A Solano County transportation company is suing the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency for the right to operate transit systems throughout the county.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, MV Transportation is asking the Napa Superior Court to rescind the transit agency’s award of a five-year contract to Veolia Transportation in August.

The suit contends that the transit agency’s board of directors ignored bidding rules when it overruled staff, which had favored MV, and awarded the contract to Veolia.

MV appealed the award to the transit agency in July, making the same arguments that are contained in the civil suit. On Aug. 5, the board rejected the appeal, citing Veolia’s lower bid and promise to improve its safety record.

MV contends that Veolia was able to submit a lower bid by ignoring staffing requirements in the agency’s request for proposals. Veolia’s bid should have been thrown out because it failed to get a minimum passing score when its bid was initially reviewed by agency staff, the suit asserts.

The suit asks the court to rescind Veolia’s award and either make MV the new operator or have the transit agency re-bid the entire contract.

“I feel confident we followed the rules,” Paul Price, the transit agency’s executive director, said Wednesday.

Price noted that following the August award, MV appealed the Veolia contract to the Federal Transportation Administration, but the appeal was rejected.

Ron Bushman, Veolia’s regional vice president, expressed confidence Thursday that the court would uphold the five-year contract. “We feel the process was very thoughtful and they did a good job,” he said.

Representatives of MV, which is based in Fairfield, were not available Thursday for comment.

Veolia, which is part of the world’s largest operator of public transit services, has been running the VINE bus system, VINE Go paratransit and shuttles in American Canyon, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga for most of this decade.

The lawsuit is but the latest chapter in a protracted competition between Veolia and MV for the Napa contract.

In 2008, agency staff recommended that the five-year contract be taken away from Veolia and given to MV. The agency’s board of directors, composed of elected officials from the cities and county, concurred.

When Veolia pointed out a contracting irregularity, the transit agency withdrew the award to MV and let Veolia continue to operate local transit until the contract could be rebid this year.

When staff reviewed the two proposals this spring, it  recommended MV again as the superior bidder. Although Veolia’s bid of $27.1 million for five years was $450,000 less than MV’s, MV would run a better service, staff said.

Shocked by new information showing that Veolia’s accident rate had been high in recent years, the board asked staff for more safety information. Veolia argued that its accident rate had dropped considerably over the past year and would continue to get better.

In July, the board awarded the contract to Veolia, saying it made sense to go with the low bidder in these tough economic times. Veolia’s employees and riders had lobbied the board not to switch companies.

In both its appeal to the board and in its lawsuit, MV said it was underbid because Veolia’s offer called for fewer supervisors than the transit agency’s contract called for.

The transit agency board did not have the option to waive bid requirements, especially when Veolia failed to get passing ratings from staff in all the required performance areas, the suit contends.

Price had defended Veolia’s bid for fewer supervisory personnel, saying that it was functionally the same. The board had the authority to award more points to Veolia than staff had, he said.

Bushman maintained Thursday that Veolia’s bid was not deficient in supervisory personnel. “We have more supervisors than it calls for,” he said.

The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 4 at 8:30 a.m. before Napa County Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni.