6.4 Procurement Process

PURPOSE 

This Procedure provides guidelines for the procurement process leading to the execution of a personal services contract between the City and a Consultant once a decision has been made by the Program Manager and City Engineer to utilize a Consultant and it’s been approved by the City Administrative Officer (CAO). Note that this Procedure does not define how to utilize Pre-Qualified On-Call (PQOC) contracts that are ALREADY in place. That is covered in more detail in Procedure 6.13. 

REFERENCES 

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RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Project Manager (PM): The PM is responsible for determining whether or not a personal services contract is needed and securing the Program Manager’s concurrence. The PM is also responsible for preparing the RFP/RFQ and performing the procurement process. The PM is responsible for making sure that the Consultant’s Insurance Requirement is valid and up to date for the life of the contract. 

• Program Manager: The Program Manager is responsible for reviewing and approving, both the PM’s proposed need to hire Consultants, as well as the various Board Reports and other elements, as the Program Manager desires on a case by case basis. 

• Board of Public Works (BPW): The BPW is responsible for considering the City Engineer’s Board Reports during the process (prepared by the PM). The BPW reminds Consultants if their Insurance is about to expire. 

• Project Award and Control Division (PAC): PAC is responsible for advertising the availability of the RFP/RFQ. Once the BPW adopts the Board Report to issue the RFP/RFQ, PAC is responsible for uploading the RFP/RFQ and attachments to the Mayor’s Business Assistance Virtual Network (BAVN). Regional Alliance Marketplace Procurement (RAMP). The Personal Services Contracts Section maintains and provides the Standard Form RFPs and RFQs, the Personal Services Contracting Process Checklist, the Master RFQ/RFP Contract Checklist, the standard Board Report to issue the RFP/RFQ, and the standard Board Report to execute the personal services contract. The Contracts Section also reviews the PM’s draft RFP/RFQ, Board Reports and will provide assistance during the procurement process. Standard board report formats for personal services contract issues are available online at the Engineering Form Library website located at https://eng.insidela.org/eforms/index.cfm?fuseaction=public.getobject&file=497.xlsx&type=1.

• Bureau of Contract Administration, Office of Contract Compliance (OCC): OCC is responsible for administering the various “social” ordinances for the City and ensures that Consultants have complied with the various City contracting policies. Their EEO Enforcement Section administers the following ordinances: Living Wage, Service Contractor Worker Retention, Equal Benefits, Slavery Disclosure, and Child Support. The EEO Enforcement Section is also responsible for checking compliance with the Affirmative Action Program, Equal Employment Practices, and Non-Discrimination. The Subcontractor Outreach & Enforcement Section oversees the MBE/WBE/SBE/EBE/DVBE/OBE Subcontractor Outreach Program. OCC is to be a reviewer/approver of the RFP/RFQ requirements, as well as the Consultant’s specific proposals or statements of qualifications regarding the Consultant's compliance with the above contracting requirements and the Consultant’s Good Faith EffortsBIP at utilizing MBE/WBE/SBE/EBE/DVBE/OBE subconsultants on the project. Personnel from OCC attend the “pre-submittal” meeting with interested consulting firms to explain the City’s MBE/WBE/OBE SubcontractorBIP requirements Outreach Program and other City contracting requirements.

• Bureau of Contract Administration, Office of Contract Compliance (OCC): OCC is responsible for administering the various “social” ordinances for the City and ensures that Consultants have complied with the various City contracting policies. Their EEO Enforcement Section administers the following ordinances: Living Wage, Service Contractor Worker Retention, Equal Benefits, Slavery Disclosure, and Child Support. The EEO Enforcement Section is also responsible for checking compliance with the Affirmative Action Program, Equal Employment Practices, and NonDiscrimination. The Subcontractor Outreach & Enforcement Section oversees the MBE/WBE/OBE Subcontractor Outreach Program. OCC is to be a reviewer/approver of the RFP/RFQ requirements, as well as the Consultant’s specific proposals or statements of qualifications regarding the Consultant's compliance with the above contracting requirements and the Consultant’s Good Faith Efforts at utilizing MBE/WBE/OBE subconsultants on the project. Personnel from OCC attend the “presubmittal” meeting with interested consulting firms to explain the City’s MBE/WBE/OBE Subcontractor Outreach Program and other City contracting requirements. 

• City Administrative Officer (CAO): The CAO is responsible for considering and approving the Bureau’s proposal to use Consultants for the work through the Charter Section 1022 Determination process and writing a report to the Mayor for his consideration when approving the contract. The CAO, Risk Management Section, establish the Insurance Requirement for the Consultants Contract. 

