Narrative Template.docx

City of Long Beach Request for Proposals Number HE-22-099 LBRA Youth Mentoring Facilitation Services

*1036496-13-24-25* [***REQSL1036496 *13 *061889714553649641321419326095305691419511163264*24*25***] Powered by ASC

Overview Summary

The City of Long Beach (City), Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department), Office of Youth Development (OYD), is seeking to contract with a third-party mentoring organization that will facilitate a Citywide Mentoring Program to connect middle school students with City employees to receive mentorship. This will be in partnership with the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), Long Beach Public Libraries, Long Beach Police Department, Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, and Pacific Gateway Workforce Innovation Network.

Key Dates

Release Date:

Optional Pre-Proposal Meeting:

Questions Due to the City: 11:00AM TBD

Proposals Due: 11:00AM TBD

The City reserves the right to modify these dates at any time, with appropriate notice to prospective Contractors.

Proposal Information

Instructions for what to include in your proposal and how to submit it are detailed in Section 4.

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the City’s portal, available at https://longbeachbuys.buyspeed.com/.

RFP Official Contact

Tommy Ryan rfppurchasing@longbeach.gov All communication with the City related to this RFP must be directed to the contact listed above.

Contents

Description of Services The awarded vendor shall provide the following services:

The Opportunity

1.1 Project Summary

In partnership with LBUSD, Long Beach Public Libraries, Long Beach Police Department, Department of Parks, Recreation & Marine, and Pacific Gateway Workforce Innovation Network, OYD is launching a City Employees Youth Mentoring Program (Program). This Program will create mentoring connections between 100 City employees and 100 LBUSD middle school students. This Program will take place in the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years, and the number of mentoring connections for each school year may vary. Students from middle schools in neighborhoods affected by disproportionate amounts of violence, poverty, and COVID-19 will be the selected population. The City is seeking to contract with a third-party mentoring organization to facilitate the program and mentoring connections.

Background Established in 1906, the Health Department is one of three city-operated health jurisdictions in California. The Health Department’s mission is to improve the quality of life by promoting a safe and healthy community in which to live, work, and play. The Health Department fulfills its public health mission by providing locally administered programs and implementing policies that improve the social determinants of health using an equity lens.

OYD is a cross-departmental office housed in the Health Department. OYD was established to carry out the Long Beach Youth & Emerging Adults Strategic plan, a 5-year plan launched in Feb 2021.

The Youth & Emerging Adults Strategic Plan identifies mentorship as a specific strategy to invest in. It asks that the City explore mentorship best practices under the My Brother’s Keeper Network with the intent to establish a Citywide mentorship best practice program. Similarly, the City’s Racial Equity & Reconciliation Report calls for the City to explore a Citywide mentoring program to match City staff with community youth.

Over the course of 6 months, City representatives from multiple departments, along with partners from LBUSD, formed a workgroup to explore mentoring best practices, resources and talents to inform the development of a Citywide mentorship program. Facilitated by = OYD, the workgroup identified the need to obtain City staff to serve as mentors, and worked with the Department of Human Resources to ensure staff would be available to support this program.

LBUSD has agreed to be a part of the Program with the Head Counselor of Middle Schools serving as a lead for Program coordination. Each school site will have school employees (counselors, teachers, paraeducators, administrators, etc.) submit referrals for students into the Program. Students with the most need and capacity for mentoring connections will be referred into the Program.

This Program is made possible by the Long Beach Recovery Act (LB Recovery Act) Violence Prevention and Safe Cities Funding, which was adopted by the City Council in July 2021 under the Long Beach Safety Recovery Plan.

The City seeks to contract with a mentoring organization to facilitate both the Program and the mentor connections between City Employees and middle school students.

Problem Statement

Structural racism has created neighborhoods with schools that experience disproportionate amounts of violence, poverty, and adverse health impacts. Community trauma from these inequities burdens students and schools with a disadvantage in positive youth development and in fostering social capital through positive role models that are needed beyond classroom curriculum.

The City has approximately 6,000 employees. City employees play a role in serving as positive role models for the next generation. Connecting City employees with middle school students can build the needed social capital among students from neighborhoods that experience disproportionate amounts of violence. The City has an untapped potential of connecting professionals, who can be effective mentors, with young people in the City’s communities. These relationships will support positive youth development among youth and place City employees in roles that increase students’ academic readiness, social connectedness, and social capital.

Goals

1. Implement a City Program by pairing City employees with Middle School students over the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.

