Union County, Ohio JFS Transportation: The Yearly Ride Bid and What It Pays (2027)

Union County Human Services (UCHS) in Marysville runs public assistance, child support, children services, adult protective services, OhioMeansJobs, senior services, and the county’s own ride service, UCATS, as one agency. Instead of a broker, it buys rides from private companies through one request for proposals (RFP) each summer. Here is who holds the work now, what the contract pays for, and how to price a bid that wins it.

Who arranges rides in Union County

In Ohio, each county JFS office runs non-emergency transportation (NET) under rule 5160-15-10 for the Medicaid rides that a health plan does not have to give. The Ohio guide covers the plans and their brokers, and county NET contracts in Ohio compares how other counties buy rides.

UCHS decides who is eligible and pays only for trips it approved. Its RFP describes riders of every age, from children to seniors and people with disabilities, going to appointments mostly inside Union County and the counties around it. The same contract also carries non-Medicaid riders: people on protective service case plans, in employment and training programs, and in other UCHS programs.

The referral steps attached to the 2025 Legends agreement show how a ride starts:

1. The rider calls a contracted company directly to book.
2. The company confirms Medicaid eligibility with a case manager in Public Assistance.
3. The rider signs a release, and the company faxes it to UCHS at 937-644-8700.
4. Public Assistance sends Legends and UCATS a monthly list of eligible riders, and an approval or denial sheet comes with every ride request. Without that sheet the ride cannot be billed.

Riders who drive themselves can ask for gas reimbursement instead, with proof they attended the visit, a current driver’s license, and proof of auto insurance.

Who holds the 2026 contracts

On December 31, 2025, the commissioners approved two vendor agreements for January 1 to December 31, 2026:

• Legends Lift & Transport, LLC of Richwood, up to $760,000: $180,000 from the Senior Services sales tax levy and $580,000 from federal grants. Its 2025 agreement, approved January 29, 2025, was capped at $600,000.
• A Way Out Employment Services of Marysville, up to $100,000: $30,000 from the levy and $70,000 from federal grants.

UCATS, the county’s own service, also carries NET riders that UCHS approves. In November 2025 the commissioners moved $5,228.71 from the Medical Assistance account to UCATS for its October 2025 NET trips. UCATS runs weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., has ten wheelchair accessible vehicles, and asks for 24 hours’ notice inside the county and three working days for trips outside it.

The 2025 referral list named four ride options: Wings Support and Recovery, A Way Out, Legends, and UCATS. In a March 12, 2025 letter to the Ohio Department of Transportation for a federal transit grant, the commissioners wrote that Wings, a Union County nonprofit, has one vehicle and it is not wheelchair accessible. They added that neither Wings nor the two for-profit companies, A Way Out and Legends, was readily available to be the primary ride provider for seniors and people with disabilities, a role UCATS fills.

How the yearly bid works

UCHS has issued its RFP, titled Non-Emergency Demand-Response Transportation, for each of the last three contract years:

Contract year	RFP issued	Proposals due
2025	August 29, 2024	September 30, 2024, 4:30 p.m.
2026	July 17, 2025	September 30, 2025, 4:30 p.m.
2027	August 14, 2026	September 14, 2026, 4:30 p.m.

UCHS takes proposals by mail, email, fax, or hand delivery, and grants no extensions. It plans to select within about four weeks of the deadline. The commissioners give final approval: they approved Legends’ 2025 agreement on January 29, 2025 and the 2026 agreements on December 31, 2025.

Every proposal carries Attachments A to F (organization sheet, checklist, vendor requirements, management assurances, debarment certification, and vendor code of conduct), proof of liability coverage, an Ohio workers’ compensation certificate, and a signed W-9. The program narrative then covers:

• When you started and how long you have run rides, with references, a bank letter, and proof of service if you have operated less than a year.
• Staff qualifications. Leave out license copies and background checks, which UCHS asks for after the award.
• Your experience with children, seniors, and riders with disabilities.
• Your rate sheet with every charge, and your holiday and closure schedule. The 2027 checklist still says 2025, so send the schedule for the contract year.
• A vehicle list showing which vans carry riders who cannot walk, and whether they tie down a rider in a wheelchair or load the chair separately.
• An assurance that your staff passed BCI and FBI checks, and the names and ownership shares of every owner.