• Bureau of Contract Administration, Special Research and Investigation Section (SRIS): This Section is responsible for administering the City's Contractor Responsibility Ordinance (CRO) as well as the City's Contractor Evaluation Program databases, both of which also apply to consultants. The SRIS reviews the CRO Questionnaires and determines if a consultant’s submittal is responsive. If deemed non-responsive, the SRIS will document the reasons for their findings and inform the PM of the consultant’s disqualification. 

Procedure

The procedures for procuring a Consultant in the Bureau are discussed in this Chapter and outlined in the Flowchart for Consultant Procurement (Attachment 6.4- 1). The PM should keep in mind that it takes approximately 12 to 18 months to get a personal services contract into place. 

Two checklists developed and maintained by the Contracts Section of PAC also help describe the procedure. They are titled “Personal Services Contracting Process Checklist” (Attachment 6.4-2) and “Master RFQ/RFP Contract Checklist” (Attachment 6.4-3). 

Preliminary Steps 

The preliminary steps are noted below. (See Procedure 6.1 for more detail) 

1. Filing the Notification of Intent to Contract with: 

• Contract Clearinghouse: The Council has mandated that Departments must file a Notification of Intent to Contract with the City Administrative Officer’s (CAO) Employee Relations Division. The “Clearinghouse of Contracting Proposals” policy requires that the Notification of Intent to Contract be filed very early in the procurement process. It is recommended that this notice be filed at the same time that the Bureau requests a Charter 1022 determination from the Personnel Department. Once the CAO is notified, they will inform all employee unions of the City’s intent to contract personal services. 

• Board of Public Works’ Policy: On December 24, 2002, the Board of Public Works adopted a policy which added numerous requirements regarding contracting personal services. One such requirement is to brief the Board Commissioner on the intent to contract. 

2. Requesting Charter Section 1022 Determination: If there are City classifications that can do the proposed work, a CAO determination is required. The Bureau must follow the CAO’s “Charter Section 1022 Determination Procedures” as detailed in Procedure 6.1. The Charter mandates a determination that it is either more feasible or cost-effective to utilize Consultants rather than City forces to perform the work. If the CAO finds that the Bureau’s proposal is neither more feasible nor cost effective than utilizing City forces, then the Bureau cannot use Consultants and the process is ended. 

3. Secure Funding for Project & Program Specific Work, if Not Already Authorized: In most of the cases when we use Consultants, funding for the contract has already been approved by the Mayor and Council through the adoption of a bond or similar program, inclusion of the consultant funding in the adoption of the annual Capital Improvement Program (CIP), or a direct Mayor and Council action. If this has NOT BEEN DONE, then the PM, in consultation with the Program Manager, should initiate the actions to secure Council and Mayoral funding of the personal services contract. This should be started immediately and done in parallel to the consultant procurement process. If it is not done until the finalized contract is being processed for approval, it will result in delaying the contract’s execution. 

The procedures below list the key steps in the chronological order in which they occur. The first section includes a detailed description of the process for a Project Specific contract. The second section identifies the differences in the process used for PQOC contracts. 

Project - Specific Contract Procurement Process 

Request for Qualifications (RFQ) or Request for Proposals (RFP): The first action should be requesting a copy of the Personal Services Contracting Process Checklist (Attachment 6.4-2), the Master RFQ/RFP Contract Checklist (Attachment 6.4-3), and a standard form RFQ or RFP from the Contracts Section of the PAC. The checklists provide guidance on the actions which should be taken by the PM. Next, depending on the nature of the project and the work to be completed, the RFP or RFQ must be prepared by the PM. Both documents ultimately lead to the same conclusion, namely the identification of the firm best qualified to do the work. However, the Requests vary in what they require from the Consultants and when it is required during the procurement process. The following Table shows the key elements of each and explains how and why they differ.

Most RFP/RFQs will require the consultants to perform their Good Faith Efforts (GFE) online through the Mayor’s website, the Los Angeles Business Assistance Virtual Network (BAVN). However, if an RFP/RFQ requires that the GFE be documented and submitted on paper (not through BAVN), a major decision that must be made in conjunction with the Office of Contract Compliance, is when the firms should be submitting the required attachments to the RFP/RFQ as noted in the previous table. These Policy Statements mandate certain submittals from the potential Consultants. The CRO questionnaire, for example, must be submitted with the qualification statement or proposal so that the BCA’s SRIS can review the forms and determine if the Consultant’s statement or proposal is responsive. Consequently, the Bureau normally requires the firms to submit all the required attachments along with their qualification statements or proposals. However, if it is anticipated that many firms will respond, it may be more appropriate to only require certain attachments at the time of submission and the remaining attachments if a firm is short-listed. This is a very sensitive decision that should be discussed and agreed upon with the Office of Contract Compliance and approved by the Program Manager. In any case, it should be clearly identified in the RFP/RFQ, which attachments are required and when they should be submitted. 

