Active SLED Opportunity · CALIFORNIA · PUBLIC HOUSING
AI Summary
SHRA seeks proposals from certified public accounting firms to provide tax and auditing services for its financial statements and related entities. The RFP emphasizes qualifications, technical approach, timeline, references, terms acceptance, and cost. Submission includes detailed documentation and compliance with public housing regulations.
The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency ("SHRA" or "Agency") is requesting proposals from experienced, qualified firms of certified public accountants to provide Tax and Auditing Services as an independent auditor of the Agency’s financial statements on a fiscal year basis.
In addition to services provide for the Agency, the solicitation also seeks qualified firms to serve SHRA component non-profit corporations and associated owner entities/limited partnerships.
The Agency will evaluate the Respondent’s qualifications, history, and experience in performing services similar in size, scope, complexity, and public-sector context to those requested in this solicitation.
A. Firm Qualifications and Relevant Experience – 8 Points
Evaluates the Respondent’s overall qualifications, years of relevant experience, demonstrated capacity, and history performing services similar in size, scope, and complexity.
B. Government / Public Agency Experience – 7 Points
Evaluates the Respondent’s experience providing similar services to federal, state, local, housing authority, or other public-sector agencies, including familiarity with public agency requirements, coordination, documentation, compliance expectations, and public-sector operating environments.
C. Proposed Team Qualifications – 5 Points
Evaluates the qualifications, certifications, licenses, education, professional background, and relevant experience of the proposed team members assigned to perform the work, including key personnel and backup staffing where applicable.
D. Demonstrated Ability to Meet Agency Needs – 5 Points
Evaluates whether the Respondent’s experience, staffing approach, availability, and proposed team structure demonstrate the ability to meet the Agency’s needs, timelines, service expectations, and project requirements.
Higher scores will be awarded to Respondents that demonstrate substantial directly relevant experience, strong public-sector or housing agency experience, qualified personnel assigned to key roles, and a clear ability to perform the requested services. Lower scores may be assigned where experience is limited, not clearly comparable, lacks public-sector relevance, or where proposed team qualifications are incomplete or unclear.
The Agency will evaluate the degree to which the Respondent’s proposal demonstrates a clear understanding of the requested services, the Agency’s needs, and the approach necessary to successfully perform the work. Highly rated proposals will include a complete and practical work plan, clear methodology, quality control measures, communication practices, and an approach for identifying and resolving issues during performance.
A. Understanding of Scope and Agency Needs – 5 Points
Evaluates whether the Respondent demonstrates a clear understanding of the services requested, the Agency’s operating environment, and the outcomes the Agency is seeking.
B. Proposed Methodology and Work Plan – 7 Points
Evaluates the clarity, completeness, feasibility, and practicality of the proposed approach, including how services will be performed, managed, documented, and delivered.
C. Quality Control and Performance Management – 4 Points
Evaluates the Respondent’s process for ensuring quality, monitoring performance, correcting deficiencies, and maintaining consistency.
D. Communication, Coordination, and Issue Resolution – 4 Points
Evaluates the Respondent’s communication practices, escalation procedures, coordination with Agency staff, and approach to resolving issues during performance.
The Agency will evaluate the degree to which the proposal demonstrates a clear, realistic, and actionable understanding of the Agency’s required timeline for implementation and performance of the requested services.
Respondents shall submit an implementation schedule, such as a Gantt chart, milestone schedule, phased work plan, or equivalent timeline, identifying key activities, dependencies, deliverables, responsible parties, and anticipated completion dates.
Highly rated proposals will demonstrate a feasible, well-organized, and appropriately ambitious implementation approach, including setup or transition phases, sequencing of activities, staffing alignment, anticipated constraints, and strategies to address potential delays or operational roadblocks.
The proposal should also demonstrate the Respondent’s understanding of the Agency’s timeline, the reasons certain deadlines may be fixed or time-sensitive, and the potential impacts to the Agency if identified timelines are not met.
A. Understanding of Timeline and Constraints – 5 Points
Evaluates whether the Respondent demonstrates a clear understanding of the Agency’s required timeline, fixed deadlines, operational constraints, and the reasons certain dates or milestones cannot be delayed.
