Construction Replacement Cost Database And Software For Mass Appraisal Assessments

The San Mateo County Assessor’s Office is located in Redwood City, California. It serves the residents, especially the property owners, of San Mateo County. Among its duties is valuation of residential, commercial, industrial and special purpose properties for property tax assessment purposes. The valuation and appraisal of properties may be achieved using one or more of the three approaches to value, i.e., Sales, Income, and Cost approach. Property owners sometimes disagree with the re-assessed value of their property and occasionally the disagreement results in a formal appeal filed with the County Assessment Appeals Board. To value, appraise, and reassess properties upon change in ownership, new construction, or market decline, the Assessor's office contracts with providers of sales and property data, lease data, as well as cost data for the properties located in San Mateo County and the neighboring counties.

This solicitation is to obtain unlimited access to digital construction cost data through an online interface ((hereinafter referred to as "construction cost database") for our residential and commercial appraisal staff to assist with mass appraisal valuations of residential and commercial properties in San Mateo County using Cost approach to value only. Until now, the San Mateo County Assessor's office has been using a vendor that has met its needs for market construction cost data for the cost approach to value. However, moving forward, the selection of a provider for a construction cost database will be conducted through a competitive solicitation process to ensure best construction cost database can be obtained at the best value. Therefore, to carry out its constitutional mandate, the Assessor's office invites all vendors with a proven track record and ability to provide a comprehensive, defensible, and scalable residential, commercial, and industrial construction cost database to submit their proposals. At the conclusion of this procurement process, the Assessor’s Office will select a construction cost database that meets the specified requirements and provides the best value. The selected construction cost database will support the cost approach to value for mass appraisal of the county’s diverse property base.

Project Details

• Department: Office of Assessor-County Clerk- Recorder & Chief Elections Officer
• Department Head: Director (Mark Church)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-06-08T18:00:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-06-11T00:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Proposal Approach (40 pts)
• System Qualifications (35 pts)
• Price (20 pts)
• Preferential Points (5 pts) —

  Where price is not the sole evaluation factor for a solicitation (e.g., in the case of a "best-value" solicitation), five percent (5%) of the total evaluation points otherwise awardable will be added to the proposal score for each Local Business or Local Non-Profit score for evaluation purposes. In the event of a tie between a Local Business or Local Non-Profit and another bidder, the Local Business or Non-Profit shall be awarded the Contract, assuming agreement on other contract terms.

  An additional three percent (3%) preference shall be given to a Local Business or Local Non-profit (for a total of eight percent (8%) of total points otherwise awardable) if the proposer is a Small Business or Small Non-Profit, or an additional 5 percent preference (for a total of ten percent (10%) of total points otherwise awardable) if the proposer is a Micro Business or Micro Non-Profit.

Submission Requirements

• Minimum Qualifications —
  Minimum Qualifications
  The vendor and their system must meet all of the following minimum criteria to be considered responsive and responsible:
  • Vendor Experience: The vendor must possess at least five (5) years of experience providing this exact system for extensive usage by other Assessors' offices in the State of California. This operational history is required to establish the institutional viability and reputational credibility necessary to successfully defend San Mateo County's $340 billion property tax base.
  • Core Property Support: The construction cost database must support the cost approach to value for all residential, commercial, and industrial property types, including special-purpose and complex structures located within San Mateo County.
  • Localized & Timely Costs: The system must utilize localized construction costs specific to San Mateo County. These costs must be updated by the vendor on at least a monthly basis to accurately reflect shifting market conditions.
  • Historical Depth & Depreciation: The database must be capable of estimating historical replacement costs for prior lookback years and must include built-in, customizable depreciation capabilities.
  • Legal Defensibility: The system must produce highly defensible, reproducible replacement cost estimates suitable for administrative appeals, assessment appeals board hearings, audits, and legal reviews for mass appraisal and property tax assessment purposes.
  • Digital Interface & Capacity: The system must be fully digital, providing a user interface that is online, desktop-based, or both. It must be architected to seamlessly handle high-volume concurrent use by up to 100 appraisal staff members executing thousands of estimates annually.
  • Included Technical Support: The vendor must provide a dedicated technical support team to deliver timely assistance, system troubleshooting, and software updates throughout the contract term at no additional cost to the County.
  • Operational Efficiency: The system's workflows must minimize annual operating costs and maximize administrative efficiency for the high-volume generation of construction cost estimates.
• Has the proposer been providing similar service to other County Assessor's office in California for the last five years? (required)
• Please confirm your firm is registered with System for Award Management (SAM) (required)
• What is the registered Business Name and Unique Entity ID (UEI) No.? (required) —

  Unique Entity ID (UEI) numbers can be found on sam.gov

• Is the Proposer a "Local Business"? —

  As Defined by Chapter 2.89.020 of the San Mateo County Ordinance Code, a “Local Business” means any for-profit business which has its principal place of business, or is headquartered, in San Mateo County. If this designation applies to the proposer, a self-attestation form must be completed and provided with this response. 

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload. If this designation is not applicable, please leave blank. 

• Technical Proposal
• Proposal Approach: Introduction, Executive Summary, Qualifications (required) —

  Submit a letter of introduction and executive summary of the proposal.  The letter must contain:

  1. Name, title and contact information (email, phone, and address) for representative of proposer that is responsible for communication related to this RFP.
  2. Name, title, contact information, and signature of person authorized to obligate firm to perform the commitment contained in the proposal.
  3. Provide a brief description of the proposer, and relevant background and qualifications.
  4. Describe how the proposer meets the minimum qualifications as set forth in Minimum Qualifications of this RFP.
  5. Proposer should give a short summary describing how it will perform the relevant work.
  6. Describe a plan for achieving performance measures. 

  Submission of the letter will constitute a representation by proposer that it is willing and able to perform the commitments contained in the proposal and has not violated the terms of this RFP.

• References (required) —

  Provide TBD references for each of the following, including the name, address, and telephone number of recent clients (preferably other public agencies):

• Fee Proposal (required) —

  The Fee Proposal should be submitted as a separate PDF file from the Technical Proposals detailed in Required Documents.

  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)