A Planning Support Services

The vendor is required to provide consultant services for planning support services
- Provide staff augmentation with specialized expertise, project management, and strategic guidance to help plan, analyze, and implement optimal and effective transportation planning and solutions as described in the following services.
- The consultant shall provide embedded support services to work alongside and assist department in-house planners with general planning activities as needed, including:
• Metropolitan planning organization (MPO) planning and coordination – the embedded support services team will be expected to work on all MPO planning processes, including between the MPO staff and other department and state offices, as well as federal and local agencies, as needed. 
• Activities may include but are not limited to the following:
o MPO transportation improvement program (tip) development process.
o Tip administrative modification and amendment processes.
o Review of the development and maintenance of other federal documents: unified planning work program (UPWP), metropolitan transportation plan (MTP), participation plan (pp), and congestion management plan (CMP).
o Attend technical coordination committee (TCC) and policy committee (PC) meetings (in person or virtually) as needed.
• Report development and reviews – the embedded support services team will be expected to assist or lead development and analysis on various reports, including the following:
o Project justification statement (pjs) development and reviews.
o Concept report reviews and coordination.
o Interchange modification report/interchange justification reports/interchange feasibility studies reviews and coordination.
o Non-attainment and conformity analysis.
o Transportation planning management (TPM) target setting, reporting, and coordination.
o Update internal planning resources (i.e., planning manual, office training).
o Grant applications.
• Plan development – the embedded support services team will be expected to assist and facilitate the development of various plans as needed, including but not limited to planning studies and/or statewide plans
• Program administration – the embedded support services team will be expected to assist, facilitate, or lead activities related to federal and state funding programs including but not limited to programming projects, assisting stakeholders and MPO staff in answering program-related questions, providing presentations and materials as needed.
• Financial planning – the embedded support services team will be expected to assist, facilitate, or lead activities related to financial planning, including the following:
o Development of materials to manage financial information (i.e. spreadsheets, dashboards).
o Prepare and deliver materials for executive briefings and coordination with other department offices and agency partners.
o Quantitative analysis.
o Budget balancing.
• Other general planning activities – the embedded support services team will be expected to assist, facilitate, or lead tasks as needed, including the following:
o Project prioritization.
o Freight planning.
o Geographic information system (GIS) services.
o State and federal policy analysis and coordination.
- Support other department divisions and offices while supporting office of planning initiatives; coordination within department, external stakeholders, agency partners, consultants, and private entities; ancillary management duties such as meeting facilitation, agenda development, and minutes documentation.
- Provide project management services as necessary to adjust to the department's resource and expertise requirements, as well as provide specialized training to department staff as needed or requested.
- The consultant will be expected to provide embedded staff services with personnel who are experienced and have already obtained.
- Contract Period/Term: 3 years
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: June 05, 2025