Staff recommends that the City Council approve the Consultant Agreement with SRF Consulting to complete the MET Transit 5-Year Transit Development Plan. 

The Aviation and Transit Department, MET Transit Division, is requesting that City Council approve a Consultant Agreement with SRF Consulting to complete a 5-Year Transit Development Plan. This plan will provide a road map for MET Transit for the immediate future to meet changing demands as the City of Billings continues to grow.  MET intends to regularly update this plan as goals and priorities are identified and accomplished. 

A Request for Proposals was advertised in the Yellowstone County News and on the City's Website on September 24, October 1 and 8, 2021.  Three firms initially showed interest; however, the City of Billings only received one proposal.  Both non-submitting firms were directly contacted to determine why proposals were not received; both firms indicated they had decided they did not have the available resources to dedicate to another consulting project at this time, as other projects were already in progress.  The single proposal received from SRF Consultants was reviewed by the RFP scoring committee and was determined to have met all requested criteria regarding scope, quality, and expected cost. The scope of work includes elements focused on data collection regarding all aspects of the operation, community engagement and feedback, service analysis and scenario development, and overall goals and priorities for the period of study. The anticipated schedule for the plan would see the final plan reviewed for approval in the Summer of 2022.  All aspects of the plan will comply with Federal Transit Administration regulations, as well as other applicable laws. 

This project is identified in the 2022 Billings Urban Area Unified Planning and Work Program (UPWP), which was most recently recommended for approval by the City Council on August 08, 2021.  The UPWP was ultimately approved by the Policy Coordinating Committee on August 17, 2021. The UPWP is developed annually in conjunction with the Municipal Planning Organization (MPO) and identifies tasks to be completed using Federal Highway and Federal Transit dollars allocated to the MPO and MET Transit Division. 

City Council may:

• Approve the Consultant Agreement as proposed; or
• Not approve the Consultant Agreement and direct staff on how to proceed.  Not approving this Agreement means the City Council is not approving the completion of a funded project in the 2022 Billings Urban Area Unified Planning and Work Program (UPWP) that was already approved by the Policy Coordinating Committee.

The cost of the Consultant Agreement to complete the MET Transit 5-Year Transit Development Plan would not exceed the Agreement amount of $150,470.  Funding for this project will be 80% Federal, 20% local, and is programmed in the Unified Planning and Work Program, utilizing Federal Transit Administration section 5303 funds.