First Transit loses out on both RTC bus contracts

Left standing at the curb.

In a dramatic reversal of fortune, the company that briefly last year was in the driver's seat to take over operations and maintenance of the Las Vegas Valley's fixed-route bus system when cost savings was the pre-eminent issue was denied a seat on the bus Thursday.

A new two-step bidding process conducted by in-house and outside evaluators for the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada determined previous bid winner First Transit wasn't a top-tier qualifier for either of two contracts that will divide operations beginning July 7.

Cincinnati-based First Transit, which operates the RTC's paratransit system, failed to meet the technical standards to advance to the second tier, where pricing will constitute 70 percent of the final decision-making.

The RTC is expected in early February to pick two separate companies to handle the valley's bus operations and maintenance.

On Thursday, the commission unanimously advanced Veolia Transportation, Keolis Transit America and MV Transportation to the second round for a contract for its Lot A, or northern valley.

Veolia and Keolis also advanced to the second round for the Lot B, or southern valley, contract. Each company can win only one of the contracts.

The contract for Lot A is for as many as 12 years, and the contract for Lot B could be as long as 10 years.

Veolia, of Lombard, Ill., has been working under an extended contract since September of last year after First Transit's original winning bid in May 2011 was rescinded in favor of a new request for proposal that would weight technical operations and advancement potential over which company simply could come in with the lowest bid.

First Transit's bid came in $50 million lower than Veolia's on the full valley contract, valued at $600 million.

First Transit sued the RTC over the bid's dismissal but later pulled out of pending litigation over financial concerns and the assurance that it would be given a fair chance for the new two-tier, split-contract.

Under a convoluted, weighted statistical system that would cause college football's Bowl Championship Series officials to reach for aspirin, First Transit, as well as McDonald Transit Associates, rated substantially lower than the other companies that advanced to the second tier.

Among the 11 categories evaluated were management team and key personnel, 28 percent; and experience and references, 22 percent; all the way down to employee training, 4 percent; and communication system and dispatching plan, 3 percent.

Nick Promponas, First Transit's senior vice president, did not return a call for comment on his company's failure to advance to the second tier less than a year after it appeared it would have the full-valley contract.

RTC Chairman Larry Brown said the revised approach to determining the contract bids was the fairest to all involved and the most forward-thinking for the improvement of the agency's ongoing service in the community.

"It's new territory, but every milestone we hit, like today, we're getting affirmation that the good work we put in on the front end is paying off now as we get to the final decisions," Brown said.

RTC General Manager Tina Quigley was quick to praise First Transit's work with the agency's paratransit service.

But Quigley said she was comfortable with the companies that moved on to the second-tier, where the weighted factors will be price proposal, 70 percent; management team and key personnel, 15 percent; experience and references, 10 percent; and interview, 5 percent.

"Comfortable ... and confident that the programs that are moving on can handle the contract," Quigley said. "We decided that anybody moving on was an 'A' team, and these are teams that would meet that criteria."

Contact reporter Joe Hawk at jhawk@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2912. Follow him on Twitter: @RJroadwarrior.