Active SLED Opportunity · FLORIDA · CITY OF LAKELAND
AI Summary
The City of Lakeland seeks legal counsel specializing in employee pension and retirement systems for a 5-year contract. The RFP requires expertise in pension law, Florida statutes, and court representation. Proposals are due by June 23, 2026.
The City of Lakeland Employees’ Pension & Retirement System Board of Trustees (“Board”) is seeking proposals from individual attorneys or law firms with an established practice in employee pension and retirement matters. Responding firms must demonstrate the ability, knowledge, and expertise necessary to advise on all facets of the existing Pension Plans, including strong familiarity with pension-related Florida Statutes and experience providing advice, appellate, and trial court representation to pension boards.
The purpose of this Request for Proposals (“RFP”) is to enable the Board to select an attorney or law firm to serve as legal counsel to the City of Lakeland Employees’ Pension & Retirement System (“Retirement System”). The selected attorney or firm will be engaged for a five (5)-year period, commencing immediately upon ratification of the agreement. The engagement may be extended for successive one-year periods at the sole discretion of the Board. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board may terminate such services at any time at its discretion.
Relevant experience advising public pension systems and prior performance in comparable engagements
Expertise in employee benefits and other related legal areas affecting public retirement systems
Experience, availability, and capability of the attorney(s) designated to perform the majority of the work
Competitiveness and reasonableness of the proposed compensation structure
“I attest no City of Lakeland employee, their spouse, or child has an ownership stake in this organization.”
A certificate of existing insurance coverage should be submitted with the proposal as proof of insurability. If the current coverage does not meet the RFP requirements, then the Respondent should request an affidavit of insurability from the Respondent’s insurance agent that certifies the requirements can and will be met.
THIS RFP SHALL BE VALID FOR SIXTY (60) DAYS FROM DATE OF OPENING.
The following RFP is in strict accordance with the City of Lakeland Request for Proposal No. 2026-RFP-052, dated Tuesday, May 26, 2026 and all attachments as referenced therein.
“I hereby certify that I understand and am aware that the City of Lakeland at its sole discretion reserves the right to waive technicalities or irregularities, to reject any or all proposals, and/or to accept that proposal which is in the best interest of the City. The award of this RFP, if made, may be based on considerations other than total cost and may be awarded based on various considerations, including without limitation; Respondent’s experience and/or qualifications, past experience, administrative cost, standardization, technical evaluation and oral and/or written presentations as required. The City reserves the right to accept all or part, or to decline the whole, and to award this RFP to one (1) or more Respondents. There is no obligation to buy. The RFP, if awarded, will be in the judgement of the City the most responsive to the City’s needs. The City of Lakeland encourages the use of minority and women owned businesses as subcontractors or in joint venture arrangements.
If claiming Local Vendor Preference, I certify that the company satisfies each of the following criteria at the time of their submission of a response to the solicitation necessary to qualify as a “Local Business”: a vendor, supplier or contractor that: (i) conducts business within the jurisdictional limits of Lakeland Electric’s service territory by providing goods, services or construction; (ii) maintains a physical business location within the jurisdictional limits of Lakeland Electric’s service territory in an area legally zoned for conducting such business; (iii) conducts business on a daily basis from the local business location; (iv) has conducted business from such location for at least twelve (12) consecutive months prior to the due date for the applicable bid or proposal; and (v) provides a copy of its local business tax receipt, if located within the City of Lakeland, or a copy of its Polk County local business tax receipt, if located outside of the City limits but within Lakeland Electric’s service territory.”
If claiming Local Vendor Preference, a valid Local Business Tax Receipt must be provided at the time the response is submitted in order to qualify for such consideration.
Respondents must provide at least 3 references with all details as requested.
These responses will be used to determine scores under Section 4: Selection Criteria.
Disclaimer: The City will make reasonable efforts to contact the references provided. However, the City assumes no responsibility for references that cannot be reached, do not respond, or are otherwise unavailable. It is the Proposer's responsibility to ensure the contact information provided is current and accurate.
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The liability limits shall not be less than: $ _____
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limits of not less than $_____ per occurrence.
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The liability limits shall not be less than $_____ single limit each occurrence.
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SLED stands for State, Local, and Education. These are solicitations issued by state governments, counties, cities, school districts, utilities, and higher education institutions — as opposed to federal agencies.
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