REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATION

RFQu-26-0077

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT SERVICE

CITY OF PHOENIX

WATER SERVICES

200 W. WASHINGTON

PHOENIX, AZ

85003

RELEASE DATE: December 22, 2025

DEADLINE FOR QUESTIONS: January 13, 2026

RESPONSE DEADLINE: January 26, 2026, 2:00 pm

City of Phoenix

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATION

RFQu-26-0077

Organizational Change Management Service

1. INTRODUCTION

2. INSTRUCTIONS

3. SCOPE OF WORK

4. EVALUATION PROCESS

5. STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS

6. SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

7. DEFENSE AND INDEMNIFICATION

8. INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS

9. SUBMITTALS

10. PRICING PROPOSAL

Attachments:

A - Acceptance of Offer Form 2025

Request For Qualification #RFQu-26-0077 Title: Organizational Change Management Service

1. Introduction

1.1. Contact Information

Jennifer Nieschulz

Water Services

Email: jennifer.nieschulz@phoenix.gov

Phone: (602) 256-4317

1.2. Schedule of Events

The City reserves the right to change dates, times, and locations, as necessary. The City does not always hold a Pre-Offer Conference or Site Visit. All times in the Schedule of Events are

Local Phoenix, AZ Time.

To request a reasonable accommodation or alternative format for any public meeting, please contact the Procurement Officer (Jennifer Nieschulz) at (602) 256-4317/Voice or 711/TTY, or jennifer.nieschulz@phoenix.gov, no later than two (2) weeks prior to the meeting.

Solicitation Issue Date: December 22, 2025 mailto:jennifer.nieschulz@phoenix.gov

Pre-Offer Conference (Non-Mandatory): January 5, 2026, 11:00am

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Written Inquiries Due Date: January 13, 2026, 2:00pm

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2. Instructions

2.1. Description – Statement of Need

The City of Phoenix (City) Water Services Department (WSD) is issuing this Request for

Qualifications (RFQu) to establish a Qualified Vendor List (QVL) of firms and invites sealed offers for organizational change management services for a five (5) year contract with two (2) one-year options to extend commencing on or about March 25, 2026, in accordance with the specifications and provisions contained herein or the “Effective Date” which is upon award by

City Council, conditioned upon signature and recording by the City Clerk’s department, as required by the Phoenix City Code, whichever is later.

This solicitation is available through the City’s Procurement Portal. For technical support issues related to the City's Procurement Portal, Offeror may use the support bubble on the bottom right, or email procurement-support@opengov.com for any assistance. For other issues related to this solicitation please contact the procurement officer listed under Contact Information.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Agreement will terminate upon the earliest occurrence: by reaching the end of the term including any extensions exercised, or termination pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement.

2.2. Preparation of Offer

All forms provided must be completed and submitted with the Offer. The signed and completed

Conflict of Interest and Transparency form must be included or your Offer may be deemed non-responsive.

It is permissible to copy Submittal forms if necessary. Erasures, interlineations, or other modifications of the Offer must be initialed in original ink by the authorized person signing the

Offer. No offer will be altered, amended or withdrawn after the specified offer due date and time.

The City is not responsible for Offeror’s errors or omissions.

All time periods stated as a number of days will be calendar days.

It is the responsibility of all Offerors to examine the entire solicitation and seek clarification of any requirement that may not be clear and to check all responses for accuracy before submitting an offer. Negligence in preparing an offer confers no right of withdrawal after due date and time. Offerors are strongly encouraged to:

A. Consider applicable laws and/or economic conditions that may affect cost, progress, performance, or furnishing of the products or services.

B. Study and carefully correlate Offeror’s knowledge and observations with the solicitation and other related data.

C. Promptly notify the City of all conflicts, errors, ambiguities, or discrepancies that Offeror has discovered in or between the solicitation and other related documents.

D. The City does not reimburse the cost of developing, presenting or providing any response to this solicitation. Offers submitted for consideration should be prepared simply and economically, providing adequate information in a straightforward and mailto:procurement-support@opengov.com concise manner. The Offeror is responsible for all costs incurred in responding to this solicitation. All materials and documents submitted in response to this solicitation become the property of the City and will not be returned.

E. Offerors are reminded that the specifications stated in the solicitation are the minimum level required and that offers submitted must be for products or services that meet or exceed the minimum level of all features specifically listed in this solicitation. Offers offering less than any minimum specifications or criteria specified are not responsive and should not be submitted.

F. Offer responses submitted for products considered by the seller to be acceptable alternates to the brand names or manufacturer’s catalog references specified herein must be submitted with technical literature and/or detailed product brochures for the

City’s use to evaluate the products offered. Offers submitted without this product information may be considered as non-responsive and rejected. The City will be the sole judge as to the acceptability of alternate products offered.

