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1 CITY OF EL CERRITO REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) CITYWIDE STRATEGIC PLAN DEADLINE: MARCH 26, 2012 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) FOR A STRATEGIC PLAN The City of El Cerrito is seeking a qualified person or firm to contract for consulting services to guide a citywide Strategic Planning process. The deadline for submittals is 4:00 p.m. PST on March 26, 2012. SUBMIT PROPOSAL TO: City of El Cerrito Scott Hanin, City Manager 10890 San Pablo Avenue El Cerrito, CA 94530 [EMAIL REDACTED] (510) 215-4301 ABOUT THE CITY The City of El Cerrito is a general law city that was incorporated in 1917. El Cerrito is located in western Contra Costa County and forms part of the highly urbanized area along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. El Cerrito has a population of 23,440 and covers an area of 3.9 square miles. El Cerrito is a community of highly educated residents due primarily to the proximity to UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay Area high-tech economy. It is known for its temperate climate and breathtaking views of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge from the hillside areas. Interstate Highway 80 passes near the west boundary of the community, while the crest of the Berkeley Hills and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park define the eastern boundary. The community is served by AC Transit and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, with stations near both the north (El Cerrito Del Norte station) and south (El Cerrito Plaza station) boundaries of the city. In addition, several transit agencies including Golden Gate Transit, Fairfield-Suisun Transit, Vallejo Transit, and WestCAT also serve the El Cerrito Del Norte BART station. The combination of services from these agencies provides excellent public transportation to the entire Bay Area. The City is organized as a Council-Manager form of local municipal government. The City Council consists of five members elected at large for four-year, overlapping terms. The Council selects the Mayor for a one- year term from among its members. The Mayor and City Council provide community leadership, develop policies to guide the City in delivering services and achieving community goals, and encourage citizen understanding and involvement. The Council Members also serve as the governing body of the El Cerrito ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 Employees’ Pension Board, the El Cerrito Municipal Services Corporation and the El Cerrito Public Financing Authority. The City Manager is appointed by the City Council and is responsible for administration of municipal affairs. All municipal departments operate under the supervision of the City Manager. Through the City Manager, City staff uses the resources appropriated by the Council in the budget to achieve desired service results in the community, and carries out the policies of the Council. The City Council also appoints the City Attorney to advise them and City staff on legal affairs, to see that all laws are effectively enforced and, when necessary, to defend the City in litigation. The City provides police and fire services as well as recreation, streets and roads, recycling, economic development, public improvements, building, planning and zoning and general administrative services. Residents are provided water by East Bay Municipal Utility District and sewer services through Stege Sanitary District. Garbage and green waste collection service is provided by East Bay Sanitary, and both Comcast and AT&T provide video, internet and telecommunication services. More information about the City is available on our website at www.el-cerrito.org. BACKGROUND The City Council meets early each calendar year to identify its goals for the upcoming fiscal year. The goals identified help dictate the budget priorities and objectives included in the annual operating budget. Over the past ten years, these goals have focused on tackling a backlog of unmet infrastructure needs, ensuring financial sustainability, providing public safety, improving environmental stewardship, and fostering improvement in community engagement. As a result, during that time the City has worked diligently toward meeting these goals and has celebrated many successes. The most visible of these are El Cerrito’s major capital projects, including the construction of a brand new City Hall after spending 21 years in modular trailers, infrastructure improvements along San Pablo Avenue (the City’s main commercial corridor), the popular and thriving Cerrito Theater, the repair or replacement of almost every street in the City, and a new Recycling and Environmental Resource Center. The City is on sound financial standing and has greatly expanded its public information and community outreach efforts, owing to its commitment to improved communication, reporting and transparency. These endeavors resulted in voter approval of three local revenue measures over the past eight years, demonstrating a renewed feeling of trust in our local government. El Cerrito has also become a regional leader in environmental stewardship, engaging in conservation efforts, winning national grant opportunities, and embarking on a Climate Action Plan. In 2011, the City Council developed the City’s first mission statement: The City of El Cerrito serves, leads and supports our diverse community by providing exemplary and innovative services, public places and infrastructure; ensuring public safety; and creating an economically and environmentally sustainable future. With much of the “catch-up” work done, the City has entered a transition phase, providing an optimal time to restate our mid- and long-term vision and objectives. Together, the City Council and staff have ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 embraced our direction of service, leadership and support for the future and intend to build upon it by developing a Strategic Plan to guide us in fulfilling the City’s mission. The Strategic Plan is also meant to serve as the foundation for a General Plan Update, the Climate Action Plan, and a road map for economic development. Additionally, the Plan will guide the City’s priorities and desires with respect to ongoing improvement of public facilities and infrastructure and consideration of a charter city form of government. WHAT THE CITY IS LOOKING FOR The City of El Cerrito is seeking proposals from qualified persons or firms to contract for consulting services to guide a Strategic Planning process for the City. Consultants are invited to submit a proposal which includes an outline of their experience and qualifications in performing work directly related to the services required. Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next several years and how it's going to get there. A Strategic Plan is intended to help the City direct its efforts and resources toward a clearly defined vision for its future. The Plan should include benchmarks or milestones that measure the City’s progress along the way. El Cerrito is interested in having this Plan completed proactively and transparently with community acceptance. The process should allow for both active and passive involvement ensuring diverse and extensive community participation. Our Strategic Plan should be a “living document” and should undergo periodic review and adjustment to reflect progress towards achievement of goals and/or modifications of goals. As a process and eventual working document, the El Cerrito Strategic Planning process and final document should provide a work plan for the next 5 years and a vision for the 10 and 20 year horizons to address the following issues: • Help the City of El Cerrito decide what it wants to be in the future, including identification of what makes El Cerrito unique and special, and how the City can position itself to be prepared for the future while still retaining those qualities. • Serve as a way to organize and prioritize City initiatives and resources to achieve specific goals within a specific period of time 5 year timeframe in the short term, and 10 - 20 year timeframe in the long term) with specific performance measures. • Provide a process that allows general alignment and focus of the City Council, City administration, and staff in addition to citizens, business interests, community groups, etc. to foster a sense of cohesion as to the City’s strategic direction. • Transform the conceptual goals of the visioning process into realistic, achievable targets. • Serve as a framework for development of a new/updated General Plan. • Encourage engagement and spark the interest and excitement of active/passive residents, business & property owners, city officials/ administration and staff, and others in the future potential of the City. • Generate new ideas and discussion about the built environment, economic development, environmental and fiscal sustainability, sense of place, and the City’s overall identity. • Chart an effective, considered, and innovative course of action for the City’s future, setting priorities and maximizing innovative opportunities. ---PAGE BREAK--- 4 Through this planning process, the City is also interested in the successful prioritization of services and the following objectives: • Ability to evaluate the services we provide, one versus another. • To better understand our service levels in the context of the cause-and-effect relationship they have on the organization’s priorities and finances. • To provide a higher degree of understanding among decision makers as they engage in a process to rank services, facilities, and governance based on priorities. • Articulate to people within the City and to the public how we value our services, how we invest in our priorities, and how we divest ourselves of lower-priority services (if necessary). At a minimum, provide the following deliverables: • A recommended brochure detailing the Strategic Planning process for distribution to the public. • A recommended final Strategic Plan document that includes an implementation plan with benchmarks or milestones that measure the City’s progress • A recommended Strategic Plan Executive Summary. QUALIFICATIONS Any combination of skills and experience that can successfully and effectively address the scope of services. SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS The City requires that all submissions be provided in electronic format only, via electronic submission, email or on one PC-compatible CD or USB flash drive or provide an electronic web link to allow supporting material to be downloaded and/or viewed. The CD or flash drive should be clearly labeled in ink with the consultant’s name and contact information. To be considered, interested parties must submit by the deadline a proposal package that includes the following: • Letter of interest signed by a person authorized to bind the firm to its