Washtenaw County Senior Millage Transportation: The Older Persons Ride Contracts and the Next RFP (2027)

Washtenaw County buys senior rides with its own tax money. The Older Persons Millage pays ride providers to carry county residents 60 and older for free, and the county picks those providers through requests for proposals (RFPs) that its Board of Commissioners approves. This page covers the current contracts, the 2025 RFP’s scoring rules, and what to have ready for the next one.

What the senior millage pays for

Voters approved County Proposal 3 on November 5, 2024, by 110,125 to 82,557. It levies up to 0.5 mill from 2024 to 2031 for services to people 60 and older, and the ballot estimated $11,584,031 in its first year.

The Board’s millage policy, adopted July 2, 2025 and amended effective November 20, 2025 by Resolution 25-220, names ride service as a core use. It pays for door-to-door and door-through-door rides focused on clinical appointments, pharmacy visits, vaccinations, and government offices such as the Secretary of State, MDHHS, and Social Security. The rides are free to riders, and millage money cannot serve anyone under 60.

The Office of Aging Services, which opened January 12, 2026, runs the program. Its slides for the Commission on Aging’s June 2026 town hall reported 15,166 one-way rides for 2,351 riders from September 2025 through March 2026, with medical trips the most common purpose.

Who holds the ride contracts now

The first round was RFP 8826, Senior Services Transportation, open from July 10 to August 1, 2025. The county received four proposals and found one outside the RFP’s goals. Each of the other three asked for $500,000, and the Board funded each at $333,333 through March 31, 2026, under Resolutions 25-179 (September 3, 2025) and 25-199 (September 17, 2025). On September 3, the Board held two of the three awards for two weeks because required documents were missing.

On May 20, 2026, Resolution 26-088 renewed the same three providers for up to $500,000 each from April 1 through December 31, 2026, on the same terms plus a new duty to report complaints and how each was resolved. The Board waived its procurement policy for these contracts. It also let the County Administrator extend them if the new RFP has not produced recommendations before the end of 2026.

The county’s map dated January 1, 2026 assigns pickup areas by township, with one provider in the western townships, another in the eastern ones, and the third serving the whole county. Only one of the three picks up inside the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

When the next transportation RFP opens

The millage policy schedules RFP rounds in 2026, 2029, and 2032, and lists door-to-door and door-through-door transportation among the services they may fund. At the Commission on Aging’s June 2026 town hall, the Office of Aging Services listed transportation as a high priority allocation with an RFP planned for fall 2026.

As of October 2, 2026, the county’s Open Bids list shows no transportation RFP. Two other millage RFPs are open, both due October 15, 2026 at 4:00 p.m.:

• RFP 8936, Home and Community Aging Impact. Up to $10,190,000 over three years for programs starting January 1, 2027. It lists older adult transportation as an ineligible service area, because the county funds rides separately.
• RFP 8935, High Impact Older Adult Capital, Infrastructure, and Innovation. $5,480,000 in one-time money, open to for-profit human service and healthcare agencies. Its examples include buying wheelchair-accessible electric or hybrid transport vans, and its $100,001 to $350,000 tier covers electric or hybrid fleet additions. Projects must be carbon neutral or cut emissions, items over $25,000 need three quotes, payments come at milestones, and the money must be spent by December 31, 2028. See electric wheelchair vans before you price one.

Purchasing posts its RFPs on the Open Bids page, and proposals go in only through its Submit a Proposal button. Under the 2025 RFP, bidders could email questions to Purchasing and the named technical contact, but any other contact with county staff about the RFP could disqualify a proposal.

Who can bid and what the 2025 RFP scored

RFP 8826 defined a bidder as “an individual or business,” and the millage policy defines a service provider as any organization or individual the county contracts with. The September 2026 RFPs also accept for-profit human service or healthcare agencies. One exception: the policy’s emergency capital fund, 5% of millage money a year, is open only to nonprofit and government providers.