In its 2027 answers, UCHS said insurance proof from another state is fine with the proposal, and that Ohio coverage and Ohio workers’ compensation may wait until after the award, as long as they are in place before the contract is signed.

What changed in the 2027 bid

The 2027 RFP closed about two weeks earlier than the 2026 one. It added a section on your experience in Union County, or an explanation and timeline for setting up there, and asks for performance records from references (waived for current UCHS providers). It also added Attachment G, a rubric for the 250 points. Reviewers score five areas at up to 50 points each, 250 in all: delivery and coordination, cost, tracking and reporting history, transportation performance, and experience with the people served. Each area is rated from Unacceptable (0 to 10) to Excellent (41 to 50).

What the contract pays and how to price it

The Union contract is cost reimbursement for trips approved in advance, and the RFP spells out the limit: invoices may cover only direct miles driven with an approved client on board. Nothing is paid for no-shows, cancellations, indirect routes, or miles without an approved rider aboard, so only loaded miles count. Within 30 days after each month ends, you send an invoice listing each rider and the miles, rounded to a tenth of a mile. UCHS pays within 30 days of an accurate invoice, after the commissioners and the county auditor process it.

Your rate sheet is your price, and the one in Legends’ 2025 agreement shows a structure UCHS has accepted. Dated January 1, 2024, it charged a base fare for each one-way trip, plus $7.00 a mile from pickup to drop-off, with no mileage on trips of 5 miles or less:

• $45 on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• $55 off hours, from 4 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.
• $75 on weekends.
• $125 on holidays.

At those rates, a 12-mile weekday trip bills $45 plus $84, or $129, and a 4-mile trip bills $45. For comparison, UCATS charges county Senior Services $11.48 a mile for 2026, from pickup to drop-off, under an agreement approved December 31, 2025. The 2026 Legends agreement keeps its rates in an Exhibit A that the journal copy leaves out, so ask UCHS for it as a public record.

Price with three Union rules in mind:

1. Empty miles are yours. The drive to the first pickup, between riders, and home again earns nothing, so build it into the base fare.
2. Cost is 50 of 250 points. UCHS may reject prices it finds excessive for the market or beyond its funds, and its vendor terms say price may not be the deciding factor.
3. You float the work. Attachment D makes you assure 60 days of cash flow from reserves or non-NET income. See NEMT cash flow.

Insurance, drivers, and checks

The RFP asks for liability limits of $2,000,000 or more and coverage for your vehicles and their use. Your certificate names the Union County Board of Commissioners, 233 West 6th Street, Marysville, as additional insured, with 30 days’ notice before cancellation. The 2026 vendor agreements require general and auto liability with for-hire coverage of at least $1,000,000 per incident and $2,000,000 a year, with UCHS and Union County as additional named insureds, plus Ohio workers’ compensation.

For drivers, the agreements require an Ohio Attorney General background check no more than 90 days old for each new hire, on file before that person serves riders, and a valid license with no suspension. The RFP lists CDL, CPR, and first aid certificates among required or optional training. Under rules 5160-15-14 and 5160-43-09, UCHS must also confirm that no owner, manager, or direct-service worker is listed as sanctioned or excluded in eight databases the RFP names, from SAM to the state nurse aide registry. You may not subcontract without written consent, and either side may end a 2026 agreement on seven days’ written notice.

How to get Union County transportation work

1. Read the 2027 RFP now. The next one will likely match it, and the bidder questions on the Current RFPs page show what UCHS will accept.
2. Watch from July 2027. The last three bids came out between mid-July and late August, and the shortest gave 31 days to respond.
3. Plan a Union County base. Reviewers score a clear plan and timeline if you are not already in the county.
4. Build the packet early. Line up Ohio workers’ compensation (BWC) coverage, $2,000,000 in liability, BCI and FBI checks, and a vehicle list with wheelchair details before the RFP opens.
5. Price loaded miles only. Start from your cost per trip and the Legends structure above.
6. Take other work meanwhile. Join the health plan broker networks the Ohio guide lists, and look at the neighboring Franklin County and Delaware County programs, which buy rides on their own schedules.