The vendor is required to provide a proven on-demand paratransit route scheduling and management software to cater directly to our act dial-a-ride service.
- Agency goal is to establish a real-time dispatching system with automated scheduling, automatic optimization of routes and live schedules, customizable eligibility management workflows, streamlined trip booking, trip negotiation options, driver and vehicle management, and payroll export features.
- Customization and scalability
• The software solution should be customizable to meet the specific needs of agency.
• The software solution must be able to accommodate same day ride scheduling, which agency plans to make available in the future.
• The software should have the ability to “comingle” ADA and general demand rides for the sake of efficiency.
- System parameters and user interface
• The programming must reside on a cloud-based hosted central software system.
• The software shall maintain continual uptime of 99.99% availability.
• The software system must integrate the transit system parameters and govern processes such as the service area, service zones, mapping interface, dwell and load times, etc.
• Proposers should specify the range of parameters that can be user set and adjusted, and how the proposer will assist agency in the initial setting of these parameters to ensure maximum scheduling efficiency in daily operations.
• Web interface: the software solution must be web based and fully functional via modern standards-compliant web browsers and is pc compatible.
• The software solution interfaces with multiple integrated systems, such as:
o Dispatch/routing/scheduling
o Driver route manifest portal on a hardware device
o Passenger portal through web and mobile applications
o Other system modules for each mode of transportation
• The software solution will have a configuration or settings menu that allows authorized agents to customize dropdown menus, data fields, agent accessibility parameters, etc.
• The software solution will have customizable data entry forms for the agents and drivers to enter text and numerical information to trips.
• The software solution tracks all passenger trip revisions, showing the history of agent and driver name, time, and date revised.
• The software solution will have a user-friendly dashboard with a toolbar, ribbon, or menu that allows the user to navigate the system efficiently and easily.
• The software solution will provide pop-up windows or dialog boxes where specific actions can be taken, such as editing client or trip information.
• Agents will be able to adjust settings, and profile information according to agency policy and procedures, and the access level of the user.
• It is preferred that the software solution has color coded visual triggers for route manifests, routes, and passenger trips.
• Two-way communication, in real time when applicable between the routing, scheduling, reservations, dispatch, and driver manifest.
• The driver manifest (mobile hardware) will have the capability to timestamp and geocode stamp (or similar technology) for each trip event.
• Agent and driver login and logout protocols that include timestamping and geocoding for the operators. the system must capture breaks, lunches, and standbys.
• For drivers, the software will track revenue, nonrevenue, slack time, and deadhead information at a minimum.
• The system will provide a dashboard for daily metrics (i.e., ridership, cancelations, no-shows, etc.)
• The software solution supports multitasking in the dashboard/operations center.
• The agents can have multiple pages of the software open at one time, for ease of multitasking.
• Eligibility management is essential.
• An optional solution is a fillable eligibility application for passengers to access through mobile applications or web-based.
• Agents will review the application, approve or deny it, and it will then be stored as an attachment in the client profile.
• The client profile should display all eligibility information, including expiration date, approval date, ADA classification, conditions, etc.
• The eligibility management portion of the software should automatically track passenger expiration dates and alert the agent and passengers of the expiration date 60 and 30 days before.
• The proposed software solution shall be fully compatible with agency enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, specifically the workday platform, which encompasses finance and human capital management (HCM) modules.
• Workday is currently being implemented at agency in partnership with AVAAP, the designated system integration provider.
• solutions demonstrating interoperability with comparable, cloud-based payroll and financial management platforms may also be considered, subject to agency review and approval.
• with the ERP integration, the preferred solution should include functionality to track driver payroll, absences, meetings, vacations, etc., providing an export to the ERP system.
• Ideally, vacation requests would be submitted through an interactive module (e.g., mobile app, kiosk) with timestamping capability.
• Drivers marked as unavailable should automatically be flagged in the system and excluded from the next day’s schedule.
• Sign-ins would be monitored through a badge swiping process.
• The system should support daily trip scheduling workflows, including the closure of trip reservations at 5 pm and distribution of driver start times by 7:30 pm.
• Start times should be calculated as 15 minutes prior to the required travel time to the first scheduled pick-up and assigned in order of driver seniority.
• The system should be capable of dynamically adjusting start times each day based on the finalized schedule.
• The system should accommodate the morning assignment of vehicles based on availability from maintenance.
• It must recognize that while some vehicles are assigned to specific drivers, the majority are shared and vary in capacity.
• The system should facilitate matching available vehicles to scheduled trips accordingly.
- It security preferences
• Data protection
o Encryption: require aes-256 or equivalent for data at rest and TLS 1.2+ for data in transit.
o KEY management: vendor should support customer-managed keys (CMK) or bring-your-own-key (BYOK) options. • Access controls
o Identity and access management (IAM): fine-grained, role-based access control (RBAC).
o MFA: mandatory multi-factor authentication for all privileged access.
o SSO integration: support for SAML 2.0, OAuth, or OpenID connect. • Compliance and certifications
• SOC 2 type ii
o ISO/IEC 27001
o PCI-DSS (if processing payments)
o HIPAA (for healthcare-related data)
o FEDRAMP
• Monitoring and logging
o Real-time monitoring, alerts, and audit logs for all user and system activities.
o Integration with your SIEM or log aggregation tools.
• Incident response
o Must provide a documented incident response plan and notify you of incidents in a specific timeframe (e.g., within 24 hours).
o evidence of regular tabletop exercises and updates.
• Data residency and sovereignty
o Ability to choose where data is stored and processed.
o Compliance with local data privacy laws.
• Security testing
o Regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing (ideally by a 3rd party).
o You should have the right to audit or receive redacted pen test summaries.
• Availability and redundancy
o SLAS for uptime, disaster recovery, and backup frequency.
o Must have geo-redundant backups and business continuity plans.
- Pre-Proposal Meeting (Non-Mandatory) Date: May 22, 2025
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: June 5, 2025