(a) Amtrak notification. FRA will notify Amtrak of any eligible petition filed with FRA no later than 30 days after FRA's receipt of such petition.
(b) Bid requirements. A petitioner and Amtrak must both file a bid with FRA to provide passenger rail service over the route to which the petition relates no later than 60 days after the petition deadline established by Sec. 269.7 of this part using the following method: email to Priia214@dot.gov. Each such bid must:
(1) Provide FRA with sufficient information to evaluate the level of service described in the proposal, and to evaluate the proposal's compliance with the requirements described in Sec. 269.13(b) of this part;
(2) Describe how the bidder would operate the route. This description must include, but is not limited to, an operating plan, a financial plan and, if applicable, any agreement(s) necessary for the operation of passenger service over right-of-way on the route that is not owned by the railroad. In addition, if the bidder intends to generate any revenues from ancillary activities (i.e., activities other than passenger transportation, accommodations, and food service) as part of its proposed operation of the route, then the bidder must fully describe such ancillary activities and identify their incremental impact in all relevant sections of the operating plan and the financial plan, and on the route's performance under the financial and performance metrics developed pursuant to section 207 of the Act, together with the assumptions underlying the estimates of such incremental impacts;
(3) Describe what Amtrak passenger equipment would be needed, if any;
(4) Describe in detail, including amounts, timing, and intended purpose, what sources of Federal and non-Federal funding the bidder would use, including but not limited to any Federal or State operating subsidy and any other Federal or State payments;
(5) Contain a staffing plan describing the number of employees needed to operate the service, the job assignments and requirements, and the terms of work for prospective and current employees of the bidder for the service outlined in the bid; and
(6) Describe how the passenger rail service would comply with the financial and performance metrics developed pursuant to section 207 of the Act. At a minimum, this description must include, for each Federal fiscal year fully or partially covered by the bid: a projection of the route's expected on-time performance and train delays according to the metrics developed pursuant to section 207 of the Act; and the net cash used in operating activities per passenger-mile (both before and after the application of any expected public subsidies) attributable to the route.
(c) Supplemental information. FRA may request supplemental information from a petitioner and/or Amtrak where FRA determines such information is needed to evaluate a bid. In such a request, FRA will establish a deadline by which the supplemental information must be filed with FRA.