B. Implementation Schedule and Milestones – 5 Points
Evaluates the clarity, feasibility, and completeness of the submitted Gantt chart, milestone schedule, phased work plan, or equivalent timeline, including key activities, sequencing, deliverables, responsible parties, and anticipated completion dates.
C. Risk Mitigation and Contingency Planning – 5 Points
Evaluates whether the Respondent identifies potential implementation risks, dependencies, or roadblocks and proposes reasonable strategies to avoid, mitigate, or recover from delays.
The Agency will evaluate the quality and relevance of the Respondent’s references and may verify past performance through reference checks, prior Agency experience, publicly available information, or other relevant sources. This factor is intended to assess the Respondent’s demonstrated performance record, including reliability, responsiveness, timeliness, issue resolution, and client satisfaction, and is separate from the Respondent’s general qualifications and experience.
A. Reference Quality and Relevance – 5 Points
Evaluates whether submitted references are recent, relevant, complete, and connected to projects similar in size, scope, complexity, or service type.
B. Verified Past Performance – 5 Points
Evaluates feedback from references, prior Agency experience, publicly available information, or other relevant sources regarding quality of work, timeliness, responsiveness, reliability, issue resolution, and overall client satisfaction.
The Agency will evaluate any exceptions, qualifications, or proposed modifications submitted by a Respondent to the Agency’s standard terms, conditions, or Agreement requirements.
Full points may be awarded to Respondents that take no exceptions to the Agency’s terms and conditions.
Lower scores may be assigned based on the number, nature, and materiality of any exceptions, including the extent to which the proposed exceptions may increase risk to the Agency, limit required rights or remedies, conflict with applicable law or funding requirements, or otherwise affect the Agency’s ability to enter into an Agreement on acceptable terms.
The Agency reserves the right to reject any exception, request clarification, negotiate terms where appropriate, or determine that a proposal is non-responsive if the proposed exceptions are material or unacceptable to the Agency.
5 points: No exceptions taken.
3–4 points: Minor exceptions that do not materially affect Agency rights, remedies, compliance obligations, insurance, indemnity, payment terms, or performance requirements.
1–2 points: Material or numerous exceptions that may increase Agency risk, require substantial negotiation, or limit Agency rights or remedies.
0 points: Exceptions are unacceptable, conflict with legal or funding requirements, or materially impair the Agency’s ability to award or administer the Agreement.
The Agency will evaluate cost/fee proposals only from Respondents that meet the applicable evaluation cutoff.
The Agency will evaluate the reasonableness, competitiveness, clarity, and completeness of each cost/fee proposal. In assessing price reasonableness, the Agency may consider prior prices paid for similar services, market rates, independent estimates, other submitted proposals, or other relevant data available to the Agency.
The proposal should clearly explain how the Respondent developed its proposed pricing and identify all assumptions, exclusions, optional services, and potential additional costs.
A. Cost Reasonableness and Competitiveness – 12 Points
Evaluates whether the proposed pricing is reasonable and competitive in relation to the scope of work, market conditions, prior pricing, independent estimates, and other relevant information available to the Agency.
B. Cost Clarity and Completeness – 8 Points
Evaluates whether the proposal clearly identifies all fees, rates, reimbursable costs, assumptions, exclusions, optional services, and the proposed compensation structure.
C. Overall Value to the Agency – 5 Points
Evaluates whether the proposed pricing reflects the best value to the Agency when considered together with the Respondent’s proposed approach, staffing, level of effort, risk allocation, and anticipated service outcomes.
The following questions in this section pertain to the format and content of submission in response to this RFP.
Please submit electronic documents in standard-sized page of 8.5" x 11". A table of contents, page numbers, appropriately named headers and footers, sections, etc. are expected. Although there are no set page limitations, concision is preferred so long as Respondents fully address each item requested as a submittal. Adhere to the following formats, identifying each item, in order, as enumerated below.
A. Provide a cover letter introducing your company on company letterhead, including:
principal office address;
address of office that will be providing the services;
name, title, phone number, and email of proposal contact.
The cover letter must be executed by an authorized signatory of the company.
B. Provide a brief narrative of the company, including:
company size;
years of operation;
areas of expertise;
relevant licenses and/or certifications;
any other relevant information
A. State why your audit firm believes it is best qualified to perform the audit services being requested in this RFP.
B. State the size of the audit firm, nationally and at the local or regional office level, proposing to perform this service.
