12-01 Request for Proposal - Legal Services 1.pdf

Gallup-McKinley County Schools Procurement Office P.O.

Box 1318 Gallup, New Mexico 87305-1318

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Legal Services Multi-Source Multi-Year Agreement

No. RFP-2026-16BK

COMMODITY CODE(S): 96149

Attached General Conditions, Supplemental Conditions, Specifications, and Proposal Form

GMCS Website: www.gmcs.org

Mailing Address: Physical Address: Contact:

P.O. Box 1318 Gallup, NM 87305

640 S. Boardman Dr.

Gallup, NM 87301

Breana Kesner Procurement Buyer

(505) 721-1084

(505) 721-2242 Fax bkesner@gmcs.org

Notes:

Closing Date: February 5, 2026 F.O.B. Point: DESTINATION Closing Time: (Local) 2:00 PM Terms: Net 30 unless otherwise stated Opening/Issue Date: January 16, 2026 Quantities may be increased or decreased within reasonable amounts.

http://www.gmcs.org/ http://www.gmcs.org/

PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE

RFP-2026-16BK

A pre-proposal conference will be held on Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 10:00 am

(MDT). Attendance is not required; however, it is highly recommended in order to submit

A responsive proposal.

Offerors must request an invitation to attend no less than 24 hours prior to the meeting

Date and time (before 10:00 am on January 21, 2026).

Attendance requests shall be emailed to bkesner@gmcs.org with “RFP-2026-16BK

Pre-proposal” in the subject line.

Location: Microsoft Teams online meeting or Zoom (meeting invite to be sent once requested)

We encourage you to have your initial questions ready, in writing, as stated in the bid

Documents, to submit. Additional questions after the pre-bid conference will be accepted

Until the question submission deadline stated in the GMCS bonfire eBidding platform

For this opportunity.

No responses to questions are official until published in writing, by amendment.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

No. RFP-2026-16BK

A. Purpose and Scope: The purpose of this contract is to award multiple firms to cover all legal specialties that Gallup McKinley County Schools may require. Awards made under this solicitation shall establish a contract for Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS or District) for Legal Services as described in the Scope of Work, on an as needed basis.

B. Statutory Authority: This procurement is conducted pursuant to the New Mexico Procurement Code, NMSA 1978, §§13-1-28 through 13-1-199, including §§13-1-99 through 13-1-101 governing the procurement of professional services, and applicable provisions of 1.4.1 NMAC.

Awards may be made to multiple Offerors when determined to be in the best interest of the District due to the specialized and varied nature of legal services required.

C. Term of Contract: The term of this contract shall be from Date of Award through June 30, 2027.

GMCS reserves the option to renew this agreement for three (3) additional, one (1) year periods.

D. Contract Renewal: Except when either party shall provide written notice of termination or that the contract shall expire on the anniversary date, multi-term contracts shall automatically renew for an additional term, up to the maximum number of terms stated in any Special Terms and Conditions.

E. Appropriations: The terms of this Agreement are contingent upon sufficient monies being made available by the Gallup-McKinley County Schools for the performance of this Agreement.

If sufficient appropriations and authorizations are not made by the Gallup-McKinley County Schools, this Agreement shall terminate upon written notice being given by the District to the Contractor. The District’s decision as to whether sufficient appropriations are available shall be accepted by the Contractor and shall be final.

F. Work to Be Done: The work to be performed under this contract, and in accordance with the Scope of Work by an independent contractor to provide professional legal services as requested.

G. Non-Exclusive Contract: Award of this contract does not create an exclusive agreement. The District reserves the right to obtain legal services outside this contract when deemed to be in its best interest. No minimum amount of work or compensation is guaranteed to any Contractor.

H. Price Adjustment (Services): Requests for price escalation for fixed fee schedules or rates are permitted only at the anniversary date of the award or for necessary economic adjustments agreed upon by both parties. Requests for price escalation must be supported by appropriate documentation for price reasonableness and submitted no less than 60 days prior to the effective date or contract renewal date. Failure to submit a request with the required advance notice may result in denial of the request.

I. Purchase Orders: All Services And Materials Provided Must Have A Valid Purchase Order (Signed). The Vendor shall be responsible for ensuring that no orders are accepted without an authorized GMCS Purchase Order number. All Purchase Orders are for a one-time purchase and may NOT be reused. Failure to comply with this paragraph shall be cause for the District not to honor the invoice.

