How much time does a bid/no-bid decision need?

About an hour, with the whole solicitation and the sample contract in front of you, not only the summary page. Write down every term you would want clarified, because the question period is the only time you can ask. Washington County, Maryland gave bidders 31 days from issue (April 13, 2026) to proposals (May 14), with questions due May 8, so the decision cannot wait for the last week.

Can a small fleet win a county or state ride contract?

Sometimes, if the stop questions come out clean. Washington County Health Department asked for six years of experience in the last eight across ambulatory, wheelchair and ambulance work, and allowed subcontracting only with written approval. Hamilton County, Ohio barred lift-equipped vehicles altogether. Terms like these decide the matter before price does.

What if the solicitation bundles a service I cannot provide?

Ask whether you may bid part of it. South Dakota's 2026 request for family time and transportation in Rapid City was written as one award, and a bidder asked about a transportation-only proposal. The state answered that it would consider a partial proposal for either service. The answer goes to every bidder, so ask early.

Should I tell the buyer when I decide not to bid?

Many buyers ask. Washington County Health Department printed a vendor feedback form inside its request, asked for it back from any company that makes a no-bid decision, and listed the reasons to tick, including insufficient start-up time, restrictive bonding or insurance, and a payment schedule that is too slow. The form says the state uses the answers to improve its solicitations.

What score should trigger a bid?

The cut-offs here are a starting rule, not a standard: 19 or more of 24 is a bid, 13 to 18 means hold until your questions are answered, and 12 or less is a pass. A 0 on price or payment is a pass at any total. After three or four bids, check which questions predicted the contracts you kept and adjust.

Does a broker agreement need the same check?

Yes, with the same questions. A broker agreement usually sets your rates in a fee table instead of a bid, but it still carries penalties, notice periods and payment terms you accept by signing. WellTrans's Indiana agreement, for example, sets liquidated damages of $150 for each late dialysis arrival, so a fleet should price that schedule before it joins.

Bid No-Bid Checklist for Transportation Contracts

How to use the sheet

Fill in one sheet per solicitation, with the request for proposals and its sample contract open next to you. Answer the five stop questions first. A single “no” that you cannot fix in the question period ends the decision. If all five pass, score the 12 questions below from 0 to 2, write one line of evidence beside each, and add them up.

The examples under each question come from real county, health department and broker documents, so you can match a number or clause on this page to one in the solicitation. The guide to finding and bidding on government transportation contracts covers where bids are posted and how to register. This sheet starts after you have found one.

The five stop questions

A stop question is a yes or no. The answer comes from a line in the solicitation, not from your hopes.

Qualifications. Do you meet every minimum qualification in writing? Washington County Health Department’s 2026 request required six years of experience within the last eight, covering ambulatory, wheelchair and ambulance transportation, and a Maryland commercial ambulance license held by the bidder or a qualified subcontractor.
Insurance and bonds. Can you post every policy and bond when asked, and not only when you win? The same request wanted a proposal bond of 5 percent of the total evaluated price with the bid, certificates of insurance within five business days of notice of a recommended award, and a $1,000,000 performance bond after it.
Mandatory steps. Can you complete each required step before its date? Hamilton County’s request made registration mandatory by December 11, 2025, and rejected any proposal from a company that had not registered. It also made on-time email delivery, by 1:00 p.m. on January 21, 2026, a mandatory requirement.
Start date. Can you be ready by the date work begins? Hamilton County expected service to start about June 1, 2026, after proposals closed in January. Washington County’s proposals were due May 14, 2026, for work starting July 1, 48 days later.
Scope. Is every required service one you provide or may subcontract? Hamilton County allowed subcontractors for adult rides and none for group rides for minors. Washington County barred subcontracting without written approval from the department.

The 12 scored questions

Score each question 0, 1, or 2, using the descriptions below for 0 and 2. Write a 1 when the answer sits between them. A score you cannot support with a quoted line counts as 0.