D. Identify the principal supervisory and management staff, including partners, managers, other supervisors and specialists, who would be assigned to this project. State whether each staff member will be full or part-time, contracted, and indicate whether each such person is registered or licensed to practice as a Certified Public Accountant in California.
E. Provide brief information on the government auditing experience of each person, including information on relevant continuing professional education for the past two years and membership in professional organizations relevant to the performance of this audit.
F. Explain the policies on notification of changes in key personnel and indicate how the quality of staff over the term of the contract will be assured.
G. If the audit firm is a joint venture or consortium, the qualifications of each audit firm comprising the joint venture or consortium should be separately identified and the audit firm that is to serve as the principal auditor should be noted, if applicable.
H. Describe the audit firm’s experience with the Independent Auditor’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting and on Compliance and Other Matters based on an audit of Financial Statements performed in compliance with Government Auditing Standards.
I. Describe the audit firm’s experience with nonprofit entities, California Limited Partnerships, tax credit and cost certification projects.
J. Provide a statement that the audit firm has not been suspended or debarred from performing government audits, or from other government activity. The audit firm shall provide information on the circumstances and status of any disciplinary action taken or pending against the audit firm during the past three years with state regulatory bodies or professional organizations.
K. Describe the audit firm’s participation in professionally sponsored quality control review programs and provide a copy of the most recent peer review report under Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards.
L. Describe the audit firm’s experience with United States Department of Housing and Urban Development programs, including Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, Community Development Block Grant, and HOME. If applicable, provide experience with the Office of Public and Indian Housing / Real Estate Assessment Center submission process.
M. Identify the five largest clients your firm has lost in the past three years and the reasons. Also discuss the instances where loss of the client was due to an unresolved auditing or accounting matter and the process/steps taken in attempt to resolve the issue.
N. Discuss the firm’s use of technology in the audit process.
O. The proposal should identify any special areas of expertise or special audit approaches that you plan to use on this engagement.
A. For the audit firm’s office that will be assigned responsibility for the audit, list the most significant assignments performed in the last three years that are similar to the services described in this RFP, specifically experience with Public Housing Authorities and federal entitlement programs. Indicate the scope of work, date, contracting entity, total hours, and the name and telephone number of the principal client contact.
B. List any government clients that received the Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting while your audit firm was contracted as their auditors.
C. Provide the name, address, and telephone number of at least five client references whom the Agency may contact.
A. State the audit firm’s understanding of the services to be performed and the work products to be delivered.
B. Submit a proposed work plan to accomplish the required services within the required time frame. The work plan must include time estimates for each major component of the audit, by staff level, and staff assignments. Please include a brief discussion of the audit procedures to be employed in each major component of the audit.
The major components of the audit include:
A. The audit firm should provide an affirmative statement that it is independent of the Agency as defined by Generally Accepted Auditing Standards. The audit firm should further state that it would not enter into any relationships that impair this independence during the term of the contract, if awarded.
B. The audit firm should also list and describe its professional relationships involving the Agency or any of its component units for the past three years, together with a statement explaining why such relationships do not constitute a conflict of interest relative to performing the proposed audit.
C. Provide a statement of arrangements that your audit firm has with regard to liaison with or access to offices of the State and federal governments for the purpose of obtaining prompt response to inquiries arising from technical or procedural questions developed in the course of the audit.
Compensation – Total All-Inclusive Maximum Price
A. State the anticipated total number of hours and hourly rate by staff classification, for each major component of the audit.
B. Provide rates per hour for management consulting and tax-related matters.
C. Provide rates for additional professional services. It may become necessary for the Agency to request the auditor to render additional services to either supplement the services requested in this RFP or to perform additional work as a result of the specific recommendations included in any report issued on this engagement. Such additional work shall be performed only if set forth in an amendment to the Agreement, as negotiated between the Agency and the audit firm. Any such additional work agreed to between the Agency and the audit firm shall be performed at the quoted hourly rates set forth in this proposal. Commencement of this additional work shall not begin until the amendment has been fully executed in writing by both parties.
