Financial_Auditing_Services.pdf

CITY OF BENSON, AZ

Project ID: 2026-RFP-002

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL 1

FINANCIAL AUDITING SERVICES

City of Benson

101 E. 6th Street

Benson, AZ 85602

RELEASE DATE: Friday, October 24, 2025

DEADLINE FOR QUESTIONS: Friday, October 31, 2025 10:00 am

RESPONSE TO QUESTION: Thursday, November 6, 2025

RESPONSE DEADLINE: Friday, November 14, 2025 3:00 pm

RESPONSES MUST BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY TO:

https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/bensonaz

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Notice of Request for Proposal

2. General Information and Instructions to Proposers

3. Scope of Work, Requirements, Pricing, Term of Agreement

4. Evaluation Process

5. Pricing

6. Vendor Proposal Submission and Required Documentation

1. Notice of Request for Proposal

PUBLIC NOTICE OF SOLICITATION

SOLICITATION # 2026-RFP-002

Friday, October 24, 2025

Request for Proposal Financial Auditing Services

PROPOSAL DUE DATE AND TIME: Friday, November 14, 2025, 3:00 pm Local Arizona Time The City of Benson will receive sealed bids on a general contract for Financial Auditing Services, until November 14, 2025; 3:00 p.m. Arizona Time, through its online bidding system. at https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/bensonaz. Any bids received after that time will be held unopened and will not be accepted. All bids must be presented as described within this document.

Issue RFP Date Friday, October 24, 2025

Questions due from Proposers Friday, October 31, 2025 10:00 am local Arizona time

City of Benson response to Questions Thursday, November 6, 2025 3:00 pm

Proposal Due Date Friday, November 14, 2025 3:00 pm local Arizona time

Public Opening via Zoom* Friday, November 14, 2025 3:30pm local Arizona time

Proposals must be submitted to our e-procurement system, on or prior to the exact date and time indicated above.

Late submittals shall not be considered under any circumstances.

Questions concerning this solicitation should be submitted directly through the e-procurement portal https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/bensonaz, email questions or attempts to call and ask questions will not be considered official questions and will not be answered.

NOTE: THE CITY OF BENSON PUBLISHES ITS SOLICITATIONS, ATTACHMENTS, AND ADDENDA ONLINE AND THEY ARE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AND/OR DOWNLOADING AT THE FOLLOWING INTERNET ADDRESS: https://pro curement.opengov.com/portal/bensonaz.

*Join Zoom Meeting https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/bensonaz https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81501640493?pwd=ARl4N4MvpCUrwcolOvLKhvFn4bdhEE.1

View meeting insights with Zoom AI Companion https://us06web.zoom.us/launch/edl?muid=6845fa3c-5a80-4f78-9d22-6ac31108ab90

Meeting ID: 815 0164 0493 Passcode: 911037

2. General Information and Instructions to Proposers

2.1 Original Bid Document.

The Procurement Specialist will keep all documents, and all related terms and conditions, exhibits and other attachments, in original form in an archival copy. Any modification of these, in the vendor’s submission, is grounds for immediate disqualification.

2.2 Proposal Preparation Instructions.

The Procurement Specialist will keep all documents, and all related terms and conditions, exhibits and other attachments, in original form in an archival copy. Any modification of these, in the vendor’s submission, is grounds for immediate disqualification.

2.3 Pricing.

Vendors shall indicate pricing as directed in section 3.3. Vendor’s pricing may not be modified after the bid closing date and time unless the City of Benson, at its sole discretion, decides that future negotiations will only enhance the Vendor’s offer to the City. Should the City decide that such negotiations would not be in the City’s best interests, pricing by Vendor at closing date and time may be considered by City as the Vendor’s best and final offer.

2.4 Attention to Requirements.

Vendors are cautioned to thoroughly understand and comply with all matters covered under the Requirements section of this bid document.

2.5 Required Signatures.

The City may reject any vendor's response if it is not signed as indicated and/or required by the areas, spaces, or forms provided within this bid document.

2.6 Proposal Organization.

Vendors shall ensure that their proposals include all requirements listed in Section #3, page numbers, and are organized in a manner that will facilitate the City's evaluation of them. The City reserves the right to reject without prior notice and without liability of any kind or amount any proposal that it deems overly complex, disorganized, or difficult to evaluate.

2.7 Collusion Prohibited.

In connection with this bid, vendor collusion with other vendors or employees thereof, or with any employee of the City, is prohibited and may result in vendor disqualification and/or cancellation of award. Any attempt by the vendor, whether successful or not, to subvert or skirt the principles of open and fair competition may result in vendor disqualification and/or cancellation of award. Such disqualification and/or cancellation shall be at no fault or liability whatsoever to the City.

2.8 Proposal Submission.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81501640493?pwd=ARl4N4MvpCUrwcolOvLKhvFn4bdhEE.1 https://us06web.zoom.us/launch/edl?muid=6845fa3c-5a80-4f78-9d22-6ac31108ab90

Proposal must be submitted via online bidding system by Friday, November 14, 2025, no later than 3:00 pm Arizona time. The City of Benson shall not accept proposals received by facsimile or by e-mail. The City shall, at the specified opening date and time, accept all proposals that are otherwise in order. The City will allow interested parties to attending a virtual meeting via Zoom (link provided in Section one (1)) for purposes of identifying which vendors have responded. The City will make no immediate decision at such time, and there will be no disclosure of any information contained in any proposal until after formal notice of award and execution of any contract resulting from this bid document. The City will hold unopened any proposals received after the closing date and time and will not consider such proposals. The City reserves the right to retain or dispose of such proposals at its discretion; however, the City may return such proposals to their related vendors, but only at such vendor’s request and at no cost or expense whatsoever to the City of Benson.

2.8.1 Proposal Costs.

The City of Benson is not liable in any manner or to any extent for any cost or expense incurred by any vendor in the preparation, submission, presentation, or any other action connected with proposing or otherwise responding to this bid document.

2.9 Evaluation Process and Award.

2.9.1 Contractual Intent/Right to Terminate and Recommence the Bid Process.

The City intends to contract with one vendor whose proposal is considered to be in the best interests of the City. However, the City may terminate this bid process at any time up to notice of award, without prior notice, and without liability of any kind or amount. Further, the City reserves the right to commence one or more subsequent bid processes seeking the same or similar products or services covered hereunder.

2.9.2 Effective Period of Proposals.

Under this bid process, the City shall hold that vendors' responses to this bid shall remain in effect for a period of thirty (30) days following the opening date, in order to allow time for evaluation, approval, and award of the contract. No bid received may be withdrawn for a period of thirty (30) days from date of opening. Any vendor who does not agree to this condition shall specifically communicate in its proposal such disagreement to the City, along with any proposed alternatives. The City may accept or reject such proposed alternatives without further notification or explanation.

2.9.3 Proposal Acceptance/Rejection.

The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals. Such rejection may be without prior notice and shall be without any liability of any kind or amount to the City. The City shall not accept any proposal that the City deems not to be in its best interests. The City shall reject proposals submitted after the due date and time.

2.9.4 Errors and Omissions in Vendors Proposals.

The City may accept or reject any vendor's proposal, in part or in its entirety, if such proposal contains errors, omissions, or other problematic information. The City may decide upon the materiality of such errors, omissions, or other problematic information.

2.9.5 Determination of and Information Concerning Vendor's Qualifications.

The City reserves the right to determine whether a vendor has the ability, capacity, and resources necessary to perform in full any contract resulting from this bid. The City may request from vendors information it deems necessary to evaluate such vendors' qualifications and capacities to deliver the products and/or services sought hereunder.

2.9.6 Method of Award.

The evaluation of each response to this bid document will be based on its overall competence, compliance, format, and organization. The award shall be made to the responsible vendor whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the City of Benson, taking into consideration the evaluation criteria listed in Section four (4) the relative descending order of importance. The City is under no obligation whatsoever to select, as most responsive the proposal that demonstrates the lowest pricing, but not necessarily the one receiving the highest overall score.

2.9.7 Pre-Award Presentations.

The City reserves the right to require presentations from the highest ranked vendors, in which they may be asked to provide information in addition to that provided in their proposals.

2.9.8 Pre-Award Negotiations.

The City reserves the right to negotiate prior to award with the highest ranked vendors for purposes of addressing the matters set forth in the following list, which may not be exhaustive.

3. Scope of Work, Requirements, Pricing, Term of Agreement

Vendors responding to this bid request shall base their offer on the following requirements, and at a minimum, propose how each of the following requirements shall be accomplished. Vendors may provide other services not specified in this document. These added services will be considered when determining which proposal is selected.

3.1 Scope of Work.

The City is seeking responses to this document for vendor-provided financial auditing services for a three

(3) year period for fiscal years 2024-2025, 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 with the City’s option to renew the contract for two (2) additional one-year periods. The following services shall be performed by the vendor:

▪ Audit the financial statements of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, the aggregate discretely presented component units, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information, which collectively comprise the City’s basic financial statements.

▪ Prepare a draft of the City’s financial statements and related notes.

▪ Prepare all compliance reports necessary under Federal or State guidelines including the Single

Audit Reports.

▪ Review internal controls and prepare a report in the form of a management letter covering the internal control systems, general computer utilization, account system, procedures and other matters which come to the vendor’s attention during the course of the audit.

▪ Audit and prepare the Annual Expenditure Limitation Report.

▪ Provide all reports to the City in printed bound format (number to be requested by the City each year) and in PDF format.

These services must be performed in compliance with the following:

▪ The Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.

▪ Generally Accepted Auditing Standards in the United States of America

▪ Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America

▪ U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133

▪ Uniform Expenditure Reporting System as required by Arizona Revised Statutes 41-1279.07

3.2 Requirements

This section identifies specific requirements to be met by vendors in their proposal. Unless you indicate that you cannot meet a requirement, you are accepting the requirement and will meet it. If you cannot meet a requirement, indicate in the proposal that you cannot meet this requirement. Where the vendor's specific capabilities may differ from stated preferences, please identify those differences and areas, which exceed the requested capabilities. In the event of a conflict between any provisions contained in any of the documents governing this transaction, the following shall be the order of precedence: Agreement;

Request for Proposal; Proposal. Complete proposal will be uploaded in the Vendor Proposal Submission and Required Documentation section five (5).

3.2.1 An overview of the vendor that includes the following information shall be included in the proposal:

▪ Cover Page, with the Company's name, address, phone number, the bidder's name, direct line, email address, and signed by the Vendor's authorized signatory if different from the bidder.

▪ A statement explaining location of office where audit will be conducted, its address, number of employees, and general level and qualifications of employees that will be working on the audit.

▪ The name of the partner who will have continuing responsibility for the City audit.

▪ Resumes of the partner in charge of the audit and the employees committed to this audit.

▪ A statement concerning the qualifications or expertise the firm has in the area of municipal accounting procedures, evaluations and audits.

▪ A list of recent audit engagements for Arizona municipalities and/or other similar sized governmental clients.

▪ A statement concerning whether the vendor is an equal opportunity employer as determined by Arizona law.

▪ A statement that the vendor is in compliance with peer review and has met the CPE requirements to perform an audit under the Single Audit Act.

3.2.2 A section shall be included in the proposal that sets forth the vendor’s approach to the audit. This section shall include an explanation of the tasks to be performed during the course of the audit and the reports to be issued at its conclusion.

3.2.3 A section shall be included indicating the estimated timetable for completion of the audit services. For this coming year, the vendor is expected to begin preliminary work on January 1st with a draft copy of the audit to be presented to the City by March 1st. The final comprehensive financial report shall be delivered on or before March 31st. The partner in charge of the audit shall be available to attend at least one regularly scheduled City Council meeting at which the audit report may be discussed. For subsequent audit years, the vendor is expected to begin preliminary work October 1st with a draft copy of the audit to be presented to the City by December 15. The final comprehensive financial report shall be delivered on or before January 15th.

3.2.4 Please Provide two (2) client references. For each reference, include the following information:

▪ Client name

▪ Contact person's name and title

▪ Phone number

▪ Mailing address

▪ Date of the most recent financial audit conducted for the client

3.3 Pricing.

Provide a fee schedule for the services as described herein. The vendor must provide a firm fixed fee for all services, including a listing and fee schedule for the various team members. The fee schedule must reflect direct labor hours, wages, overhead and profit amounts that are summed into a total proposed annual cost for each contract year. It is understood that the fee schedule can be amended during the course of the contract period if federal or state laws or regulations should require an increase or decrease in auditing services. The City reserves the absolute right to cancel its’ agreement with the vendor, without cause. A thirty (30) day notice shall be given if cancellation occurs.

3.4 Agreement Term and Renewals.

The term of the award resulting from this bid will be from the date of the execution of the Agreement through the completion of services as described herein for the 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and 2026-2027 fiscal years, with options to renew for two additional one (1) year terms.

4. Evaluation Process

The evaluation of each response to this bid document will be based on its overall competence, compliance, format, and organization. The award shall be made to the responsible vendor whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the City of Benson, taking into consideration the following evaluation criteria listed in the relative descending order of importance. The City is under no obligation whatsoever to select, as most responsive the proposal that demonstrates the lowest pricing, but not necessarily the one receiving the highest overall score.

