REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
(RFP)
Organization & Staffing Assessment
Date Issued
March 25th, 2025
RFI/Questions Period Closes April 4th, 2025 at 3:00 PM PST (to be submitted via email, [email protected])
Proposal Submittal Due Date
April 11th, 2025 @ 2:00 pm PST
To
via email, [email protected] (electronic submittal only)
KEY ACTION EVENTS AND DATES
Event
Approximate Date
Issue Date of RFP
March 25th, 2025
Q & A (Inquiries or Questions)
April 4th, 2025, prior to 3:00pm PST
Proposals Due
April 11th, 2025, prior to 3:00pm PST
City Evaluates Proposals
April 14th, 2025 – April 17th, 2025
Contract Processing/Award
TBD
(The City reserves the right to change schedule of events without prior notice or responsibility to Proposer.) Changes, if any, will be communicated via email.
Inquiries or Questions and/or Requests for Clarification All individuals or firms interested in submitting an RFP must address any questions or requests for clarification of the RFP via email to [email protected] during the open period as outlined in Key Action Events and Dates.
GENERAL INFORMATION
1. PURPOSE
The City of Santa Rosa seeks to conduct an Organizational and Departmental Assessment to ensure that its structure, resources, and staffing levels are effectively aligned with both current and anticipated service demands. This initiative aims to provide actionable insights that will help the City navigate fiscal challenges while maintaining high-quality and efficient service delivery.
Through this assessment, the City of Santa Rosa aims to:
Improve departmental efficiency and effectiveness.
Identify redundancies, gaps, and opportunities for process improvement.
Ensure resources are optimally allocated to support service delivery and City Council priorities.
Develop a strategic approach to change management that supports organizational adaptation and resilience.
The selected consultant(s) will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the City's organizational framework, analyzing staffing structures, workflows, and reporting mechanisms. The results will guide informed decision-making and support the City's efforts to sustain high performance in a constrained budgetary environment.
2. BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Rosa is confronting a complex financial landscape amid relatively stagnant revenue and aims to recalibrate its budget to manage these financial pressures. The goal of this initiative is to ensure long-term financial sustainability while maintaining the City's ability to deliver high-quality services to the community.
To navigate the financial challenges the City is seeking a broad review of its departmental structures, resource allocation, and workforce capacity to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
With the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget adoption approaching in June 2025, this evaluation is particularly time sensitive. The findings from this study will inform budget decisions and strategic planning efforts aimed at maintaining service excellence in a challenging financial landscape.
This RFP seeks experienced consultants with expertise in organizational assessments, operational efficiency, and change management to assist the City in achieving these objectives.
3. Scope of Services
The Organizational and Department Assessment is designed to ensure that the City’s organizational and departmental structures, resources, and staffing levels are optimally aligned to meet both current and anticipated service demands. This assessment will provide actionable insights to help the City navigate a challenging budget environment while maintaining high-quality, efficient services. In addition to reviewing operations, this assessment will incorporate a financial and departmental review to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. The scope of work for the consultant(s) includes the following:
The consultant will evaluate the following dimensions through document review, interviews, surveys, value stream mapping, financial analysis, or other appropriate methodologies.
Departmental Structure:
Identify and evaluate core departmental functions and processes to measure alignment with the City Council’s goals.
Assess reporting structures, roles, and responsibilities to identify redundancies or gaps.
Analyze current staffing levels, vacancies, and workload distribution to address inefficiencies or imbalances.
Process and Efficiency:
Evaluate the effectiveness of existing resources (human, financial, technological) in supporting the identified core departmental functions and achieving organizational objectives.
Assess the efficiency of current departmental processes to identify opportunities for improvement and/or cost savings.
Reporting and Accountability:
Recommend systems for ensuring accountability and maintaining quality of service.
Change Management Support:
Assist in developing a change management strategy, including:
Identifying resistance points and developing mitigation strategies.
Creating communication plans to inform and engage key stakeholders.
Stakeholder Participation.
Departments may be assessed one at a time to provide the consultant with focused insights and granular analysis of department dynamics.
Assessments may be completed in conjunction with other departments to capture cross-functional processes and systemic issues.
Department Directors and other key personnel will be available for interviews, surveys, and feedback sessions within an established scheduled timeframe.
Stakeholders will engage in the change management process, including providing feedback on the recommended changes and participating in communication or training activities as needed.
The departments to be prioritized in the assessment are:
Housing and Community Services
Planning & Economic Development
Recreation and Parks
Transportation & Public Works
Other departments to be considered are:
City Attorney’s Office
(billed/quoted separately)
Water
(billed/quoted separately)
Information Technology
Access to Data
The consultant will have access to all necessary documents including:
Existing organizational and departmental charts
Budget data
Staffing data including:
Job descriptions
Costs
Any existing performance metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) The availability and quality of organizational and departmental data may impact the scope and accuracy of the analysis.
