Agenda

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D. 1

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Monica Nino, County Administrator
Date:	June 7, 2022

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

AWARD OF FEDERAL ADVOCACY SERVICES CONTRACT - THORN RUN PARTNERS

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 06/07/2022

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Timothy Ewell, (925) 655-2043

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: June 7, 2022
,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE and AUTHORIZE a contract with Thorn Run Partners in an amount not to exceed $324,000 for federal legislative advocacy services for the period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Up to $324,000 over the term of the contract; 100% General Fund. The proposal from Thorn Run Partners provides for monthly retainer costs of $8,550 is Years 1 and 2 and $9,000 in Year 3 of the contract. In addition, the total pricing reflects an additional $10,800 for the three-year period of the contract for other expenses as needed.

BACKGROUND:

On April 1, 2022 the County Administrator's Office distributed a request for qualifications for federal legislative advocacy services (Attachment A) in anticipation of the current contract for services expiring on June 30, 2022. The RFQ was posted on BidSync and distributed to all known advocates serving California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and Urban Counties Caucus (UCC) member counties.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

Responses to the request for proposals were due on April 27, 2022. At that time, the County received four (4) responses from the following firms:

Carpi & Clay, Inc. (Attachment B)
Thorn Run Partners (Attachment C)
K&L Gates and Platinum Advisors (Attachment D)
ACG Advocacy, LLC (Attachment E)

Following receipt of the submissions from the above firms, the County Administrator's Office convened a County Selection Committee (CSC) to conduct interviews with respresentives from each of the four firms above on Monday, May 23, 2022, via Zoom. The interview process was facilitated by Chief Assistant County Administrator Timothy Ewell and the CSC was composed of the following individuals:

Supervisor Karen Mitchoff, District IV, Chair of the Board of Supervisors
Lara DeLaney, Senior Deputy County Administrator - Contra Costa County, CA
Peter DeMarco, Director of Legislative Affairs - Orange County, CA

The CSC used a consensus based, forced ranking system to evaluate respondents during the interview process. Upon conclusion of interviews, the CSC recommended that the contract be awarded to Thorn Run Partners. All respondents were notified of the intent to award the contract to Thorn Run Partners on May 27, 2022.

Today's action requests that the Board consider awarding the contract to Thorn Run Partners for the period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025 as recommended by the CSC.