Transportation Services Proposal Template: A Fill-In Outline for NEMT Bids

A public request for proposals tells you how it will be scored, the order it wants answers in, and which forms it rejects a proposal for missing. This template turns that into an outline you can reuse for county, school district, transit, aging agency, and facility bids. Decide whether to bid first with the bid or no-bid checklist, and find open solicitations through government NEMT contracts.

How to use this template

1. Register on the buyer’s portal the day you decide to bid. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools took proposals only through North Carolina’s electronic Vendor Portal in 2026 and warned that a new account could take 3 to 5 days to become active. A federal offer needs SAM.gov registration, which can take up to 10 business days.
2. Build the compliance matrix (Part 2) before you write a word. List every requirement with its section and page. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg request says words such as “shall,” “must,” and “requirements” create enforceable contract conditions, so each line is a promise you would sign.
3. Send questions in the buyer’s format before the deadline. Charlotte-Mecklenburg wanted each question to cite the RFP section and page number. Both solicitations below say only a written addendum binds the buyer, so do not rely on an answer given by phone.
4. Write Parts 3 to 9 in the order the solicitation lists, under its section numbers. Washington County, Maryland, required responses that cross-reference each RFP section (“Section 2.2.1 Response”) and page numbers that run in order through the whole proposal.
5. Explain how, with names, numbers, and dates. Washington County ranked “concur” or “will comply” answers lower than answers that showed how the work would be done.
6. Price last, on the buyer’s form (Part 10). Start from your cost per trip and your rate sheet, then add the costs this contract brings, such as extra insurance or tracking equipment.
7. Mark confidential pages one by one, and make a redacted copy. See the section on public records below.
8. Run Part 11 the day before the deadline. Charlotte-Mecklenburg rejected late proposals regardless of cause, and Washington County granted no extensions.

The template

Part 1: Cover letter

[Your letterhead]

Date: ______________

To: ______________________________ (buyer, purchasing office, and address or portal)

Re: Proposal for ______________________________ (solicitation title), No. ______________

[Company legal name] submits this proposal to provide ______________ (ambulatory, wheelchair, stretcher, attendant) transportation for ______________________________ (buyer) under the solicitation above.

We have read the entire solicitation, including every link and attachment, and Addenda No. ______ dated ______________. Signed acknowledgments are attached where the solicitation asks for them.

We agree to perform the scope of work and to meet the requirements and specifications in the solicitation, and to follow all of its instructions, terms, conditions, and attachments. [We take no exceptions.] [Our exceptions are listed in the executive summary, section ______.]

This offer stays open for ______ days after the proposal due date.

Our Unique Entity ID (if registered in SAM.gov) is ______________, and our state vendor number is ______________.

The person signing below is authorized to commit [company legal name] to this proposal. Questions may go to ______________ at ______________ (phone) or ______________ (email).

Signature: ______________________________ Printed name and title: ______________________________ Date: ______________

Part 2: Compliance matrix

One row for every requirement. Use the buyer’s section numbers.

Solicitation section and page	Requirement	Where you answer it (your section and page)	Meet, exceed, or exception	Proof attached
	Minimum years of experience
	Company, driver, and vehicle licenses and permits
	Driver screening: background, registry, and drug tests
	Driver training
	Vehicle type, age, and equipment
	Tracking, two-way communication, and cameras
	Insurance limits and certificate wording
	Service hours and response times
	Reports and invoices
	Records, privacy, and data security

Part 3: Executive summary

Keep it to one page. Lead with what the buyer scores highest.

Item	Your answer
Who you are: legal name, years in business, levels of service
Service area, and where your vehicles are based
Vehicles and drivers ready on the first day
How you meet the top scoring factor
How you meet the second scoring factor
Exceptions you take to any requirement or term (or “none”)
Parent company or affiliates, if any
Small, minority-owned, women-owned, or veteran-owned status and certifications

Part 4: Service plan

Scope item (solicitation section)	How you will do it	Who is responsible	Start date or schedule
Taking trip requests, and the hours you answer
Scheduling and dispatch
On-time pickups, and how you measure them
Return trips and will-calls
No-shows and late cancellations
Wheelchair and stretcher service, including securement
Help at the door: curb to curb, door to door, or door through door
Accidents, incidents, and emergencies
Complaints, and how fast you answer them
Reports and invoices, in the buyer’s format
Who the buyer calls when a problem needs to go higher
Start-up: steps and dates from award to the first ride

