July 21, 2026
Finance Department
DATE: July 21, 2026
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Emily Combs, Director of Finance
Mubeen Qader, Deputy Director of Finance
Jerry Chak, Accounting Manager
SUBJECT:
Contracts with Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP and Vasquez
& Company LLP, for on-call Financial and Grant Auditing Services
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The proposed not-to-exceed amount of $100,000 per firm for the two on-call auditing services contracts with Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP and Vasquez & Company LLP, for
a combined not-to-exceed amount of $200,000, is
included within the approved Fiscal Year 2026–2027
Finance Department budget and will be budgeted
accordingly in subsequent fiscal years. Costs associated with grant-specific audit requests will be charged to or recovered from the applicable grant fund when allowable under grant requirements, and audit requests initiated by City departments will be charged to the respective
requesting department’s budget (Account String:
01172015-400215).
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The Finance Department is requesting authorization to
establish two on-call contracts for as-needed financial audit, grant audit, and related audit services. Establishing these on-call contracts will provide the City with a pre- qualified pool of firms that can be engaged through work authorizations as needs arise, allowing City departments to timely secure professional audit services and reduce delays in meeting grant, regulatory, and City reporting or auditing requirements.
AGENDA
REPORT
July 21, 2026
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ADOPT a resolution to APPROVE contracts with Macias
Gini & O’Connell LLP and Vasquez & Company LLP, to
provide as-needed grant audit, financial audit, and
related audit services, each in an amount not to exceed $100,000 over the initial three-year term, for a combined not-to-exceed amount of $200,000 for Fiscal Year (FY)
2026-27, FY 2027-28, and FY 2028-29, with an option to
extend for two additional years – Finance Department
(Jerry Chak/Mubeen Qader/Emily Combs 510-620-6569).
DISCUSSION:
The City of Richmond receives and administers various federal, state, and local grant funds. Some programs require compliance reviews, grant closeout audits, or other audit-related services. The Finance Department requires qualified certified public accounting firms that can provide these services on an as-needed basis and within required grant and reporting timelines.
The Finance Department issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for On-Call Financial and Grant Auditing Services (Attachment 1). The purpose of the RFP was to establish a pre-qualified pool of firms that could provide financial audit, federal grant audit, state grant audit, and related compliance audit services. Under the on-call structure, no minimum amount of work is guaranteed, and each assignment will be separately authorized with a defined scope of work, deliverables, timeline, and not-to-exceed amount.
The RFP closed on June 5, 2026, and total of 373 vendors were notified of the solicitation through the City’s BidsOnline system (Attachment 2). Four proposals were received in response to the RFP. Proposals were submitted by Badawi & Associates, Macias Gini & O'Connell LLP (MGO), Price Paige & Company, and Vasquez & Company LLP.
Following completion of the evaluation process, the evaluation panel identified Vasquez & Company LLP (Vasquez) and Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP (MGO) as the two firms most qualified to provide on-call grant audit and related financial audit services to the City (Attachment 3). The selected firms demonstrated the qualifications, staffing capacity, governmental audit experience, audit methodology, and responsiveness necessary to support the City’s as-needed audit service needs.
Vasquez was the first-ranked firm. Vasquez demonstrated strong governmental and municipal audit experience, including experience with California public agencies, financial audits, and grant compliance audit services. The firm presented a clear project approach, competitive fee structure, and qualified audit personnel.
MGO was the second-ranked firm. MGO demonstrated strong governmental audit experience and significant staffing depth. The firm has experience serving state and
July 21, 2026
local government entities and demonstrated the ability to provide specialized audit, compliance, and technical review support.
Awarding two on-call contracts will provide the City with flexibility to respond to varying audit service needs. It also strengthens the City’s ability to manage audit requests efficiently throughout the contract term.
City staff recommend that the City Council adopt a resolution approving contracts with Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP and Vasquez & Company LLP to provide as-needed grant audit, financial audit, and related audit services (Attachment 4). Each contract would be for an amount not to exceed $100,000 during the initial three-year term covering Fiscal Years 2026-27 through 2028-29, for a combined amount not to exceed $200,000, with an option to extend the contracts for two additional years (Attachments 5 and 6).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Request for Proposals - On-Call Financial and Grant Auditing Services Attachment 2 – Bid Summary
Attachment 3 – Rating Matrix
Attachment 4 – Resolution
Attachment 5 – Contract Agreement, Vasquez & Company LLP Attachment 6 – Contract Agreement, Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP