On-Call Consultant Services for Management of CARTA (Category 4: Infrastructure Financing and Financial Planning)

CARTA is seeking qualified consultants to establish a bench of on-call services to support CARTA in the following service categories:

• Category 1: Civil Oversight
• Category 2: Traffic and Revenue Analysis
• Category 3: Regional Community Engagement & Stakeholder Coordination
• Category 4: Infrastructure Financing and Financial Planning

Proposals will be evaluated based upon best value, per our Evaluation Criteria. Proposals should include annual rates/costs for a three (3) year agreement.

Awards

• Up to two (2) master on-all contracts will be awarded under this solicitation for this category: Infrastructure Financing and Financial Planning.
• Each on-call contract will have a maximum payment amount of $1,000,000.
• The total maximum payment amount for all on-call services under this category is $2,000,000.

Subsequent Task Orders

• CARTA will issue informal qualifications-based solicitations known as "On-Call Task Order Requests" for all task orders under master on-all contracts.
• On-Call Task Order Requests are only offered to qualified consultants with executed master on-call services contracts under this category.
• The On-Call Task Order Request will include a Scope of Work and Evaluation Criteria for the Task Order being solicited.
• Responses will be evaluated and ranked, and a consultant will be selected. A task order will be negotiated with first ranked firm.
• Task Order cost must be based on wage rates established in the master on-call contract resulting from this RFQ, and the time and deliverable requirements in the Task Order.
• Task Orders are executed as Amendments to the master on-call services contract.

In January of 2024 Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), Yolo Transportation District (YoloTD), and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), created a joint powers authority (CARTA) to serve as tolling authority for the Sacramento region. While SACOG, YoloTD, and Caltrans are CARTA's initial members (and have voting seats on its board), CARTA was designed to expand membership to Sacramento Transportation Authority (STA), Placer County Transportation Planning Agency (PCTPA), and El Dorado County Transportation Commission (EDCTC) as the toll network grows. Each of these three (3) agencies has a non-voting seat on the CARTA board. All six (6) agencies actively participate in the CARTA Technical Advisory Group (TAG), an interagency executive group that oversees and guides the development of CARTA’s work.

CARTA’s primary focus is supporting the timely delivery of the Yolo 80 Project, which will add one (1) High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) 3+ lane in each direction on Interstate 80 (I-80) between the cities of Davis and West Sacramento. Yolo 80 is the first toll facility in the region and is anticipated to begin revenue service in 2028. Ultimately, toll lanes are envisioned throughout the core of the Capital region. Related documents and recordings of CARTA board meetings are available at captollauthority.org.

This RFQ’s four benches are designed to cover needs CARTA anticipates having between 2026 and 2028 but are difficult to forecast at this point. Each bench's "Scope of Work" section provides a summary of the scope and sample tasks. Actual activities will be issued as task orders to the relevant bench and interested firms on the bench will provide more specific approach and cost proposals. This RFQ to appoint the bench is focused on identifying qualified teams who have done similar work previously and have an understanding of CARTA and its needs.

There are or will be multiple contracts that are interrelated with the contract resulting from this RFQ, with overlapping timelines. These include (but are not limited to) the Yolo 80 construction contract (held by Caltrans and primed by DeSilva Gates), the Yolo 80 Roadside Toll System and Traffic and Revenue Analysis (held by YoloTD and primed by Silicon Transportation Consultants), the Regional Tolling Equity Study (anticipated procurement by CARTA in November 2025), and the Toll Program Management contract (notice of intent to award anticipated in early October 2025). Each of these contracts has been (or will be) procured independently and firms that are appointed to this bench will not play any role in those procurements. Similarly, those contracts have no role in the procurement of this RFQ.