Hardee, Highlands, Okeechobee Counties

Community Transportation Coordinator

Request for Letters of Interest

The Central Florida Regional Planning Council is seeking letters of interest and statements of qualifications from agencies or firms interested in coordinating transportation services for the Transportation Disadvantaged in the multi-county service area of Hardee, Highlands, and Okeechobee, Florida. The selected contractor will be the designated Community Transportation Coordinator for Florida’s Transportation Disadvantaged program, as authorized by Chapter 427, Florida Statutes, and more fully described in Rule Chapter 41-2 of the Florida Administrative Code. Experience with eligibility-based transportation services is required.

The Community Transportation Coordinator is defined by Chapter 427, Florida Statutes, as a transportation entity recommended by the appropriate designated official planning agency to ensure that coordinated transportation services are provided to the transportation disadvantaged population in a designated service area. The Community Transportation Coordinator has full responsibility for the delivery of transportation services for the transportation disadvantaged as outlined in Section 427.015(2), F.S.

The transportation disadvantaged are defined by Chapter 427, Florida Statutes as “those persons who because of physical or mental disability, income status, or age are unable to transport themselves or purchase transportation and are, therefore, dependent upon others to obtain access to health care, employment, education, shopping, social activities, or other life sustaining activities, or children who are handicapped or high-risk or at-risk as defined in Section 411.202, F.S.”

Interested agencies or firms are required to provide proof of qualifications in the following areas: coordination experience, scheduling and routing software used by the agency/firm, contracting with transportation providers, vehicle acquisition, and grant applications and administration. Letters of interest and qualifications should be limited to four (4) pages.

Potential coordinators should submit their expression of interest and qualifications in a sealed envelope to: Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Attention: Patricia M. Steed, Executive Director, 555 E Church Street, Bartow, FL 33830. Letters must be marked, “LETTER OF INTEREST AND QUALIFICATIONS FOR HARDEE, HIGHLANDS, AND OKEECHOBEE COUNTIES COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION COORDINATOR.” Letters of interest and qualifications must be received by 4:00 p.m. (EST), Friday, March 20, 2009.

The Council will not accept faxed and email responses. Late letters of interest will be returned unopened with the notation, “This letter of interest was received after the delivery time designated for receipt and opening in the legal notice.” Only responses to the request for letters of interest will be considered if a request for proposals is issued for Community Transportation Coordinator. The Central Florida Regional Planning Council reserves the right to accept or reject any and all responses in the best interest of the service area and the State.