Overview
Next summer, eleven U.S. regions host the 2026 FIFA World Cup Games bringing hundreds of thousands of fans and visitors from around the globe. Each game will have the energy and intensity of a Super Bowl, and each region will host no fewer than six games between June 11 and July 19, 2026.
While excitement is high, so is the pressure to deliver. Seattle, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area on the west coast; Houston, Dallas and Kansas City in the central region; and Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York/New Jersey, and Boston along the eastern seaboard are all committed to providing a high quality game experience AND concurrently maintaining safe, reliable and efficient movement for their resident population. While much has been done, a number of challenges remain, some of which may be aided by technology innovations.
Transportation and transit leadership from the 11 American regions joined together in a collective effort, convened by ITS America to identify these challenges and pitch the world’s leading innovators to bring forward technology solutions that can improve these challenges before the opening whistle.
Priority Challenges
The key challenges identified are:
Providing real-time, multilingual information to help visitors and travelers navigate the region.
Providing accurate, real-time accessible navigation guidance to persons with mobility impairments or constraints.
Integrating trip planning, routing and payment systems across a diversity of travel modes and service operators.
Efficient and effective management of taxi and ridehail operations at the curb and in staging areas.
Partnership
The collaborating World Cup host regions are interested in partnering with innovators and will work to provide the resources and support necessary to facilitate rapid customization, installation and deployment. In general, partners in the respective regions anticipate being able to provide:
Geographical datasets indicating event and fan fest locations; major lodging and destination centers; transportation terminals, stops, stations and routes; and other places of interest;
Access to available open data sets such as any local operators utilizing the Mobility Data Specification (MDS), the Curb Data Specification (CDS), General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS), General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), and similar;
Facilitated assistance to integrate with relevant systems, platforms and applications;
Facilitated assistance to access infrastructure necessary for installation or associated improvements;
Facilitated assistance to convene, access access and work with the diverse agencies of the regional FIFA coordinating committee and other stakeholders;
Policy assistance and guidance, as necessary, to enable effective deployment of the solutions.
Specifics
This is not a procurement. The purpose of this effort is to uncover viable, delivery-ready solutions that can address unmet priority challenges of the World Cup host cities. A select short list of solution providers will be invited to present to the leadership of the more than two dozen participating agencies. While no contract is guaranteed, if viable, desirable solutions are surfaced through this process, agencies may avail themselves of one of several approved procurement processes to procure services as an individual agency or a purchasing collective of multiple agencies and regions.
Viable solutions are those that:
Address the stated problem in whole or in part.
Have been demonstrated or deployed in similar and/or transferrable real-world applications.
Can be installed for beta testing no later than February 2026 and full operation by April 2026.
Can be integrated into existing systems, platforms, applications, and/or operations.
Can meet typical contracting requirements including insurance and indemnification, regulatory compliance including but not limited to ADA and Buy American Act, cybersecurity, consumer protection, and associated terms and conditions.
Submission Information
ITS America, on behalf of the American World Cup regions, invites solutions from any corner of the world and encourages broad amplification of this invitation.
To respond to this invitation, solution providers must submit materials here no later than 11:59pm ET on March 18, 2025. Proposed solution packages must include the following:
Vendor Information - Including contact information, country of incorporation, headquarters location, etc.
Narrative Supplement - Establishing which priority challenge the solution seeks to address, market readiness, scalability within a region and across several regions, etc.
Pitch Deck - Illustrating technology features and operation.
Deployment Timeline & Critical Path - To be considered viable, solutions must be deployed for testing and validation no later than February 2026 with any adjustments completed no later than April 2026.
Pricing Model & Cost Factors - Detailing preferred pricing models, and any other relevant cost factors.
Existing Public Sector Contracts - Provide a list of relevant active contract vehicles for procurement of the solution.
Experience and References - Provide examples of projects that have demonstrated viability of the solution, and provide contact information for references.
Find more details on proposal requirements in the submission requirements document. For any other questions or needs, please contact Carlos Alban at calban@itsa.org.