G. Prices will be submitted on a per unit basis by line item, when applicable. In the event of a disparity between the unit price and extended price, the unit price will prevail unless obviously in error.

H. The Offeror shall limit its narrative response submittal to no more than thirty (30) pages, excluding resumes, cover letters, and reference questionnaires. (Pages exceeding the

30-page limit will not be taken into consideration when evaluating proposals.)

2.3. Fixed Offer Price Period

All offers shall be firm and fixed for a period of 180 calendar days from the solicitation opening date.

2.4. Obtaining a Copy of the Solicitation and Addenda

Interested Offerors may download the complete solicitation and addenda from the City's

Procurement Portal: https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/phoenix/projects/187868/. It is the

Offeror’s responsibility to check the City's Procurement Portal, read the entire solicitation, and verify all required information is submitted with their Offer.

2.5. Exceptions

Offeror must not take any exceptions to any terms, conditions or material requirements of this solicitation. Offers submitted with exceptions may be deemed non-responsive and disqualified from further consideration in the City’s sole discretion. Offerors must conform to all the requirements specified in the solicitation.

2.6. Inquiries

All questions that arise relating to this solicitation should be directed via City’s Procurement

Portal and must be received by the due date indicated in the Schedule of Events. The City will not consider questions received after the deadline.

https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/phoenix/projects/187868 https://solicitations.phoenix.gov/

No informal contact initiated by Offerors on the proposed service will be allowed with members of City’s staff from date of distribution of this solicitation until after city council awards the contract. All questions concerning or issues related to this solicitation must be presented in writing.

The Procurement Officer will answer written inquiries on the City’s OpenGov Procurement

Portal.

2.7. Addenda

The City of Phoenix will not be responsible for any oral instructions made by any employees or officers of the City of Phoenix regarding this solicitation. Any changes will be in the form of an addendum. The Offeror must acknowledge receipt of any/all addenda through the City's

Procurement Portal.

2.8. Licenses

If required by law for the operation of the business or work related to this Offer, Offeror must possess all valid certifications and/or licenses as required by federal, state or local laws at the time of submittal.

2.9. Certifications

By signature in the Offer section of the Offer and Acceptance page(s), Offeror certifies:

• The submission of the Offer did not involve collusion or other anti-competitive practices.

• The Offeror must not discriminate against any employee, or applicant for employment in violation of Federal or State Law.

• The Offeror has not given, offered to give, nor intends to give at any time hereafter, any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan, gratuity, special discount, trip, favor, or service to a public servant in connection with the submitted Offer.

2.10. Submission of Offer

Offers must be in possession of the Department on or prior to the exact time and date indicated in the Schedule of Events. Late offers will not be considered. The prevailing clock will be the

City Department’s clock.

Offers should be submitted electronically via the City’s Procurement Portal by clicking on “Draft

Response” via https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/phoenix/projects/187868. Offerors that are unable to submit electronically should contact the Procurement Officer to discuss the logistics of hard copy submittals. Offerors must be registered with OpenGov by signing up via https://procurement.opengov.com/signup. Vendor training guides can be found at: https://opengov.my.site.com/support/s/article/ca6d1285-1e48-4a21-bb0d-715edb7794ed

Any original documents (such as bonds, guaranties, powers of attorney), if required by the solicitation, must be separately delivered to and received by the City on or prior to the exact time and date indicated in the Schedule of Events, with a clear indication of the Offer for which it is attributed.

https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/phoenix/projects/187868 https://procurement.opengov.com/signup https://opengov.my.site.com/support/s/article/ca6d1285-1e48-4a21-bb0d-715edb7794ed

It is the responsibility of the Offeror to ensure that the Offer is timely and to confirm that there are no technical reasons that any offer submitted electronically may be delayed. The date and time on the upload as received/stamped by the City’s Procurement Portal will provide proof of submission and verification whether the Offer was received on or prior to the exact time and date indicated in the Schedule of Events.

For assistance with submittals, vendors are welcome to use the OpenGov support chat (blue chat bubble in the bottom right corner) to connect with a member of OpenGov's support team who will be able to assist you with your submission.

Please DO NOT submit links to Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, or similar services. Your offer may be deemed non-responsive if your offer is supplied utilizing these services.

2.11. Withdrawal of Offer

At any time prior to the solicitation due date and time, an Offeror (or designated representative) may withdraw the Offer by clicking “Unsubmit Response” on the Offer submission via the City’s

Procurement Portal.

2.12. Offer Results

Offers will be opened on the offer due date, time and location indicated in the Schedule of

Events, at which time the name of each Offeror, and the prices may be read. Offers and other information received in response to the solicitation will be shown only to authorized City personnel having a legitimate interest in them or persons assisting the City in the evaluation.

Offers are not available for public inspection until after the City has posted the award recommendation on the City's Procurement Portal.

