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LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	03/09/2020
Subject: Federal Legislative Advocacy Services FY 2020-21
Submitted For:	LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	2020-07
Referral Name:	Federal Legislative Advocacy Services
Presenter:	L. DeLaney	Contact:	L. DeLaney, 925-335-1097

Information

Referral History:

Alcalde & Fay, minority-controlled/employee-owned firm, is the County’s current federal representative. Paul Schlesinger, the County’s point person at Alcalde & Fay, has established the County’s presence in Washington, D.C. and developed excellent relationships with staff of our congressional delegation. The result has been a positive “return on investment” for the County for its appropriation and authorization requests.

In August 2018, pursuant to its contract solicitation policies, the Legislation Committee directed staff to undertake a procurement process early in 2019 for the state and federal advocacy services for the period FY 2019/20 through FY 2021/22. CAO staff issued a Request for Qualifications on March 27, 2019 for the federal legislative advocacy services, to which three firms responded, including the incumbent firm.

A County Selection Committee of five interviewed the firms, evaluated, rated and ranked the proposals, and recommended to the Legislation Committee on May 13, 2019 that the contract be awarded to a firm for which the Legislation Committee did not achieve consensus on the recommendation, and the recommendation was forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for consideration without Committee endorsement.

The Board of Supervisors considered the matter on June 11, 2019 and rejected the recommendation from the County Selection Committee, acting instead to extend the current contract with Alcalde & Fay through June 30, 2020. The Board of Supervisors further directed the Legislation Committee to develop performance measurements to be incorporated into a new or amended contract upon Board approval. The County Administrator's Office was directed to seek the input of County departments to prioritize federal legislative initiatives and inform the development of performance metrics for federal legislative advocacy.

Referral Update:

As the Alcalde & Fay federal advocacy services contract termination date of June 30, 2020 draws nearer, staff requests direction from the Legislation Committee on the process for developing a contract for service for the period beginning July 1, 2020.

The contractor solicitation (Request for Qualifications) undertaken in 2019 anticipated a contract award for a three-year period, with two single year options to renew to the successful responder.

The contract with Alcalde & Fay provides for a monthly retainer of $8,458, plus expenses. The Service Plan for the contract is provided as Attachment A.

Alcalde & Fay continues to provide valuable information and advocacy efforts on behalf of Contra Costa County's federal legislative agenda. They routinely provide the County with relevant federal news and information, Federal Register entries, a weekly Grant Alert for Local Governments, appropriations requests support, consultation on advocacy and community engagement efforts, federal legislation summaries and fact sheets, Administration Budget Summaries, draft legislation support letters, notices of funding opportunities, and advocacy aligned with our adopted Federal Platform.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

DIRECT staff on the process for procuring federal advocacy services for the period beginning July 1, 2020.

Attachments
Attachment A: Service Plan