Business Opportunities with Cherriots
Salem Area Mass Transit District (dba Cherriots) offers a wide range of contracting opportunities for businesses of all sizes. We routinely seek qualified contractors, consultants, and vendors in areas such as:
• Construction
• Professional Services
• Maintenance and Repair
• Operational Equipment
• And more!
We are committed to developing strong partnerships that support the delivery of safe, reliable, and efficient public transportation services to our community.
Cherriots uses the State of Oregon’s e-procurement system, OregonBuys, for all formal solicitations.
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program
At Cherriots, we believe in opening doors for businesses and building strong partnerships in our community. Our Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program is designed to help businesses compete fairly for opportunities in construction, procurement, and professional services with the Cherriots.
With support from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Cherriots is committed to ensuring that every business has an equal chance to succeed. By working together, we strengthen our projects, support local talent, and create a more inclusive future for public transportation in our region.
For more information, visit our DBE Program page.
Current Solicitations
When a solicitation is posted that you may be interested in, review the Scope of Work to confirm your organization can deliver the requested services or products.
If it doesn’t seem like it would be a good fit, we encourage you to monitor OregonBuys for other opportunities.
Questions? Email procurement@cherriots.org.
To access current opportunities, visit:
Oregon Buys
How to Submit Proposals to Cherriots Solicitations – Best Practices
- If it is determined that your agency can offer a solution for this project need, refer to the Minimum Proposer Qualifications section of the solicitation. Review this section to ensure your agency meets the minimum proposer qualifications such as:
-Minimum years of experience
-Project manager minimum years of experience
-Ability to perform work onsite if applicable
-Ability to provide all items within the scope of work
-Active State of Oregon Secretary of State Registration
-Not suspended or debarred with SAM.gov
-Not disqualified from bidding under ORS 279C.860
-Not in violation of any Oregon tax laws
- If it is determined that your agency does meet the minimum proposer qualifications, refer to the submission package section of the solicitation. In this section of the solicitation there are instructions on how to form the proposal, format of the proposal, and details to include in the proposal.
- Follow Submission Requirements
Proposals must be submitted as PDF via email to procurement@cherriots.org with:
-Completed Proposer Checklist and all exhibits
-Firm introduction and qualifications
-Proposed solution and how it meets scope
-Relevant project experience/references
-Implementation approach, timeline, and Cherriots support needed
-Quality assurance plan
-Pricing
Review the "Proposal Evaluation" section to understand scoring criteria.
- Submit by Deadline
Email PDF proposal to procurement@cherriots.org by the exact closing date/time. Late proposals are not accepted.
Procurement will then review each proposal and determine if the proposal meets the minimum requirements of the project and the minimum proposer qualification requirements.
If your agency has determined that you may not meet the minimum proposer qualifications, Please do not hesitate to reach out to procurement@cherriots.org for assistance.
Minimum Contractor Requirements
At the time of quote submission, Contractor, and any subcontractor must meet the following minimum requirements:
- Have a State of Oregon Secretary of State registration and all other required local government business license(s), registrations, and endorsements.
- Not be suspended or debarred with SAM.gov.
- Not be disqualified from bidding under ORS 279B.130
- Not be in violation of any Oregon tax laws set forth at ORS chapters 118, 314, 316 - 318, 321 and 323; under ORS 320.005-320.150; under ORS 403.200-403.250; and local tax laws administered by the Oregon Department of Revenue under ORS 305.620
For construction projects
- Possess a current and active Oregon Construction Contractors Board license as required by ORS 701.
- Not be disqualified from bidding under ORS 279C.860.
Proposal Review Process
To establish Proposer’s responsibility, SAMTD will independently review all material submitted with a Proposal. SAMTD may also obtain additional information and conduct independent investigation, including, but not limited to, obtaining copies of business licenses and/or professional licenses and certificates, obtaining financial reports, verifying DBE/MWBE status, reviewing records with the Better Business Bureau, reviewing references, and checking debarment lists. SAMTD reserves the right to interview references, perform internet searches, review Dunn & Bradstreet reports, and use any other investigative means it chooses. A Proposer must timely provide all requested information. If the proposer cannot meet the minimum proposer qualification requirements or minimum requirements then the proposal will not be considered responsible or responsive and therefore will not be considered in the evaluation process.
If the proposal is deemed responsive and responsive after Procurement’s initial review or is made responsive or responsible, then the proposal will enter into the evaluation process:
- Procurement facilitates a Source Evaluation Committee (SEC) where a group of Cherriots team members reviews each proposal individually and completes an initial evaluation based on the evaluation criteria detailed in the solicitation documents.
- The SEC convenes to share scores of each proposal and discuss. Procurement tabulates each proposal collectively and a short list of the 2-4 highest scoring proposals is made.
- Procurement reaches out to the short list proposers and schedules interviews and/or demonstrations as applicable.
- Procurement facilitates the interviews/demonstrations with the vendors.
- References are called and results are shared out with the SEC.
- SEC does a final scoring taking the reference checks into consideration as well as the new information learned from the interviews/demonstrations.
- Procurement facilitates the SEC convening to share final scores and discuss. From this meeting the winning proposer is selected.
- Procurement communicates with all proposers of their standing in regards to if they are the successful proposer or not.
- Procurement works with the successful proposer to begin developing the details of the contract.
- The Project Advisor of the project develops the Board memo to be used at the Board meeting to request approval from the Board for the project.
- Procurement and the successful proposer collaboratively develop the contract and send to legal for review.
- The project advisor requests project approval at the board meeting. Board meetings are held the last Thursday of each month with the exception of November when a Board meeting is not held and December when the Board meeting is scheduled for the second week of the month.
- Once the Board approves the project, the General Manager will sign the contract that the successful proposer and Procurement collaboratively developed.
- Once the contract is signed by both Cherriots and the successful proposer, then Procurement will issue a Notice to Proceed. This notice to proceed is the permission needed for the Cherriots project advisor and the successful proposer to start the good work on the project.
For any questions contact procurement@cherriots.org.
