SCMTD Protest Procedures

PROCUREMENT PROTESTS

All protests shall be filed, handled and resolved in a manner consistent with the requirements of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Circular 4220.1E Third Party Contracting Guidelines dated June 19, 2003 and the SCMTD's Protest Procedures which are on file and available upon request.

Current FTA Policy states that: Reviews of protests by FTA will be limited to:

(1) a grantee's failure to have or follow its protest procedures, or its failure to review a complaint or protest; or

(2) violation of Federal law or regulation

An appeal to FTA must be received by the cognizant FTA regional or Headquarters Office within five (5) working days of the date the protester learned or should have learned of an adverse decision by the grantee or other basis of appeal to FTA" (FTA Circular 4220.1E, Section 7, paragraph I., Written Protest Procedures).

Protests relating to the content of this Invitation for Bid (IFB) or Request for Proposal (RFP) must be filed within ten (10) calendar days after the date the IFB/RFP is first advertised. Protests relating to a recommendation for award solicited by this IFB must be filed by an interested party within five (5) calendar days after the staff's written recommendation and notice of intent to award is issued to the bidders/offerors. The date of filing shall be the date of receipt of protests or appeals by the SCMTD.

All Protests shall be filed in writing with the Assistant General Manager, Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, 370 Encinal Street, Suite 100, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. No other location shall be acceptable. The SCMTD will respond in detail to each substantive issue raised in the protest. The Assistant General Manage shall make a determination on the protest normally within ten (10) working days from receipt of protest. Any decision rendered by the Assistant General Manager may be appealed to the Board of Directors. The Protester has the right within five (5) working days of receipt of determination to file an appeal restating the basis of the protest and the grounds of the appeal. In the appeal, the Protester shall only be permitted to raise factual information previously provided in the protest or discovered subsequent to the Assistant General Manager's decision and directly related to the grounds of the protest. The General Manager has the authority to make a final determination and the Board of Director's decision shall constitute the SCMTD's final administrative remedy.

In the event the protestor is not satisfied with the SCMTD's final administrative determination, they may proceed within 90 days of the final decision to State Court for judicial relief. The Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Santa Cruz is the appropriate judicial authority having jurisdiction over Bid Protest(s) and Appeal(s). Bid includes the term "offer" or "proposal" as used in the context of negotiated procurements.

The Bidder may withdraw its protest or appeal at any time before the SCMTD issues a final decision.

Should the SCMTD postpone the date of bid submission owing to a protest or appeal of the solicitation specifications, addenda, dates or any other issue relating to this procurement, the SCMTD shall notify, via addendum, all parties who are on record as having obtained a copy of the solicitation documents that an appeal/protest had been filed, and the due date for bid/proposal submission shall be postponed until the SCMTD has issued its final decision.

A letter of protest must set forth the grounds for protest and shall be fully supported with technical data, test results, or other pertinent information related to the subject being protested. The Protestor is responsible for adhering to the SCMTD's protest procedures.

A Bidder/Offeror may seek FTA review of the SCMTD's decision. A protest appeal to the FTA must be filed in accordance with the provisions of FTA circular 4220.1E. Any appeal to the FTA shall be made not later than five (5) working days after a final decision is rendered under the SCMTD's protest procedure. Protest appeals should be filed with:

Federal Transit Administration
Regional Administrator Region IX
201 Mission Street, Suite 2210
San Francisco, CA 94105-1839

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Last updated on January 10, 2005