The City will post a preliminary offer tabulation on the City's Procurement

Portal: https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/phoenix/projects/187868 within five business days of the offer opening. The City will post the information on the preliminary tabulation as it was read during the offer opening. The City makes no guarantee as to the accuracy of any information on the preliminary tabulation. Once the City has evaluated the offers, the City will post an award recommendation on the City's Procurement Portal. By signing and submitting its

Offer, each Offeror agrees that this posting of the award recommendation to the City's

Procurement Portal effectively serves as the Offeror’s receipt of that notice of award recommendation. The City has no obligation to provide any further notification to unsuccessful

Offerors.

2.13. Evaluation and Selection

After evaluating all submissions, the City may ask some or all the firms that submitted a response to participate in interviews. Upon completion of the evaluation process, the City may assign a detailed scope of work to the selected candidate and negotiate fees for services.

RFQu responses should be concise, well-organized per the requested information, clearly written and limited to no more than thirty (30) pages excluding resumes, cover letters, and questionnaires. The review process places considerable emphasis on the responsiveness of the

RFQu response to the requirements outlined above. RFQu responses that are not written specifically in response to this request cannot receive serious consideration.

https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/phoenix/projects/187868

All RFQu responses will be evaluated based on the criteria listed in Section 4 Offer Evaluation

Criteria.

The firms under consideration for this RFQu, will be evaluated in accordance with the solicitation by an Evaluation Committee and/or the Procurement Officer. The City reserves the right to request supplemental information that the Evaluation Committee deems necessary to make a selection. The Committee may be supplemented by outside professionals or professionals from other City departments who can provide additional expertise.

2.14. Agreement

The City will require the selected Offeror to participate in negotiations and to submit such cost, technical or other revisions of the submittals as may result from negotiations. The City shall draft all final contracts and documents that result from this RFQu.

The language contained in this RFQu and the Offeror's statement of qualifications will form the basis of any resulting Contract. However, this RFQu does not commit the City to enter a

Contract, to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a submittal to this request or in subsequent negotiations, or to procure a contract for the project(s).

2.15. Certificates of Insurance

Upon notification of a recommended award, the Offeror will have 14 calendar days to submit a complete certificate of insurance in the minimum amounts and the coverages as required in the

Insurance Requirements of this solicitation. Insurance requirements are non-negotiable.

2.16. Award of Contract

Unless otherwise indicated, award(s) will be made to responsive, responsible Offeror(s) who are regularly established in the service, or providing the goods, contained in this solicitation and who have demonstrated the ability to perform in an acceptable manner.

A. Factors that may be considered by the City include:

1. Technical capability of the Offeror to accomplish the scope of work required in the

Solicitation. This may include performance history on past and current government or industrial contracts; and,

2. Demonstrated availability of the necessary manpower (both supervisory and operational personnel) and necessary equipment to accomplish the scope of work in the Solicitation; and,

3. Safety record; and,

4. Offeror history of complaints and termination for convenience or cause.

B. Notwithstanding any other provision of this solicitation, the City reserves the right to: (1) waive any immaterial defect or informality; or (2) reject any or all offers or portions thereof; or (3) reissue a solicitation.

C. A response to a solicitation is an offer to contract with the City based upon the terms, conditions, and specifications contained in the City’s solicitation. Offers do not become contracts until they are executed by the Chief Procurement Officer or Department

Director. A contract has its inception in the award, eliminating a formal signing of a separate contract. For that reason, all of the terms, conditions and specifications of the procurement contract are contained in the solicitation, and in any addendum or contract amendment.

2.17. Solicitation Transparency Policy

Commencing on the date and time a solicitation is published, potential or actual Offerors or respondents (including their representatives) shall only discuss matters associated with the solicitation with the Mayor, any members of City Council, the City Manager, any Deputy City

Manager, or any department director directly associated with the solicitation (including in each case their assigned staff, except for the designated Procurement Officer) at a public meeting, posted under Arizona Statutes, until the resulting contract(s) are awarded to all offers or responses are rejected and the solicitation is cancelled without any announcement by the

Procurement Officer of the City’s intent to reissue the same or similar solicitation.

As long as the solicitation is not discussed, Offerors may continue to conduct business with the

City and discuss business that is unrelated to the solicitation with the City staff. Offerors may not discuss the solicitation with any City employees or evaluation panel members.

Offerors may discuss their proposal or the solicitation with the Mayor or one or more members of the Phoenix City Council, provided such meetings are scheduled through the Procurement

Officer, and are posted as open meetings with the City Clerk at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled meetings. The City Clerk will be responsible for posting the meetings. The posted notice shall identify the participants and the subject matter, as well as invite the public to participate.

With respect to the selection of the successful Offerors, the City Manager and/or City Manager's

Office will continue the past practice of exerting no undue influence on the process. In all solicitations of bids and proposals, any direction on the selection from the City Manager and/or

City Manager's Office and Department Head (or representative) to the proposal review panel or selecting authority must be provided in writing to all prospective Offerors.

