Mobility & Infrastructure Committee Memorandum
TO: MOBILITY & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE DATE: MARCH 12, 2026 FROM: PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR EVALUATIONS PER THE CITY VENDOR PERFORMANCE EVALUATION POLICY ISSUE:
Receive an update on construction contractor evaluations completed as part of the City of Riverside’s Vendor Performance Evaluation Policy.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Mobility & Infrastructure Committee receive and file the presentation on construction contractor evaluations as part of the City of Riverside’s Vendor Performance Evaluation Policy.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
City Charter Section 1105, Centralized Purchasing, and City’s Municipal Code Chapter 3.16, requires the City to have a Centralized Purchasing System. Section 601(d) of the City Charter, Powers and Duties of the City Manager, requires the City Manager to prepare rules and regulations governing contracting/purchases, with approval of the City Council.
City Charter Section 1109, Public Works Contracts, requires every project for the construction of street improvements and every purchase of materials for any such project, when total expenditures exceed $50,000, be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder by the City Council.
BACKGROUND:
The City’s Administrative Manual was developed to provide policy guidance and procedural instructions to all City personnel for matters affecting more than one City department. When properly maintained, the manual will supplement and interpret existing City policies and laws and provide uniform practices. Section 7 of the Administrative Manual is dedicated to “Purchasing and Contracting” matters. The City adopted a “Vendor Performance Plan” which became effective in December 2022 and is identified as Item Number 07.021.00 of the Administrative Manual.
On December 14, 2023, the M&I Committee received an update from the Public Works Department regarding the City’s Vendor Performance Policy relating to construction contracts. The City’s Vendor Performance Plan was presented as a practical and enforceable method to evaluate construction contractors and their respective performances. The Public Works Department agreed to return to the M&I Committee at a future date to provide a summary of results from completed contractor evaluations.
DISCUSSION:
The purpose of a Vendor Performance Plan is to give an agency the ability to document and track performance, whether positive or negative, by consultants and contractors on City awarded contracts. The City’s Vendor Performance Plan is a standardized internal tool used to encourage vendors to improve their performance. Vendor debarment is a core contracting process to safeguard the City from vendors performing poorly and/or not meeting the projects’ requirements.
The Vendor Performance Plan requires the Project Manager or another department representative to document the vendor's performance by completing the Vendor Performance Evaluation Form (Attachment 1). The goal of these Evaluation Forms is to reduce risk by evaluating criteria relevant to the project or service. Previous Evaluation Forms for the respective vendors may be used when considering future vendor contract awards for any procurement, including fixed construction or services valued at $250,000 or more. Per the adopted policy, vendors scoring 50% or less on one or more Evaluation Forms are subject to debarment from City Council for a minimum of 1 year based on unsatisfactory performance evaluations when concerns over poor performance or non-compliance has been communicated to the vendor and the vendor has not taken adequate or sufficient corrective action.
The Evaluation Form contains six evaluation categories including Administration, Scope, Staff, Communications, Schedule, and Health & Safety. These categories contain a total of 23 unique “performance expectations” that may receive an evaluation score between 0 and 5, when applicable to the project or service being provided. A description of the corrective action taken shall be indicated for any performance expectation item that received a score of 2 or less. A total of 115 points is available for each vendor with the completion of the Evaluation Form so if a vendor receives a total score of 57 or less, then the vendor will be subject to debarment as previously described. The total 50% threshold would be adjusted as necessary if any performance expectations are deemed not applicable to the project or service.
Prior to commencement of any work, each contractor is required to attend a preconstruction meeting where each contractor is notified of the City’s Vendor Evaluation Policy including the potential repercussions of performing poorly. To date, the Public Works Department has completed contractor evaluations on eighteen (18) separate construction projects as tabulated in Attachment 2. The evaluations demonstrate that the majority of construction contractors are performing work at a high level. However, the average scores for each of the evaluation categories range in the lower 80th percentile as outlined in Table 1. The Public Works Department continues to make it a priority to improve a contractor’s performance and their associated evaluation scores.
Table 1 – Contractor Evaluation Summary
Evaluation Category
Average Score
Administration
84%
Scope
80%
Staff
82%
Communications
82%
Schedule
79%
Health & Safety
79%
Overall
81%
Tracking these evaluations assists the Public Works Department in partnering with our construction contractors to improve their performance to ultimately provide the City with a better product for the public. Since the implementation of the City’s Evaluation Policy, the contractors have been more responsive to the City’s contract requirements, and to instructions provided by City staff. Contractors that are awarded multiple projects tend to show improvement on subsequent projects. The Public Works Department will continue to monitor the results of these evaluations and support the City’s Vendor Evaluation Policy.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
Prepared by: Edward Lara, Engineering Manager
Approved by: Nathan Mustafa, Interim Public Works Director Certified as to
availability of funds: Julie Nemes, Interim Finance Director Approved by: Kris Martinez, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Rebecca McKee-Reimbold, Interim City Attorney Attachment:
Vendor Performance Evaluation Form
Project Evaluation Summary
Presentation
Construction Contractor Evaluations ● Page 2