Part 5: Vehicles

Vehicle type	Number on the first day	Spares	Wheelchair or stretcher positions in each	Model years
Sedan or minivan
Wheelchair van with ramp or lift
Stretcher van
Other

Equipment	Vehicles that have it	Notes
GPS tracking
Two-way radio or phone
Cameras
Child seats and boosters
Fire extinguisher and first aid kit

Part 6: Drivers and key staff

Role	Name	Years in similar work	Duties on this contract
Contract manager
Dispatch or operations lead
Safety and training lead
Billing and reports

Driver check	When it is done	How often it is repeated	Where the record is kept
Driving record
Criminal background check
State and national sex offender registries
Drug and alcohol tests
Local driver permit or fingerprints, if required

Part 7: Safety and training

Program	Who takes it	How often	Proof you can attach
Defensive driving
Passenger assistance
Wheelchair securement
First aid and CPR
Training the buyer requires
Pre-trip vehicle inspection
Preventive maintenance
Check for riders left on board after each run
Review of every accident and incident
Crashes per year, last 3 years

Part 8: Experience, references, and resources

Field	Reference 1	Reference 2	Reference 3
Organization
Contact name and title
Phone and email
What you provided
Contract value
Start and end dates

What a buyer weighs	What you attach
Integrity: legal actions and claims, last 5 years
Following the law: licenses, permits, certifications
How workers are classified: employees or contractors, and workers’ comp
Past performance: current and past contracts, and any that ended early
Financial resources: two years of profit and loss and balance sheets, lines of credit
Technical resources: fleet, facility, dispatch, and reporting

Part 9: Subcontractors and small business participation

Firm	Small, minority-owned, women-owned, or veteran-owned status	Work it will do	Share of the contract (percent or dollars)

Part 10: Price form

Copy the buyer’s units exactly. If the buyer sends its own form, fill in that form instead.

Unit on the buyer’s form	Your price per unit	Buyer’s estimated quantity	Extended price
Base rate (per trip, mile, hour, or day)
Wheelchair
Stretcher
Extra rider
Attendant or monitor
Wait time
No-show
Minimum trip
Total

Part 11: Forms and final check

Item	Done (initials and date)
Execution or offer page signed by an authorized person
Every addendum acknowledged
Debarment and suspension certification
Lobbying certification, for bids over $100,000 paid with federal money
Non-collusion statement, if required
Small business and utilization forms, even with no participation
Reference forms
Certificate of insurance
Confidentiality claim and redacted copy
Table of contents and page numbers
File format, size limit, and passwords as the buyer specifies
Submitted before the deadline, with the confirmation saved

What a grant-funded buyer must publish and check

When a county, school district, or transit agency pays for rides with federal grant money, the federal procurement standards in 2 CFR Part 200 set the floor. Above the buyer’s simplified acquisition threshold (no higher than the federal $350,000 as of October 2026), the buyer must use a formal method, apart from the narrow cases the rule allows for a noncompetitive purchase (2 CFR 200.320):

• Sealed bids. A firm fixed-price contract goes to the responsible bidder whose bid meets every material term and is lowest in price. Your price form decides it.
• Proposals. The request needs public notice and must identify all evaluation factors and their relative importance. The buyer must have written procedures for technical evaluations and selections, and the award goes to the responsible offeror whose proposal is most advantageous, considering price and other factors. Your answers to the scoring factors decide it.

So read the factors and their weights before you plan the writing, and give the most pages to the heaviest factor. The comparison below shows how differently two 2026 buyers weighed them. See student transportation contracts for what Charlotte-Mecklenburg asked of its contractors.

The rules also shape the rest of the proposal:

• Responsibility. A buyer may award only to a contractor able to perform, and must consider integrity, compliance with public policy, proper classification of employees, past performance, and financial and technical resources (2 CFR 200.318(h)). Part 8 answers each one.
• Fair requirements. Every factor used to evaluate proposals must be in the solicitation, and unnecessary experience and excessive bonding are listed among the situations that may restrict competition (2 CFR 200.319). If a requirement looks like that, ask about it in writing.
• Price checks. Above the simplified acquisition threshold, the buyer must analyze cost or price and make its own independent estimate before proposals arrive (2 CFR 200.324). So price from your real costs, not a guess at the buyer’s number.

How two 2026 requests for proposals told vendors to organize

Two 2026 solicitations for ride services show how much the format varies from buyer to buyer. One is a school district buying rides for students with special needs, and the other is a Maryland county health department buying Medicaid rides with federal funding.