This policy is intended to create a level playing field for all Offerors, assure that contracts are awarded in public, and protect the integrity of the selection process. OFFERORS THAT

VIOLATE THIS POLICY SHALL BE DISQUALIFIED. After official Notice is received by the City for disqualification, the Offeror may follow the Protest process, unless the Solicitation is cancelled without notice of intent to re-issue.

“To discuss” means any contact by the Offeror, regardless of whether the City responds to the contact. Offerors that violate this policy will be disqualified until the resulting contract(s) are awarded, or all offers or responses are rejected and the solicitation is cancelled without any announcement by the Procurement Officer of the City’s intent to reissue the same or a similar solicitation. The City interprets the policy as continuing through a cancellation of a solicitation until Council award of the contract, as long as the City cancels with a statement that the City will rebid the solicitation.

2.18. Protest Process

Offeror may protest the contents of a solicitation no later than seven days before the solicitation deadline when the protest is based on an apparent alleged mistake, impropriety or defect in the solicitation. Protests filed regarding the solicitation may be addressed by an amendment to the solicitation or denied by the City. If denied, the opening and award will proceed unless the City determines that it is in the City’s best interests to set new deadlines, amend the solicitation, cancel or re-bid.

Therefore, unless otherwise notified by a formal amendment, the Protester must adhere to all solicitation dates and deadlines, including timely filing of an offer, regardless of filing a protest.

Offeror may protest an adverse determination issued by the City regarding responsibility and responsiveness, within seven days of the date the Offeror was notified of the adverse determination.

Offeror may protest an award recommendation if the Offeror can establish that it had a substantial chance of being awarded the contract and will be harmed by the recommended award. The City will post recommendations on the City’s Procurement Portal to award the contract(s) to an Offeror(s). Offeror must submit award protests within seven days after the posting of the award recommendation, with exceptions only for good cause shown, within the

City’s full and final discretion.

All protests will be in writing, filed with the Procurement Officer identified in the solicitation and include the following:

• Identification of the solicitation number;

• The name, address and telephone number of the protester;

• A detailed statement describing the legal and factual grounds for the protest, including copies of relevant documents;

• The form of relief requested; and

• The signature of the protester or its authorized representative.

The Procurement Officer will render a written decision within a reasonable period after the protest is filed. The City will not request City Council authorization to award the contract until the protest process is complete. All protests and appeals must be submitted in accordance with the

City’s Procurement Code, (Phoenix City Code, Ch. 43) and any protests or appeals not submitted within the time requirements will not be considered. Protests must be filed with the

Procurement Officer.

2.19. Public Record

All Offers submitted in response to this solicitation will become the property of the City and become a matter of public record available for review pursuant to Arizona State law. If an

Offeror believes that a specific section of its Offer response is confidential, the Offeror will isolate the pages marked confidential in a specific and clearly labeled section of its Offer response. An Offeror may request specific information contained within its Offer is treated by the

Procurement Officer as confidential provided the Offeror clearly labels the information

“confidential.” To the extent necessary for the evaluation process, information marked as

“confidential” will not be treated as confidential. Once the procurement file becomes available for public inspection, the Procurement Officer will not make any information identified by the

Offerors as “confidential” available to the public unless necessary to support the evaluation process or if specifically requested in accordance with applicable public records law. When a public records request for such information is received, the Procurement Officer will notify the

Offeror in writing of any request to view any portion of its Offer marked “confidential.” The

Offeror will have the time set forth in the notice to obtain a court order enjoining such disclosure.

If the Offeror does not provide the Procurement Officer with a court order enjoining release of the information during the designated time, the Procurement Officer will make the information requested available for inspection.

2.20. Late Offers

Late Offers must be rejected, except for good cause. If a late Offer is submitted, the Department will document the date and time of the submittal of the late Offer, keep the Offer and notify the

Offeror that its Offer was disqualified for being a late Offer.

2.21. Right to Disqualify

The City reserves the right to disqualify any Offeror who fails to provide information or data requested or who provides materially inaccurate or misleading information or data. The City further reserves the right to disqualify any Offeror on the basis of any real or apparent conflict of interest that is disclosed by the Offer submitted or any other data or information available to the

City. This disqualification is at the sole discretion of the City. By submission of a solicitation response, the Offeror waives any right to object now or at any future time, before any agency or body including, but not limited to, the City Council of the City or any court as to the exercise by the City of such right to disqualify or as to any disqualification by reason of real or apparent conflict of interest determined by the City. The City reserves the right to replace the disqualified

Offeror.

2.22. Contract Award

The City reserves the right to award a contract by individual line items, by group, all or none, or any other combination most advantageous to the City. The City reserves the right to award multiple contracts.

