City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 22, 2026
Agenda Item: 4.M
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Oliver Chi, City Manager, City Manager's Office
Subject: Award Professional Services Agreement with Raftelis for Organizational Performance and Operational Assessment Services
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant environmental effects pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with Raftelis for organizational performance and operational assessment services for the City Manager’s Office. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to the City’s Procurement Policy pursuant to Section 2.24.250 (b) and is for a total amount not to exceed $326,600 with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval. 2 of 6
Summary
Staff recommends entering into an agreement with Raftelis to support the City’s ongoing organizational improvement efforts. The proposed work includes development of a citywide performance measurement framework and operational assessments of Building and Safety, Code Enforcement, and Residential Habitability. The performance measurement work would help establish a consistent approach for how departments develop, maintain, and report performance measures. It would also support continued development of the Santa Monica Scorecard and, if needed, additional technical support for the ongoing build out of the City’s internal and public-facing performance dashboards.
The operational assessments would examine staffing, workload, organizational structure, business processes, service levels, technology, and coordination within the three areas. The work would result in recommendations to improve operations and inform future decisions about staffing, resources, processes, and service delivery.
Raftelis has previously worked with the City on the Organizational Workplans, Citywide Equity Plan, executive team retreats, and other organizational initiatives. Staff recommends continuing with Raftelis because the proposed work builds directly on the knowledge of City operations developed through those engagements.
Discussion
The City has been working to strengthen how it sets organizational priorities, measures progress, and evaluates City services. The proposed agreement would continue that work in two areas: citywide performance measurement and focused operational assessments.
Performance Measurement and Reporting
The City currently uses the Santa Monica Scorecard to report progress on key performance measures and projects. As the Scorecard has evolved, staff identified the need for a more consistent citywide approach to performance measurement so departments are working from a common methodology and reporting information that is useful for both management and public accountability.
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Raftelis would begin by reviewing existing departmental measures, data collection practices, and projects currently included in the Scorecard. The firm would then work with departments to refine existing measures and develop new measures where needed. A citywide workshop with department leadership would provide training on performance measurement and serve as a working session for departments to define their measures.
The work would also establish standards and processes for maintaining the program after the initial engagement is complete. This includes training City staff and developing an approach for periodically reviewing measures as services, priorities, and available data change.
The agreement includes optional assistance with the City’s performance dashboard technology program. If used, Raftelis would help organize data sources, transition existing Scorecard measures, develop internal and public-facing dashboards, establish quality control procedures, and train staff responsible for maintaining the dashboards.
The proposed work is intended to reduce manual data handling where possible and make ongoing reporting easier to maintain.
Operational Assessments
Raftelis would also conduct operational assessments of Building and Safety, Code Enforcement, and Residential Habitability. While the functions differ, each assessment would look at how current staffing, workload, processes, technology, and service expectations affect the City’s ability to deliver services.
For Building and Safety, the work would include plan check and inspection functions and review staffing, workload, time standards, service delivery, contracting opportunities for peak workloads, and implementation of the City’s permitting system.
For Code Enforcement, Raftelis would evaluate workload and staff capacity, current service levels, organizational structure, processes, and use of technology. The assessment would identify opportunities to improve operations and better align available resources with service expectations.
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The Habitability assessment would examine the program across the departments involved in delivering habitability services. Raftelis would document the current process, identify the staff resources involved, evaluate coordination between departments, and recommend changes to clarify responsibilities and reduce unnecessary or duplicative work.
The assessments would include interviews with staff and stakeholders, review of operational and workload data, benchmarking against peer cities, and review of applicable practices in other agencies. Raftelis would use that work to develop recommendations and an implementation plan for the City.
Staff recommends executing a contract with Raftelis for organizational performance and operational assessment services. This contract would enable the City Manager’s Office to continue to implement a multi-phase organizational effort focused on strengthening accountability, improving service delivery, and advancing performance-based management.
Vendor/Consultant Selection
Exception to Competitive Bidding
Staff recommends Raftelis to provide organizational performance and operational assessment services as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to the City’s Procurement Policy. Raftelis has worked with the City on several organizational initiatives, including the Organizational Workplans, Citywide Equity Plan, and executive team retreats. Through these engagements, the firm has developed familiarity with the City’s organizational structure, priorities, operations, and interdepartmental processes. The work proposed under this agreement was not included in Raftelis’ previous engagements. Rather, the need for the performance measurement work and operational assessments was identified as the City’s broader organizational improvement work progressed. Staff recommends an exception to the competitive process because changing consultants at this stage would require another firm to recreate much of the organizational context already developed through Raftelis’ work with the City. This would require additional discovery and staff interviews before substantive work could begin, resulting in additional cost, staff time, and delay.
Continuing with Raftelis allows the City to move directly into the proposed work and maintains continuity with the organizational work already completed. l. Other: Reasoning can include: Standardization; Temporary Procurement to allow for competitive solicitation process; Project completion shortfall of no more than 15% of overall project. The exception for standardization is limited to purchases that are 5 of 6
necessary to: (a) maintain compatibility with existing assets; (b) avoid loss or impairment of existing warranty or vendor support; or (c) avoid duplicate licensing or implementation costs.
Environmental Review
This agreement modification is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines. The agreement is covered by the common sense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The agreement modification will provide for organizational performance and operational assessment services that would not have a physical effect on the environment, and as such, is exempt from CEQA.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the General Fund to award an agreement with Raftelis for organizational performance and operational assessment services.
Agreement Request
FY 2026-27
Request Amount Department Account # Total Contract Amount $326,600 01200009.552010 $326,600
Total $326,600
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Sergio Ramirez, Chief of Staff
Approved Forwarded to Council
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Attachments:
A. Levine Act Disclosure Form 2025_3-27-25
B. OAKS INITIATIVE FORM (2)
C. PowerPoint Presentation