When the PM has finished drafting the RFP/RFQ, it must be reviewed and approved by the Contracts Section of PAC as called for in Special Order No. 008-0801 Review and Assistance in Preparation of RFPs and RFQs (Attachment 6.4-4). When sending it to the Contracts Section, the Checklists should be attached indicating that the required steps have been taken. Once the needed revisions are completed and the draft RFP/RFQ has been approved by the Program Manager, the PM should meet with the City Attorney to get their approval “As to Form”. The PM must also, coordinate with CAO’s, Risk Management section to determine the Required Insurance and Minimum Limits for the Consultant Contracts. Once that has been done, the subsequent steps in the procurement process are as described in the following sections. 

Board of Public Works’ Approval to Distribute the RFP/RFQ, Evaluate the Firms and Negotiate the Contract: The RFP/RFQ is to be sent to the Board with a Board Report (Attachment 6.4-5) requesting the authorization for the City Engineer to distribute the RFP/RFQ, select the best qualified firm and then negotiate the contract with that firm. The Board Report is to be a joint report with the Bureau of Contract Administration because OCC is to be a reviewer/approver of the RFP/RFQ's requirements as they relate to the Consultant's “Good Faith Efforts” at utilizing MBE/WBE/OBE subconsultants on the project and other City contracting requirements. The Checklists must be Transmittals with the Board Report. The Bureau's Liaison Board Member and Board President should be briefed in advance of the Board meeting, most likely at the weekly, Monday afternoon Board Member briefings. The Board’s Policy action of December 24, 2002 asked that the report be sent to the Board 10 days prior to its official consideration. 

Distribution of RFP/RFQ – Use of Internet: After Board approval, PAC will upload the RFP/RFQ and Attachments to the Mayor’s Business Assistance Virtual Network (BAVN) and will place advertisements into publications as requested by the PM. The RFP/RFQ, also known as an opportunity, is uploaded to BAVN using NAICS interest codes. Any prime firm with matching interest codes will receive an automatic e-mail through BAVN that same evening informing them of the availability of a new opportunity on BAVN. Consultants and anyone who is registered on BAVN will have the opportunity to obtain the RFP/RFQ and to respond to the request. 

Pre-Submittal Conference: It is the responsibility of the PM to put together the pre-submittal conference prior to the receipt of Consultant submittals. The PM is to contact the Construction Contracts Section Supervisor of PAC in order to arrange to have OCC staff present at the pre-submittal conference. The purpose of the presubmittal conference is to answer questions which the Consultants may have about the scope of the project or the requirements contained in the RFP/RFQ. OCC staff will discuss compliance with the various City policies and procedures. Answers that can be given at that time may be given. However, it is not required that answers be given at the pre-submittal conference, as the answer may require some discussion among staff. If the answers aren't given at the meeting or there is additional information provided at the pre-submittal conference, an Addendum to the RFP/RFQ is made available to all firms by posting it on BAVN. 

Given the long list of requirements that are placed on Consultants for compliance with various City policies and procedures, OCC will focus much of the pre-submittal conference on these "administrative" requirements. The timing of when the information must be submitted should also be clearly discussed. It is extremely important that the pre-submittal conference provide sufficient opportunity for the firms to understand the submittal requirements so that they are not deemed to be "nonresponsive" by the Board of Public Works for failure to submit the required information. Normally, OCC will provide contact numbers during the pre-submittal conference if there are additional questions. Also, a City contact person is provided for each of the City Policies and Procedures, which have submittal requirements, in the Attachments to the RFP/RFQ. 

Along with the PM, OCC must be present to discuss the details of the MBE/WBE/OBE Subcontractor Outreach Program’s requirements described in the RFP/RFQ, as well as Ordinances for Equal Benefits, Living Wage, Service Contractor Worker Retention, Child Support, and Slavery Disclosure. OCC will also talk about the requirements for an Affirmative Action Plan, Equal Employment Practices, and Non-Discrimination. 

If the contract is large or sensitive, then the Mayor’s Minority Business Opportunity Committee (MBOC) should be contacted to see if they wish to attend the pre-submittal conference to explain to potential proposers how MBOC might be able to help them successfully perform their Outreach efforts. 

