1-1. RFP 26-07 - State Legislative Advocacy Services.pdf

Request for Proposals

#26-07

State Legislative Advocacy Services

For The

Monterey-Salinas Transit District

RFP #26-07 SCHEDULE

Issue Date: Monday, June 1, 2026

Question Submission Deadline: Monday, June 15, 2026 by 12:00 PM

Deadline to Submit Proposals: Monday, July 13, 2026 by 2:00 PM

Monterey-Salinas Transit

19 Upper Ragsdale Drive, Suite 200

Monterey, CA 93940

Request for Proposals For

State Legislative Advocacy Services for the

Monterey-Salinas Transit District

Monterey-Salinas Transit District (MST) invites qualified firms/individuals to submit a proposal detailing qualifications and costs for providing state legislative advocacy services.

The firm/individual selected will represent MST’s legislative policy interests with the State of California Legislature and with individual State officials.

The consultant selected will enter into a contract with MST effective on January 1, 2027, and shall remain in effect for a period of three (3) years. MST shall have the option to extend the contract for one (1) additional two (2) year option term.

Proposals must be received by MST NO LATER THAN 2:00 PM, Pacific Time on

Monday, July 13, 2026. Any submissions received past this deadline will be considered non-responsive and will not be accepted. Proposals must be submitted through Monterey-

Salinas Transit’s Bonfire eProcurement portal. If you are not already registered, please do so at www.mst.org/procurement and select “Become a Vendor.”

If you have any questions regarding this solicitation, please submit them via MST’s Bonfire Portal no later than 12:00 PM on Monday, June 15, 2026. An addendum to this RFP will be issued answering any questions received by the deadline.

It is the responsibility of the proposing firms to check MST's eProcurement Portal for any addenda that may be issued relative to this solicitation. Proposers that accessed any of the solicitation documents for this solicitation will be notified of the issuance of any addenda.

If you have any questions related to the procurement process, please contact:

Monterey-Salinas Transit

19 Upper Ragsdale Drive, Suite 200

Monterey, CA 93940

Attention: Steven Bruno, Purchasing Agent

Phone: 831-264-5884

Email: sbruno@mst.org

History and Overview of MST

The Monterey-Salinas Transit District (MST) was created by state law AB644 and formed on July 1, 2010. The District succeeds the Monterey-Salinas Transit Joint Powers http://www.mst.org/procurement mailto:sbruno@mst.org

Agency formed in 1981 when the City of Salinas joined the Monterey Peninsula Transit

Joint Powers Agency which was formed in 1972.

Current members of the district are the Cities of Carmel, Del Rey Oaks, Gonzales, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Salinas, Sand City, Seaside, Soledad, and the County of Monterey. A board of directors with a representative from each member jurisdiction governs the agency and appoints the general manager.

MST serves a 168-square-mile area of Monterey County, Northern San Luis Obispo, Southern Santa Cruz, and Southern Santa Clara Counties. MST’s 42 routes serve an estimated 436,251 within ¾ mile of a bus stop in Monterey County.

For more information about MST, log onto http://www.mst.org/.

SCOPE OF SERVICES

The purpose of this RFP is to retain a part-time consultant to 1) monitor and review pending legislation, policies, and regulations, and 2) advocate MST’s interests with the California

Legislature and its members and other parties as appropriate. The bills tracked by the consultant may include any subject matter that is of concern to MST. During the active legislative session, the consultant will be directed to bring to attention specific bills that affect MST and its related programs as well as focus on bills identified by MST as being high priority. Some of the typical activities that could be performed by the consultant may include:

1. General

a. Assist in the development of strategies for advancing actions at the State level that are beneficial to MST.

b. Represent and advocate on behalf of MST in its dealings with relevant State agencies and related interest groups including but not limited to 1) California

Legislature, 2) Governor’s Office, 3) Individual Legislators and their staff members.

2. Facilitate Communication

a. Develop and maintain contact with members of the Legislature and state agencies to facilitate regular communication with and about MST.

b. Meet with State representatives on a regular basis to provide briefings on issues of interest or concern to MST.

c. Solicit input from State representatives on issues of concern to MST and report it to MST on a regular basis.

d. Arrange appointments with Legislators and other State representatives to meet with MST representatives.

e. Coordinate with legislative advocates for other public agencies such as the

Department of Transportation (DOT), the California Transportation Commission, the California Coastal Commission, etc.

3. Monitor and Evaluate

a. Identify and evaluate the potential impact of proposed legislation, policies, and http://www.mst.org/ regulations on MST.

b. Bring to MST’s attention, bills that affect MST or its programs.

c. Work with State representatives to identify and amend bills and other proposed legislative or regulatory language to address MST concerns.

d. Advocate MST’s position to appropriate State legislative, executive, and administrative committees, board, and commissions.

4. Initiate and Advocate

a. Advise MST on opportunities to pursue MST’s objectives through the Legislature and various State agencies.

b. Assist in drafting legislation on behalf of MST.

c. Formulate and manage strategies to achieve passage of MST’s legislative initiatives (if any).

d. Make presentations to and testify on behalf of MST before legislative and administrative bodies.

5. Report and Respond

a. Provide regular reports summarizing the activities under the contract with MST.

b. Appear before the MST Board to provide an overview and summary of current and future activities or to report on a particular item of concern to MST.

c. Respond to MST’s requests for information about pending State legislation, regulations, or policies.

ATTACHMENTS

The following attachments are hereby made part of this Request for Proposals (RFP) #26-07:

Appendix A – Sample Contract

Appendix B – Required Forms

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

Each proposal must include all completed forms from Appendix B as well as the following information. This information should be confined to no more than 20 Pages, excluding resumes of staff members and required forms. Please submit One (1) electronic version of your proposal.

1. Firm name, business address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address.

2. Date of establishment of business.

3. Type of organization (individual, partnership, or corporation).

4. Description of firm’s experience with local government agencies, especially transit agencies, if any.

5. Description of firm’s experience with other clients.

6. List of current clients and contact information.

7. Names of individuals who would be directly engaged in the performance of work under this solicitation. For each of the individuals please submit:

a. Number of years related experience.

b. List of references and contact information.

c. Brief description of work performed for these references or relationship to these references.

8. Describe any areas of specialty that your firm has (such as type of client and/or subject matter and/or other).

9. Include your general approach on how to best serve MST and how you propose to meet

MST’s needs. Please be sure to describe your familiarity with MST’s service area/market for these services.

10. Include how you would decide on the legislative bills that might be addressed and how your firm would promote MST’s interest on these bills.

11. Describe what you would do in a situation where two or more of your clients have conflicting views and/or positions on an item you have been requested to work on.

12. Please outline your cost for the described services using the Cost Proposal Form in

Appendix B. Do not include your cost proposal in the same document as your technical proposal. This must be uploaded separately to the Cost Proposal section of the procurement submittals in Bonfire.

EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCEDURE

The Evaluation Committee will review all proposals. Staff will recommend a firm for contract award and a contract will be awarded pending approval of the Monterey-Salinas Transit District

Board of Directors.

The selection will be made of the firm or person whose proposal is most responsive to the

Request for Proposals (RFP) and offers the best advantage to MST.

As part of the selection process, consultants may be requested to provide information concerning client representation for evaluation by MST. If, at the discretion of MST, a conflict of interest, real or apparent, exists or may exist, then MST reserves the right not to select a consultant to perform the services herein, regardless of the qualifications of that consultant or the ranking of the consultant as provided below.

The following criteria will be used to evaluate proposals:

1. Qualifications of the Firm: Technical experience in performing work of a closely similar nature; experience working with transportation organizations or other public agencies; record of completing work on schedule; strength and stability of the firm;

technical experience and strength and stability of proposed sub-consultants, if any; and assessments by client references. (25 points)

2. Staffing and Project Organization: Qualifications of project staff, particularly key personnel, especially the project manager; key personnel’s level of involvement in performing related work; logic of project organization; adequacy of labor commitment;

concurrence in the restrictions on changes in key personnel. (25 points)

3. Demonstrated understanding of the project requirements and potential problem areas; project approach, work plan, and quality assurance program. (25 points)

4. Cost and Price: Reasonableness of the total price and competitiveness of this amount with other offers received. Consultants are asked to submit a cost proposal separate from their technical proposal that accurately reflects their costs in performing the services discussed in the scope of work. (25 points)

RIGHTS OF MST

This RFP does not commit MST to enter into a Contract, nor does it obligate MST to pay for any costs incurred in preparation and submission of proposals or in anticipation of a contract.

MST may investigate the qualifications of any Proposer under consideration, require confirmation of information furnished by the Proposer, and require additional evidence or qualifications to perform the Services described in this RFP.

MST reserves the right to:

1. Reject any or all proposals.

2. Cancel this solicitation at any time for any reason at MST’s sole discretion. MST is not responsible for cost of proposal preparation.

3. Issue subsequent Requests for Proposal.

4. Postpone opening for its own convenience.

5. Remedy technical errors in the Request for Proposal process.

6. Approve or disapprove the use of particular sub-consultants.

7. Negotiate with any, all, or none of the Proposers.

8. Solicit best and final offers from all or some of the Proposers.

9. Award a contract to one or more Proposers.

10. Accept other than the lowest offer.

11. Waive informalities and irregularities in proposals.

The proposals received become the exclusive property of MONTEREY-SALINAS TRANSIT

DISTRICT. At such time as a contract award is made by MST, all proposals submitted in response to this RFP shall become a matter of public record and shall be regarded as public records, with the exception of those elements of each proposal which are trade secrets as the term is defined in California Government Code 6254.7 and which are so marked as “TRADE

SECRET,” “CONFIDENTIAL,” OR “PROPRIETARY.” MONTEREY-SALINAS TRANSIT

DISTRICT shall not in any way be liable or responsible for the disclosure of any such records or portions thereof, including, without limitation, those so marked if disclosure is deemed required by law or by an order of a court. Proposals that indiscriminately identify all or most of the proposal as exempt from disclosure without justification may be found technically unacceptable.