Using open contracting to procure a sustainable and user-friendly bike share system in Mexico City

After ten years of operation, Mexico City sought to expand their environmentally friendly and affordable bike share service to more neighborhoods, upgrade the design and technology, and all at a reasonable cost. The city needed to promote competition in a concentrated marketplace, learn more about the latest bike share technology and innovations, and provide better and expanded service at the same or lower budget.

Mexico City used open contracting to design a transparent procurement process to procure a modern, expanded, and user-friendly bike share network. The city published a Request for Information (RFI) for the first time, seeking resident input on the bike share design, held multiple conversations with vendors, and published their findings on a user-friendly website. This approach enabled the team and the vendor community to make data-driven decisions, promote trust, and deliver on their goal.

The city’s new contract expands the service from 6,500 to 9,300 bikes and from 480 to 687 bike stations, and upgrades the city’s bike share technology and design to be more user-friendly, all at approximately half the operating costs of the old service. Other departments have begun replicating Ecobici’s open contracting strategies for important strategic public projects, and the city also enhanced its electronic procurement system to help others use Ecobici’s approach for engaging vendors, citizens and civil society organizations early in high-priority procurement processes.