Per the December 24, 2002 Board Policy, a copy of the attendees list from the pre-submittal conference is made available as an Addendum to the RFP/RFQ and is posted on BAVN. When an Addendum is added to the RFP/RFQ, an automatic email is generated through BAVN and sent to all interested firms who have downloaded the RFP/RFQ. 

Evaluation of Proposals or Submittals: During the proposal period, the PM, with the Program Manager’s approval, should form a Selection Panel. The panel should generally be composed of the following: 

1. Program Manager 

2. Project Manager 

3. Perhaps the Division Head of the Lead Technical Division 

4. Client Department representative 

If the project will be overseen by an Oversight Committee, a representative from the CAO and from the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) offices should be invited to be on the panel. They might decline the invitation. 

Once the selection panel has been convened, it should be made clear to all participants in the selection process that the basis of selection is quality as defined in the RFP/RFQ and NOT price. Under the laws of California, it is illegal to procure professional services on the basis of a method that constitutes a bid. However, price of the proposals can be considered as one of the criteria, but it shall not be dominant or the only criteria. 

Following receipt of the Consultant’s proposals or submittals, the Contractor Responsibility Questionnaires are sent by the PM to the BCA, SRIS. The questionnaires are reviewed by the SRIS and based on the Consultant’s responses; a determination is made as to the submittal’s responsiveness. If the SRIS concludes that a submittal is non-responsive, they will issue an advisory communication form to the PM that includes the reasons for their findings. The PM is to retain the advisory form in the project files. Findings of non-responsiveness by the SRIS will eliminate the Consultant from consideration for award. 

Concurrently, the selection panel of City staff members should begin evaluating the documents and taking whatever action is described in the RFP/RFQ. The evaluation process most typically involves choosing a "short list" of firms to interview. The short-listing process should be documented by utilizing the ratings criteria contained in the RFP/RFQ. The PM should provide blank scoring sheets, per the Evaluation Criteria (Attachment 6.4-6), to each panelist. The scoring sheets should be filled out and then retained by the PM as a record of the process. Part of the process, either at the short-listing stage or at the subsequent time of interviews, is checking the City’s Contractor Evaluation Program (CEP) database maintained by SRIS and contacting the firm’s references. To assist in the process, a reference questionnaire has been developed as a guide (Attachment 6.4-8). The PM is encouraged to modify the questionnaire, as necessary, to meet the needs of their specific project. Documentation should be retained in the project files and copies sent to the BCA. In certain situations, such as the firm having previous work experience with the City, contacting previous clients may not be necessary; however, checking the CEP database is still recommended. 

Following the evaluation, the selected firms should be notified, both in writing and by phone or fax that they have been short-listed. They should be informed of the time, place, length and format of the interviews and told of the specific topics they should be prepared to discuss. At the same time that the successful firms are notified of the interviews, the unsuccessful firms should also be informed in writing. 

Prior to holding the interviews, the selection panel should meet to discuss how they will conduct the interviews and how they will vote on who the best firm is. In simple terms, two general ways exist. 

• Total Criteria Points - Have each panel member score each Firm using the rating criteria and then add up all the points from all the raters and the highest scoring firm is selected. This is the most direct and obvious way of scoring. However it has a very significant downside. A very low score by one panelist could essentially nullify a first place scoring by the other panelists. 

• Total Ranking Points - Have each panelist score the firms using the points based evaluation criteria, thereby placing them in rank order, i.e., 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Then, add up these placement scores among all the graders and the Firm with the lowest placement score is selected. 

The second method, Total Ranking Points is generally the preferred method to follow because, as mentioned above, it negates the ability of one panel member to skew the results by hugely unbalancing the scoring (i.e., scoring one firm 100 and all other firms with 0 would almost certainly “outweigh” the scoring of the other panelists under Total Criteria Points method). Nonetheless, either method is valid, but it is important to decide in advance which will be used, because there have been Consultant selections which would have varied depending on which method was used. 