2.23. Determining Responsiveness and Responsibility

Offers will be reviewed for documentation of minimum qualifications, completeness, and compliance with the Solicitation requirements. The City reserves sole discretion to determine responsiveness and responsibility.

Responsiveness: Nonresponsive Offers will not be considered in the evaluation process. The solicitation states criteria that determine responsiveness, and the solicitation includes terms and conditions that if included or excluded from Offers (as the case may be) will render an Offer nonresponsive.

Exceptions, conditions, reservations, or understandings are presumed to be unacceptable, and an Offer that includes unacceptable exceptions, conditions, reservations, or understandings may be rejected as nonresponsive. Alternatively, the City in its sole discretion may instruct in writing that any Offeror remove the conditions, exceptions, reservations or understandings. If the Offeror fails to do so in writing, the City may determine the Offer to be nonresponsive.

Responsibility: To obtain true economy, the City must conduct solicitations to minimize the possibility of a subsequent default by the Contractor, late deliveries, or other unsatisfactory performance that may result in additional administrative costs. It is important that the Offeror be a responsible Contractor. Responsibility includes the Offeror’s integrity, skill, capacity, experience, and facilities for conducting the work to be performed.

The Procurement Officer will review each Offer to determine if the Offeror is responsible. The

City’s determination as to whether an Offeror is responsible will be based on all information furnished by the Offeror, interviews (if any), and information received from Offeror’s references, including information about Offeror’s history, terminations for convenience or cause, contract breach lawsuits or notices of claim and any other sources the City deems appropriate. Award of the Contract resulting from the solicitation will not be made until any necessary investigation, which each Offeror agrees to permit by submitting its Offer, is made by the City as it deems necessary. A review of responsibility may occur up to contract award.

The Offeror’s unreasonable failure to promptly supply information about an inquiry with respect to responsibility may be grounds for a determination of non-responsibility with respect to such

Offeror.

2.24. Equal Low Offer

Contract award will be made by putting the names of the tied vendors in a cup for a blind drawing limited to those bidders with tied offers. If time permits, the offerors involved will be given an opportunity to attend the drawing. The drawing will be witnessed by at least three persons, and the contract file will contain the names and addresses of the witnesses.

2.25. Evaluation of Competitive Sealed Offers

The City will use its discretion in applying the following processes to this solicitation. Any ties in scoring will be resolved with a best and final price request and the lowest price will prevail.

2.26. Detailed Evaluation of Offers and Determination of Competitive Range

During deliberations, the Evaluation Panel will reach a consensus score for each evaluation criterion except price. The Procurement Officer will score the price, which will be added to the overall consensus score. The overall consensus scores will determine the Offerors’ rankings and which offers are within the Competitive Range, when appropriate.

2.27. Offers Not Within the Competitive Range

The City may notify Offerors of Offers that the City determined are not in the Competitive

Range.

2.28. Discussions with Offerors in the Competitive Range

The City will notify each Offeror whose Offer is in the Competitive Range or made the ‘short list’ and provide in writing any questions or requests for clarification to the Offeror. Each Offeror so notified may be interviewed by the City and asked to discuss answers to written or oral questions or provide clarifications to any facet of its Offer. The Offerors in the competitive range may be required to provide a demonstration of their product.

Demonstrations - Offerors in the competitive range may be invited to construct a hands-on sample or presentation of their solution at the City of Phoenix. In addition, each finalist may prepare and deliver a presentation of their proposed solution based on the script developed by the evaluation panel. The City may also require a hands-on lab demonstration designed specifically for the evaluation panel. The results of the surveys will be tabulated and delivered to the evaluation team for the final review and solution selection session(s).

If an Offer in the Competitive Range contains conditions, exceptions, reservations or understandings to or about any Contract or Solicitation Scope requirement, the City may discuss or negotiate the conditions, exceptions, reservations or understandings during these meetings. But the City in its sole discretion may reject any and all conditions, exceptions, reservations and understandings, and the City may instruct any Offeror to remove the conditions, exceptions, reservations or understandings. If the Offeror fails to do so, the City may determine the Offer is nonresponsive, and the City may revoke its determination that the Offer is in the Competitive Range.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the City will not provide any information, financial or otherwise, to any Offeror about other Offers received in response to this solicitation. During discussions with Offerors in the Competitive Range, the City will not give Offerors specific prices or specific financial requirements that Offerors must meet to qualify for further consideration.

The City may state that proposed prices are too high with respect to the marketplace or otherwise unacceptable. Offerors will not be told of their relative rankings before Contract award.

2.29. Best and Final Offers (BAFO)

A BAFO is an option available for negotiations. Each Offeror in the Competitive Range, which is determined in the City’s sole discretion, may be afforded the opportunity to amend its Offer and make one BAFO.

If an Offeror’s BAFO modifies its initial Offer, the modifications must be identified in the BAFO.

