County of San Mateo

Request for Proposals (RFP) for As-Needed Website

Services

County Executive's Office

RFP No. 2027-RFP-00186

RFP Contact: Roberto Manchia rmanchia@smcgov.org

1. Introduction and Schedule

The County of San Mateo (the “County” or “SMC”) covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula. The region covers 744 mi and is home to nearly 800,000 residents and 20 incorporated cities. The County provides for the health and welfare of all people within its borders and serves as the local government for the unincorporated areas. Innovation thrives here in industries including bioscience, computer software, green technology, hospitality, financial management, health care, education and transportation. The

County prides itself on how that prosperity fosters its commitment to protecting and enhancing the health, safety, welfare and natural resources of the community.

1.1. Summary

The County of San Mateo is soliciting proposals from qualified firms for as-needed website creation, maintenance, enhancement, redesign, migration, and related services for the County Executive’s Office (CEO), including the existing Fair Funding website (smcfairfunding.org) or successor site. Work will be authorized through County-approved Task Orders or other written authorization specified in the resulting agreement.

1.2. Contact Information

Roberto Manchia

CFO

Email: rmanchia@smcgov.org Phone: (650) 363-4597

Department:

County Executive's Office

Department Head:

Michael Callagy County Executive

1.3. Timeline

RFP Released November 4, 2026

Deadline for Questions and Comments November 11, 2026, 12:00am

Question Response Deadline November 16, 2026, 12:00am

Proposal Due Date and Time November 20, 2026, 12:00am

2. Scope of Work

2.1. General Requirements

The requirements in this section apply to all services performed under this Scope of Work.

mailto:rmanchia@smcgov.org tel:(650)363-4597

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Accessibility Compliance and Remediation

• Accessibility is a continuing performance requirement. The Contractor shall include all routine accessibility monitoring, testing, remediation, verification, documentation, and consultation necessary to keep Contractor-managed websites and Contractor-delivered websites in conformance with the

Accessibility Requirements.

• The Contractor shall not assess separate fees for accessibility scanning, code-level remediation, template/component remediation, remediation of Contractor-created content or assets, accessibility statements, accessibility reporting, or routine content-author accessibility guidance.

• The Contractor shall conduct recurring automated scans and targeted manual testing, including keyboard navigation, focus order, semantic structure, labels and instructions, color contrast, alternative text, headings, forms, error identification, responsive behavior, and common assistive-technology compatibility issues.

• The Contractor shall remediate defects at the code, template, component, configuration, and content level. Browser overlays, widget-only solutions, or equivalent patch approaches shall not substitute for underlying remediation unless expressly approved in writing by TSD.

• The Contractor shall promptly (within three business days) identify items requiring County action or involving third-party services, document the risk and recommended action, and provide reasonable assistance to resolve the issue.

• The Contractor shall ensure that all websites are able to be translated, at minimum, into Spanish, Chinese, and Tagalog.

County and TSD Standards

• Comply with all applicable TSD Standards throughout the term, including standards that may be updated during the agreement.

• Use County-approved hosting, deployment, security, identity, analytics, cookie/consent, domain, and monitoring arrangements where required.

• Coordinate with TSD on architecture, integrations, hosting, DNS, SSL/TLS certificates, access control, release management, and security incident response.

• Follow applicable County branding, content, records retention, privacy, and public-information requirements as directed by the County.

Security, WordPress Maintenance, and Technical Quality

• Maintain supported and secure versions of WordPress core, themes, plugins, server-side components, and other dependencies.

• Apply updates through a documented staging, backup, testing, approval, and production-release process. Emergency security updates may be expedited with notice to the County.

• Use least-privilege access, multi-factor authentication where available, secure credential management, backups, vulnerability monitoring, SSL/TLS, and other reasonable security controls.

• Avoid unsupported, abandoned, duplicative, or unnecessary plugins and document all approved third-party components.

• Use maintainable coding practices and preserve a current inventory of themes, plugins, integrations, custom code, licenses, and administrative access.

Content Management and Reusable Components

• Use WordPress and Gutenberg, or another County-approved content-authoring approach, to enable appropriate County staff to create and update content without routine vendor intervention.

• Develop reusable, accessible templates, patterns, blocks, custom post types, taxonomies, and editorial workflows when needed.

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• Provide clear content-author guidance for accessible headings, links, alternative text, documents, tables, images, video, and forms.

• Do not introduce vendor lock-in. County staff must retain practical access to administer and export

County content and data.

Quality Assurance, Acceptance, and Documentation

• Test deliverables in current major desktop and mobile browsers and at common responsive breakpoints.

• Provide a pre-release quality-assurance checklist covering functionality, links, forms, accessibility, performance, security updates, analytics where applicable, and mobile responsiveness.

• Correct defects identified before acceptance that are attributable to the Contractor’s work at no additional cost.

• Provide current technical documentation, operating procedures, and transition materials for all

Contractor-managed Websites.

County Ownership, Access, and Transition

• The County shall own all County-funded deliverables, including website files, source code, custom themes, configurations, documentation, content provided by the County, and project-specific work product, subject to any pre-existing third-party license terms disclosed and approved in writing.

• The Contractor shall provide the County and TSD with current administrative access to all County systems, repositories, accounts, credentials, domains, and documentation used to provide services.

• Upon County request or at agreement end, the Contractor shall provide a complete transition package and reasonable knowledge transfer to the County or a successor vendor.

2.2. Existing Fair Funding Website Maintenance

The Contractor shall provide ongoing maintenance and support for the existing Fair Funding website:

`smcfairfunding.org`, or such successor domain or County-approved environment as designated in writing by the County.

• Complete transition-in review and document the current WordPress configuration, hosting, plugins, themes, custom code, integrations, access, analytics, and outstanding issues.

• Perform routine WordPress core, plugin, theme, dependency, and security updates using staging, backup, testing, and release procedures.

• Provide recurring accessibility monitoring and remediation, including code-level, template-level, component-level, configuration-level, and Contractor-created content remediation.

• Provide routine content and configuration support as authorized by the County.

• Provide monthly maintenance reporting and quarterly accessibility status reporting.

• Maintain technical documentation, access records, backup procedures, and a current inventory of third-party services and licenses.

2.3. As-Needed Website Services

Upon written County authorization through a Task Order or other approved mechanism, the Contractor shall provide one or more of the following services.

Discovery, Strategy, and Planning

• Stakeholder interviews, requirements gathering, user and content analysis, analytics review, content inventory, information architecture, and project planning.

• Technical discovery and recommendations concerning platform, hosting, integrations, accessibility, security, performance, governance, and lifecycle support.

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• Project plans that identify deliverables, schedule, roles, dependencies, risks, assumptions, acceptance criteria, and price.

Design and Content Experience

• User-centered design, visual design, branding application and adaptation, page templates, navigation, responsive layouts, content models, and interactive prototypes.

• Design systems and reusable accessible components consistent with County and TSD standards.

• Content strategy, content migration planning, and practical content-author guidance.

WordPress Development and Configuration

• New WordPress websites, microsites, landing pages, custom themes, Gutenberg blocks, custom post types, taxonomies, templates, forms, integrations, and approved custom functionality.

• Coordination with County or its stakeholders regarding site requirements, graphic or branding elements, user experience, security or other aspects of development and configuration

• Configuration or migration of hosting, environments, analytics, search, forms, newsletters, maps, calendars, and other County-approved tools.

• Secure and documented source control, staging, testing, deployment, and handoff procedures.

• Conduct search engine optimization

Accessibility Assessment and Remediation

• Accessibility audits, remediation plans, manual testing, automated scanning, code remediation, document and content remediation, verification, and accessibility statements when authorized.

• For sites placed into recurring maintenance, routine accessibility monitoring and remediation shall be included in that site’s maintenance price and shall not be charged as separate ADA/accessibility fees.

Maintenance, Enhancement, and Support

• Ongoing maintenance for County-authorized CEO websites, including updates, security patches, backups, monitoring, content support, defect correction, and accessibility maintenance.

• Enhancements such as new pages, templates, blocks, forms, integrations, dashboards, features, or content structures.

• Technical support, troubleshooting, and coordination with TSD and County stakeholders.

Migration, Redesign, and Retirement

• Migration from legacy platforms; content, media, redirects, metadata, search, and analytics transition;

and validation of the completed migration.

• Website redesigns and modernization projects.

• Website retirement, archival support, export, redirect planning, documentation, and transfer to County or successor systems.

2.4. Task Order Process

No as-needed project work shall begin until the County provides written authorization. Each Task Order shall, at a minimum, identify:

• Project name, purpose, and County project manager.

• Scope, deliverables, and exclusions.

• Applicable TSD Standards, accessibility requirements, and security requirements.

• Schedule, milestones, dependencies, and County review points.

• Fixed fee or not-to-exceed amount, payment milestones, and applicable hourly rates.

• Assumptions, third-party costs, licensing, and County-furnished resources.

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• Testing requirements, acceptance criteria, and post-launch support period.

2.5. Service Levels and Support

For recurring maintenance services, proposers shall describe their proposed service levels, and the associated processing times. The County may finalize targets in the resulting agreement or an applicable Task Order.

Severity Example Initial Response Target Action / Update

Critical Website unavailable, confirmed active compromise, or critical public-service failure

[Proposer to state] [Proposer to state]

High Material function, form, security, or accessibility issue affecting users

[Proposer to state] [Proposer to state]

Routine Content request, minor defect, or standard maintenance item

[Proposer to state] [Proposer to state]

2.6. Deliverables and Reporting

• Fair Funding transition-in assessment and operating plan within 10 business days after notice to proceed.

• Monthly maintenance report for Fair Funding and any other Website under recurring maintenance.

• Quarterly accessibility status report for Fair Funding and any other Website under recurring maintenance.

• For each Task Order: approved project plan, design/development deliverables, quality-assurance results, accessibility verification, launch plan, final documentation, and transition materials.

• Current inventory of active CEO websites, platforms, technical ownership, administrative access, third-party services, and maintenance status.

2.7. County Responsibilities

• Provide timely access to County-controlled systems, content, subject matter experts, and approvals necessary for authorized work.

• Identify County contacts authorized to request Task Orders and approve deliverables.

• Coordinate TSD review and approval where required.

• Remain responsible for policy decisions, legal review, and approval of final public-facing content unless otherwise expressly authorized.

2.8. Acceptance

The County will review recurring service reports and Task Order deliverables against the approved requirements. A Task Order deliverable is accepted when the County provides written acceptance or otherwise confirms in writing that the applicable work is complete. The Contractor shall correct deficiencies attributable to its work before acceptance at no additional cost.

3. Submission Requirements

3.1. Submission Deadline

Proposals must be electronically received by 12:00 am, on Friday, November 20, 2026, via eProcurement system.

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Allow sufficient time for the upload to be completed by the Due Date and Time. Partial uploads will automatically terminate, and proposals will be rejected. The eProcurement system submission time will be the official submission time. The County will not be responsible for and may not accept proposals that are late due to slow internet connections or for any other failure of the eProcurement system.

NOTE: The County does not maintain the eProcurement system and is not liable for site failures or technical problems. To resolve technical issues, contact OpenGov Technical Support by using the real time chat located in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, or via email at procurement-support@opengov.com https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/smcgov

3.2. Pre-submission Registration

Organizations or individuals interested in responding to this solicitation must register online with the

County of San Mateo at:

• https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/smcgov

It is recommended that organizations complete this registration as soon as possible. The County will not be responsible for and may not accept proposals that are late due to a failure to register in the eProcurement system.

3.3. Submission via eProcurement Portal

Required Documents

Please refer to the Technical Proposal section for submittal documents and requirements.

Electronic Submissions

Include the proposer name and the RFP title and number in each filename. Submit proposals via the eProcurement website, allowing sufficient time for the upload to complete by the Due Date and Time. As noted above, the eProcurement portal submission time will be the official submission time, and partial uploads will automatically terminate, and proposals will be rejected. Contact eProcurement Portal with technical questions regarding this site.

Conflicts between Certain Requirements

Prior to the submission deadlines and solely relating to a determination of the timeliness of questions, comments, and proposal submissions, information displayed on the eProcurement portal site will take precedence in the event of a discrepancy between that information and the information within the solicitation documents. For all other discrepancies, the information in the solicitation documents will take precedence.

Format

Documents should be created in the following format:

• Text should be Times New Roman (12-point minimum font size) and unjustified (i.e., with a ragged-right margin) mailto:procurement-support@opengov.com mailto:procurement-support@opengov.com https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/smcgov https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/smcgov https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/smcgov/projects/320587/document?section=3033320

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• Pages should have margins of at least one inch on all sides (excluding headers and footers)

• If the proposal is lengthy, a Table of Contents should be included.

• PDF format is preferred.

Errors in Proposals

The County will not be liable for any errors in proposals. Proposals may be rejected as unresponsive if they are late, incomplete, missing pages or information, or cannot be opened for any reason. The County may waive minor irregularities, but such waiver will not modify any remaining RFP requirements.

4. Minimum Qualifications, Local Preference Ordinance, and Technical Proposal

4.1. Minimum Qualifications

4.1.1. Has Proposer has been providing similar services for a minimum of four (4) years within the last seven (7) years? *

☐ Yes

☐ No

*Response required

4.1.2. Please confirm your firm is registered with System for Award Management (SAM) *

SAM.gov

☐ Please confirm

*Response required

4.1.3. What is the registered Business Name and Unique Entity ID (UEI) No.? *

• UEI number can be obtained by registering your business through SAM.GOV

• Should you be in the process of obtaining your UEI number, please enter the digits ‘123’ temporarily for your response below in order to proceed with proposal. This temporary number should be replaced with the correct registration number for submission of the proposal.

*Response required

4.2. Technical Proposal

4.2.1. Introduction and Executive Summary *

Submit a letter of introduction and executive summary of the proposal. The letter must contain:

• Name, title and contact information (email, phone, and address) for representative of proposer that is responsible for communication related to this RFP.

• Name, title, contact information, and signature of person authorized to obligate firm to perform the commitment contained in the proposal.

Submission of the letter will constitute a representation by proposer that it is willing and able to perform the commitments contained in the proposal and has not violated the terms of this RFP.

https://sam.gov/content/home

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*Response required

4.2.2. Statement of Minimum Qualifications *

Describe how the proposer meets the minimum qualifications as set forth in Minimum Qualifications of this RFP.

Submission of the Minimum Qualifications checklist is not a substitute for providing a detailed written response.

*Response required

4.2.3. Project Approach *

This section should correlate to the Scope of Work. Proposer should give a short summary describing how it will perform the relevant work

*Response required

4.2.4. Scope of Work tasks/milestones *

Describe your proposed approach to tasks/milestones

*Response required

4.2.5. Proposed schedule *

Attach proposed schedule reference ability to complete the project within the County's required time frame

*Response required

4.2.6. Innovations *

Refence any notable innovations or improvements that you expect to provide (with respect to, for example, efficiency, technology, sustainability)

*Response required

4.2.7. Performance Measures *

Describe a plan for achieving performance measures

*Response required

4.2.8. Firm Qualifications *

Attach information regarding background and qualifications, including the following:

• A brief description of the proposer.

• A description of not more than three (3) projects similar in size and scope conducted by the proposer, including the client, reference and telephone numbers, primary staff members involved, budget, schedule, and project summary. Descriptions should be limited to one (1) page for each project.

• If subcontractors are anticipated, identify them (if known) and provide information on how they will be used.

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*Response required

4.2.9. Team Qualifications *

Provide a chart identifying:

▪ Project team and reporting structure

▪ Lead project manager

▪ Role each person will play in the project

Provide a brief description of the experience and qualifications of the project team members, including short resumes if desired.

Written assurance that the key individuals listed and identified will be performing the work and will not be substituted or reassigned without the County’s prior approval

*Response required

4.2.10. References *

Provide 3 references for each of the following, including the name, address, and telephone number of recent clients (preferably other public agencies):

*Response required

4.2.11. Fee Proposal *

The Fee Proposal should be submitted as a separate PDF file from the Technical Proposals detailed in

Required Documents.

The County reserves the right to accept other than the lowest priced offer and to reject any proposals that are not responsive to this request.

*Response required

5. Evaluation and Selection Criteria

The proposals will be evaluated by a selection committee with relevant expertise. The County intends to evaluate the proposals generally in accordance with the criteria itemized below. Proposers with the highest scoring proposals may be interviewed by the committee to make the final selection.

No. Evaluation Criteria Scoring Method Weight (Points)

1. Project Approach Points Based 30 (30% of Total)

2. Firm Qualifications Points Based 25 (25% of Total)

3. Team Qualifications Points Based 20 (20% of Total)

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4. Price Points Based 25 (25% of Total)

6. Instructions to Proposers

6.1. Instructions

There will be no pre-proposal conference or site visit for this project.

6.2. Communications

A. As of the issuance date of this RFP and continuing until it is canceled or an award is made, no proposer or person acting on behalf of a prospective proposer may discuss any matter relating to the RFP with any officer, agent, or employee of the County, other than through eProcurement portal, to the Authorized Contact Person, or as outlined in the evaluation or protest procedures.

B. Proposers (including any agent, owner, employee, board members, or other such affiliates) shall not offer any gift, favor, or other personal benefit to any County officer or employee during the procurement process for this agreement, including during the solicitation period and contract negotiations.

Violation of the foregoing prohibitions may result in a proposer being found non-responsible and barred from participating in this or future procurements.

6.3. Contract Award

A. Award Procedure

Contract negotiations are neither an offer nor guarantee that a contract will be executed. A contract award, if any is made, will be to the responsive, responsible proposer offering the overall best value to the County for the services and goods described in this solicitation, or as applicable, for a specific portion of the services and goods described. Any agreement reached will be memorialized in a formal agreement using the attached template, executed by the appropriate authority.

B. Notice of Intent to Award

If a decision is made to take steps to enter into an agreement with one or more proposers, the

County will post a Notice of Intent to Award or otherwise notify proposers the remaining proposers of their non-selection. Notice may instead be provided by including approval of the agreement as an item on an agenda for a meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

C. Commencement of Performance

After all parties have signed the agreement, the County will notify the contractor and performance may proceed. Prior to execution of the agreement by the County, no County employee may authorize work under the agreement. Any work performed prior to the full execution of the Agreement may not be compensated.

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D. Levine Act DisclosureThe Levine Act (California Government Code Section 84308) imposes certain requirements on parties contracting with the County of San Mateo related to campaign contributions to County “officers,” including elected County officers and candidates seeking elective office, who may participate in making a decision on certain County contracts. Elected

County officers in San Mateo County include: the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, County Controller, Coroner, District Attorney, Sheriff, and Tax

Collector-Treasurer.Generally, under current County policy, approval by the Board of

Supervisors is required for any agreement for services above $200,000, and agreements for services below that threshold may be approved by Department heads.If your proposal is selected, you will be required to certify compliance with the Levine Act.As part of this process, you will need to certify and warrant that you have fully complied, and will remain in full compliance, with all applicable requirements of the Levine Act in connection with the

Agreement, including making any required disclosures of campaign contributions to County

Officers, which includes but may not be limited to elected County Officers. Elected County

Officers include members of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, as well as the

Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, Controller, Coroner, District Attorney, Sheriff, and Tax

Collector-Treasurer. Any campaign contribution required to be disclosed under the Levine Act in connection with this Agreement shall be disclosed on the County of San Mateo Levine Act

Disclosure Form, a copy of which is available from the County upon request.Parties are solely responsible for accurate certification and disclosure. The Levine Act is complex, and this brief description is not legal advice. For example, certain contributions must be aggregated when determining whether contributions have exceeded the $500 threshold. If your proposal is selected, you are urged to review the Levine Act and consider consulting an attorney.

6.4. Term

County Executive's Officeis issuing Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 2027-RFP-00186 for As-Needed

Website Services.

The agreement shall have a term of three (3) years. In addition, the County shall have one (1) option to extend the term for an additional period not to exceed five years, which the County may exercise in its sole, absolute discretion. To exercise this option, the County shall provide written notice to the Contractor at least thirty days before the end of the agreement’s term.

The County’s standard contract template has been included with this solicitation. The awarded contractor will be expected to sign an agreement prepared by the County using this template. Please ensure that your firm has completed legal review of these contract terms. If your firm wishes to request exceptions to these standard terms, submit a Contract Exceptions Request by the Deadline for Contract Exceptions listed in the Solicitation Schedule. The County will consider Contract Exceptions Requests but reserves the right to reject requested modifications to its standard terms.

7. Terms and Conditions for Receipt of Proposals

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7.1. Errors, Omissions and Inquiries regarding the RFP

Proposers are responsible for reviewing all portions of this RFP. Proposers are to notify the department, in eProcurement portal, if the proposer discovers any ambiguity, discrepancy, omission, or apparent error in the RFP. Such notification should be made promptly after discovery, but in no event later than five business days prior to the deadline for receipt of proposals. Modifications and clarifications will be made by addenda as provided below.

Inquiries regarding the RFP should be lodged in eProcurement portal.

7.2. Objections to RFP Terms

Should a proposer object on any ground to any provision or legal requirement set forth in this RFP, the proposer must, not more than ten calendar days after the RFP is issued, provide written notice to the department, via eProcurement portal, setting forth with specific grounds for the objection.

7.3. Addenda

The County may cancel, revise, or reissue this RFP, in whole or in part, for any reason. Revisions will be posted as Addenda on eProcurement portal. No other revision of this RFP is valid. Proposers shall be responsible for ensuring that their proposals reflects any and all Addenda issued by the County prior to the proposal due date regardless of when a proposal is submitted. Therefore, the County recommends that proposers consult eProcurement portal frequently, including shortly before the proposal due date, to confirm that all Addenda have been downloaded.

7.4. Term of Proposal

Submission of a proposal signifies that the proposed services and prices are valid for the duration of the proposed agreement term and that the quoted prices are genuine and not the result of collusion or any other anti-competitive activity.

7.5. Revision or Withdrawal of Proposal

A proposer may revise a proposal on the proposer’s own initiative at any time before the deadline for submission of proposals. The proposer must submit the revised proposal in the same manner as the original on or before the proposal due date.

A proposer may withdraw a proposal at any time before the deadline for submission of proposals. After that time, whether or not a new RFP is issued for the same subject matter, withdrawal of a proposal may preclude the proposer from participating in the procurement as a proposer or subcontractor, except that an original equipment manufacturer may participate indirectly through a reseller.

7.6. Errors and Omissions in Proposal

The County will not be liable for any errors in proposals. Proposals may be rejected as unresponsive if they are incomplete, are missing pages or information, or cannot be opened for any reason. The County may waive minor irregularities, but such waiver will not modify any of the remaining RFP requirements.

7.7. No Commitment

Neither submission of a proposal nor the County’s receipt of proposal materials confers any right to the proposer nor any obligation on the County. This RFP does not commit the County to award a contract.

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7.8. Financial Responsibility

The County shall have no financial responsibility for any costs incurred by a firm in responding to this

RFP or participating in any presentations or negotiations.

7.9. Estimated Quantity

If the RFP results in an indefinite quantity or a requirements agreement, the goods and services actually requested by the County may be less than the maximum value of the agreement and there is no guarantee, either expressed or implied, as to the actual quantity of goods and services that will be authorized under the agreement.

7.10. Public Record

A. General

1. All proposals, protests, and information submitted in response to this solicitation will become the property of the County and will be considered public records. As such, they may be subject to public review.

2. Any contract arising from this RFP will be a public record.

3. The County is not seeking proprietary information and will not assert any privileges that may exist on behalf of the proposer.

4. Submission of any materials in response to this RFP constitutes:

▪ Consent to the County’s release of such materials under the Public Records Act without notice to the person or entity submitting the materials; and

▪ Waiver of all claims against the County and/or its officers, agents, or employees that the

County has violated a proposer's right to privacy, disclosed trade secrets, or caused any damage by allowing the proposal or materials to be inspected; and

▪ Agreement to indemnify and hold harmless the County for release of such information under the Public Records Act; and

▪ Acknowledgement that the County will not assert any privileges that may exist on behalf of the person or entity submitting the materials.

7.11. Confidential Information

A. Proposers are responsible for asserting any applicable privileges or reasons why a document should not be produced in response to a public record request.

B. If submitting information protected from disclosure as a trade secret or any other basis, identify each page of such material subject to protection as “CONFIDENTIAL.” If requested material has been designated as confidential, the County will attempt to inform the proposer of the public records request in a timely manner to permit assertion of any applicable privileges.

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C. Failure to seek a court order protecting information from disclosure within ten days of the

County’s notice of a request to the proposer will be deemed agreement to disclosure of the information and the proposer agrees to indemnify and hold the County harmless for release of such information.

D. Requests to treat an entire proposal as confidential will be rejected and deemed agreement to

County disclosure of the entire proposal and the proposer agrees to indemnify and hold the

County harmless for release of any information requested.

E. Trade secrets will only be considered confidential if claimed to be a trade secret when submitted to the County, marked as confidential, and compliant with Government Code Section 6254.7.

7.12. Reservations of Rights by the County

The issuance of this RFP does not constitute an agreement by the County that any contract will actually be entered into by the County. The County expressly reserves the right at any time to:

• Waive or correct any defect or informality in any response, proposal, or proposal procedure;

• Reject any or all proposals;

• Reissue an RFP;

• Prior to submission deadline for proposals, modify all or any portion of the selection procedures, including deadlines for accepting responses, the specifications or requirements for any materials, equipment or services to be provided under this RFP, or the requirements for contents or format of the proposals;

• Procure any materials, equipment or services specified in this RFP by any other means; or

• Determine that no project will be pursued.

7.13. No Waiver

No waiver by the County of any provision of this RFP shall be implied from any failure by the County to recognize or take action on account of any failure by a proposer to observe any provision of this RFP.

7.14. Cooperative Agreement (Piggyback)

This competitive solicitation is being conducted as a Cooperative Procurement. The services, terms and conditions of any agreement resulting from this solicitation may be used by other organizations as a

Cooperative Agreement.

This provision in no way commits any affiliate to procure services from any awarded contractor, nor does it guarantee that any additional orders will result. At their discretion, and subject to their own procurement policies, interested organizations may make use of this competitive procurement and contract directly from the awarded contractor.

8. Protest Procedures

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8.1. Protest of Non-Responsiveness Determination

Within five (5) working days of the County's issuance of a notice of non-responsiveness, any firm that has submitted a proposal and believes that the County has incorrectly determined that its proposal is non-responsive may submit a written notice of protest. Such notice of protest must be received by the County on or before the fifth working day following the County's issuance of the notice of non-responsiveness. The notice of protest must include a written statement specifying in detail each and every one of the grounds asserted for the protest. The protest must be signed by an individual authorized to represent the proposer, and must cite the law, rule, local ordinance, procedure or RFP provision on which the protest is based. In addition, the protestor must specify facts and evidence sufficient for the County to determine the validity of the protest.

8.2. Protest of Contract Award

Within five (5) working days of the County's issuance of a notice of intent to award the contract, any firm that has submitted a responsive proposal and believes that the County has incorrectly selected another proposer for award may submit a written notice of protest. Such notice of protest must be received by the

County on or before the fifth working day after the County's issuance of the notice of intent to award.

The notice of protest must include a written statement specifying in detail each and every one of the grounds asserted for the protest. The protest must be signed by an individual authorized to represent the proposer, and must cite the law, rule, local ordinance, procedure or RFP provision on which the protest is based. In addition, the protestor must specify facts and evidence sufficient for the County to determine the validity of the protest.

8.3. Delivery of Protests

All protests must be received by the due date. If a protest is mailed, the protestor bears the risk of non-delivery within the deadlines specified herein. Protests should be transmitted by a means that will objectively establish the date the County received the protest. Protests or notice of protests made orally

(e.g., by telephone) will not be considered. Protests must be delivered to:

Protests@smcgov.org

Subject: As-Needed Website Services, 2027-RFP-00186