Investigations - Seeking firms/vendors to conduct independent investigative services as needed.

The City of Long Beach Department of Human Resources issued RFP HR-23-352 on March 5, 2024, to solicit proposals from qualified non-attorney investigative firms to provide confidential, independent investigation services for employee disciplinary and misconduct matters on an as-needed basis, with proposals originally due April 16, 2024, extended to April 23, 2024 via Addendum 2.

Proposers must hold a minimum of three years' experience providing non-attorney investigation services to public agencies in California and must be licensed as non-attorney investigators under California Business and Professions Code section 7523. The City anticipates 25 to 100 combined assignments annually across multiple awarded vendors; investigations will not involve sworn law enforcement or fire personnel. Awarded contractors must maintain commercial general liability insurance ($1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate), workers' compensation insurance ($1,000,000 per accident), and private investigators' errors and omissions liability insurance ($1,000,000 per claim), and must register with the California Department of Industrial Relations. Contractors subject to the City's Equal Benefits Ordinance (applicable to contracts valued at $100,000 or more) must certify compliance with spousal and domestic partner benefit requirements before contract execution.

The contract will be awarded for an initial one-year term with four optional one-year renewals, not to exceed five years. The City does not prefer a specific pricing structure; prior contract hourly rates ranged from $76.50 to $300.00 per hour. Payment is rendered within 30 calendar days of invoicing. Selected vendors will receive blanket purchase orders with no minimum or maximum assignment limits, and customer departments will select from awarded vendors based on need and quality. Biweekly progress updates to customer departments are required.

The City received seven proposals by the April 23 deadline. Six firms met mandatory requirements and proceeded to evaluation on four criteria: Organizational Capacity & Experience, Method of Approach, Communications and Reporting, and Reasonableness of Cost. The City of Long Beach announced intent to award to three firms: Cooperative Personnel Services of Sacramento, JL Group of Laguna Niguel, and Palicon Group of Riverside. Contract execution was estimated for September 2024.