2. Serve students from middle schools in neighborhoods affected by disproportionate amounts of violence, poverty, and COVID-19.

3. Students served from these middle schools show increases in academic readiness, social connectedness, and social capital.

4. Collaborate with the City to collect the necessary data to measure Program effectiveness for goal 3 of this RFP.

Award Terms The awarded vendor will be contracted for a period ending December 2024, with the option to renew for two additional one-year periods.

Scope of Work Description of Services The vendor shall propose a mentoring framework that incorporates mentoring best practices in implementing and facilitating a mentoring program between City Employees and LBUSD middle school students. The vendor is expected to implement the mentoring program both on-site at schools during the school year and off-site during the summer.

The awarded vendor shall provide the following services:

Facilitate 100 mentoring connections between City Employees and middle school students across the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.

Students will be selected from 5 identified LBUSD middle schools.

There is no minimum number of students per school; LBUSD will determine the number and select the students based on need and capacity.

Mentoring connections from year 1 can rollover to year 2.

Develop a selection process for mentors in collaboration with OYD.

Provide mentor orientation and trainings for new mentors.

Provide incentives for both mentors and mentees participating in the Program, including incentives to enhance mentoring connection.

Collaborate with LBUSD to ensure attendance of both mentors and mentees in mentorship connection meetings.

Monitor mentoring relationships to ensure an effective match and adjust mentor connections as needed.

Coordinate field trip events for interactive/fun activities between mentors and mentees outside of the school setting and school year.

Collaborate with OYD to develop a data sharing agreement between the awarded vendor, LBUSD and the City.

Students served from these middle schools showed increases in academic readiness, social connectedness, and social capital.

Attend bi-weekly check-in meetings with the OYD.

Create quarterly progress reports shared and presented to City interdepartmental workgroup.

Gather and share pre- and post-data to be used for evaluation by a third-party. See Section 2.2.1 for Performance Metrics.

Performance Metrics & Contract Management Performance Metrics Facilitated a total of 100 mentoring connections between the City Employees and middle school Students over a period of two school years.

An outside third-party evaluator will be contracted by the City to evaluate success of mentoring connections through participant surveys, focus groups, and staff feedback. The evaluator shall work alongside the OYD, LBUSD, and the awarded vendor to gather data on the impact of the mentoring relationship.

Contract Management The awarded vendor shall maintain and submit required documentation to monitor program accountability and progress in accordance with City requirements to OYD. These conditions include performance reports, invoices with supporting documentation of eligible expenditures, and insurance/contract requirements as stated within the RFP. The primary points of contact will be OYD’s Program Manager and Program Coordinator.

Contract Payment The City will negotiate a reasonable payment schedule with the awarded vendor. The City issues payment based upon services rendered. After a contract is finalized and work is performed, the awarded vendor should invoice the City on a quarterly basis. The City will remit payment within 30 calendar days of being billed.

How We Choose Minimum Qualifications Qualification to conduct business in the City Not having been debarred by Federal, State, or local government Mentoring services listed as full-time component of organizational structure At least three (3) years of experience with facilitating mentoring programs Selection Process & Timelines

Evaluations will be conducted using a methodology derived from the evaluation criteria listed in Section 4.3.

Any award is contingent upon the successful negotiation of final contract terms. If contract negotiations cannot be concluded successfully, the City reserves the right to negotiate a contract with another vendor or withdraw the RFP.

Negotiations shall be confidential and not subject to disclosure to competing vendors unless and until an agreement is reached.

Documentation includes but is not limited to gathering all required insurance certifications and other required documents

Proposal Instructions & Content Proposal Timelines & Instructions

[Insert Meeting Link] [RSVP Instructions, i.e.: RSVPs are requested, but not required.

[Additional Information, i.e.: Objectives of meeting, etc.]

Late proposals, or proposals submitted through other channels will not be accepted.

Proposers are responsible for submitting their proposals completely and on time.

Proposers will receive an e-bid confirmation number with a time stamp from Long Beach Buys indicating that the proposal was submitted successfully. The City will only receive proposals that were transmitted successfully.

Technical support is available by phone at (562) 570-6200 Support resources including a list of Frequently Asked Questions are available on Long Beach Buys at https://longbeachbuys.buyspeed.com.

Proposal Content Complete proposals will include the following. Proposers are encouraged to use this table as a checklist to ensure all components are included in their proposal.

PROPOSAL

Qualified expenditures can include:

Staff positions providing direct programs and services Benefits for staff positions listed above Sanitation supplies, cleaning services, and PPE, etc.