J. Competency of Offeror: Proposals will be considered only from firms who can provide evidence that they have established a satisfactory record of performance and integrity to insure they can execute the requirements as stated herein. Any determination as to competency shall be made by appropriate GMCS staff.

K. Payment or Acceptance Not Conclusive: Vendor will supply the District with invoice(s) for payment. No payment made under this contract shall be conclusive evidence of the performance of this contract, either wholly or in part, and that no payment made for the delivery of the items in whole or in part shall be construed as an acceptance of defective work or improper materials, nor relieve the Offeror from corrections of the defects. The final acceptance shall not be binding upon the District, nor conclusive, should it subsequently develop the Offeror has furnished inferior items or had departed from the Specifications and/or the terms of the Contract. Should such conditions become evident, the District shall have the right, notwithstanding final acceptance and payment, to cause the item(s) to be properly furnished in accordance with the Specifications (and drawings, if any) at the cost and expense of the Offeror.

L. Force Majeure: In no event shall the Offeror be responsible or liable for any failure or delay in the performance of its obligations hereunder arising out of or caused by, directly or indirectly, forces beyond its control, including, without limitation, strikes, work stoppages, accidents, acts of war or terrorism.

M. Contacts: All questions concerning this Request for Proposals (RFP) shall be submitted in the GMCS Bonfire eBidding Portal.

Offerors are hereby advised and cautioned that all communication and information shall be obtained only through the Procurement Manager. Communication with other District employees, officials or Board Members in connection with this solicitation may result in Offeror’s proposal being disqualified.

Only written questions will be accepted. Responses to written questions will be through Amendment ONLY, which shall be posted on the GMCS eBidding Portal.

N. Licenses: Successful contractor shall provide and maintain licensure for the performance of this contract at their own expense. Licensure must be valid and maintained throughout the duration of this contract.

O. Insurance: Successful Contractor shall provide and maintain, at its own expense for the life of the contract, professional liability (legal malpractice) insurance and workers’ compensation insurance, if applicable. Additional insurance coverage shall be required only when the scope of services necessitates such coverage. Proof of insurance shall be provided upon request and maintained throughout the contract term.

P. Response Time: Vendor shall respond to District inquiries within a reasonable timeframe appropriate to the nature of the request, and shall identify in its proposal typical response times for routine and urgent matters.

Q. Award of Contract – Multi-Source: GMCS reserves the right to make multiple awards as a result of this request if doing so may be advantageous to the District.

R. Assignment of Work Among Awarded Contractors: Following award, legal services will be requested on an as-needed basis. The District may assign work among awarded Contractors based on factors including, but not limited to:

(a) area of legal specialization;

(b) availability and response time;

(c) conflict-of-interest considerations;

(d) prior performance under this contract; and

(e) cost considerations.

The District makes no guarantee of a minimum volume of work to any Contractor.

S. Attorney-client Relationship: No attorney-client relationship shall exist until the District expressly assigns a matter to a Contractor through an authorized request or purchase order.

SCOPE OF WORK

I. Introduction:

A. Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS) is soliciting proposals for legal services on behalf of the District. The intent of this solicitation is for comprehensive representation including, but not limited to the following areas:

a. General litigation

b. Administrative law, policy development, and legal advice and opinions on issues related to public education.

c. Business law, including drafting and interpretation of contracts, construction documents, review and preparation and approval of commercial instruments for public transactions.

d. Real estate matters

e. Interpretation of state and federal laws and regulations relating to school district operations

f. Labor and employment law including human and civil rights.

g. Sovereign Nations relating to public school district operations.

h. Special Education, Section 504, and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Issues.

Represent the District in all stages of Special Education due process complaints.

i. Data Privacy and Cybersecurity

j. Provide written, timely notification to the Board of changes in school law or state regulations including court and administrative decisions that might impact upon the operation of the school district.

B. The District may make multiple awards based on qualifications in specialty areas of the law.

Offerors are to demonstrate experience in areas particular to the firm and/or state if they prefer to be considered for a "specialized" category(ies). For example, a firm may desire to only represent the District regarding proceedings involving the School Personnel Act, or handling of Special Needs Students' matters, etc.

C. The Gallup-McKinley County School District covers an area of approximately 4,957 square miles (see attached map, Appendix "C"), and is one of the 89 public school districts in New Mexico. The District maintains 33 school facilities, bus/motor pool facilities, warehouses, teacher housing units, and other support (non-academic) buildings throughout the district. The GMCS website is www.gmcs.org for more information.

