NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT (DART) RED AND BLUE LINE CORRIDORS TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT SURVEY OCTOBER 26, 2018 REVISED: November 7, 2018
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT (DART) RED AND BLUE LINE CORRIDORS TRANSIT- ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT SURVEY INTRODUCTION The North Central Teas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is requesting Consultant services to survey residents, employers, and employees in the approimate mile radius of 28 DART rail stations. NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS The North Central Teas Council of Governments is a voluntary association of, by, and for local governments, and was established to assist local governments in planning for common needs, cooperating for mutual benefit, and coordinating for sound regional development. NCTCOG s purpose is to strengthen both the individual and collective power of local governments as well as to help them recognize regional opportunities, eliminate unnecessary duplication, and make joint decisions. BACKGROUND Since 1974, NCTCOG has served as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for transportation in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. NCTCOG s Transportation Department is responsible for regional transportation planning for all modes of transportation. The Department provides technical support and staff assistance to the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) and its technical committees, which compose the MPO policy-making structure. In addition, the Department provides technical assistance to the local governments of North Central Teas in planning, programming, coordinating, and implementing transportation decisions. PURPOSE AND NEED NCTCOG is designing a regional survey to address questions facing policy makers and implementers of transit-oriented development (TOD) in North Teas. Public agencies in North Teas understand general travel patterns and demographics of station areas but not the individual level decisions and preferences driving the travel outcomes. Using funding from the Page 2
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for TOD planning tied specifically to 28 rail stations in the DART Red and Blue Line corridors, NCTCOG along with its partner cities and DART would like to ask a sample of residents, businesses and their employees in those station areas about their perceptions and behavior related to transit. The goal is to get a general sense of trends and patterns in the stated preferences and behaviors of those living and working near the rail stations. Central TOD questions driving this survey include but are not limited to: How important is transit availability in influencing location choice decisions? Does transit availability change travel (including parking) behavior? Do walking supportive urban design factors play a large role in first/last mile travel with transit? What are the key barriers to transit use, including physical or perceptional for those not using transit? To what etent do businesses value transit and encourage employees to use it? The survey findings will be integrated into regional TOD recommendations in a planning document to help government decision makers and developers address key assumptions about TOD and develop more informed strategies for development of related buildings and infrastructure. The objective will be similar in nature to previous TOD surveys from other regions: Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) - https://www.rtachicago.org/plansprograms/guides-and-resources/transit-oriented-development Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) - https://drcog.org/planning-greatregion/implementing-metro-vision/transit-oriented-development Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) - http://reports.abag.ca.gov/other/transitand-affordable-housing-survey.pdf PROJECT SUPPORT NCTCOG will serve as the Project Manager to implement a mutually agreed-upon scope of work, monitor progress of Consultant firm(s) activities, and serve as a liaison between the Consultant firm(s) and other partners. The Project Review Committee (PRC) will consist of NCTCOG and partner agency staff to provide input and review consultant work. Page 3
STUDY AREA The study area is comprised of the 28 DART light rail stations built prior to 2004 and included in the Red and Blue Line Platform Etension Project corridors (Figure 1). These are part of the FTA Core Capacity Enhancement Capital Investment Grant, which made them eligible for FTA planning funds. Per FTA guidance, the half-mile radius from the station is the effective planning area for TOD. To understand the relative influence of this radius and provide for additional data analysis the survey data will be collected up to a one mile radius from the station based on Census 2010 Block Groups. NCTCOG has identified 197 block groups to be the effective study area for survey data collection. These stations and their developed areas are largely within in the cities of Dallas, Garland, Plano, and Richardson. Page 4
Figure 1: Map of Study Area DART Stations Page 5
