Palm Beach County commissioners on Thursday voted unanimously to release an invitation to negotiate (ITN) to solicit proposals for Palm Tran service delivery, including paratransit providers and optional scheduling/dispatch software and call-center services.

The ITN directs staff to seek proposals that may bundle operations, software and dispatching; commissioners said they want the county to retain ownership of raw trip data and to preserve staff protections during any transition to contractor operations. The board gave staff authority to release the ITN and proceed with procurement and scoring, and asked staff to return cost comparisons that show expected savings or costs from private versus in-house operations.

Why it matters: Palm Tran provides mobility services for county residents with disabilities and mobility needs. The ITN could reshape who schedules and dispatches trips, which software tools are used to manage routing and data, and whether much of the current call-center and scheduling work remains county-run or becomes contractor-operated. Commissioners repeatedly raised concerns about data access and continuity of service if vendor-owned software or vendor-operated call centers were adopted.

What commissioners discussed and directed
- Data ownership and access: Commissioners insisted that the county must have unfettered access to all raw operations data. Staff said the ITN will require vendors to provide real-time access and prohibit use of county data for purposes beyond Palm Tran work. Staff also said HIPAA-protected eligibility and sensitive records would remain under county control.
- Software licensing vs. ownership: Staff explained most modern transit platforms are proprietary and licensed; the ITN will ask bidders to identify the software they would use and to justify why it provides best value. Commissioners asked for options that allow the county to avoid being locked into a vendor-owned system in a way that would impede a future provider change.
- Staffing and transition: Commissioners noted roughly 40 positions could be affected by any change in dispatch/call-center operations. Staff said they will seek transition plans from bidders that address retention, redeployment or placement of existing employees and will include supervision and oversight provisions.
- Redundancy and service resilience: Several commissioners urged maintaining at least two service-delivery contractors to provide redundancy if one operator fails to meet service requirements.

Procurement approach and timeline
Staff said the ITN will give the board flexibility to choose whether to accept combined proposals (operations + scheduling) or to select components a la carte. Staff will request itemized costs from bidders to enable a clear apples‑to‑apples comparison to an in‑house cost model. Staff also told the board they will propose a staged implementation timeline so critical transition elements (staffing, testing and training) occur before any production cutover.

What's next
The board authorized releasing the ITN and requested that staff return with: a) cost comparisons between private and county-run scheduling/dispatch models, b) a recommended approach to software licensing or county ownership, and c) a staffing-transition plan to protect existing employees. The motion to release the ITN carried 6-0.

Ending note: Commissioners emphasized oversight will remain with Palm Tran and BCC staff; several asked that proposals be scored not only on price but on technical capacity, data access, and continuity of service.