HomeMy WebLinkAbout11 Professional Consultants Agenda Item #
Public
Action
To: Board of Directors
From: Neil Kaufman
Date: March 19, 2008
Subject: Process and Procedures to be Used for Retaining Professional Consultants
1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD
Board action is required to amend the District Code.
2. HISTORY
The District utilizes outside professional consultants to provide a number of services. These are
services required by the District where District staff does not have necessary expertise and/or
equipment to perform the work, and where it would not be cost effective to develop such
capabilities in-house.
The District Code does not currently define any process or procedures for the hiring of
"professional services." In the past, Request for Proposals (RFPs) have normally been issued,
but not in every case.
3. NEW INFORMATION
One of the District's objectives is to "Responsibly serve the public." An associated goal is to
"Conduct the District's business in a legal, ethical, open, and transparent manner."
District staff has developed a new procedure for the selection of professional consultants to
ensure that the process is open and transparent. This process includes:
1) Identifying the need for consulting services
2) Defining a scope of work and issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP)
3) Determining evaluation criteria
4) Selecting a staff review committee
5) Recommending a consultant
6) Presenting the recommendation to the Board of Directors
The draft Process and Procedures for Retention of Professional Services is attached. It is
proposed to insert it into Chapter 3 of the District Code as Article 3.08.060.
4. FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct fiscal impact for this action. Funding for the retention of specific consultants
would be identified at the time of award.
5. RECOMMENDATION:
The Board opt the Pro s and Procedures for Retention of Professional Services
Ed Taylor, Water Utility Manager Michael D. Holley, General Manager
Attachments:
Draft Process and Procedures for Retention of Professional Services
Process and Procedures for Retention of Consulting Services
1) Department Manager determines need for outside consulting services.
2) Department Manager discusses need for consultant with the General Manager(GM).
3) Upon GM approval, Department Manager and departmental staff create a draft
Request for Proposals (RFP) for review by the GM. The draft RFP shall include a
proposed scope work and general description of evaluation criteria to be used in
reviewing the proposals. Weighting of the specific evaluation criteria shall not be
included in the RFP. The RFP shall require separate Technical Proposal and Cost
Proposal sealed in separate envelopes.
4) The Contracts Administrative Clerk (CAC) shall begin advertising the RFP. A notice
of the RFP shall be mailed to consultants known to perform the required services and
to the A/E Consultants Information Network. A notice of the RFP shall also be
published in the Sierra Sun.
5) A staff committee shall be created to review the proposals. The committee shall
include staff from at least two separate Departments (Electric, Water, Administrative
Services). The exact makeup of the committee shall be determined by the GM and
Department Manager seeking the consulting services.
6) The GM and Department Manager shall finalize the proposal evaluation criteria and
the weighting to be given to each component.
7) After receiving proposals, they shall be held in the custody of the CAC. The CAC
shall distribute copies of all Technical Proposals to the staff committee members for
individual review.
S) The staff committee shall then hold a meeting to discuss the various proposals and to
rank the consultants based upon technical merit using the approved evaluation
criteria.
9) At the same meeting, after completion of the technical rankings, the Cost Proposals
shall be opened and reviewed by the staff committee members. This review shall
ensure that the manhours, hourly rates, services and indirect costs given in the Cost
Proposal correspond to the level of effort described in the Technical Proposal and to
the level of effort expected by the District to perform the anticipated work.
10) The staff committee shall meet to discuss both the Technical and Cost Proposals and
determine a short list of consultants to be interviewed by the staff committee.
11) After final review of the proposals, the staff committee may determine that a given
consultant is clearly superior to the other consultants and may recommend to the GM
that interviews are not necessary. The staff committee may also determine that the
proposed scope of work or the expected cost is such that conducting interviews will
not yield significant information for the staff committee to consider and similarly
recommend to the GM that interviews are not necessary.
12) When interviews are to be conducted, the CAC shall contact the short-listed
consultants and schedule interviews. The date, time and duration of the interviews
shall be determined by the Department Manager in conjunction with the staff
committee. The staff committee shall also create a proposed outline and list of any
questions to be posed to the short listed consultants.
13) After completion of the interviews, the staff committee shall determine a
recommended consultant for presentation to the Board of Directors. This
recommendation shall be based upon the individual consultant's weighted scoring and
their overall proposed cost.
14) The Department Manager shall prepare a memorandum and appropriate
documentation for presentation to the Board. The memorandum shall summarize the
following:
• Work to be performed by the Consultant.
• Number of proposals received
• Ranking of consultants on a technical basis
• Recommended Consultant and expected cost thereof
• If the recommended consultant is not the Number 1 ranked firm on technical
merit, the memorandum shall describe the rationale used to develop the
recommendation