Question	Score 0 looks like	Score 2 looks like
1. Price against your cost	The rate or cap is below your cost per trip	It covers your cost and the profit you need
2. Payment speed	Pay waits on outside funds or runs past 45 days	Net 30 or faster, with a clear invoice window
3. Volume	No history, or the trip count is falling	Monthly history by mode that fills idle hours
4. Unpaid trips	Cancellations and no-shows go unpaid and are common	They are paid, or rare and priced in
5. Distance	Long unpaid drives to the first pickup	Trips cluster around a base you already run
6. Vehicles and crew	Needs equipment, vehicle ages or staff you lack	Fits what you run today
7. Hours and response	Overnight or same-day demands you cannot staff	Hours and return times you already meet
8. Penalties	Damages or withholds you cannot price	Few penalties, with time to fix a miss
9. Reporting and technology	You would buy systems, cameras or sites to comply	Reports you already produce
10. Term and exit	A long price lock, and you cannot leave for months	Short term, a price review, equal notice
11. Competition	The last award price is below your cost	Few bidders, or an old price you can beat
12. What a win does	Uses your best vans for little return	Builds references, fills slow hours, helps the next bid

Total: ____ of 24. 19 or more: bid. 13 to 18: hold and use the question period. 12 or fewer: pass. A 0 on question 1 or 2 is a pass at any total.

Price and payment: what a county contract pays

One signed county contract shows what a price answer looks like. Hamilton County Job and Family Services published a sample contract with its request and later posted the signed one, which pays $35.88 for each one-way adult trip in the first term, then $38.39 and $41.00 at the two renewals. Group trips for minors pay $71.92, then $72.59, then $79.38. Questions 1 and 2 are answered by the contract more than by the request.

Three terms in that contract change the answer to question 1:

A profit cap. The sample contract in the request limited profit margin to 5 percent over the term. The signed contract says 4 percent. Ask what the cap is built on before you price.
A fuel trigger. A surcharge may be requested only when gasoline averages 10 percent above a $2.95 baseline in a federal price index, and nothing applies until the county approves it in writing.
A price schedule for six years. The request asked for rates for the two-year initial term and both two-year renewals, and any increase in a renewal had to be itemized line by line as a percentage over the prior year. Every proposal price was held for 180 days after submission, and the county could require an extension of up to 180 days at the then-current terms and prices after a term ended.

Payment terms answer question 2. Hamilton County asked for monthly invoices within 30 days after the end of the service month and said it would use best efforts to pay within 30 days of receipt, and it will not pay for any service invoiced more than two months after the service month ends. Where a county or school district sets its own pay clock, check the state’s rules on late interest in local government prompt payment laws. The Ohio rate guide shows where county contracts sit next to fee-for-service pay.

Volume, distance, and unpaid trips

Question 3 asks for history, and Washington County gave it by mode. Completed trips fell from 19,562 in fiscal year 2023 to 17,988 in 2025 (the department’s annualized figure), about 8 percent. Wheelchair van trips fell from 4,827 to 3,820, a drop of about 21 percent, while ambulatory participants rose from 248 to 861. The department planned a single award at fixed unit prices, and its instructions say it does not guarantee a minimum or maximum number of units, so a falling count belongs in the score.

The same table answers question 5. The mileage column divided by trips gives about 6.3 miles per wheelchair van trip and 10.8 per ambulatory trip in 2025. Add the unpaid drive from your garage to the first pickup and back from the last drop to see what the contract really asks of a van.

Question 4 can sink a contract built on recurring rides. Hamilton County’s adult riders travel largely to standing appointments such as dialysis, substance abuse treatment, and mental health services, and the county reported that about one third of scheduled adult trips and 44 percent of scheduled group trips for minors ended in a no-show or cancellation. It said its funding does not reimburse them. Washington County’s request likewise barred payment for cancelled rides and for no-shows, and it requires a wait of at least seven minutes before a rider counts as a no-show. The unit rate has to carry the cost of every trip the van drives and the county does not pay for.

Vehicles, hours, penalties, and technology

Questions 6 to 9 are answered by reading the scope list line by line.

Vehicles. Hamilton County barred any vehicle equipped with a lift and capped vehicle age and mileage in one sentence that reads as six years and 100,000 miles. Put the exact reading of a sentence like that to the buyer in writing.
Hours. Hamilton County wanted vans available every day of the week between 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Washington County wanted hospital discharge and transfer rides every day, around the clock.
Penalties. Washington County’s liquidated damages section says “inapplicable,” yet the department can still reduce or withhold payment for late deliverables. Hamilton County can withhold pay for a trip whose log lacks the minimum information. A broker agreement can price it exactly: WellTrans’s Indiana schedule charges $150 for every late arrival at a dialysis clinic and adds $50 per hour or part of an hour on any arrival that runs more than an hour late, with an exception for delays outside the provider’s control that were reported before the pickup. As an example, 6 late arrivals in a month cost $900 before any hourly add-on.
Reporting and technology. Hamilton County required front-mounted cameras with storage that lets the county review and keep video of an incident for at least 48 hours, a monthly invoice detail file sent by secure transfer, and monthly complaint reports. Washington County’s request includes a disaster recovery site at least 100 miles away and a draft transition-out plan 120 business days before the contract ends, wording written around a software “Solution.” Ask the buyer whether it applies to a ride company.

Proposals can also lose points for thin answers. Washington County ranks a response that only says “concur” or “will comply” below one that explains how the work will be done, and its request runs 128 pages. Hamilton County’s runs 174 pages with its attachments. Count the hours before you commit them.

Term, exit, and who else is bidding

Question 10 checks whether the exit is fair. Hamilton County’s signed contract lets the county end the agreement for convenience on 120 calendar days’ notice and requires the provider to give 240, with one exception: the provider may leave sooner if Ohio’s statewide Medicaid program takes over the service. The county’s own funding clause lets it cut utilization or give notice of termination with no penalty. See termination for convenience for how federal rules treat the same clause. When federal money pays, 2 CFR Part 200 Appendix II requires every contract over $10,000 to address termination for cause and for convenience, and 2 CFR 200.319 lists unreasonable qualification requirements and unnecessary experience and excessive bonding among the situations that may restrict competition. That is a reason to raise a bonding or experience requirement in the question period.

Question 11 starts with what the last contract paid. Hamilton County’s award is a public record on its commissioners’ agenda, with unit rates, a not-to-exceed amount of $10,521,347.11 for two years, and the winner, MTM Transit LLC. Finding out who won a ride contract shows where to look for yours. Note who won, because the winner is the company you will be priced against.

Bonds can be met without a surety. Washington County accepts a certified or cashier’s check, cash, a trust account, government securities or an irrevocable letter of credit as security, and refers small Maryland businesses to a state bonding assistance program. The surety bond guide covers cost and the federal guarantee.

Write the decision down

Keep the filled sheet with the solicitation, whatever you decide. For a pass, write the reasons in the buyer’s own categories and send them if the buyer asks, as Washington County’s feedback form does. For a bid, copy the lowest-scoring questions into your list for the question period, and use the 1s and 0s to decide where your proposal must be most specific. The proposal template turns the 2s into answers. If you lack a service the bid needs, the guide to teaming agreements explains how partners bid together.

Running the contract after you win

A county contract is paid on records. Hamilton County’s trip sheet needs pickup and drop-off locations and times and a driver signature, and it can withhold pay for a trip missing them. HealthRide keeps the times, GPS-recorded miles, signatures and the recorded wait on each no-show for every trip, exports trip logs as a spreadsheet or print-ready PDF, and turns finished trips into invoices at the rates you set for that payer. The on-time report shows how each week went. See reports and invoicing.

Bid/no-bid checklist for ride contracts: what to score before you write a proposal