Items for the program supplies such as food, gift cards, learning supplies, etc.

Equipment for staff to implement support services such as small electronics, learning software, etc.

Transportation costs Indirect costs (capped at 10% of total budget

PROPOSAL APPENDICES

Financial Statement or Annual Report Business tax return Statement of income and related earnings

(if applicable) Colored displays, promotional materials, and other collateral are not necessary or desired. However, if a complete response cannot be provided without referencing supporting documentation, it may be provided as an addendum clearly cited in the Narrative or Cost Proposal.

MANDATORY ATTACHMENTS | The following are included as Attachments in Long Beach Buys. They must be signed by the individual legally authorized to bind the Proposer.

NON-MANDATORY ATTACHMENTS | The following are required for awarded Contractors prior to contract execution. If possible, Proposers are encouraged to include this information as part of their proposal to expedite processing.

Evaluation Criteria Proposals shall be consistently evaluated based upon the following criteria:

CRITERIA

Organizational Capacity and Experience Meet the minimum qualifications stated in Section 3.1 of this RFP Experience in performance of comparable engagements Expertise and availability of key personnel Financial Stability

Communication & Reporting Ability to meet reporting requirements

Planned approach to track progress of the project and report programmatic outcomes and financial information.

Ability to track program data and report it to the workgroup and the City

Method of Approach Planned approach on how the organization manages and coordinates a large number of mentors and mentees Effective strategy to ensure quality mentoring connections and ability to identify ineffective mentor to mentee relationships Incorporation of best practices that include critical mentoring, cultural humility, healing-centered (trauma informed).

Reasonableness of Cost Thorough and reasonable program cost analysis Clearly articulated budget narrative which reflects the components of the proposed program model

Narrative Proposal Template An editable version of the template below has been posted to Long Beach Buys. Proposers should complete the editable template and submit it as their narrative proposal.

Organizational Capacity & Experience

PROPOSER CONTACT INFORMATION

Company Address

Website

Federal Tax ID Number

Title

Email Address

Phone Number

Title

Email Address

Phone Number

PROPOSER CAPACITY & EXPERIENCE

☐ Sole Proprietorship

☐ General Partnership

☐ Corporation

State and Date of incorporation:

☐ Limited Liability Company

☐ Other ______________________________

Please describe why the organization is qualified to provide the services described in this RFP and provide specific examples of providing these services (2-3 paragraphs).

Please describe the length of time the organization has been providing the services described in this RFP (1-3 sentences).

Briefly describe the key staff managing and implementing the project. Include language skills and lived experience relevant to the project. (Attached resumes: optional. Narrative: 300 words maximum)

REFERENCES Comment by Stephen James: We might want to review Cynthia’s HECP or Promotora RFPs for some inspiration on this section

Project Manager

Phone Number

Project Description

Project Start and End Dates

Reference 2

Company

Project Manager

Phone Number

Project Description

Project Start and End Dates

2. What is your organization’s proposed program model for developing the mentoring connections and how will it pair 100 mentees to 100 mentors??

3. How does your organization identify and ensure mentoring connections are a match? What steps are taken when a pairing is not a match?

4. What best practice or practices does your organization incorporate into mentoring?

5. Describe any experience the organization has working with students residing in communities disproportionately impacted by poverty, crime, and COVID-19? Comment by David McGill-Soriano: I edited/added some questions here

2. How have you used data and reporting systems for program development and management in the past? Are there any additional performance metrics that you recommend tracking?

3. What measures do you take to supervise employees on aWhat steps do you take to ensure project to ensure accountability among your staff?

4. The City requires that the awarded Contractor provide proof of payment of any subcontractors used for this project. If the proposal includes subcontractors, please describe the plan for how the City will be notified of such payments. Comment by Marcella Manzanedo: Add a question(s) that reconcile the evaluation criteria. We should ask them about how they will track and collect data, their ability to report back on program outcomes, etc.

3 Terms & Conditions

3.1 Acronyms/Definitions

1. Awarded Vendor / Contractor: The organization/individual that is awarded a contract with the City of Long Beach, California for the services identified in this RFP.

2. City: The City of Long Beach and any department or agency identified herein.

3. Contractor / Proposer / Mentoring Organization: Organization/individual submitting a proposal in response to this RFP.

4. Department / Division: City of Long Beach, Department of Health and Human Services

5. Evaluation Committee: An independent committee comprised solely of representatives of the City established to review proposals submitted in response to the RFP, evaluate the proposals, and select a Contractor.