Analysis and Reporting
The consultant will produce a comprehensive written report that integrates both financial and operational insights. This report will include:
A high-level Assessment Summary of findings for each department evaluated with specific, feasible, and actionable recommendations to optimize performance, and resource allocation.
Value Stream Maps (VSMs) and a combined workforce/financial analysis of the identified core functions of the departments with recommendations for process optimization or realignment.
Department-specific SWOT analyses and benchmarking data comparing the City’s performance, processes, staffing, compensation, and financial outcomes with peer agencies.
A phased implementation plan that prioritizes recommendations with clear milestones and dependencies.
Note: While the RFP specifies methodologies, the consultant is encouraged to propose innovative or alternative approaches provided they achieve the outlined outcomes and meet the City’s requirements.
4. PROPOSAL FORMAT GUIDELINES
Proposal should be typed and should contain no more than 20 pages using a 12-point font size, excluding Index and Table of Contents.
A. Background and Project Summary Section
The Background and Service Summary Section should describe your understanding of the City, the scope of services, and the objectives to be accomplished. Refer to Scope of Services of this RFP.
C. Methodology Section
Provide a detailed description of the approach, timeline and methodology to be used to accomplish the Scope of Services of this RFP.
C. Qualifications
The information requested in this section should describe the qualifications of the individual/firm. Experience providing similar services in size and scope to demonstrate competence to perform these services. Information shall include:
• The number of years in business
• Prior experience as an ………………….
• If the firm is involved in any pending litigation that may affect its ability to provide its proposed solution, or current breach of contract with other agencies. • State whether your firm is an individual proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or private nonprofit firm, and the date your company was formed or incorporated.
D. Rates and Charges
The proposed means of compensation, including hourly rates or fees to be charged must be listed. A schedule of rates or amounts for all fees, charges, and expenses should also be included. Although cost will be a major component in awarding the contract, the contract will not necessarily be awarded to the lowest proposer.
5. PROCESS FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS
RFP responses must be emailed to [email protected] prior to 3:00 PM PST on April 11th, 2025.
One Scope of Work proposal and one Cost Proposal submittal is requested.
6. STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Cost for Preparing Proposal - The cost for developing the proposal is the sole responsibility of the Contractor. All proposals submitted become the property of the City.
Contract Discussions - Prior to award, the apparent successful individual/firm may be required to enter into discussions with the City to resolve any contractual differences. See Sample Agreement and Insurance Requirements.
Please carefully review the Sample Agreement and Insurance Requirement documents before responding to the Request for Proposal enclosed herein. Your response to the Request for Proposal must indicate if you are unwilling or unable to execute the agreement as drafted as well as providing the insurance requirements.
Confidentiality Requirements - The staff members assigned to this project are required to sign a non-disclosure statement. Proposals are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The City cannot protect proprietary data submitted in proposals. “All proposals, responses, inquiries, or correspondence relating to this RFP, and all reports, charts, and other documentation submitted by Contractor’s (other than materials submitted as and qualifying as trade secrets under California Law as identified in the proposal) shall become the property of the City when received. The entire proposal shall be subject to the public records laws of the State of California except where a proper trade secrets exception has been made by the Contractor in accordance with the procedures allowed by California and Federal Law and marked in bold “Confidential.” Note: If proprietary/confidential information is identified in the original proposal, a redacted copy of the proposal must be submitted and marked as “Redacted Copy”. Otherwise, all proposals will be made subject to public record in its original form.
Financial Information – If the City is concerned about Contractors’ financial capability to perform, the City may ask you to provide sufficient data to allow for an evaluation of your firm’s financial capabilities.
Insurance Requirements – Awarding Contractor will be required to maintain in full force and effect all the insurance coverage described in, and in accordance with the “Insurance Requirements” attachment.
Registration – Firms must be registered to do business in the State of California, have a current City of Santa Rosa Business Tax certification and meet insurance requirements approved and on file before a contract will be awarded.
PROTEST PROCEDURES:
Vendors may file a “protest” to an RFP with the City’s Purchasing Department via email to Purchasing Agent Brandalyn Tramel, [email protected] For a protest to be considered valid, the protest must:
1. Protest as to RFP process must be filed in writing within the third business day following the posting of Notice of Intent to Award.
2. Clearly identify the specific irregularity or accusation.
3. Clearly identify the specific City staff determination or recommendation being protested.
4. Specify, in detail, the grounds of the protest and the facts supporting the protest.
5. Include all relevant, supporting documentation with the protest at time of filing.
If the protest does not comply with each of these requirements, it will be rejected as invalid. If the protest is valid, the City’s Purchasing Agent shall review the basis of the protest and all relevant information. The Purchasing Agent will provide a written decision to the protestor within ten (10) business days from receipt of protest. The decision from the Purchasing Agent, or her/her designee, is final and no further appeals will be considered.
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