As a newer agency, having been approved by Austin voters via Proposition A in November 2020, Hermes said ATP has not inherited many legacy technologies, lessening the need for modernization efforts.
Although ATP is a smaller agency, Hermes anticipates approximately $10 billion passing through the organization, much of which is expected to come from Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grants.
The agency is looking to standardize software as a service in the organization so ATP’s data resides in-house rather than with contractors.
Hermes named three major categories of software procurements that ATP is prioritizing: computer-aided design (CAD) software, project management information systems (PMIS) and software for interfacing with contractors during the real estate process as it relates to purchasing land for rails and set routes.
“We are going to be buying lots of bits of real estate,” said Hermes. “Some of that real estate may be just a 20-foot sliver. Some of it may be a whole 100 feet off the front of a given property, although mostly it’s going to be commercial. We’re going to be needing some software that helps us manage the real estate process and all the strange and specialized particulars to real estate.”
The director promised a handful of major contracts with multiple layers of subcontracting consisting of “tens of thousands of line items,” some of which were detailed during the briefing.
For Q1 of 2024, ATP plans to release requests for quotes (RFQs) for multiple providers to provide on-call engineering and planning. This includes preliminary engineering, advance utility engineering and planning and additional environmental support.
Preliminary engineering will include geotechnical analysis and field surveyance, constructability, value engineering and risk support and technical requirements.
Advance utility engineering will cover assessments and preliminary engineering, options for final design of advance utilities, subsurface utility engineering and conditions assessment.
Q2 of 2024 will see ATP’s largest RFQ as the agency searches for a delivery partner, who will be responsible for project and construction management. Listed requests for the delivery partner include but are not limited to:
- Project and construction management
- Project controls
- Technical criteria and requirements
- Quality and safety management
- FTA readiness planning and documentation
- Design and construction submittal reviews
- Systems integration, rail activation and safety certification
- Interface and configuration management
- Procurement and contract administration
- Advisory services
- Staff augmentation
