For the first time in 15 years, Santa Cruz County will throw open the doors to emergency ambulance service providers to provide local service, and area fire agencies are closely tracking the process. An existing EMS service contract with Colorado-based American Medical Response is scheduled to expire in September 2018. For a year or more, Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency has been collaborating with emergency service stakeholders to create a request for proposals — a contract bid — and rethinking how services are provided locally in the process.