CITY OF MENIFEE
SUBJECT: Bid Award and Agreement with Hunden Partners for Placemaking, Identity, and Tourism Master Plan Consulting Services
MEETING DATE: August 7, 2024
TO: Mayor and City Council
PREPARED BY: Kayla Charters, Acting Economic Development Manager REVIEWED BY: Bryan Jones, Assistant City Manager
APPROVED BY: Armando G. Villa, City Manager
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
1. Award bid and authorize the City Manager to execute a Professional Services Agreement with Hunden Partners for consulting services for the Placemaking, Identity, and Tourism Master Plan, in a total not-to-exceed amount of $125,000 through June 30, 2025.
DISCUSSION
As a new city, Menifee faces the challenge of developing a distinct sense of place that leverages the community’s historic and scenic assets and makes the City a highly attractive and desired destination for residents, businesses, and visitors. With this in mind, the City Council established the development of Menifee’s unique identity as one of five strategic priorities identified within the Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan objectives associated with the development of Menifee’s unique identity are detailed as follows:
Objective A: Conduct a place-making and tourism feasibility study as part of developing Menifee as a destination City.
Objective B: Conduct a regional events assessment to identify a signature event that will help make Menifee a destination City.
To address these objectives, staff began the process of soliciting proposals from qualified consultants to facilitate the development of a Placemaking, Identity, and Tourism Master Plan.
With only one proposal received by the December 15, 2023, deadline following the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP), the original RFP issuance was canceled. Staff then analyzed the feedback that was provided by the potential firms, which requested more information regarding the budget for the project. Staff revised the scope of work to include budget information and
City of Menifee Staff Report
Agreement for Placemaking, Identity, and Tourism Master Plan August 7, 2024
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additional details to encourage additional proposal responses. A new RFP was released on April 10, 2024, and the City received seven proposal responses. A review committee comprised of city staff from multiple departments completed a comprehensive evaluation of the proposals received.
Proposals were reviewed and ranked based on the qualifications and experience of the firms and their project team, service delivery approach, and cost. The average scores for the RFP evaluation summary are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1 – RFP EVALUATION SUMMARY
Firm RFP Evaluation Score
Destination by Design 73.75
Future IQ 74.25
Hunden Partners 82.75
JLL 77.50
PSM 66.25
RGS 77.75
Think Place Agency 77.25
Following the initial evaluation process, staff determined that an interview phase would be needed to make a final decision. The top four bidders with the highest bid evaluation scores were then interviewed and evaluated. The scores and cost proposals are outlined in Table 2 below. Hunden Partners was the highest scoring during this phase and was ultimately selected for the project.
The total cost for the professional services with Hunden Partners is $125,000.
TABLE 2 – RFP INTERVIEW SUMMARY
Firm Interview Evaluation Score Cost Proposal
Hunden Partners 76.25 $125,000
JLL 61.75 $131,250
RGS 51.75 $124,384
Think Place Agency 73.25 $139,820
Hunden Partners provided a proposal that was rooted in data-driven research and stakeholder community member input that focused on destination assessment, product retention, expansion, attraction and development, and prioritization of efforts that would best support the growth and competitiveness of the City’s tourism economy. Hunden Partners detailed eight tasks to achieve the Placemaking Plan including:
• Task 1 – Kickoff and Discovery
• Task 2 – Creation of Webpage and Resident Sentiment Survey • Task 3 – Public and Stakeholder Engagement
• Task 4 – Menifee Destination Overview
• Task 5 – Economic and Demographic Analysis
• Task 6 – Destination Product/Signature Events/Asset Opportunity Analysis City of Menifee Staff Report
Agreement for Placemaking, Identity, and Tourism Master Plan August 7, 2024
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• Task 7 – Product Investment and Signature Events Recommendations • Task 8 – Creation of Final Placemaking Plan
The amount of the proposed Professional Services Agreement exceeds the City Manager’s signing authority. Pursuant to Menifee Municipal Code §3.12.040, any contract amount that exceeds the City Manager’s signing authority shall be approved by the City Council.
STRATEGIC PLAN OBJECTIVE
Unique Identity: Through the creation of this Placemaking, Identity, and Tourism Master Plan, the City would achieve Objectives A & B under Strategic Priority and Goal of Unique Identity.
FISCAL IMPACT
The fiscal impact of the proposed agreement with Hunden Partners is not-to-exceed $125,000.
Funding for the proposed agreement with Hunden Partners is available within the Fiscal Year 2024/2025 Budget under One-Time Consulting Services within the General Fund, Economic Development Department (1100-50-ECD-652855). No additional budget appropriation action is required.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Agreement - Hunden Partners