Miami-Dade County, Fla., has issued a new request for proposals that seeks bids to develop a compressed natural gas (CNG) program for Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) – a move that has been in the works for over a year and follows on the heels of another CNG-related RFP from the county that came out in May.
The purpose of the MDT RFP, according to the documents, is singular in nature: ‘to take advantage of the savings associated with the use of CNG.’
The county is looking to form a public-private partnership that will fulfill three main goals via a turnkey solution:
- the transition of an initial 300 heavy-duty transit buses to CNG
- the development and ongoing operation and maintenance of CNG refueling stations (ones that can simultaneously fuel four buses in less than six and a half minutes (100 DGE)
- the modification of the agency's facilities (at least one, and perhaps as many as three) to accommodate natural gas vehicles
MDT Metrobus consumed approximately 10.55 million gallons of diesel fuel between March 2013 and the end of February 2014, traveling more than 36 million miles in the process. The agency currently operates 818 buses, meaning the first wave of CNG buses would represent more than a third of the total fleet.
The full RFP can be accessed here. Questions can be directed to the county's procurement management division at (305) 375-1081, or send an email to rita2@miamidade.gov.
The bid period closes August 8 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.