The 2025 RFP set these points for each proposal:

• Older adults served, up to 40. In the RFP’s worked example, the proposal expecting the most unique riders got 40, and each other proposal lost 40 divided by the number of qualifying bids for every proposal expecting more riders. With five bids, each step was 8 points.
• Service area, up to 27. One point for each of the county’s 6 cities, 1 village, and 20 townships you serve.
• Capacity, up to 20. Your request divided by your organization’s total current budget. At 10% or less you got 20 points, and above 90% you got 2.
• Scope of work, up to 15, and hours of access, up to 10, with 3 more for holiday service.
• Start date, up to 10. Full service in the fourth quarter of 2025 earned 10, and the first quarter of 2026 earned 5.
• Overhead, 5, for a rate of 10% or less. Above 20% the proposal was not considered.
• Priority trips, 5, and universal access, 4, for serving riders of every ability.

The capacity score favors large organizations. A $100,000 request from a company with a $1,000,000 budget would score 20, while a $300,000 request from a company with a $400,000 budget would score 6. If the fall 2026 RFP keeps this test, a small company scores better by asking for a small share of its total budget or by teaming with a larger bidder.

In 2025 the Board gave each of the three funded providers the same amount. At both September 2025 meetings, a commissioner said the scoring process had been set up and not followed, and asked for clear criteria in future rounds. The millage policy adds that future RFPs score cultural competence, language access, and work with underserved groups, and that every award needs a minimum score.

The 2025 RFP also required service at least 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, a line-item budget, a stated overhead rate, a plan to serve only riders 60 and older, a final report, and public credit to the county. Its vendor attachments asked for your qualifications, a list of every driver with license type and number, and three references. The transportation services proposal template and the bid or no-bid checklist help you prepare.

Contract terms you sign

• Insurance. The county’s sample contract, the same in the 2025 RFP and the September 2026 RFPs, asks for workers compensation with $100,000 employer’s liability, $1,000,000 general liability, and $1,000,000 auto liability with Michigan no-fault coverage, naming the County as additional insured on both liability policies. No payment goes out until certificates are approved, and they are due 10 working days before service.
• Living wage. The county ordinance in its September 2026 RFPs sets $17.42 an hour with benefits or $19.42 without for employees on the contract, with the next adjustment by April 29, 2027.
• No subcontracting without the county’s written approval, so a current provider must get that approval before handing rides to another company.
• Payment and reporting. The 2025 contract paid on invoices, and staff told the Board on September 3, 2025 that payment would likely be monthly reimbursement. The policy requires at least 90% of funds to serve county residents, quarterly data reports, a program audit at least every three fiscal years, and signs crediting county taxpayers for the funding.
• Local preference and appeals. The county’s local vendor preference, printed in the 2025 RFP and the September 2026 RFPs, discounts a Washtenaw County company’s bid by 5% (2% above $200,000) and a Michigan company’s by 3% (1% above $200,000) when deciding the award, and the winner is still paid the full amount. A losing bidder may appeal to the County Administrator within five business days of the notice to award.

Licenses and Medicaid rides in Washtenaw County

Since March 21, 2017, Section 15 of Public Act 345 of 2016 has barred any Michigan city, township, or county from licensing, taxing, or charging a fee to a limousine or taxicab carrier, so Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and the county cannot require a local permit for a van with 8 or fewer seats, driver included. Medicaid rides here go through each member’s health plan, or through the local MDHHS office for fee-for-service members, since the state’s fee-for-service broker covers only Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. The Michigan guide covers state registration, CHAMPS, and the brokers.

The millage cannot replace money the county already gets from its area agency on aging, AgeWays. See area agency on aging transportation for how those older adult ride contracts work.

What to do now

1. Watch the Open Bids page each week for the fall 2026 transportation RFP, and read its eligibility section the day it posts.
2. Decide by October 15, 2026 whether a wheelchair-accessible electric or hybrid van belongs in an RFP 8935 proposal.
3. Build your file now: a current-year budget, your overhead rate, the list of cities, village, and townships you can serve, driver license numbers, and three references.
4. Get insurance quotes that name the County as additional insured, and price your payroll at the county living wage.
5. Read the Board’s past packets for the proposals and budgets that won, and see government NEMT contracts for teaming with a larger bidder.