6. May: Indicates something that is not mandatory but permissible.

7. RFP: Request for Proposals.

8. Shall / Must: Indicates a mandatory requirement. Failure to meet a mandatory requirement may result in the rejection of a proposal as non-responsive.

9. Should: Indicates something that is recommended but not mandatory. If the Proposer fails to provide recommended information, the City may, at its sole option, ask the Proposer to provide the information or evaluate the proposal without the information.

10. Subcontractor: Third party not directly employed by the Proposer who will provide services identified in this RFP.

3.2 Solicitation Terms & Conditions

1. The City reserves the right to alter, amend, or modify any provisions of this RFP, or to withdraw this RFP, at any time prior to the award of a contract pursuant hereto, if it is in the best interest of the City to do so.

2. The City reserves the right to request clarification of any proposal term from Proposers.

3. The City may contact the references provided; contact any Proposer to clarify any response; contact any current users of a Proposer’s services; solicit information from any available source concerning any aspect of a proposal; and seek and review any other information deemed pertinent to the evaluation process.

4. The level and term of documentation required from the Proposer to satisfy the City will be commensurate with the size and complexity of the contract and Proposers should submit accordingly. If the information submitted by the Proposer, or available from other sources, is insufficient to satisfy the City as to the Proposer’s contractual responsibility, the City may request additional information from the Proposer or may deem the proposal non-responsive.

5. The City reserves the right to waive informalities and minor irregularities in proposals received.

6. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals received prior to contract award.

7. The City’s determination of the Proposer’s responsibility, for the purposes of this RFP, shall be final.

8. Unless otherwise specified, the City prefers to award to a single Contractor but reserves the right to award contracts to multiple contractors.

9. The City shall not be obligated to accept the lowest priced proposal but will make an award in the best interests of the City of Long Beach after all factors have been evaluated.

10. Any irregularities or lack of clarity in the RFP should be brought to the Purchasing Division designee’s attention as soon as possible so that corrective addenda may be furnished to Proposers.

11. Proposals must include all proposed terms and conditions, including, without limitation, written warranties, maintenance/service agreements, license agreements, lease purchase agreements and the Proposer’s standard contract language. The omission of these documents may render a proposal non-responsive.

12. Alterations, modifications, or variations to a proposal may not be considered unless authorized by the RFP or by addendum or amendment.

13. Proposals which appear unrealistic in the terms of technical commitments, lack of technical competence, or are indicative of failure to comprehend the complexity and risk of this contract, may be rejected.

14. Proposals may be withdrawn by written notice received prior to the proposal opening time.

15. The price and amount of this proposal must have been arrived at independently and without consultation, communication, agreement, or disclosure with or to any other Contractor or prospective Contractor.

16. No attempt may be made at any time to induce any firm or person to refrain from submitting a proposal or to submit any intentionally high or noncompetitive proposal. All proposals must be made in good faith and without collusion.

17. Prices offered by Proposers in their proposals are an irrevocable offer for the term of the contract and any contract extensions. The awarded Contractor agrees to provide the purchased services at the costs, rates and fees as set forth in their proposal in response to this RFP. No other costs, rates or fees shall be payable to the awarded Contractor for implementation of their proposal.

18. The City is not liable for any costs incurred by Proposers prior to entering into a formal contract. Costs of developing the proposals or any other such expenses incurred by the Proposer in responding to the RFP, are entirely the responsibility of the Proposer, and shall not be reimbursed in any manner by the City.

19. Proposal will become public record after the award of a contract unless the proposal or specific parts of the proposal can be shown to be exempt by law. Each Proposer may clearly label all or part of a proposal as "CONFIDENTIAL" provided that the Proposer thereby agrees to indemnify and defend the City for honoring such a designation. The failure to so label any information that is released by the City shall constitute a complete waiver of all claims for damages caused by any release of the information.

20. A proposal submitted in response to this RFP must identify any subcontractors and outline the contractual relationship between the Proposer and each subcontractor. An official of each proposed subcontractor must sign and include as part of the proposal submitted in response to this RFP, a statement to the effect that the subcontractor has read and will agree to abide by the Proposer’s obligations.

21. If the Contractor elects to use subcontractors, the City requires that the awarded Contractor provide proof of payment of any subcontractors used for this project. Proposals shall include a plan by which the City will be notified of such payments.

22. Each Proposer must disclose any existing or potential conflict of interest relative to the performance of the contractual services resulting from this RFP. Any such relationship that might be perceived or represented as a conflict should be disclosed. The City reserves the right to disqualify any Proposer on the grounds of actual or apparent conflict of interest.

