Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution authorizes the MPO to enter into a sole source agreement with Fehr and Peers to develop strategic plan regarding tools and models utilized by the MPO to forecast regional travel patterns. The total cost of the contract is estimated to be $120,000; $75,000 for the contract is available in the 2017 MPO budget. Funding for the remaining portion of the contract is subject to appropriations in the 2018 budget.
Title
Authorizing, on behalf of the Madison Area Transportation Planning Board - An MPO, the sole source purchase of transportation planning services from Fehr & Peers to develop a strategic plan for improving the MPO’s travel model and other planning analysis tools
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Madison is responsible for providing professional staff services to the Madison Area Transportation Planning Board (“MATPB”), the designated metropolitan planning organization (“MPO”) for the Madison area, as provided for in the 2007 MPO designation agreement; and
WHEREAS, the City of Madison is the administrative and fiscal agent for the MATPB and is a legally constituted entity under the laws of the State of Wisconsin and able to receive the federal and state funding, which covers 85% of the MATPB budget; and
WHEREAS, as the designated MPO for the Madison area the MATPB has responsibilities to perform metropolitan transportation planning and programming activities, including development of a long-range multi-modal regional transportation plan; and
WHEREAS, new federal metropolitan planning rules require a more performance based approach to planning and project programming; and
WHEREAS, the MATPB seeks to develop better transportation system performance metrics that address regional goals and desired policy outcomes both for performance monitoring and for forecasting the impacts of plan scenarios and individual projects; and
WHEREAS, in order to make best use of its available planning funding the MATPB is seeking consultant assistance from Fehr & Peers for a project to develop a multi-year strategic plan to improve the agency’s planning analysis tools, including the agency’s regional travel forecast model, and the data needed to support those tools; and
WHEREAS, this project will build upon development of the UrbanFootprint growth scenario modeling tool created for the city’s Planning Division and funded through a federal TIGER grant, which measures transportation and other impacts from development and plan scenarios; and
WHEREAS, Fehr & Peers developed the travel model for the UrbanFootprint model, and that travel model uses outputs from the MPO's regional travel forecast model; and
WHEREAS, the travel model for the UrbanFootprint model was calibrated using data from Metro Transit's on-board passenger survey along with data from a federal Smart Location Database, but will be further calibrated in the future using household travel survey data that is now being collected; and
WHEREAS, Fehr & Peers regularly conducts research and development to propel the state-of-the-practice for planning analysis tools to help answer important transportation planning questions with the latest initiative being research on the impact on travel behavior of autonomous vehicles (AVs); and
WHEREAS, this AV research has included testing and comparing how travel forecast models from around the country predict travel when AVs are ubiquitous, and the MATPB’s model was one of the models used for this research, which will inform one of the tasks of this project to identify improvements to the regional model, including those to better account for potential impacts of AVs in the future; and
WHEREAS, the work on the travel model for the Urban Footprint model project and the AV research project has also allowed Fehr & Peers to become very familiar with the model, which will expedite the assessment of the model for potential improvements to better forecast multi-modal transportation system performance in relation to MPO goals and the potential impact of land use design, technology, and other factors on system performance; and
WHEREAS, Fehr & Peers has extensive experience with testing, evaluation, and use of Big Data for transportation planning analysis and evaluation of new software and analytical techniques, and has provided assistance to the MPO for contracting for the purchase of cellular phone signal based origin/destination (O/D) data and for initial analysis of the data; and
WHEREAS, Fehr & Peers is therefore familiar with the O/D data and the Metro Transit on-board survey data, two of the key datasets the MPO intends to use to enhance its travel model and other analysis tools; and
WHEREAS, because of their R&D efforts Fehr & Peers is on the cutting edge in developing analysis tools - both related to travel models and other GIS based software applications - to evaluate the types of multimodal transportation issues the MPO is seeking to be better able to address; and
WHEREAS, under MGO 4.26(4)(b) a service contract of more than $25,000 that was not competitively selected must be approved by the Common Council and must meet one of the exceptions to competitive bidding in MGO 4.26(4)(a); and
WHEREAS, for the reasons explained above, the services to the rendered build off and continue projects that the consultant, Fehr & Peers, has recently conducted for the city’s Planning Division and MPO staff, making it economical on the basis of time and money to retain the same consultant for this project, thereby meeting the exception of 4.26(4)(a)7.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council hereby authorizes the Mayor and City Clerk to sign a sole source contract on behalf of the MATPB for up to $120,000 for the purchase of transportation planning services from Fehr & Peers to develop a strategic plan for improving the MPO’s travel forecast model and other planning analysis tools.