1. The procedures established hereunder shall be available to contractors for the purpose of handling and resolving disputes relating to procurements hereunder. A protestor must exhaust all administrative remedies hereunder before pursuing a protest in any court of law. Where applicable, any information received under such procedures shall be disclosed to the Federal Transit Administration (“FTA”) and a protestor must exhaust all administrative remedies before pursuing a protest with the FTA.
  2. The term “contractor” means any person, firm, or corporation, which has contracted or seeks to contract (bidder or proposer) with the Gunnison Valley RTA.
  3.  The term “hearing officer” shall mean a person, appointed by the Mayor, to hear and decide allegations made by any contractor relating to procurements hereunder.

Hearing Procedure

  1. Any contractor may file a written protest of the procurement procedures involved herein, with the Gunnison Valley RTA’s procuring agent, within ten (10) days of the date of the Gunnison Valley RTA’s Decision regarding a selection of a contractor with respect to a Bid/RFP/RFQ.
  2. A hearing shall be conducted by the Gunnison Valley RTA. The hearing officer shall issue a written decision within ninety (90) days of the last date of such hearing and state in the decision the reasons for the action taken.
  3. Where applicable, review of protests by FTA will be limited to the Gunnison Valley RTA’s failure to have or follow its procedures, or its failure to review a complaint or protest. An appeal to FTA must be received by the cognizant FTA regional or Headquarters Office within five (5) working days of the date the protestor knew or should have known of the violation.

See the RTA’s supplemental written protest procedures document attached as Attachment 1.