Evaluation of Good Faith Effort (GFE) Documentation: If applicable, each potential respondent to the RFP/RFQ will follow the online procedures for making a good faith effort outreach to the sub-consulting community. The RFP/RFQ will be marked as eligible for the online GFE. BAVN will include a list of subconsultants by subcontracting opportunities. The potential respondent is required to select a certain number of subconsultants and notify them of the subcontracting opportunity. An initial letter and a follow up letter will be e-mailed or faxed by BAVN to the selected subconsultant. It is up to the potential respondent to negotiate in good faith with the subconsultant for the proposed work. Information on negotiations is added to the Summary Sheet on BAVN. Online GFE outreach is set up to help the potential respondents pass the MBE/WBE/OBE Subcontractor Outreach Program requirements and is scored on a pass/fail basis for each indicator. When OCC is informed as to the selected Consultants, they will review the Summary Sheets in BAVN. The PM is to send the selected Consultant’s Schedule A to OCC for their evaluation. OCC will complete their evaluation and review and approve the Board Report to execute the contract. 

Notifying the Firms and the Board of the Results: Upon selection of the winning firm and its compliance with all City contracting requirements, the PM and the Program Manager should review the selection process with the City Engineer. Upon receiving the City Engineer’s approval, the winning firm should be notified of its selection by phone and by letter (City Engineer’s signature). A notification letter to the unsuccessful firms should also be drafted for the City Engineer's approval and signature. Per the Board’s December 24, 2002 Policy, the Bureau's Liaison Board Member and Board President should be briefed in advance of the Board meeting, as to the selected Consultant, most likely at the weekly, Monday afternoon Board Member briefings. 

Negotiating the Personal Services Contract: After the Board has been briefed on the selected Consultant, contract negotiations can commence. Refer to Procedure 6.5 for details. 

Automatic Funding Contingency for Subconsultants: In order to allow a mechanism to procure as-needed services from other (subconsultants) consultants, all personal services contracts should include a funding contingency to be used for as-needed unanticipated services. A contingency amount of 10% is usually recommended, but this can be adjusted depending on the anticipated needs of the project work. This contingency will be explained in all Board Reports requesting authorization to execute a personal services contract. A revised scope shall be issued as a Task Order to the consultant for any additional services from other consultants. PAC will review personal services contracts to make sure they contain an appropriate contingency. 

PQOC Contract Procurement Process 

How is the Procurement Process Different than for Project-Specific Contracts? The procurement process for PQOC Consultants is largely the same as for Project-Specific Consultants. However, there are some differences. For example, RFQs are always used, rather than RFPs. This is because RFPs are only appropriate when the Bureau is requesting a proposal for a specific project. By its very nature, the PQOC list development is designed to place the most qualified firms on a "standby" list for selected projects to be identified and assigned at a future date.

Charter Section 1022 Determination Procedures and the procedures for notifications to the Contracting Clearinghouse were largely developed with Project Specific contracts in mind. Even though there is not a specific project in mind, there is a developed scope of work that is included in the RFQ for a PQOC Consultants List. The PM is to follow the same Charter Section 1022 determination and notification rules and procedures as detailed in Procedure 6.1 when drafting an RFQ for a PQOC Consultants List. When a specific project is identified and it is decided to use a PQOC Consultant, another Charter 1022 determination is not necessary since the process has already been completed. Consequently, the PM is able to directly solicit the PQOC Consultants List. 

Another difference with PQOC Consultant procurements is that multiple firms are being hired. Therefore, at some time during the procurement process, a decision must be made as to how many firms with which to contract. In the RFQ, a range of potential firms to be selected for the PQOC Consultants List is mentioned. The specific number of firms to be included on the PQOC list is best decided at the time of the final rankings of the firms because the scoring often indicates obvious "break points" in the relative rankings of the firms. 

Selecting how many firms to place on the PQOC Consultants List has to do with the purpose of the list. If it is a generic back-up support style list designed for general "overflow" or short notice work, it would be acceptable to place a number of firms on the list even though no work might ever go to the list. This fact should be made very clear to the firms in the RFQ and again throughout the process so that the potential Consultants’ expectations are not raised. If the list is for a specific program, such as a Bond Program, then it is probably best to have a smaller number of firms listed than there are projects, so it is certain that all firms will get at least one project. 

Regarding the MBE/WBE/OBE GFE Outreach, the RFQ may require submittal of information at the time of negotiation of a Task Order. This should be worked out with OCC and clearly spelled out in the RFQ and its attachments. Normally, though, if Task Orders are expected to be greater than $100,000, the RFQ will require online GFE outreach prior to the submittal due date for the Statements of Qualifications.

RELATED PROCEDURES

• Procedure 6.1 - When to Use a Consultant

• Procedure 6.2 - PQOC or Project-Specific Contract - Which to Use?

• Procedure 6.5 - Contract Negotiations

• Procedure 6.11 - Consultant Performance Evaluations

• Procedure 6.13 - Using the PQOC Consultants Lists

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