Item	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina	Washington County Health Department, Maryland
Solicitation	RFP 163-02012026TS-AS, issued February 16, 2026	RFP WCHD-2026-02, issued April 13, 2026
Questions due	February 23, by email, citing section and page	May 8, 10:00 a.m., by email
Proposals due	March 9, 2:00 p.m., through the state’s electronic Vendor Portal only	May 14, 4:00 p.m., by email in password-protected files, or on paper by arrangement
Order of contents	Cover letter, title page, signed execution pages, addenda receipts, the proposal, then the district’s forms	Title page and contents, confidentiality claim, information sheet and transmittal letter, executive summary, then tabbed sections
Price	A separate spreadsheet file labeled Cost Proposal	A separate Financial Proposal, with no prices in the Technical Proposal
Scoring	Sample scorecard: safety 30%, capacity 25%, cost 20%, technical 20%, references 5%	Technical response and work plan first, then qualifications, with technical and price weighted equally
References	At least three, on the district’s form	At least three, from clients served in the last five years
Offer stays open	At least 120 days after opening	At least 120 days after the due date

Washington County added rules worth copying into your checklist. The technical and financial files had to carry different passwords, each email could be no larger than 25 MB, and the subject line had to name the solicitation and say “Technical” or “Financial.” Its executive summary had to list every exception taken, and its experience section asked for years of similar service, current clients and locations, the managers who would supervise the work, the process for fixing billing errors, and an organizational chart. Vendors also had to register on eMaryland Marketplace Advantage, which is free, to receive the award. For more on that county’s program, see Washington County, Maryland.

Small business outreach and the forms that come with it

When federal grant money pays, the buyer should make sure small businesses, minority businesses, women’s business enterprises, veteran-owned businesses, and labor surplus area firms are considered when possible (2 CFR 200.321). That means putting them on solicitation lists, soliciting them whenever they are eligible, dividing large purchases so they can compete, and using the SBA and the Minority Business Development Agency. It also means requiring the buyer’s contractors to apply the same steps to their subcontracts.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s small business forms sit under the heading Federal Uniform Guidance. Its utilization form had to be completed even when a vendor planned no small business participation, and it said failing to meet the commitment may be a breach of contract. Two steps follow for a small company:

1. Ask to be on the list. Call each purchasing office near you and ask to be added to its solicitation list for transportation services.
2. Attach your certification. If a state, a city, or another certifying body has certified your company as minority-owned, women-owned, or small, attach the certificate to the buyer’s form.

If you plan to win as the prime and hand trips to a partner, name the partner in Part 9 and check the subcontracting limits in subcontracting NEMT trips.

SAM.gov registration and federal certifications

Where the money comes from decides what you need:

• A federal agency buying directly, such as a VA medical center. You must be registered in SAM.gov when you submit the offer (48 CFR 4.1102). SAM.gov says registration can take up to 10 business days to become active, must be renewed every 365 days, and that a Unique Entity ID alone does not let you apply directly for federal awards.
• A county, school district, or transit agency spending federal grant money. A contract expected to be worth $25,000 or more is a covered transaction (2 CFR 180.220). Before signing, the buyer must verify you are not excluded by checking SAM.gov Exclusions, collecting a certification from you, or adding a clause to the contract (2 CFR 180.300). Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s execution page includes that certification. See SAM exclusion check.
• Any federally funded bid over $100,000. You must file the Byrd anti-lobbying certification, and each tier certifies to the tier above (2 CFR Part 200, Appendix II). Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s request included its lobbying certification and the federal disclosure form, Standard Form LLL.

Before you answer a federal sources sought notice, prepare a capability statement.

Public records and confidential pages

Both 2026 requests treat proposals as records the public can ask for, and both let you protect real trade secrets on their terms:

• Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Submit one signed, redacted copy if your proposal holds confidential information, such as trade secrets under N.C. Gen. Stat. 66-152 or other records exempt under N.C. Gen. Stat. 132-1.2. Price information can never be marked confidential. Without a redacted copy, the district may release the unredacted proposal when someone requests it.
• Washington County. List each confidential item by page and section, with a reason, after the title page and before the table of contents, and send a redacted copy of each volume. A blanket confidentiality label for the whole proposal is not allowed. When someone asks for the information under Maryland’s Public Information Act, the procurement officer still decides independently whether it must be released.

Mark only what a competitor could truly use, and assume the rest will be read. Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s request said proposals would be opened publicly, and that when negotiation was expected, prices would become open to public inspection at award. To find out who won a past contract and at what price, see who holds a ride contract. If a hospital, dialysis group, or other facility asks you for a proposal instead, the same parts work in a shorter form. See facility contracts.