Full-Service Accounting & Financial Management Services

El Pueblo Housing Development (“EPHD”) is a municipally affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit subsidiary of the City of Tucson (“City”). EPHD develops, finances, owns, and preserves affordable housing utilizing LIHTC equity, HOME, CDBG, ARPA/SLFRF, Arizona Department of Housing funds, tax-exempt bonds, vouchers, philanthropic sources, and other public and private capital. EPHD seeks proposals from qualified accounting firms to provide comprehensive outsourced accounting and financial management services.

Proposers may submit for accounting services, audit services, or both. However, if a single firm proposes to provide both services, strict independence safeguards must be demonstrated in accordance with AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book).

• If both services are provided by the same firm, the following safeguards are required:
  • Separate engagement teams for accounting and audit services.
  • Separate engagement partners for accounting and audit services.
  • No audit team member may prepare accounting records subject to audit.
  • EPHD management must retain full responsibility for financial statements.
  • EPHD must designate a qualified individual to oversee accounting services.
  • Written independence representation provided annually.
  • Most recent external peer review report provided with proposal.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 270105
• Department: Housing and Community Development
• Department Head: Liz Morales (Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-07-22T21:00:00.000Z
• Pre-Proposal Meeting: 2026-07-17T16:00:00.000Z — Microsoft Teams

Evaluation Criteria

• Relevant Experience (25 pts) —

  Please provide a concise description of your experience in providing services involving the following components.

  1. General Ledger & Fund Accounting
  2. Development & Construction Accounting
  3. Accounts Payable & Receivable
  4. Cash Management
  5. Financial Reporting
  6. Budgeting & Forecasting
  7. Compliance Support
  8. Audit Services
  9. Internal Control & Policies

   

• Method of Approach (20 pts) —

  Describe your approach and methodology so that we can understand how you work, the processes you set up to meet the compliance and controls needed for reporting within with timelines. We have listed some components of a system that is audit friendly, generates reports easily, has KPI's, and is simple to use, with appropriate checks and balances.

  1. Establish & maintain GAAP-compliant nonprofit fund accounting ERP/software system to support budget planning, cashflow, revenue, expense, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash reconciliation.
  2. Payroll reconciliation with the City, where applicable  
  3. Establish & maintain chart of accounts with FASB, GASB and City reporting interface requirements, ideally following, consistent with, or convertible to, the City’s account structure at levels required for City reporting.  
  4. Segregate accounting by project, entity, funding source, and restrictions.
  5. Process vendor payments with documented approval workflow.
• Affordable Housing & LIHTC Expertise (20 pts) —

  Affordable Housing Development and Low-Income Tax Credits are complicated. Please demonstrate your experience working in this arena.

  1. Track predevelopment, construction, and permanent financing costs.
  2. Maintain development cost ledgers by source and use.
  3. Support lender draw requests and construction requisitions.
  4. Support LIHTC cost certification documentation.
  5. Track eligible basis vs. non-eligible basis costs.
• Cost Proposal (20 pts) —

  Be sure to separate costs for accounting and audit services, if submitting for both.

• Compliance & Internal Control Framework (15 pts) —

  Federal grants require robust compliance and accounting. Tell us about your experience with internal control frameworks and compliance. We are very interested in understanding how you will set up a system that will ensure compliance, flag discrepancies, ensure corrections, and meet mandated timelines and goals for reporting.

  1. Review invoices for funding eligibility compliance.
  2. Prepare grant reimbursement draw packages.
  3. Maintain receivables for developer fees, asset management fees, and grants.
  4. Maintain intercompany accounting with City of Tucson in compliance with City Administrative Directive (A.D.) 1-07.7 internal control standards.

Submission Requirements

• Discounts —

  As stated in the Instructions to Offerors. Discounts, the price(s) herein can be discounted by _______%, if payment is made within ______ days. These payment terms shall apply to all purchases and to all payment methods.

• Cooperative Purchasing Program —

  Cooperative Purchasing allows other public agencies to piggyback on the City of Tucson’s contracts. Will your firm provide the City of Tucson, as the lead agency on this regional contract, a rebate in the form of a percentage of sales based upon the other agencies sales?

• If yes, please state the percentage rebate you will provide.
• Does your firm have a City of Tucson Business License?
• Please upload a copy of your business license.
• Forms to be Filled Out —

  Please ensure that all required information is included with your response.

  1. Response to Evaluation Criteria
  2. Pricing Proposal
  3. Offer and Acceptance Form
• Response to Evaluation Criteria (required) —

  Please upload your response to the Evaluation Criteria.

• Pricing Proposal —

  Please upload your Pricing Proposal (if applicable).

• Offer and Acceptance Form (required) —

  Please upload your signed Offer and Acceptance form.

• Does your response to this solicitation include a request to keep any portion confidential and withhold it from the public record? (required) —

  Please note: The City of Tucson is a public agency subject to public records laws. Therefore, all requests to withhold information from the public record must be accompanied by justification. Pricing will not be held confidential.

• Confidential Information (required) —

  If you answered yes, then you must use this field to identify the sections of your submittal that you are requesting be withheld from public record. 

  If sections are not identified as confidential in this field, your request to hold information confidential may not be accepted.

  Please note: The City of Tucson is a public agency subject to public records laws. Therefore, all requests to withhold information from the public record must be accompanied by justification. Pricing will not be held confidential.

• Is your firm submitting any exceptions for the City's consideration?  (required) —

  In accordance with Instructions to Offerors - Exceptions to Contract Provisions, any exceptions that an offeror wishes to submit for the City's consideration must be indicated here in order to be considered.

• Define the exceptions you are requesting. (required)
• Living Wage (required) —

  Will Living Wage Requirements be a part of the resulting contract?

• Will the resultant contract have Federal Funding? (required)
• Special Terms and Conditions (required) —

  Please select the required language that should be included under Special Terms and Conditions for this project. Please select all that apply.

• Insurance Requirements (required) —

  Please select the additional insurance coverages required for this project. Please select all that apply.

• Initial Term of Contract (required) —

  What is the initial term of the contract?

  Please use the following format: one (1)

  Even if you selected auto renewal, you need to add the initial term, i.e. one (1)

• Renewal Options (required) —

  Will renewal options be given with this contract?

  If you selected Auto Renewal, select No.

• Renewal Term (required) —

  What is the renewal term of the contract?

  Please use the following format: four (4)

  If no extension options will be given or you selected automatic renewals, please enter "N/A".

• Pricing (required) —

  Will you build the pricing table in OpenGov Procurement?

• Separate Pricing Document (required) —

  If you will be requesting the pricing to be provided by the vendor outside of the OpenGov system, have you attached the required document to this solicitation?

• Attachments (required) —

  Do you have any attachments?