8H
Date: April 7, 2026
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Ian Dailey, Finance Director
By: David Cessor, Accounting Manager | [email protected] Subject: Finance – Award Consulting Services Agreement for External Auditing Services.
Expenditure: Not-to-Exceed $304,215 (General Fund: Approximately $101,405 Annually).
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation of the Finance Director that City Council award a consulting services agreement to Eide Bailly LLP of Ontario, CA (B2026-30), for an amount not-to-exceed $304,215 to provide external auditing services for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2026, 2027 and 2028 for a three-year (3) period, beginning April 7, 2026 and ending April 6, 2029 with two annual options for renewal.
FUNDING
Funding will be available in the Finance Department’s Fiscal Year 2026-27 Operating Budget and is anticipated to be available in subsequent fiscal years.
DISCUSSION
BACKGROUND
Section 1106 of the City Charter requires that “The City Council shall employ, at the beginning of each fiscal year, a qualified certified public accountant who shall, at such time or times as may be specified by the City Council, and at such other times as the certified public accountant shall determine, examine the books, records, inventories, and reports of all officers and employees who receive, handle, or disburse public funds and of all such other officers, employees, or departments as the City Council may direct. The qualified certified public accountant shall not be an employee of the City. As soon as practicable after the end of the fiscal year, a final audit and report shall be submitted by the certified public accountant to the City Council, one copy thereof to be distributed to each member, one to the City Manager, Director of Finance, and City Attorney, respectively, and one additional copy shall be placed on file in the office of the City Clerk where they shall be available for inspection by the general public, and a copy will be made available on the City’s website. The City may also use other electronic or technological means to disseminate the final audit and report to the public.”
1 City Council
April 7, 2026
On June 22, 2021, City Council approved a consulting services agreement with Vasquez & Company LLP (C2021-077) to perform external auditing services for fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2022 and 2023 through June 21, 2024. On April 11, 2023, City Council approved a first amendment to perform investment compliance review and issue additional audit report for the newly created Measure SST fund. On June 4, 2024, City Council approved to perform external auditing services for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 and extend the contract term for an additional one-year period through June 21, 2025. On May 6, 2025, City Council approved a third amendment to perform external auditing services for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 and extended the contract term for an additional one-year period through June 21, 2026.
ANALYSIS
On January 5, 2026, the City of Torrance released a Request for Proposal (RFP B2026-30) via PlanetBids for Financial Statement Auditing Services. On January 30, 2026, the City received proposals from five auditing firms. The RFPs were evaluated by staff from the Finance Department. Several factors were considered in evaluating these firms such as number of years of business experience, qualifications, pricing, knowledge of governmental accounting and auditing principles and new Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) pronouncements, years of experience of the pledged auditing staff, and their experience auditing Cities that are similar to the City of Torrance. The result of the evaluation is as follows:
Average Points
Description Maximum
Points
Eide
Bailly
LLP
Badawi
and
Associates,
CPAs
Vasquez
+
Company
LLP
The
Pun
Group,
LLP
Harshwal
&
Company
, LLP
Technical Experience 25 24.50 22.50 22.25 24.25 20.75
Qualifications 25 24.50 23.50 22.75 24.50 21.50
Proposal Amount 30 25.00 29.00 28.00 23.00 30.00
Experience in Gov't
Audits 20 19.75 18.00 19.75 18.50 14.75
Total Points 100 93.75 93.00 92.75 90.25 87.00
2 City Council
April 7, 2026
Results
Ranking Vendor
Name City State Evaluation
Score
Proposal
Price (3-
Year Term)
1 Eide Bailly
LLP
Ontario CA 93.75 $304,215
2 Badawi and
Associates,
CPAs
Emeryville CA 93.00 $246,608
3 Vasquez +
Company
LLP
Glendale CA 92.75 $272,131
4 The Pun
Group, LLP
Santa Ana CA 90.25 $390,437
5 Harshwal &
Company,
LLP
San Diego CA 87.00 $198,150
As a result of this evaluation process and based upon the above criteria, Eide Bailly LLP is recommended as the highest qualified firm to provide auditing services to the City. Eide Bailly LLP is a Top 20 CPA firm in the nation that has specialized in providing services to the governmental industry for more than 70 years. Their firm provides services to more than 1,300 government clients firmwide, including various cities, counties, and housing authorities, and its professional staff are properly registered and licensed to practice in California. Eide Bailly is also a member of the AICPA’s Governmental Audit Quality Center (GAQC), an organization whose primary purpose is to promote the importance of quality government audits.
Staff recommend that City Council award a consulting services agreement to Eide Bailly LLP for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2026, 2027 and 2028 for a three-year aggregate amount of $304,215 with options to extend for two (2) one-year terms.
ATTACHMENT
1. Consulting Service Agreement (Materials Available)
3