23. Each Proposer must include in its proposal a complete disclosure of any alleged significant prior or ongoing contract failures, any civil or criminal litigation or investigation pending which involves the Proposer or in which the Proposer has been judged guilty or liable. Failure to comply with the terms of this provision will disqualify any proposal. The City reserves the right to reject any proposal based upon the Proposer’s prior history with the City or with any other party, which documents, without limitation, unsatisfactory performance, adversarial or contentious demeanor, significant failure(s) to meet contract milestones or other contractual failures.

24. The City reserves the right to negotiate final contract terms with any Proposers selected. The contract between the parties will consist of the RFP together with any modifications thereto, and the awarded Contractor’s proposal, together with any modifications and clarifications thereto that are submitted at the request of the City during the evaluation and negotiation process. In the event of any conflict or contradiction between or among these documents, the documents shall control in the following order of precedence: the final executed contract, the RFP, any modifications and clarifications to the awarded Contractor’s proposal, and the awarded Contractor’s proposal. Specific exceptions to this general rule may be noted in the final executed contract.

25. The City will not be responsible for or bound by any oral communication or any other information or contact that occurs outside the official communication process specified herein, unless confirmed in writing by the City Contact.

26. Any contract resulting from this RFP shall not be effective unless and until approved by the City Council / City Manager, as applicable.

27. The City will not be liable for Federal, State, or Local excise taxes.

28. Execution of Attachment A of this RFP shall constitute an agreement to all terms and conditions specified in the RFP, including, without limitation, the Attachment B contract form and all terms and conditions therein, except such terms and conditions that the Proposer expressly excludes.

29. Proposer understands and acknowledges that the representations above are material and important and will be relied on by the City in evaluation of the proposal. Any Proposer misrepresentation shall be treated as fraudulent concealment from the City of the true facts relating to the proposal.

30. Proposals shall be kept confidential until a contract is awarded.

31. No announcement concerning the award of a contract as a result of this RFP may be made without the prior written approval of the City.

32. Proposers are advised that any contract awarded pursuant to this procurement process that exceeds $100,000 shall be subject to the applicable provisions of Long Beach Municipal Code Section 2.73 et seq, the Equal Benefits Ordinance. Proposers shall refer to Attachment G for further information regarding the requirements of the ordinance. If Attachment G is not present in the RFP, the Equal Benefits Ordinance does not apply to this procurement.

33. All Proposers shall complete and return, with their bid, the Equal Benefits Ordinance Compliance form contained in Attachment B, if applicable. Unless otherwise specified in the procurement package, Proposers do not need to submit with their bid supporting documentation proving compliance. However, supporting documentation verifying that the benefits are provided equally shall be required if the proposer is selected for award of a contract.

3.3 Contract Terms & Conditions

1. The awarded Contractor will be the sole point of contract responsibility. The City will look solely to the awarded Contractor for the performance of all contractual obligations which may result from an award based on this RFP, and the awarded Contractor shall not be relieved for the non-performance of any or all subcontractors.

2. The awarded Contractor must maintain, for the duration of its contract, insurance coverages as required by the City. Work on the contract shall not begin until after the awarded Contractor has submitted acceptable evidence of the required insurance coverages.

3. The Long Beach Municipal Code (LBMC) requires all businesses operating in the City of Long Beach to pay a business license tax. In some cases, the City may require a regulatory permit and/or evidence of a State or Federal license. Prior to issuing a business license, certain business types will require the business license application and/or business location to be reviewed by the Development Services, Fire, Health, and/or Police Departments. Additional information is available at www.longbeach.gov/finance/business_license.

4. All work performed in connection with construction shall be performed in compliance with all applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations of federal, state, county or municipal governments or agencies (including, without limitation, all applicable federal and state labor standards, including the prevailing wage provisions of sections 1770 et seq. of the California Labor Code), and (b) all directions, rules and regulations of any fire marshal, health officer, building inspector, or other officer of every governmental agency now having or hereafter acquiring jurisdiction.

5. Contractor shall indemnify, protect and hold harmless City, its Boards, Commissions, and their officials, employees and agents (“Indemnified Parties”), from and against any and all liability, claims, demands, damage, loss, obligations, causes of action, proceedings, awards, fines, judgments, penalties, costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, court costs, expert and witness fees, and other costs and fees of litigation, arising or alleged to have arisen, in whole or in part, out of or in connection with (1) Contractor’s breach or failure to comply with any of its obligations contained in this Contract, including any obligations arising from the Project’s Contractor’s compliance with or failure to comply with applicable laws, including all applicable federal and state labor requirements including, without limitation, the requirements of California Labor Code section 1770 et seq. or (2) negligent or willful acts, errors, omissions or misrepresentations committed by Contractor, its officers, employees, agents, subcontractors, or anyone under Contractor’s control, in the performance of work or services under this Contract (collectively “Claims” or individually “Claim”).