proposal – please summarize your interest in this project and include contact information. • Summary of qualifications, experience and availability – summarize qualifications, relevant experience, and availability to participate in the RFP process (including interviews) and provide services to the City. It should also identify key staff members who will be participating. • Proposed approach to the process, including a proposed schedule and description of proposed public involvement methods – summarizing method and approach to providing consulting services to the City. • Proposed budget – include detailed project costs, by task and estimated hours by team member and in total. Actual compensation is subject to final negotiation. • Additional information may be added, if additional tasks (and associated costs) that could be performed by the consultant team in the event that the project budget was to be increased are proposed and described. • List of professional references – list most recent professional references and their contact information. ---PAGE BREAK--- 5 • A minimum of three examples of relevant written work related to Visioning and Strategic Planning: at least one of which will represent a strategic plan prepared on behalf of a City or comparable entity. • Identification of any concerns or objections to signing the City’s standard professional services agreement (Attachment No objections will be considered that were not identified in the proposal. EVALUATION CRITERIA The following will be considered in evaluating each proposal: • Completeness of response to the RFP requirements • Experience with similar projects • Creativity of approach • Experience in effective public involvement and incorporating citizen input • Demonstrated facilitation skills in successfully working with city councils/staff, boards and commissions, community organizations, businesses and citizens • Demonstrated knowledge/experience with actual development of strategic plans and implementation of possible strategies • Basic understanding of municipal finance • References • Price GENERAL INFORMATION 1. All proposals submitted become public information and may be reviewed by anyone requesting to do so at the conclusion of the evaluation process. 2. All proposals received by the City of El Cerrito in response to this RFP shall remain valid for ninety (90) days from the date of submittal. 3. The City reserves the right to cancel or reissue the RFP or to revise the timeline at any time. The City reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive minor irregularities in the proposal process. The City may accept any proposal if such action is believed to be in the best interest of the City. 4. The City is not liable for any cost incurred by the proposer prior to execution of a contract. 5. This is a City project and holds liability for work with its consultants. The contract between the successful proposer and El Cerrito shall include all documents mutually entered into specifically, including the contract instrument, the RFP, and the response to the RFP. 6. The prime consultant will be required to assume the responsibility for all services offered in the proposal whether or not directly performed by the prime consultant. Further, the prime consultant will be the sole point of contact for the City of El Cerrito with regard to contractual matters. 7. The project team shall be approved by the City of El Cerrito. The City must approve any changes in the project team. PROCESS AND TIMELINE FOR SELECTION The City’s process and timeline for selection of a consultant are as follows: March 1, 2012 – RFP released ---PAGE BREAK--- 6 March 19, 2012 – Questions on RFP due March 26, 2012 – Deadline for RFP submittals Submittals must be received at City Hall, 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 by 4:00 p.m. PST on March 26, 2012. Submittals should be sent to the attention of Scott Hanin, City Manager and/or submitted via e-mail to [EMAIL REDACTED]. The City assumes no responsibility for formatting or transmission errors. Submittals received after the deadline will not be considered. March 26-30, 2012 - Consideration of submittals and selection of interview candidates An evaluation team will select candidate(s) from submittals received for interview(s). This process will include review of submittals, references, and other information as necessary, as well as rating of submittals. April 4-5, 2012 - Possible Interviews with selected candidates Interviews will provide an opportunity for the City and selected candidates to further gauge their fit and ability to work with each other. Please ensure that the appropriate representative, including the designated Project Manager, will be available to attend an interview if selected as a finalist. April 9, 2012 - Selection of preferred candidate The City will select a preferred candidate, based on the interviews, written proposal, and other information, as well as the results of the reference checks, and will contact all candidates about the results. April 17, 2012 - Approval of contract by City Council QUESTIONS For questions regarding the City’s RFP process or the services being sought, please contact Scott Hanin via email at [EMAIL REDACTED] or via telephone at (510) 215-4301, up to 4:00 p.m. PST on March 19, 2012. Any addendums to this RFP will be distributed by email and posted on the City’s website at http://el-cerrito.org/Bids.aspx. Attachment(s): Standard Professional Services Agreement