Oonee, The Bike Parking Company, Files Formal Protest After DOT Snub - Streetsblog New York City

"The formal complaint [ PDF] claims that DOT focused too much on getting a cheap contractor that offered "lower-complexity proposals," and didn't give a fair shot to the bid submitted by Oonee, along with its partners Cyclehoop, Deloitte, French manufacturer Altinnova and engineering firm Arcadis. As part of DOT's request for proposals process, the cost of the bike parking sheds was only supposed to count 15 percent toward the agency's decision, compared to 50 percent for "relevant experience" and 23 percent for the vendor's "approach," according to DOT."

"DOT last week announced California-based company Tranzito would take on the effort - after a years of delays. City officials did not give so much as an interview to homegrown firm Oonee, which applied with a group of experienced partners that have worked on similar efforts in global cities. The city program was supposed to roll out this year, but faced 18 months of delays as City Hall and the city's Office of Management and Budget showed little interest in funding the bike infrastructure."

""This is going to be the next Citi Bike ... and [DOT] is saying we don't need any experts from New York, we don't need any experts from London, we don't need any experts from Paris," Stuart told Streetsblog. "That doesn't strike us as a process that will yield the program that New Yorkers deserve.""

Oonee was disqualified from the city's program to build 500 secure bike-storage sheds after a multi-year procurement process. The Department of Transportation awarded the contract to California-based Tranzito following 18 months of delays in program funding and rollout. A formal complaint alleges the agency focused on cheaper, lower-complexity proposals and failed to properly consider Oonee's bid with partners Cyclehoop, Deloitte, Altinnova and Arcadis. The complaint notes cost was meant to count only 15 percent in the request-for-proposals scoring, with 50 percent for relevant experience and 23 percent for approach. Oonee previously completed smaller bike-parking programs in New York and New Jersey.

Read at Streetsblog