II. Scope of Services

A. Requirements:

a. The Contractor, including all individuals performing services under this agreement (if proposal submitted by a firm) shall be licensed and in good standing of the State Bar of New Mexico.

b. Offerors shall disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest, including representation of clients whose interests may be adverse to the District, its Board members, or its employees. The District reserves the right to determine whether a disclosed conflict is disqualifying or requires mitigation, and to require updated disclosures throughout the term of the contract.

c. The Contractor shall identify the primary individual(s) assigned to provide services to the

District. The individual(s) will be the first point of contact by the authorized district representatives.

d. The District reserves the right to have the primary individual assigned to the District replaced by providing written notification.

e. The Contractor may be requested to be in attendance at Board of Education meetings.

This may be for either closed session discussions for the purposes pertaining to personnel items, real estate or other legal matters.

f. Contractor shall comply with all applicable confidentiality requirements, including the

New Mexico Open Meetings Act, Inspection of Public Records Act, and attorney-client privilege requirements for executive and closed sessions.

g. The contractor shall provide their own library, clerical, professional and support staff.

h. Response time is critical for the District's needs. Offerors shall provide in their proposal average or typical response times for routine and urgent matters, consistent with the Response Time requirements set forth in the Special Conditions.

i. All legal work product produced under this contract for the District shall be the property of Gallup-McKinley County Schools, subject to applicable attorney-client privilege and confidentiality requirements.

I. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS:

B. Schedule - Subject to change at discretion of the Procurement Manager and proper notice provided to Offerors:

Action Responsibility Date/Time (MDT) Issue RFP

District January 16, 2026

@ 2:00 PM

Pre-Proposal Conference Agency January 22, 2026

@ 10:00 AM

Deadline to Submit Written Questions

Potential Offerors January 23, 2026

Response(s) to written questions, via email

Procurement Manager

January 27, 2026

Last Date for Amendments

Procurement Manager

January 27, 2026

Deadline to Submit Proposals

Offerors February 5, 2026

@ 2:00 PM

Proposal Evaluation

Evaluation Committee

TBD

Interviews (if held)

Evaluation Committee

TBD

Recommendation for Award to Governing Body

Procurement Manager

TBD

Notice of Award

District TBD

Protest Deadline

Offerors TBD

II. RESPONSE FORMAT AND ORGANIZATION:

A. Number of Responses – Only one (1) proposal may be submitted by each individual entity in response to this solicitation.

B. Required Forms or Input Information – Offerors shall upload forms in Portable Document File (pdf) format and input information which are stated to be required on the GMCS Bonfire eBidding portal.

C. Optional Forms or Input Information – Offerors may upload forms in Portable Document File (pdf) format or input information which are optional, but applicable to the Offeror, i.e., NM Resident Preference Certificate, NM Veteran’s Resident Certificate, other certification(s), etc.

D. Proposal Format – If there are any questions as to format requirements, they shall be directed to the Procurement Manager in the GMCS Bonfire eBidding portal for clarification, prior to submittal of documents.

E. Proposal Format – Proposals are limited to twenty (20) standard 8 ½” x 11” pages of text and/or graphic material. If there are any questions as to format requirements, they shall be directed to the Procurement Manager for clarification, prior to submittal of documents.

a. Cost Proposal - only one (1) cost proposal is to be submitted. This must be uploaded separately from the Technical Proposal and include information as requested in the Evaluation Criteria.

1 Offerors are cautioned that disclosing cost information in other parts of their proposal, other than where requested to be input/submitted, may result in declaring the proposal as Non-Responsive, and will not be evaluated or considered for award.

b. Exclusions from Page Limitation—the Cost Proposal and required or optional forms are excluded from the maximum page count.

c. Non-Conforming Proposal – Any proposal deemed non-conforming by the Procurement Manager and/or Evaluation Committee Chairperson in regard to format will be considered non-responsive. Offerors shall contact the Procurement Manager to clarify questions concerning format prior to submission.

Proposal shall be formatted in the following order:

1. Corporate/Management Experience- Provide information that documents your firm 's, team's, and/or joint venture's overall qualifications, experience, background, capacity, and number of years of experience regarding the type of services required. Provide information that documents key personnel's qualifications, background, experience, and availability to perform all aspects of the work.