The City will evaluate BAFOs based on the same requirements and criteria applicable to initial

Offers. The City will adjust appropriately the initial scores for criteria that have been affected by offer modifications made by a BAFO. Based on the criteria defined in the solicitation as weighted, the City will then perform final scoring and prepare final rankings.

The Evaluation Panel will recommend the Offer that is the best value and most advantageous to the City based on the evaluation criteria.

The City reserves the right to make an award to an Offeror whose Offer is the highest rated, best value, and most advantageous to the City based on the evaluation criteria, without conducting written or oral discussions with any Offeror, without negotiations, and without soliciting BAFOs.

2.30. Special Requirements

Any required certifications will be identified in individual Task Orders.

2.31. City's Engagement Process with Qualified Contractors

Upon selection through this RFQu process, Consultants added to the Qualified Vendor List

(QVL) will be eligible to receive project-specific solicitations via a Request for Task Order

(RTO), in accordance with the procedures outlined Section 3 of the RFQu Scope of Work. RTOs will be issued on an as-needed basis for projects that fall within the scope of services defined in this document. Inclusion on the QVL does not guarantee any specific number of assignments or volume of work.

3. Scope of Work

3.1. Statement of Need

A. The City of Phoenix (City) Water Services Department (WSD) is issuing this Request for

Qualifications (RFQu) to establish a Qualified Vendor List (QVL) of firms with demonstrated experience and expertise in leading, managing, and executing

Organizational Change Management (OCM) services as outlined in this solicitation.

B. The QVL will serve as a prequalified pool of vendors eligible for consideration on a project-by-project basis. WSD anticipates selecting one or more firms from the QVL to provide services for individual projects, as needs arise. Selection for specific projects will be based on project requirements, vendor qualifications, availability, and other relevant factors.

C. Each firm must demonstrate direct involvement in implementation, including engagement with frontline office or field staff, supervisors, and executives. This includes experience in highly regulated operations that are safety-critical, physically demanding, and technically complex.

D. Firms must submit a written Statement of Qualifications outlining their ability to provide consulting OCM services in support of upcoming transformation initiatives. These initiatives may include technology implementations, process improvements, and cultural change efforts across the utility with the goal of achieving both administrative and operational success.

E. The ideal OCM services will enable Water Services leadership to mitigate change management challenges and support the streamlined implementation of strategic initiatives aligned with the Water Services Department Business Plan.

3.2. Background

A. The City WSD provides water and wastewater services to the fifth-largest city in the

United States, covering approximately 540 square miles and serving a population of roughly 1.7 million residents. These services are delivered through the hard work of nearly 1,500 employees who manage a wide range of critical infrastructure, including:

1. Eight water treatment plants

2. Nearly 300 pumps, wells, lift, and pressure stations

3. 7,000 miles of water main

4. 5,000 miles of sewer main

5. 56,000 fire hydrants

6. 101,000 manholes

B. WSD operates continuously and is publicly owned and accountable to the community through its’ elected officials on the Phoenix City Council. Its mission is to provide high-quality, reliable, and cost-effective water services that meet public needs and maintain community support.

C. The City has a Business Plan that outlines the overall vision, objectives, and strategies for a three-year period. In alignment with this, WSD has created a Utility Optimization

Roadmap that identifies and tactically implements the tools needed to achieve prioritized strategies. This roadmap integrates and prioritizes various projects into a cohesive plan, emphasizing transformation and process improvement, ensuring the City WSD remains

“Resilient and Innovation Driven.”

3.3. Preferred Outcomes

A. The Water Services Department desires Consultants with demonstrated expertise in

OCM (specific to utility or public sector environments) to streamline future procurement of OCM services by establishing a vetted vendor pool. The key objective to retaining

OCM services is to ensure alignment with the utility’s strategic goals, regulatory requirements, and stakeholder engagement needs.

B. Through this Request for Qualifications (RFQu), the City seeks to establish a Qualified

Vendors List (QVL) of firms with proven expertise in delivering the specified services.

The City anticipates selecting one or more firms from the QVL, as needed, to perform services on individual projects under this RFQu. Inclusion on the QVL does not guarantee any specific number of assignments or volume of work.

C. The resulting Organizational Change Management Services will enable the utility to gain stakeholder buy in, develop OCM champions, and clearly communicate the impact of change as it relates to the subject initiative for maximized implementation success.

3.4. Minimum Qualifications and Certification Requirements

To be considered for inclusion on the QVL for Organizational Change Management (OCM) services, firms must meet the following minimum qualifications at the time of submittal:

A. Firm Experience

1. Offeror must have been in business for a minimum of three (3) years, or each of the firm's key personnel listed must possess a minimum of five (5) years experience in a related field.

2. The firm must have successfully completed at least three (3) OCM projects within the past five (5) years that are similar in scope and complexity to the services described in this RFQu.