D. Funds created as a result of debt issuances, federal or state mandated changes, or the formation of new limited partnerships for the issuance of bond and tax credit financing of Agency assets do not constitute additional costs to the Agency. Additional audit review requirements associated with changes in programs under this Agreement do not constitute additional cost to the Agency.
E. The scope of the audit and the cost estimates should include all approved pronouncements as of the date of this RFP. Although some pronouncements will not be in effect until after the first year of the audit, estimates for future years should include pronouncements that will become effective during the applicable Agreement period.
This section captures information required to establish and maintain your vendor record with the Agency, including identification, tax reporting status, remittance details, and verification of applicable licenses or registrations.
Failure to provide the requested information at the time of submission, or delays in providing such information upon request, may result in the proposal being deemed non-responsive and ineligible for award.
Please download the W-9 using the link below, complete the form, and upload the signed and dated version. Incomplete or missing information may delay processing of your submission.
This submission is required even if you are a current Agency vendor. The Agency does not accept alternate forms, and vendor information is not shared with other local government groups.
Please provide your UEI assigned by the System for Awards Management (SAM). If you need to create a UEI, please visit:
https://sam.gov/entity-registration
The Agency will conduct an exclusion report.
Please provide the legal entity name for your company as registered with the California Secretary of State BizFile site, as well as the entity number.
If you are not headquartered or registered to do business in California, provide the equivalent registration information for your home state.
If you are a sole proprietor or otherwise not registered with a Secretary of State, enter your full legal name as it appears on your W-9 and indicate “Not Applicable” for the entity number.
If unable to provide the requested information pertaining to the Bizfile site, you may provide uploads of entity information (Articles of Incorporation, Entity filings, etc.) for your current entity.
Provide contact information for the following roles (may be the same or different individuals):
For each, include:
If one individual serves multiple roles, please indicate all applicable roles.
You may also provide additional contacts relevant to this agreement (e.g., billing, compliance, or escalation) as needed.
Please provide the City, State, Zip
If attention is required, identify the appropriate contact(s) or department(s).
Please note the Agency's minimum insurance limits here.
For purposes of this your submission in response to this solicitation, you may provide a general or sample Certificate of Insurance, with the understanding that you will be asked to provide an SHRA-specific COI with endorsements and the requested Certificate of Insurance holder naming as noted in the aforementioned requirements during the Agreement execution phase.
Will you, or any agents under your direction, perform any on-site work or enter Agency properties or premises?
Do you possess Commercial General Liability (GL) Insurance?
Do you possess Automobile Liability (AL) liability?
Will motor vehicles be used in the performance of this contract, including delivery of goods, travel to project sites, or provision of on-site services?
If the preceding question was answered as "Yes," what types of vehicles will be used to perform services/deliver goods under this agreement?
Select all that apply.
Please complete the following certifications and follow-up questions where applicable.
Please confirm whether you are able to provide the requested goods, and/or perform the requested services, as described in this solicitation.
Do you anticipate any delay in any of the timelines expressed in the solicitation?
If so, describe the nature and specifics of the delay in the following question.
If you selected "Yes" in 4.2, enter the requested information here.
Do you accept the terms and conditions of this Solicitation, including all attachments and exhibits (e.g., Agency Sample Agreement, Insurance Requirements)?
This Solicitation incorporates all applicable requirements under the HUD Public Housing Procurement Handbook 7460.8, Revision 3 (2026), 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200, and any other applicable federal, state, or local laws and regulations.
Refer to 4.5, if selecting "No."
If you indicated “No” in response to the preceding question, identify in detail each exception you are taking.
For each exception, provide:
• The document name, section, page, and paragraph
• The specific language proposed for replacement
• The proposed replacement language
It is the Respondent's responsibility to clearly identify all exceptions and provide proposed alternatives. The Agency will not draft exceptions or suggest acceptable revisions on behalf of any firm.
Failure to identify exceptions in this section will be deemed full acceptance of the Solicitation, including all Terms and Conditions, Insurance Requirements, and the Sample Agreement as presented. Any differing terms incorporated by reference or introduced at the time of execution will be rejected. The Agency reserves the right to reject any exceptions and proceed to the next Contractor.
What is the desired cutoff for determining the top firms? The Agency may opt to interview firms that meet the threshold
Examples: 75%, 80%, 90%, etc.
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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