Table 1: List of Light Rail Stations in Study Station Name City Rail Line(s) 8th & Corinth Station Dallas Red Line, Blue Line, Cedars Station Dallas Red Line, Blue Line, Cityplace Station Dallas Red Line, Blue Line, Orange Line Convention Center Station Dallas Red Line, Blue Line, Dallas Zoo Station Dallas Red Line Forest Lane Station Dallas Red Line, Orange Line Hampton Station Dallas Red Line Illinois Station Dallas Blue Line Kiest Station Dallas Blue Line LBJ/Central Station Dallas Red Line, Orange Line LBJ/Skillman Station Dallas Blue Line Lovers Lane Station Dallas Red Line, Orange Line Mockingbird Station Dallas Red Line, Blue Line, Orange Line Morrell Station Dallas Blue Line Park Lane Station Dallas Red Line, Orange Line Tyler/Vernon Station Dallas Red Line VA Medical Center Station Dallas Blue Line Walnut Hill Station Dallas Red Line, Orange Line Westmoreland Station Dallas Red Line White Rock Station Dallas Blue Line Downtown Garland Station Garland Blue Line Forest/Jupiter Station Garland Blue Line Downtown Plano Station Plano Red Line, Orange Line Parker Road Station Plano Red Line, Orange Line Arapaho Center Station Richardson Red Line, Orange Line CityLine/Bush Station Richardson Red Line, Orange Line Galatyn Park Station Richardson Red Line, Orange Line Spring Valley Station Richardson Red Line, Orange Line SCOPE OF WORK The consultant is epected to formulate a plan for completing the necessary work and detailing the tasks as a part of the submitted proposal. Creativity in the approach to this work effort is important to its success. Consultants are encouraged to propose innovative approaches to the various elements of the project. The proposer should describe the resources it has available for carrying out the full scope of this project. The submitted proposals should include all the necessary details for how the consultant will complete each task; if applicable, a process flow Page 6
chart and necessary data sources should be provided. The consultant team will be epected to include a project timeline as a part of its proposal. Milestones should be identified and dates for deliverables clearly indicated. The proposer shall develop a budget based on the scope of services to be performed and submit it with the proposal. To assist the Consultant Selection Committee in their evaluations, the proposal must identify total costs and person hours for each project task and sub-task, list all team members, and identify the consultant team s qualifications. TASKS The Consultant will perform the following task and subtasks and will produce a deliverables list for each task. Task 1: Project Management In coordination with NCTCOG staff, the Consultant will be responsible for managing the timely completion of project tasks. The Consultant should include a project schedule, identifying key milestones and critical path of the project with their proposal. The work is estimated to take eight to ten months to complete. After the Notice to Proceed is issued, a kickoff meeting with NCTCOG will be conducted to review the project goals, scope of work, methodology, and schedule/timeline. In addition, the Consultant will be responsible for monthly progress reports to NCTCOG via conference call or email which discuss the project progress. The consultant should anticipate additional coordination calls and coordination on weekly basis during critical periods such as data collection. The Consultant will be responsible for submitting billings to NCTCOG. Task 1 Deliverables: Project schedule Kickoff meeting Monthly progress reports and invoices Task 2. Sampling Plan The Consultant will be responsible for developing a sampling plan(s) to collect data to be summarized and cross-tabulated for the DART Red and Blue corridors. This study focuses on a residential population associated with housing units and employers/employees associated with Page 7
business locations near the rail stations. For the residential component there were 112,105 households living in the selected block groups in 2010. Five year estimates from the 2016 American Community Survey, indicate between 87,885 and 128,005 households live there now. The second group of interest is businesses and their employees. Using 2015 InfoUSA data, selecting businesses with 5 or more employees on non-residentially zoned land, an estimated 12,265 businesses are located in the selected census block groups. Of these businesses there are 563 major employers (those with over 100 employees independently tracked by NCTCOG) in the selected block groups. It is anticipated employees will be surveyed in connection with employers who are surveyed and agree to allow their employees to be surveyed. The Consultant will be responsible for including as part of their proposal, cost estimates for purchasing or providing an employer database for the applicable study area. The database should include employer contact information, address or location information, number of employees the applicable location, and an industry classification such as the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at a minimum. A brief description of the employer data resource and justification for using it should be included with the proposal. The proposals cost should include the cost of purchasing this data as a line item allowing simple calculation of total cost without an employer data purchase. The Consultant will assist in identifying the feasibility of creating multiple sampling plans corresponding to various station typologies with NCTCOG. Possible typologies include: Median Household Income (ACS Block Group 5 year Estimates) DART Light Rail Corridors (4 to 6 corridor divisions) Household/Employment Density (NCTCOG Parcel based estimates) Average Daily Ridership Performance Presence of station park and ride lot Percentage of rail transit riders walking to station (2014 transit survey data) The Consultant s proposal should include the estimated number of samples to be collected and the sampling estimation method to be used. The Consultant will include their method for weighting the samples in the sampling plan (see Task 5). The sampling plan must be reviewed and approved by the NCTCOG PRC. Task 2 Deliverable: Sampling Plan with weighting methodology Page 8