B. Key Personnel

1. The proposed project team must each be Certified Change Practitioners (Prosci

Methodology Preferred), and hold a bachelor’s degree, or have a minimum of five (5) years of experience and prior engagement(s) working for or with a public or private utility.

2. The proposed project team must possess expertise across the full OCM Lifecycle including but not limited to the following disciplines:

a. Organizational Change Management (Prosci Methodology Preferred)

b. Change Readiness Assessments and Workshops

c. Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Execution

d. Training Strategy and Development

e. Leadership Alignment and Coaching

f. Organizational Stakeholder and Change Impact Analysis

g. Change/Risk Impact Assessment

h. Risk and Resistance Management Identification and Strategies

i. Change Management Planning

j. Behavioral, Change, and Performance Metrics Tracking

k. Support for Technology and Business Process Change Initiatives

l. Post-Implementation Support and Reinforcement Strategies

C. Capacity and Commitment

1. The firm must ensure sufficient staffing and resource capacity to respond to project assignments in a timely manner, including the ability to support multiple concurrent initiatives if needed.

2. The firm must ensure availability and commitment of assigned personnel to see the project through to completion and post implementation support, thereby helping the

City maintain continuity.

D. Methodology and Tools

1. The firm must utilize industry-recognized OCM methodologies (e.g., Prosci, Kotter, Franklin Covey) frameworks, and tools to support successful change initiatives.

2. Prosci methodology is preferred.

3.5. Proposed Types of Work

The following outlines the categories of Organizational Change Management (OCM) services that WSD may solicit under the established QVL, as needs arise for individual projects.

A. Operational Projects

Upgrades and Optimization of Operations projects will focus on improving visibility into operational issues, developing logical business cases, enhancing decision making, planning strategic initiatives, gaining new insights, and solving business challenges.

Anticipated projects may include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Metering & Customer Service Advancements: Initiatives to address operational pain points and improve customer experience by leveraging modern technologies.

Anticipated projects may include:

a. Advanced Metering

b. Billing, Metering, and Estimation

c. Customer Upgrades & Optimization

2. Field Service Management & Mobility: Enhancing field service operations by empowering field employees with real-time access to critical data and tools. This initiative aims to support operational efficiency, streamline workflows, reduce manual processes and support informed decision making. It addresses pain points identified by WSD staff related to work order management, scheduling, and dispatching. WSD may develop and implement a Field Service Management Plan to coordinate efforts across divisions, identify shared needs, and align mobile tools and processes. This plan supports long-term digital transformation and ensures that mobile workforce investments are scalable, integrated, and impactful. Anticipated projects may include:

a. Safety Management Systems

b. Fleet Safety Management System

3. Pure Water Phoenix – Advanced Water Purification/Advanced Purified Water

4. Controls and Regulatory Compliance

5. Operational Review of Environmental Compliance

6. Operational Readiness

7. Operations Based Water Distribution

8. Service Delivery Optimization

B. Information Technology or Operational Technology Projects

Upgrades and Optimization of Information Technology or Operational Technology systems and business processes projects may involve modernizing systems and processes to improve performance, integration, and efficiency.

1. Use Case-Driven Utility Data Analytics: Developing a comprehensive data governance model and conceptual design, followed by rapid deployment of business-led, use case-driven accelerators. Anticipated projects may include:

a. Data Analytics Program Development

2. Unlocking and Governing Innovation: Organizations embed innovation by minimizing bureaucracy and fostering a more collaborative and agile environment. By streamlining internal processes and empowering cross-functional teams, this effort aims to accelerate decision-making and reduce barriers to experimentation. The initiative supports the adoption of advanced technologies and encourages a culture of creativity, enabling the organization to rapidly develop transformative solutions that address evolving business challenges and opportunities. Anticipated projects may include the following

a. AI Solutions

b. Business Innovation Programs

c. Operational Technology Upgrades, (e.g., SCADA or other control systems)

d. Compliance Management Systems (CMS)

C. Facility and Asset Management Projects

Upgrades and Optimization of Built Environments and Physical Workplaces projects may focus on improving operations management, process efficiency, modernization, space utilization, and financial performance.

1. Advanced Asset Management Systems initiatives to establish a comprehensive asset management program aligned with the ISO 55000 series framework to support strategic alignment, risk-based prioritization, lifecycle optimization, and organizational change management. Anticipated projects may include:

a. Utility Asset/Portfolio Management

b. Asset Management Upgrades & Optimization – WAM to WACS

2. Asset Work Scheduling and Management

3. Intelligent Operations and Maintenance

4. Treatment Plant Upgrades & Optimization

5. Water and Sewer Leak Detection

D. Business Process Projects

Upgrades and Optimization to maximize business process efficiency across WSD divisions.

