Laredo Bridge staff told the Port of Entry Advisory Committee on Nov. 17 that the city is preparing a request for proposals to upgrade its toll software and hardware.

"We received a scope of work. We're working on the RFP, tailoring it to our needs," said the bridge staff representative, who asked the committee to participate in upcoming vendor-review meetings.

Staff said a recent study found the existing vendor meets roughly 95% of operational needs but identified deficiencies in the front-office and back-office compatibility. The staff member said the current vendor holds proprietary rights to the bridge’s data, which complicates future integrations and is a key issue the RFP will address: "they have proprietary rights. So we don't have rights to our data right now," the presenter said.

Committee members asked whether the city would re-bid and when the current contract ends. Staff said the existing contract runs through April and that staff will meet with the city’s IT department next week to finalize the scope and issue an RFP; bids would be evaluated under normal procurement rules.

The staff representative gave a ballpark figure for existing vendor costs: "The annual is 1,000,000," which the meeting characterized as roughly "80 some thousand a month." Staff said the final cost comparison will come from vendor bids submitted in response to the forthcoming RFP.

Next steps: staff will complete the scope of work with IT, issue an RFP, and return to the committee with draft specifications and opportunities for committee members to review vendor demonstrations. No formal procurement decision or contract award was made at the meeting.