No. Evaluation Criteria Scoring Method Weight (Points)

1. Qualifications and experience of the firm and project team Points Based 30

(30% of Total)

2. Municipal auditing experience Points Based 25 (25% of Total)

3. Fee schedule Points Based 25 (25% of Total)

4. Understanding of project requirements Points Based 10 (10% of Total)

5. References Points Based 5 (5% of Total)

6. Overall quality of proposal Points Based 5 (5% of Total)

5. Pricing

PROPOSED FIXED FEE SCHEDULE

The vendor must provide a firm fixed fee for all services, including a listing and fee schedule for the various team members. The fee schedule must reflect direct labor hours, wages, overhead and profit amounts that are summed into a total proposed annual cost for each contract year. It is understood that the fee schedule can be amended during the course of the contract period if federal or state laws or regulations should require an increase or decrease in auditing services. The City reserves the absolute right to cancel its’ agreement with the vendor, without cause. A thirty (30) day notice shall be given if cancellation occurs.

Line Item Description Unit of Measure

Unit Cost

1 FIRM FIXED FEE FEE

6. Vendor Proposal Submission and Required Documentation

1. Upload complete proposal including all requirements outlined in Section 3 (Scope of Work, Requirements, Pricing, Terms of Agreement.*

*Response required

2. Company's W-9*

*Response required

3. Certification of Proposal (vendor to complete and return with proposal). *

Please download the below documents, complete, and include with proposal.

• CERTIFICATION_OF_PROPOSAL.docx

*Response required https://government-project.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/208975/9653bf49-2502-4219-9057-b65ab32d203d_CERTIFICATION_OF_PROPOSAL.docx?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=ASIA47RIURE4D3ZCDE4Y%2F20251024%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20251024T231448Z&X-Amz-Expires=72000&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEK%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCICS4gepok%2BA%2BY0XWvuwRHrxpxs92cj1%2FSuT5Mglq39NgAiEA2CVmVZzgo3Hc0RaJSwdfT1mzEGxTjfDTMOKBKD8eMmMqhQUIaBACGgw4OTIzNjQ2ODc2NzIiDF%2FKjzA%2B0otJajDgwSriBNYSO%2Bnb6ouRlgULhKpkxvPiIsWE6ieoLPQE5LNtyhvu6vEYsrv0HNo%2FRcFoFx0nNBHPoF6Ggy0brTyhdqUTdKxwxAi2KBQLD2Z6g022fPSzx15P0LA7dn3reLdVcvhbPQfMycBnoZrEFMNmocuSs%2BSB2KMnqruVnlsvta20v7L6rn6odZbZJuHHBQQg0n4cvJ6AENVgdUuZFUVInOYjKWF5fl1QkxfZbl69l72ZCiZOS0ZkiQmDKw7T5%2FjTLc7LKP7CiGGI%2FnEZRz9TH0qiGBsrxzF90pwQRBw6ID206jQqzJSh8bvjSyZlzGp5SRR5Hvc8gEo0LEBncS%2FU08hE9gD65rdGeKpEBJLIY%2F687mcqV5CEDfNJy7oiYXK6jP285dScTwEJMEQlvZiPZW%2FCY2SHsHXFFpvaFXvFt9wHjaMLtNe5dZwDzkNG4faoqiaUEnff8KI9g%2BIHZ3xTLSg4EDVSAA%2F8HL6hBvhX0YnSXCUkQhfGdetNpJputEhe7oX7TMwiSPB74at4iUZD6yJTLisQXCBfjS6hGQ888cs5rsd7pBRMOEsom67Z0dKA3xyPGcI2AvfiAiGe%2BFvM7gBdYN3%2FflB2yr%2BniaZf51%2BnxP0sBGulozDhgRBb9yxEoZvTjXqIemgpcUvx1bWrOgDad79u3O9%2B8T5FnvmYAEO8gPanQ629uWn0WyrNcvDHwBwBn3ObTfKLAqvxlnrrBRwyE4PN9ioQRncfSqXkRWkC4t1cDAgj21vuxDsx1UOGvyEO4SAfUBj25szGCzmg2%2Bq6t0RQEfO8b0iDBNQLz5jPNRyFiy8w1%2FvvxwY6mQE48B7ACOkOJnu442LYChpCWE9FUIL2DkEz%2BTfp6qnlx5egaM0fzVb8%2FB2NaiVAqnvBjF36Tp8Pn1nC5hAWV4lzvnY4qZb%2FiZnGKzoWfkLOUAJEaV3L5Etm54ZnDgFM%2F3fRiq7TgGEL%2FeJUm3TNNAXQC%2FA0Q%2BSZijXKrxi5kTwQgdNcR9%2FiruLEbKS2Nlv3W3r%2B1Njv%2BoNvV6M%3D&X-Amz-Signature=c5fccb4ccf40ce7d60186d070c4382f4b004c4e1a175df8c77ac50eb3d5ec5a7&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3D%22CERTIFICATION_OF_PROPOSAL.docx%22&x-id=GetObject