1. Business Process Mapping and Automation involves developing a comprehensive data governance model and conceptual design, followed by rapid deployment of business-led, use case-driven accelerators. Anticipated projects may include:

a. Business Process Optimization and Solutions

b. Demand Forecasting Improvement

2. Business Process Technology Solutions

3. Knowledge Management Optimization involves updating, centralizing, and standardizing information. Traditionally, this has meant developing and managing

Operations & Maintenance (O&M) documentation and Standard Operating

Procedures (SOPs) to retain institutional knowledge. This initiative leverages traditional and modern tools to improve access to existing information, link assets to

O&M information, increases knowledge retention, and streamline workflows.

Anticipated projects may include:

a. Strategy Development and Master Planning

4. Brand Awareness: Phoenix Water's Strategic Communications Plan has several effective education and outreach initiatives to connect with the public and promote brand awareness. The recommendation is to expand the current focus to elevate public understanding of Phoenix Water's long-term water planning, sustainability initiatives, and cutting-edge innovations, including Pure Water Phoenix and resilient infrastructure investments. Ultimately, the goal is to communicate the real value of water services by leveraging advanced technology for content creation, data-driven personalization, and real-time engagement through an array of current social or technology platforms. These tools enable more responsive, relevant communication with customers. Further, visual storytelling and short-form video could be used to connect with younger and underserved audiences. Multilingual campaigns can reach diverse and hard-to-reach populations. With an expanded focus, consistent messaging, and meaningful interactions, Phoenix Water can not only elevate its brand, but foster a stronger, more informed, and supportive community

E. Workforce Development Projects

New or updated HR or Training programs will be designed to meet the demand of a technologically evolving water utility industry. The, "Workforce of the Future" initiative aims to set WSD staff up for success throughout the full employment lifecycle -from recruitment to retirement - and prepares them for emerging technologies and evolving skill requirements. This also means having an eye on the pulse of change (i.e., emerging technologies) that could impact the organization, and understanding what skills staff need to adapt. An integrated governance approach may be used to create structure and sustain change. Anticipated projects may include:

1. Development of employee transition plans for each craft to support career advancement.

2. Development of skill blocks programs which support staff development in the operational areas of water treatment, water distribution, wastewater collection, and wastewater treatment.

3. Development of future leadership within the Water Services Department.

4. Implementation of a system to track when safety and environmental classes are available to reach 100% compliance.

5. Enhancement of customer service training programs.

6. Developing training driven by audits such as the creation of a chlorine training program in response to recommendations regarding frequent alarm issues.

7. Conversion of Environmental Compliance Procedures (ECP) training into interactive video training modules.

8. Creation of a SCADA training module for emergency response planning.

9. Reallocation of positions to higher-skill roles to support GIS modernization and retention.

3.6. WSD's Engagement Process with Qualified Contractors

Following selection through this RFQu process, Consultants added to the Qualified Vendor List

(QVL) will be eligible to receive project-specific solicitations via a Request for Task Order

(RTO). These RTOs will be issued on an as-needed basis for projects that fall within the scope of services defined above in the RFQu Scope of Work.

3.7. Request for Task Order Proposal Process

A. To initiate a project using this QVL, WSD will issue a Request for Task Order

Proposals to a minimum of three (3) qualified consultants, inviting them to submit proposals. WSD reserves the right to invite more than three (3) consultants at its discretion.

B. Each Request for Task Order will, at a minimum, include the following project-specific information:

1. A detailed description of the required deliverables and services, including ongoing maintenance and support.

2. The implementation schedule for the deliverables and services.

3. Applicable technical standards required by the City.

4. Relevant City and/or department policies and procedures applicable to the project.

5. A list of documentation to be submitted with the proposal (e.g., reports, manuals, analysis, or other materials as specified by WSD).

6. Evaluation criteria, performance expectations, and acceptance requirements.

7. WSD's requirements for status reporting throughout the project.

8. Project-specific details including anticipated hours, schedule, and location.

9. Instructions for submitting the Task Order Proposal, including the due date.

3.8. Consultant Response to Request for Task Order

A. Qualified consultants invited to respond to a Request for Task Order must, at a minimum, include the following information in their proposal:

1. Personnel Information

Position title, name, resume, and credentials for each of Contractor’s resources who will be performing work under the Task Order.

2. Proposed Milestones

a. A description of the deliverables associated with each milestone.

b. The estimated duration and number of hours required to reach each milestone.

3. Proposed Project Cost

The total cost for the proposed deliverables and services. The cost should include any or all of the following items necessary to ensure successful completion and ongoing performance of project activities/functions:

a. Estimated WSD resources required.

b. If applicable, any software, equipment, services, or agreements (e.g., licensing, hosting, maintenance, support, services) necessary for the project. Copies of any agreements must be submitted with the proposal.

c. Ongoing Maintenance and Support.

B. Pricing Compliance

Task Order pricing must not exceed any pricing provided in the Master Contract.

C. Cost of Preparation

The Contractor’s cost for preparing and submitting the…