Task 3: Survey Instruments NCTCOG staff will provide draft survey questions for the Consultant s review. The Consultant will be responsible for refining the questions and producing survey instruments as required to collect the data in coordination with NCTCOG. Different survey instruments may be needed for different transit station area populations. A survey of workplaces and housing is desired and will require 3 distinct question sets; for residents, for employers, and one for employees. The survey instruments must allow for accurate and timely recording of essential information in consideration of respondent characteristics and the data collection environment. Therefore, it may be more desirable to use more than one medium or format. The Consultant will address the issue of the participant-friendliness of the data collection instruments, eplaining how the design will facilitate the highest degree of participant understanding of the questions being asked and the ability of the questions to elicit clear responses that accurately reflect the participants travel, housing, and employment characteristics. NCTCOG encourages the Consultant to recommend the most appropriate survey approach, with justification based on past survey design eperience. The Consultant will be responsible for conducting the survey in a way that meets or eceeds environmental justice and Title VI requirements. The survey instrument shall be available in both in English and Spanish. The question set in the survey instruments are epected to address the following data points which have been drafted for consideration: Data and Topics of Interest Populations Residents Businesses Employees Location of home (address or nearest intersection) Location of workplace (address or nearest intersection) Travel Behavior Primary mode of work commute Average commute length Reasons for not using transit on commute (if applicable) Number of discretionary trips per week Mode use for discretionary trips Reasons for not using transit on discretionary trips (if applicable) Reasons for not walking on discretionary trips (if applicable) Reasons for not biking on discretionary trips (if applicable) Page 9
Perception of needed infrastructure improvements to encourage more walking and biking Preference on incentives for transit (if applicable) Vehicle Access and Parking Types of parking available at home Types of parking available at work Number of vehicles available in household Number of licensed drivers in household Spaces used at work per day Spaces used at home per day Housing Information Type of Housing (Apt/ detached) Rent or Own housing Factors in selecting current home Workplace information Number Employees on Site Transportation Demand Management programs/policies Role of transit in deciding where to locate business Non-Commute Workplace trips Work related trips from workplace Discretionary trips from workplace Demographic Information Age Ethnicity Educational Attainment Household Size Children per Household Household income bracket The Consultant is encouraged to make suggestions to improve the survey. The design of each final data collection instrument must be submitted to NCTCOG PRC for review and approval before use in the survey data collection. Task 3 Deliverables: Design for each survey instrument to be used, and finalized survey instruments Task 4: Data Collection Task 4.1 Data Collection Plan The Consultant will be responsible for conducting data collection and developing a proposed strategy for data collection including providing trained data collection personnel, proposal of Page 10
survey instruments to be used, proposals for quality control and quality assurance of the data collected, and geocoding the data. Requirements for data collection personnel should include an awareness of the general ethnic, language and other demographic characteristics of the residents and workers to be surveyed. The data collection plan should detail the phasing and appropriate use of each survey instrument proposed in Task 3. The Consultant will propose efforts to be used for assuring the overall quality of the data collected. This must address the collection of sufficient individual samples to assure that statistical sampling goals are met and define a complete sample for the purposes of evaluating the completeness of individual responses. Task 4.1 Deliverables: Data Collection Plan Task 4.2 Survey Data Collection Upon the review and approval of the Data Collection Plan by NCTCOG, the Consultant will collect data for the survey. Following completion of the data collection, the Consultant will provide electronic copies of the collected data to NCTCOG in Microsoft Access or Ecel format. Valid surveys will have all questions answered and include accurate location question responses. Task 4.2 Deliverables: Weekly updates during data collection (may be adjusted as needed) Complete Survey Data Task 4.3 Geocoding Data The Consultant will geocode data collected on survey respondent s home and work locations and conduct quality control checks on final records. The home or work location must be geocoded to longitude and latitude coordinates in decimal degree format. Every record in the geocoded database should include the corresponding survey identification number. It is important that results be geocoded with enough accuracy to identify the rail station the response is associated with. Given the nature of the study, survey responses should be geo-coded to within 1,000 feet of respondent s location. Task 4.3 Deliverable: GIS shapefiles or geodatabase of point locations for responses Page 11
