Metro - File #: 2024-0535

• File #: 2024-0535
• Type: Contract
• Status: Agenda Ready
• File created: 8/12/2024
• In control: Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee
• On agenda: 11/21/2024
• Title: CONSIDER: A. AUTHORIZING the Chief Executive Officer to execute Modification No. 7 to Contract No. PS88001001 with Strive Well-Being Inc. to continue to provide Transit Ambassador Pilot Program services while staff transitions the Ambassador Program in-house, in the amount of $6,500,000, increasing the current three-year base Not-to-Exceed (NTE) contract value from $24,103,235 to $30,603,235; and B. AMENDING the FY25 Budget by $1,500,000 to pay for additional Ambassador presence to support the agency's efforts to increase visible presence of uniformed personnel.
• Sponsors: Finance, Budget and Audit Committee
• Indexes: Board approved Contract, Budget, Budgeting, Contracts, Customer Experience Plan, Design build, Homeless Outreach, Housing, Law enforcement, Metro Rail B Line, Metro Rail D Line, Metro Transit Ambassadors, Procurement, Program, Project management, Rail Ops Mgmt & Admin (Project), Safety, Safety and security, Safety programs, Security, Strategic planning, System safety, Systemwide Bus Ops Mgmt & Admin (Project), Transit System, Visibility, Westlake/Macarthur Park Station

Meeting_Body
OPERATIONS, SAFETY AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
NOVEMBER 21, 2024

Subject
SUBJECT: TRANSIT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM

Action
ACTION: APPROVE RECOMMENDATION

Heading
RECOMMENDATION

Title
CONSIDER:

A. AUTHORIZING the Chief Executive Officer to execute Modification No. 7 to Contract No. PS88001001 with Strive Well-Being Inc. to continue to provide Transit Ambassador Pilot Program services while staff transitions the Ambassador Program in-house, in the amount of $6,500,000, increasing the current three-year base Not-to-Exceed (NTE) contract value from $24,103,235 to $30,603,235; and

B. AMENDING the FY25 Budget by $1,500,000 to pay for additional Ambassador presence to support the agency's efforts to increase visible presence of uniformed personnel.

Issue
ISSUE

Transit Ambassador Pilot Program Contract No. PS88001001 awarded to Strive Well-Being (Strive) has been called upon to deploy additional Ambassador staff to meet the Agency's safety and security needs. Staff is requesting an increase in contract authority for Strive to continue operations through the end of fiscal year 2025, while staff transitions the Ambassador Program in-house. Staff is also requesting a $1,500,000 increase to the FY25 Ambassador budget to cover enhanced deployments to support the agency efforts to increase visible presence of uniformed personnel. Resources were not added to the budget when the surge was implemented.

Background
BACKGROUND

In 2022, the Board authorized Metro to create a Pilot Transit Ambassador Program that would introduce a uniformed, unarmed, and visible presence on the Metro system while providing care-based, in-person assistance to riders, with the primary objective of enhancing the overall customer experience. Following a competitive procurement process, the Board awarded contracts to Strive Well-Being Inc. (Strive) in the amount of $15,876,242 for the three-year base pilot (Contract No. PS88001001) and RMI International Inc. (RMI) in ...