COMPREHENSIVE FEE STUDIES

Background

The City of Cooper City administers a variety of fees, rates, and charges that support the delivery of essential municipal services. These include, but are not limited to, wastewater utility rates, Parks and Recreation fees, Community Development fees for permitting and development-related services, Fire Rescue fees, business tax receipts, and other user fees established to recover the cost of providing services. These revenues play a critical role in supporting the City's operations, maintaining financial sustainability, and ensuring that the cost of services is allocated fairly and equitably among users.

As operating costs, service demands, regulatory requirements, and community priorities continue to evolve, the City recognizes the need to periodically evaluate and update its fee and rate structures. A comprehensive review is necessary to ensure that fees remain equitable, financially sustainable, legally defensible, and aligned with the City's cost-of-service principles, policy objectives, and industry best practices.

Project Details

• Reference ID: RFP2026-3
• Department: Finance
• Department Head: Irwin Williams (Chief Financial Officer)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-08-12T16:00:00.000Z
• Pre-Proposal Meeting: 2026-08-07T14:00:00.000Z — Virtual Pre-Proposal Meeting. Cooper City Virtual Meeting is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: RFP2026-3 Pre-Proposal Meeting- COMPREHENSIVE FEE STUDY Join Zoom Meeting https://coopercityfl-org.zoom.us/j/81994146211

Evaluation Criteria

• Understanding of the Project and Technical Approach (20 pts) —

  This criterion evaluates the respondent’s understanding of the City’s overall objectives and its approach to a multi-departmental comprehensive rate study.

  Evaluation will consider:

  • Understanding of the City’s financial objectives, including cost recovery, affordability, equity, and fiscal sustainability
  • Understanding of the differences between Utilities, Parks & Recreation, Community Development, and Finance (Fire and Rescue) service models
  • Clarity of the overall philosophy for developing a citywide fee and rate structure
  • Identification of key challenges in aligning multiple departments under a unified cost recovery framework
  • Recognition of policy considerations and potential impacts on residents, businesses, and stakeholders
  • Overall coherence and logic of the proposed study approach at a citywide level

   

• Methodology and Technical Framework for Comprehensive Rate Setting (25 pts) —

  This criterion evaluates the soundness and defensibility of the proposer’s overall technical methodology for conducting the study.

  Evaluation will consider:

  • Overall approach to developing cost-of-service and fee/rate structures across multiple departments
  • Soundness of the proposed analytical framework for allocating direct, indirect, and shared costs
  • Integration of financial, operational, and usage data into a unified study model
  • Approach to ensuring consistency while allowing department-specific methodologies where appropriate
  • Use of recognized industry standards and best practices in municipal rate setting and fee analysis
  • Ability to produce transparent, defensible, and auditable results suitable for public adoption
• Firm Qualifications and Experience (30 pts) —

  This criterion evaluates the respondent’s demonstrated experience performing similar comprehensive or multi-department rate and fee studies for public agencies.

  Evaluation will consider:

  • Experience conducting comprehensive municipal rate studies involving multiple service areas
  • Experience with Utilities, Parks & Recreation, Community Development,  Finance (Fire and Rescue) or similar public sector service models
  • Demonstrated ability to integrate multiple departments into a unified cost-of-service or fee study framework
  • Experience presenting technical findings to elected officials, governing boards, or public stakeholders
  • Strength and relevance of past projects of similar scope, size, and complexity
  • Overall track record of delivering defensible and adopted rate or fee studies for public agencies
• Cost Proposal (25 pts) —

  This refers to the proposed contract fee and reimbursement expense budget. (Please note that price is only one factor for consideration of award). The offeror shall propose a not-to-exceed amount for complete execution of each individual study as detailed in the Scope of Services herein. If proposing costs which may include alternate programs or services not covered in the base bid pricing, the offeror, when offering such alternative services, must provide a detailed explanation of additional optional services to be offered. The Cost Proposal shall be separately sealed and will be opened by the Purchasing Division only after the Evaluation Committee has completed and finalized the composite technical scores for all responsive Proposers. Cost Proposal points shall then be added to the composite technical scores to determine each Proposer's final overall score and ranking.

• Cross-Department Data Integration and Cost Allocation Methodology (50 pts) —

  Evaluation will consider:

  • Methods for collecting and standardizing data across departments (Utilities, Parks & Recreation, Community Development, Finance, etc.)
  • Approach to reconciling different accounting structures and fund types
  • Development of consistent cost allocation frameworks across service areas
  • Handling of shared administrative, overhead, and indirect costs
  • Ability to maintain comparability while respecting department-specific differences
  • Data validation and quality control procedures across multiple sources
• Coordination, Governance, and Deliverable Management Across Department (5 pts) —

  Evaluation will consider:

  • Project governance structure and communication plan with multiple departments
  • Meeting coordination with multiple departments 
  • Sequencing of work across departments to avoid conflicts and delays
  • Quality control of interim and final deliverables across service areas
  • Responsiveness to City staff and administrative review processes
  • Timeline management across multiple concurrent workstreams
• Department-Specific Rate Modeling and Service Cost Recovery Design (45 pts) —

