The CATS Finance and Executive Committee today recommended that the public transit agency extend the contract of Interim CEO Bob Mirabito for another year and remove the “interim” part of his title. The proposed contract provides for a $140,000 annual salary for Mirabito through the end of 2014, with a built-in 5% annual raise accompanying any contract renewal thereafter.
Also today, the committee voted to recommend awarding a two-year, $1.39 million contract to manage the system to MV Transportation after CATS Procurement Director Emily Efferson presented the Proposal Evaluation Committee’s recommendation and score report.
MV Transportation, which is based in Fairfield, Calif., and operates 200 transit systems in 28 states and two foreign countries, was one of two firms vying for the contract. Both MV and Baton Rouge-based Reliant Transportation presented their proposals to the selection committee last week.
MV scored higher than Reliant on firm experience in the committee report, which notes Reliant primarily provides paratransit service and lacks experience with large, urban, fixed route systems. Without knowing the proposed costs, the five-member Proposal Evaluation Committee initially gave MV Transportation a score of 361 out of 425, and Reliant Transportation a score of 335 out of 425.
However, once the proposed costs of the two proposals were applied to the firms’ overall scores, the gap between the two bidders widened—with MV earning a 436 out of 500, while Reliant earned a 389. At $1.94 million, Reliant’s proposal would have cost $549,519 more than MV’s, which was $1.39 million.
Reliant also scored 19 points lower than MV on the qualifications of its individuals assigned to the project, reflecting the committee’s concern about Reliant’s proposed COO, who lacked the RFP’s minimum requirement of 10 years of experience with a public fixed route transit system comparable to CATS.
Reliant did score higher than MV in one area—its approach to the project—by 12 points. Only one point separated the two companies’ scores on completion time. The CATS board must still approve the contract, and will vote on the recommendation on Tuesday.
