RNR Consulting was contracted by the Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) in February of 2005 to assist in the selection of an Intelligent Transit System (ITS) vendor. The vendor was to be selected from a pool of five (5) proposals submitted in response to an RFP provided to AVTA’s ITS vendors. AVTA operates thirty-seven (37) fixed routes, nineteen (19) paratransit routes, and twenty-five (25) commuter bus routes. The agency was interested in purchasing and implementing an Intelligent Transit System, which included the following modules: Automatic Passenger Counters (APC), Automatic Voice Annunciators (AVA), Automatic Vehicle Monitoring (AVM), Driver Control Consoles (DCC) (also called Mobile Data Terminals), and Computer Aided Dispatch and Automatic Vehicle Location (CAD/AVL).

In October 2004, AVTA solicited proposals from vendors on the ITS implementation project. After the proposals were received, AVTA requested RNR Consulting’s assistance in reviewing the proposals and our assistance in the vendor selection. RNR Consulting utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods to select the vendor that provided the maximum value to AVTA.

To achieve these goals, RNR Consulting conducted a number of activities to develop an understanding AVTA’s critical processes. RNR Consulting leveraged information already obtained during the development of the Information Technology Strategic Plan (which was developed by RNR Consulting) to help understand AVTA’s processes. Project activities included the development of a requirements checklist, a list of evaluation criteria, and both qualitative and quantitative matrices. RNR Consulting also generated interview questions, conducted interviews of key AVTA personnel, participated in vendor interviews, conducted reference calls, led meetings with the vendors and AVTA, and conducted a detailed cost-benefit analysis. During the selection phase, we invited one of the vendors to outfit an AVTA bus with ITS equipment so that we could observe the effects of the proposed equipment on AVTA’s buses and service environment. Based upon the myriad of activities and the qualitative and quantitative analyses, we recommended a vendor capable of meeting AVTA’s ITS needs at a reasonable cost.

After the selection of the ITS vendor, RNR Consulting played a lead role in the negotiations of the final contract with the vendor. RNR Consulting’s industry knowledge of transit authorities and ITS products was leveraged during the negotiations, especially to iron out specific technical details and functionalities. As a result of RNR Consulting involvement, AVTA saved $223,200 through gains in terms of added functionality, added products, and reduction in the overall contract costs.

When the vendor selection was complete, RNR Consulting developed the project plan for AVTA, as well as a criteria document for the functional acceptance by AVTA. RNR Consulting worked as Project Managers for the AVTA ITS implementation, and provided methodologies for successful implementation. RNR Consulting was also responsible for the daily activities on the project and for developing risk mitigation strategies to ensure a timely implementation.