Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has a 40+ year history of driving innovation within Mobility for North Texas. It has developed this reputation through the support of a broad array of private sector partners. DART frequently solicits procurements for new services that align with our mission through our digital procurement portal, which may be accessed on the DART Bonfire Portal.
In addition to DART solicitations, we are always open to new, innovative, and unique ideas from individuals, businesses, and organizations that can help us enhance our service and operations. We believe innovation is the key to achieving our mission and vision of providing safe, reliable, and efficient mobility solutions for our customers and communities. That’s why we created the Unsolicited Proposal Program, a unique opportunity for external partners to share their innovative concepts, methods, approaches, or solutions.
An unsolicited proposal is a written offer that is initiated by the proposer and not requested by DART. It should present an original idea that is not available in the marketplace or that DART has not considered before. The proposal should also demonstrate how the idea can benefit DART and its stakeholders, such as improving customer satisfaction, reducing costs, increasing revenue, enhancing safety, or advancing sustainability.
A valid unsolicited proposal must:
DART advises potential proposers to contact relevant agency personnel before investing significant effort in a detailed unsolicited proposal or sending proprietary data to DART. This initial contact includes:
You should also familiarize yourself with DART's strategic goals, plans, and initiatives to ensure your proposal aligns with our priorities and needs.
Unsolicited Proposals must be accompanied by a cover letter detailing how your proposal meets our guidelines. This cover letter should explain how your proposal is:
Your cover letter must explain how DART’s support could be valuable and how the proposed work could advance our mission and objectives.
Your proposal should not be a preemptive proposal for a known agency need that can be met by competitive methods and cannot be a response to a DART solicitation.
To submit an unsolicited proposal, please submit it electronically to DART Bonfire Portal.
DART will review your proposal and determine whether it meets the criteria for further evaluation. If so, we will assign a team of experts to analyze your proposal and provide feedback within 90 days. During this process, we may contact you for additional information or clarification. We may also request a presentation or demonstration of your proposal if necessary. We will evaluate your proposal based on its feasibility, suitability, scalability, value proposition, and alignment with DART’s goals and values.
Please note that submitting an unsolicited proposal does not guarantee acceptance, endorsement, or award of a contract by DART. DART reserves the right to reject any proposal, solicit competing proposals, negotiate terms and conditions, or cancel the process at any time. DART also reserves the right to use any information or ideas from your proposal for its own purposes, subject to applicable laws and regulations.
If DART accepts your proposal, we will work with you to develop a contract that outlines the scope of work, deliverables, milestones, payment terms, and other relevant details. We will also establish a testing and learning framework to monitor and evaluate the performance and impact of your proposal throughout the implementation phase.
For more details on DART’s Unsolicited Proposals process, please review our
If you have any questions about the Unsolicited Proposal Program, please contact us through the Messages/Vendor Discussions at DART Bonfire Portal. We look forward to hearing from you and exploring new possibilities together.
If you have any questions or need help, please contact DART Procurement at (214)749-2701 (8:00 am to 5:00 pm CST, Monday-Friday) or send an email to [email protected].
DART Procurement Department, Procurement Support, 1401 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, TX 75266-7235 | Fax 214-749-3666
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