2025. The following bids were received:
 

Contractor	Bid
Security Management Systems	$  270,761.00
TelNet Systems	$  592,101.00

In review of the documents provided by the low bidder, as well as direct communication with the vendor, the low bidder on the project is unable to meet cable warranty requirements for the project; further, the next lowest bidder's proposed pricing far exceeds reasonable budget estimates. Due to these factors, with both bids received, staff recommends the rejection of all bids to allow for re-evaluation of project requirements and scope in order to re-advertise the project at a future date. 
 

City Council may:

• Approve staff's recommendation and reject all bids; or,
• Not Approve the recommendation to reject all bids and direct staff on how to proceed. 

When executed, the project will be funded using a mixture of Federal Transit Administration section 5339 capital funding as well as local reserve funds at an 80% federal, 20% local ratio.