  Evaluation will consider:

  • Methodologies for utility rate design (cost-of-service, consumption-based modeling)
  • Approaches to Parks & Recreation fee structures (subsidy vs cost recovery balance)
  • Approaches for Community Development fees (permit, impact, and regulatory fee modeling)
  • Approaches to Finance Departmetnn fees (Fire and Rescu rates and cost allocation)
  • Ability to align pricing strategies with City policy objectives (equity, affordability, competitiveness)
  • Scenario analysis across departments to evaluate fiscal and policy impacts
  • Transparency and defensibility of modeling assumptions across service areas

Submission Requirements

• Proposer Information
• Proposer's legal company name (include d/b/a if applicable): (required)
• Proposer's Federal Taxpayer/Employer Identification Number (FEIN). (required)
• State Incorporated/Organized: (required)
• Proposer's organizational structure. (required)
• If Corporation/Limited Liability Company/Other Legal Entity (also referred to as "Company), Provide Date Incorporated/Organized:
• Company Operating Address (including City, State & Zip Code): (required)
• Company Contact Person & Title: (required)
• Company Contact Person Email Address: (required)
• Company Contact Person Phone Number: (required)
• Are any owners/principals/persons with ownership interest in your company a City of Cooper City Elected Official, Commission Board Member or Employee? (required)
• Waiver of Confidentiality and Trade Secret Treatment of Proposal (required) —

  The Proposer acknowledges and agrees that the submittal of the Proposal is governed by Florida's Government in the Sunshine Laws and Public Records Laws as set forth in Florida Statutes Section 286.011 and Florida Statutes Chapter 119. As such, all material submitted as part of, or in support of, the Proposal will be available for public inspection after opening of proposals and may be considered by the CITY or a evaluation committee in public.

  By submitting a Proposal pursuant to this Solicitation, Proposer agrees that all such materials may be considered to be public records. The Proposer shall not submit any information in response to this Solicitation which the Proposer considers to be a trade secret, proprietary or confidential.

  In the event that the Proposal contains a claim that all or a portion of the Proposal submitted contains confidential, proprietary or trade secret information, the Proposer, by signing below,
  knowingly and expressly waives all claims made that the Proposal, or any part thereof no matter how indicated, is confidential, proprietary or a trade secret and authorizes the CITY to release such information to the public for any reason.

• Acknowledgment of Waiver: (required) —

  Proposer's Authorized Representative's Signature and Title

• Technical Proposal
• Technical Proposal (required) —

  Please submit your firm's Technical Proposal here. The technical proposal should include all documents and information required in the format, contents and documents.

• Cost Proposal
• Cost Proposal Form (required) —

  The cost proposal will be evaluated subjectively in conjunction with the technical proposal, including an evaluation of how well it matches Proposer’s understanding of the City’s needs described in this Solicitation, the Proposer’s assumptions, and the value of the proposed services. The cost evaluation is used as part of the evaluation process to determine the highest ranked Proposer. The City reserves the right to negotiate the final terms, conditions and pricing of the contract as may be in the best interest of the City.

  Notes:

  1. Unit prices shall be shown and where there is an error in extension of prices, the unit price shall govern.
  2. Proposer shall include all services and associated fees. Proposer shall itemize all services, including hourly rates for all professional, technical and support personnel, and other charges related to the completion of the work.
  3. The proposer is advised to consider any inflation expected during the term of the contract.
  4. Alternate proposals will not be considered unless authorized in the RFP document.
• Submission
• The undersigned hereby certified that this Proposal is submitted in response to s Solicitation and that the Proposer agrees to the terms and conditions listed within (required)
• Proposer's Authorized Representative's Signature (required) —

  By entering the name and title of the Proposer’s Authorized Representative below, the Proposer further acknowledges that this entry constitutes the Authorized Representative’s digital signature.

  The execution of this form constitutes a good faith commitment by the Proposer to negotiate a contract with the CITY in substantially similar terms to the Proposal offered and, if successful, in the process set forth in this Solicitation and subject to its conditions, to enter into a contract substantially in the terms herein.

• Brief Description of Service(s) (required)
• Bonding (required) —

  Are Bonds applicable for this project?

• Bond Types (required) —

  Select which bonds apply:

• Insurance Requirements (required) —

  Select which insurance(s) are required for your project.

• Does your project require Specialized Coverages (Insurance) (required)
• Select which Specialized Coverages are applicable to your project: (required)
• Federal/Grant Funding (required) —

  Are you using Federal or Grant funding for this project?

• Funding Type (required) —

  What type of funding are you using?

• Pricing (required) —
  • Choose Option 1 when you have set line items, for example: 
    • This is a quote for goods or commodities.
    • This is a public works bid, with a pricing table that can be uploaded into OpenGov Procurement from an Excel spreadsheet.
    • Seeking services for hourly rate schedules.
  • Choose Option 2 when you need vendors to provide you with the line items.
• Pre-Bid Meeting (required) —

  Will there be a Pre-Bid meeting for your project?

• Pre-Bid Meeting Type (required) —

  Select whether it is mandatory or non-mandatory.