6. In addition to Contractor’s duty to indemnify, Contractor shall have a separate and wholly independent duty to defend Indemnified Parties at Contractor’s expense by legal counsel approved by City, from and against all Claims, and shall continue this defense until the Claims are resolved, whether by settlement, judgment or otherwise. No finding or judgment of negligence, fault, breach, or the like on the part of Contractor shall be required for the duty to defend to arise. City shall notify Contractor of any Claim, shall tender the defense of the Claim to Contractor, and shall assist Contractor, as may be reasonably requested, in the defense.

7. If a court of competent jurisdiction determines that a Claim was caused by the sole negligence or willful misconduct of Indemnified Parties, Contractor’s costs of defense and indemnity shall be (1) reimbursed in full if the court determines sole negligence by the Indemnified Parties, or (2) reduced by the percentage of willful misconduct attributed by the court to the Indemnified Parties.

8. If the Contractor elects to use subcontractors, Contractor agrees to require its subcontractors to indemnify Indemnified Parties and to provide insurance coverage to the same extent as Contractor.

9. If the Contractor elects to use subcontractors, the Contractor shall not allow any subcontractor to commence work until all insurance required of subcontractor is obtained.

10. The provisions of this Section shall survive the expiration or termination of this Contract.

3.4 Additional Requirements

The Mentoring Organization will ensure all staff for this project complete a Live Scan and have the necessary background checks to work with minors. Additionally, the selected contractor will ensure client data are secured at all times and only parties agreeing to the data sharing agreement have access to said information. Data collected for this program cannot be used by the contractor vendor for their purposes without the written consent of the City of Long Beach.

The Mentoring Organization agrees to a collaborative process in the development and implementation of this program and work closely with the Office of Youth Development staff and the City’s working group to ensure the model is effectively implemented at the selected schools.

All press release and marketing materials for this program will need to follow the required city style guide and need to be approved by the City’s Public Information Officer. The Mentoring Organization agrees to track the number of city employee hours dedicated to this project and report on this metric to program staff.

3.5 Protest Procedures

Who May Protest Only a Proposer who has submitted a proposal is eligible to protest a contract awarded through a Request for Proposals (RFP). A Proposer may not rely on the protest submitted by another Proposer but must pursue its own protest.

Time for Protest The City will post a notice of the intent to award a contract at least ten (10) business days before an award is made. The notice will be available to all Proposers who submitted a proposal via the City’s electronic bid notification system at http://www.longbeach.gov/purchasing. A Proposer desiring to submit a protest for a proposal must do so within five (5) business days of the electronic notification of intent to award. The City Purchasing Agent must receive the protest by the close of business on the fifth (5th) business day following posting of notification of intent to award the contract. Proposers are responsible for registering with the City’s electronic bid notification system and maintaining an updated Contractor profile. The City is not responsible for Proposers’ failure to obtain notification for any reason, including but not limited to failure to maintain updated email addresses, failure to open/read electronic messages and failure of their own computer/technology equipment. The City’s RFP justification memo will be available for review by protestors once the notification of intent to award has been posted via the City’s electronic bid notification system.

Form of Protest The protest must be in writing and signed by the individual who signed the proposal or, if the Proposer is a corporation, by an officer of the corporation, and addressed to the City Purchasing Agent. Protests must be submitted via the email address above. They must include a valid email address and phone number. Protests must set forth a complete and detailed statement of the grounds for the protest and include all relevant information to support the grounds stated and must refer to specific portions of the RFP and attachments upon which the protest is based. Once the protest is received by the City Purchasing Agent, the City will not accept additional information on the protest unless the City requests it.

City Response to Protest The City Purchasing Agent or designee will respond with a decision regarding the protest within five (5) business days of receipt of protest to the email address provided in the protest. This decision shall be final.

Limitation of Remedy The procedure and time limits set forth herein are mandatory and are the Proposer’s sole and exclusive remedy in the event of a protest. The Proposer’s failure to comply with these procedures shall constitute a waiver of any right to further pursue a protest, including filing a Government Code Claim or initiation of legal proceedings.

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