2026 On-Call Engineering and Professional Services for Public Works Project within the County of San Mateo

This Request for Proposals (RFP) seeks submittals for professional services on an on-call basis. These services include consulting needs as necessary for a variety of projects in the County. The target commencement date and term for the proposed services is October 2026, through October 2031, subject to negotiation of a final agreement.

Background

The Department of Public Works (the "Department") plans, designs, constructs, operates, and maintains facilities and equipment that are safe and accessible to the clients of County agencies, the general public and County employees. The Department advises the Board of Supervisors on all public works issues, including rates and charges for services that are fair to both the users and service providers. Public Works has a budget of approximately $300 million and is comprised of over 300 employees in five divisions: Administrative Services, Airports, Engineering and Resource Protection, Facility and Capital Projects, and Road Services. Most of the Public Works budget is funded from sources other than the County’s general fund. The budget includes federal and state funds earmarked for aviation and transportation, landfill franchise fees for waste management programs, gas taxes to maintain 316 miles of County roads, and property taxes and service charges to provide various services to the 46 special districts governed by the Board of Supervisors and administered by the Department.

The County may qualify multiple Consultants to provide Professional On-Call services and negotiate agreements with firms. When requested, the Consultant shall develop a brief proposal providing a scope of work, schedule for the work, and a fee proposal for the work. The scope of work, schedule and fee will then be negotiated. Being selected does not guarantee that a Consultant will be requested to submit on any project nor that the Consultant will receive any assignments. Consultants should note that future work assignment would be based on the quality of work product produced, timely submittal of deliverables, and the Consultants’ ability to meet staff’s expectations. The number of projects is unknown, as the volume of work assigned to Consultant is dependent on the Department staff workload and funding availability.

The not-to-exceed amount for the agreement will range from $500,000 and up to potentially $1,500,000 based on the number of categories the Consultant is awarded.

This RFP seeks the submission of proposals to provide services from any and all interested and qualified proposers. The Department, which is a part of the government of the County of San Mateo, seeks by way of this RFP to obtain the listed services in a manner that maximizes the quality of services while also maximizing value to the County and, by extension, the citizens of the County. Proposers must be able to show that they are capable of performing the services requested. Such evidence includes, but is not limited to, the respondent's demonstrated competency and experience in delivering services of a similar scope and type and local availability of the proposer's personnel and equipment resources.

The Project Development and Design Engineering Section (Section) is responsible for investigating, design, review, development of standards, and computer aided drafting support associated with bridges, roadway, utilities, and facility projects. More information regarding the services provided for the Section can be obtained visiting the Department’s web site at: http://publicworks.smcgov.org

Project Details

• Reference ID: RU403
• Department: Public Works - Engineering and Resource Protection - Engineering Services
• Department Head: Tory Newman (Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-08-13T00:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Method and Approach (40 pts) —

  Understanding of Scope and Contract Requirements (10 points)

  Firm's Approach (10 points)

  Budget/Financial Controls (10 points)

  Quality of Experience of Firm (10 points)

• Experience and Organizational Capacity (40 pts) —

  Qualifications and experience of Key Personnel (10 points)

  Experience with Other Public Agencies (10 points)

  Project Management (10 points)

  Schedule/Timing (10 points)

• Price Proposal (10 pts)

Submission Requirements

• Minimum Qualifications
• Has Proposer has been providing similar services for a minimum of five (5) years within the last seven (7) years? (required)
• Has Proposer completed at least five (5) Projects within the last ten (10) years and has work experience similar in nature to the description of the category of interest? (required)
• Account manager has a minimum of two (2) years of experience within the last five (5) years in providing account services? (required)
• Is the Proposer legally authorized to do business in the State of California (required)
• Technical Proposal Upload —

  Upload the technical proposal and price proposal here.

• Please upload Technical Proposal(s) in PDF format here (required) —

   

  If submitting on multiple categories , name each proposal in the following manner: RFP#_ProposerName_Category#.pdf

  No price proposal shall be included in the proposal package. Proposals that contain price proposal will be deemed unresponsive and will be rejected. 

  Price proposal shall be uploaded in the section below.

• Please upload price proposal (required) —
  • The Price Proposal should be submitted as a separate PDF file from the Technical Proposals detailed in Required Documents.
  •  Provide a rate schedule for the key staff identified in your proposal to be identified by classification.
  • If forms and templates are provided for the Price Proposal, use them without modification. Failure to use the forms or templates provided, or modification of them, may result in rejection of the entire proposal.
  • Alternative Price Proposals may be submitted, but only in addition to, not in lieu of, the requested Price Proposal. If submitting an alternative Price Proposal, clearly identify it as an alternative.
  •  Include prices for the base period of service and if applicable, for each additional year including option years.
  • Unless otherwise indicated, when applicable, in the price of an item, include all licenses required for operation, as well as upgrades and revisions to software over the term.
  • Requests for reimbursements for lodging, food and other miscellaneous per diem items shall be approved in writing by the County prior to beginning of work.   Mileage reimbursements shall be recorded from the Consultant’s main office (as designated by the County) to the project site.
  • Escalation on salaries may be applied annually at an aggregate rate not to exceed a 2% maximum per year.
  • The County reserves the right to accept other than the lowest priced offer and to reject any proposals that are not responsive to this request.
• Agreement term (years) (required) —

  Update below if needed.

• Is there an extension to this agreement? (required) —

  Is there an extension to this agreement?

• Extension (required) —

  Modify the extension information below, if needed

• Will there be a Pre-Proposal Meeting and/or a Site Visit? (required)
• Include the information that will be covered in the site visit. (required)
• Require vendors to provide References? (required)
• References (required) —

  How many references are required by the vendor? (Number)

• Use Electronic Line Item Pricing? (required)
• Allow vendors to submit Confidential Information? (required) —

  In rare circumstances where there is an expectation that proposers will need to submit trade secrets or other confidential information in order to respond to an RFP. 

• Sample Agreement (required)