Electronic Commerce

Q. What is the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) guidance on bids received via the Internet? A. FTA has not as yet developed guidance related to e-commerce. FTA is waiting for transit agencies that are in the development stages with their e-commerce systems to implement working systems in order to define for others what the "best practices" might be. However, we can refer you to Mr. Larry Pham at APTA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He is working to implement an e-commerce system with a pilot program start date of September 2001. It is our understanding that APTA intends to make their system available to any transit agencies that are interested in receiving bids via the Internet. A phone number for APTA is (202) 898-4087.

Q. Have any Transit authorities used Reverse Auctions? A. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority           215-580-8251 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority 213-922-7210 The Best Practices Procurement Manual (BPPM)* published a new section on E-Commerce - Reverse Auctions in June 2003. __________ The BPPM can be found on the Internet.