Task 5: Post-Processing of Data The Consultant will weight survey data to reflect the demographic distribution of residents along the DART Red and Blue corridors to reduce potential non-response bias and ensure the sample generally reflects the overall population. The methodology must ensure that the sample data will be weighted to reflect the characteristics of the total population and how incidences of oversampling or under-sampling will be neutralized. Characteristics may include gender, age, ethnicity, or income from the most recently available U.S. Census American Community Survey data. The Consultant must include an eplanation of their weighting methodology along with the sample process (see Task 2). The Consultant will also propose any additional post-processing task recommended for optimal interpretation of survey results. Task 5 Deliverable: Weighted database of post-processed data Task 6: Documentation All of the above tasks will be documented and synthesized into a final report. The report will include a description of the survey process and recommendations for follow-up analysis. The report should include a discussion of lessons learned in conducting the survey for future use. The Consultant will also provide an eecutive summary suitable for distribution to NCTCOG and project stakeholders. A draft of the report must be sent to NCTCOG for review and comment. The Consultant must update the report to address the comments of the NCTCOG. A final draft must be sent to the Project Manager for approval that all comments were addressed from the draft. The final report must be sent to the NCTCOG Project Manager in Adobe Portable Document File (PDF) format. Task 6 Deliverables: Draft of the final report sent to NCTCOG in Microsoft word format. Final Deliverables: Four printed and bound copies of the final report to NCTCOG Electronic copies of the final report and all other necessary electronic data, including Word, Ecel, GIS, and other supporting files on a USB flash drive. Page 12
SCHEDULE AND BUDGET NCTCOG anticipates issuing a Notice to Proceed in February 2019. This project should be completed within 8 months of the date of Notice to Proceed. The estimated budget for the project is approimately $250,000. SELECTION CRITERIA The Consultant Selection Committee (CSC) will review all proposals and select a firm it considers qualified to undertake the project. All proposals will be reviewed for completeness and evaluated using the criteria show below. Proposals must include the requested information and documents outlined in this RFP in order to be determined responsive and move forward for evaluation using the following criteria: Project Understanding Scope of Services Project Manager/Staff Qualifications Project Cost Firm Qualifications/Consultant References Project Schedule 25 percent 25 percent 20 percent 15 percent 10 percent 5 percent If the CSC determines that interviews will be required before a final decision can be made, the interviews will take place at the NCTCOG offices in Arlington, Teas, on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. Proposers who are invited to an interview will be notified that an interview has been scheduled the week of December 10, 2018. Proposers should be willing and able to attend these interviews, if necessary. Costs for developing the proposal and costs attributed to interviews (and subsequent negotiations) are at the proposer s own epense and will not be reimbursed by NCTCOG. Page 13
Following final negotiations of the Scope of Work and costs satisfactory to NCTCOG, the consultant will be asked to eecute a contract with NCTCOG. The Sample Contract, provided in this transmittal, contains federal requirements which must be included with all proposals submitted. If awarded, proposers will be asked to agree to the terms identified in the Sample Contract. Proposers should identify, in their response, any revisions to the terms or conditions they would like NCTCOG to consider. Appendices C through I of the Sample Contract contain compliance requirements and certification forms that must accompany the proposals. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in finding the Proposal non-responsive. The Teas Legislature has adopted House Bill 1295. In short, the law states that a governmental entity or state agency may not enter into certain contracts with a business entity unless the business entity submits a disclosure of interested parties (Form 1295) to our agency at the time of a signed contract. As part of contract development, the consultant will be asked to complete the disclosure of interested parties electronically and submit through the Teas Ethics Commission website. NCTCOG will provide a specific contract number associated with the award for inclusion in the submittal. Once submitted, the consultant will be requested to return an e-mail confirmation of submittal to NCTCOG. For more information about the process, please visit the following website for a Frequently Asked Questions: https://www.ethics.state.t.us/whatsnew/faq_form1295.html. A Notice to Proceed will be issued upon eecution of the contract. NCTCOG reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to contract for any or all portions of the project with the selected consultant, or to hire multiple firms. The successful responder(s) to this Request for Proposals is epected to provide qualified personnel to accomplish each portion of the work in this study. NCTCOG will maintain the right Page 14
to request the removal of any personnel found, in its opinion, during the course of work on this project, to be unqualified to perform the work. DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PARTICIPATION The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise participation must meet the 31.92 percentage goal for this contracting opportunity. Respondents should also include an Affirmative Action Plan in the proposal. Failure to comply with these requirements may find the proposal nonresponsive. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS All questions regarding the services required shall be directed in writing by email to TransRFPs@nctcog.org by the close of business on Friday, November 2, 2018. All questions and responses will be posted on the NCTCOG website at http://www.nctcog.org/rfp by the close of business on Wednesday, November 7, 2018. NCTCOG reserves the right to respond to inquiries as it deems necessary. Page 15