2. Services- Describe in detail the type and level of services to be provided to the District. Please include the method to deliver services, number of properly licensed individuals to perform the services for the District and other pertinent information to exhibit the firm 's ability to perform.

3. Past Performance- Provide a list of current or previous clients. Include the type of services provided. Provide the name of the firm/agency, address, telephone number and a contact person for projects listed.

4. Other Value-Added Services- Offerors are encouraged to thoroughly describe any other value-added services they feel may contribute to the success of the District. These should be identified and listed separately.

III. Evaluation:

A. Process- The purpose of the evaluation of proposals is to assess the relative merits of the proposals submitted and to make an award to the responsible Offeror(s) whose proposal(s) is/are determined to be the most advantageous to the District, taking into consideration the evaluation factors as set forth below.

1. Short List – A maximum total of 100 points are possible in scoring each proposal for the shortlist evaluation.

2. Finalists/Interviews and Site Visit(s), if applicable – A maximum total of 100 points are possible in scoring finalists in the interview process.

3. Final Rankings – All committee rankings (not individual scores) are public record and will be available for public inspection at the District offices after final award of contract(s). Individual scores and rankings by each committee member shall be confidential.

4. Point Calculations - All calculations of point standings, including any addition or deduction of points to Offeror submittals shall occur at a meeting of the Evaluation Committee, with all members in attendance. The Committee’s points for each Offeror shall be totaled and averaged, and the average translated into a rank score.

The highest rank(ed) Offerors shall be considered for interviews. The District reserves the right to award a contract or contracts without holding interviews.

B. Evaluation Criteria

1. Experience:

a Corporate- Provide information that documents your firm 's, team's, and/or joint venture's overall qualifications, experience, background , capacity, and number of years of experience regarding the type of services required.

5 Points b Key Personnel-Provide information that documents key personnel's qualifications, background, experience, and availability to perform all aspects of the work.

10 Points

2. Experience with Public Education Entities - Describe in detail the services provided to other public education entities.

3. Experience with law- Describe in detail the experience of the firm with the various applicable laws, including but not limited to Federal, State, Local, public sector employment law, and tribal government law.

4. Past Performance/References:

Provide a list of current or previous clients. Include the type of legal services provided, i.e. , general litigation, employment issues, real estate matters, contractual (non-employment) matters, etc. Provide the name of the firm/agency, address, telephone number and a contact person for projects listed

30 Points

5. Other Value-Added Services:

Offerors are encouraged to thoroughly describe any other value-added services they feel may contribute to the success of the District. These should be identified and listed separate.

5 Points

6. Cost Proposal:

Provide a breakdown of costs to perform the work. This must be submitted and identified with your firm’s name and “COST PROPOSAL”. Costs proposed should be in direct relationship to the services offered in relation to the Technical Approach. Other Value-Added Services shall be listed separately. The following formula will be used to evaluate the Cost Criteria

30 Points

Lowest Responsive Offer Cost Offeror’s Points = -------------------------------------------- X Maximum Points This Offeror’s Cost

The Lowest Responsive Offeror’s Cost will be divided by other Offeror’s cost, and then multiplied by the number of available points in the evaluation process to arrive at the final ranking of Offerors.

7. Interview/Oral Presentation:

If the Evaluation Committee determines that there are sufficient responsive, responsible Offerors submitted, notice will be given to those Offerors to attend a pre-interview meeting (if held) and participate in the Interview Process. Total points, based on questions for the interview, and potential site visit(s), will be a possible 100 Points. Questions will be distributed prior to the Oral Presentation or at the pre-interview meeting. Dates, times, and location for events will be in the notification of short-listed finalists.

100 Points

GRAND TOTAL 200 POINTS

C. Cost Proposal - The Cost Proposal shall provide a breakdown of costs. Profit and overhead shall be incorporated into the hourly rates.

1. The Cost Proposal must be submitted SEPARATE from the Technical

Proposal in the space provided in the GMCS Bonfire Portal.

2. For evaluation purposes, the hourly rate for the individual specialist for the category will be used.

3. The cost proposal shall be for the hourly rates to be charged for the proposed services.

4. Alternate pricing structures may be submitted, but CLEARLY LABELED AS ALTERNATE PRICE PROPOSAL. However, the amount stated above will be utilized for the evaluation and scoring of the proposals.