Taxation and Regulatory Permit Software System

The City of Santa Monica (the “City”) is seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide a software system that will consolidate the City’s tax collection functions and streamline the issuance of permits and licenses.

Background

The City levies and collects business license tax (BLT), transient occupancy tax (TOT), utility users tax (UUT), and parking facility tax (PFT). The Revenue division is responsible for the administration of these tax programs in addition to the collection of specific fees and assessments in conjunction with some of these taxes.  The four tax streams (BLT, TOT, UUT and PFT) bring in approximately $165 million in general fund revenues annually.

• Approximately 24,000 business licenses, performer permits, regulatory permits and special assessments are processed annually collecting approximately $40 million. 
• Transient occupancy tax collection is approximately $70 million annually from 50 different lodging and home-share locations. Administration of this tax also includes the collection and tracking of a local Tourism Management District assessment.
• Utility user tax collection involves over 440 utility service providers collecting approximately $36 million annually.  Each utility service type (water, electricity, gas, telephone, and cable, etc.) is tracked separately, with telephone service being further broken down into subcategories.
• Parking facility tax involves nearly 100 operators providing services to over 240 locations throughout the City, collecting approximately $18 million. Each operator/location is tracked individually.

The City currently utilizes HdL Prime software to administer the Business License Program and other regulatory permits programs which accommodate an unlimited number of end users, view-only users and multiple system administrators. In addition, the City relies on a series of Microsoft Excel workbooks to manage the tracking and collections of TOT, UUT and PFT, and Tyler Munis as its ERP system to manage many of the core functions including financials, procurement, human resources, and payroll.  The City is in the process of implementing Clariti’s Enterprise system for permitting and land use management and Granicus Host Compliance for regulating short-term rentals and both are expected to go live in 2026. 

Project Details

• Reference ID: 468
• Department: Finance Department
• Department Head: Oscar Santiago (Finance Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-05-12T22:00:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-05-19T22:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• References (5 pts) —

  Up to 5 points may be awarded based on the evaluation of the proposers' references.

• Functional Capabilities (25 pts) —

  Up to 25 points may be awarded based on the evaluation of the proposer's ability to ensure that the distinctive goals established for each process are met.

• Value Add/Breadth of Service (10 pts) —

  Up to 10 points may be awarded based on the evaluation of the proposer's ability to provide insight and information, industry best practices and to effectively communicate information to management and provide technical training or resources.

• Cost (15 pts) —

  Up to 15 points may be awarded based on the evaluation of the proposer's overall cost proposal and fee schedule including cost effective work and services.

• Technology Alignment (25 pts) —

  Up to 25 points may be awarded based on the evaluation of the proposer’s technological alignment, including the Architecture questionnaire and VISA forms.

• Experience (10 pts) —

  Up to 10 points may be awarded based on evaluation of the proposer’s experience, including all sub-consultants.

• Work Plans & Implementation Timelines (10 pts) —

  Up to 10 points may be awarded based on the evaluation of the quality and thoroughness of proposer’s project work plan and implementation timeline.

Submission Requirements

• Proposal
• Letter of Transmittal (required) —

  Please upload your letter of Transmittal as a PDF here. Make sure to include the following items.

  1. Identify the submitting organization;
  2. Identify the name, title, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the person authorized by the organization to contractually obligate the organization;
  3. Identify the name, title, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the person authorized to negotiate the contract on behalf of the organization;
  4. Identify the names, titles, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses of persons to be contacted for clarification;
  5. Be signed by the person authorized to contractually obligate the organization;
  6. Acknowledge receipt of any and all amendments to this RFP.
• Qualifications (required) —

  Provide a brief summary of your company’s history, its capabilities, and its recent relevant experience (last five years). Also, describe your demonstrated experience with similar projects and qualification including professional licenses and certifications.

• Organizational Information (required) —

  Please provide a profile of your organization, including the following information:

  1. Basic organizational information, such as, size of organization, how long in business, public or private entity, etc.;
  2. Whether your organization is local, regional, national, or international;
  3. The location of the office from which the engagement is to be performed and a brief narration of the number of professional staff (i.e. managers, developers, analysts, etc.) employed at the office;
  4. Describe the range of services provided by the office performing the engagement. 
  5. Provide a summary of your organization’s expertise in the area of software development, support, implementation, training, etc. pertaining to the software submitted in the proposal (including any third-party systems included as a part of your proposal). Submission of reports from industry analysts such as Gartner and Meta Group is encouraged if available.   
• Key Personnel (required) —

  Describe the project team composition and include resumes of key personnel. Proposed members should be available for the duration of the contract. The City must be promptly notified of any changes in key personnel prior to award.

• References (required) —

  List a minimum of three (3) references for municipal government agencies of similar size and complexity whom comparable services were provided to in the last five (5) years. Include the name of the firm, name of the contact, telephone number of the contact, email address of contact (if available), brief description of the services provided and your firm’s role, and the start and completion date.

• Project Management and Implementation Methodology (required) —

  Please provide a detailed description of your project management approach and implementation methodology. This should include your implementation plan, training, data conversion, systems integration and testing processes. Provide a detailed proposed implementation timeline (in days) after the execution of the contract. Provide a detailed outline of your data conversion methodology and experience.  Include an estimation of the types of data that will be converted along with the average retention timeline (i.e. is there a standard retention timeframe that clients convert data from - of years, etc.)? Include deliverables, milestones, assumptions, and identify potential risks that could delay the project.  List any resources you expect the City to provide

• Functionality and Additional Information (required) —

  Provide any additional information necessary to describe the functionality/delivery of the proposed system not described in the RFP.   Vendors may also provide any other information that they believe will be helpful to the City in this section such as optional features, unique requirements, solution innovations, ideas for improvement and modern capabilities including but not limited to artificial intelligence and digital assistants/chatbots

• Recommended Architecture —

  Indicate recommended infrastructure required for the proposed system. Include information for cloud, hosted or SaaS options for implementation, including a review of integration and security options. 

• Warranty (required) —

  Please provide a detailed description of the warranty, if applicable. 

• Cost Proposal (required) —

  Provide all costs for all project deliverables.  All third-party software and customization estimates need to be identified.  Submit pricing detailed as stated below: 

  1. Licensing – brief description and breakdown of all licensing options, i.e. perpetual or subscription, including total numbers of users and roles included in pricing. 
  2. Implementation Costs – brief description and breakdown of the proposed solution implementation including project management services, design, and planning services.   
  3. Annual Support and Maintenance Costs - brief description and breakdown of all ongoing application maintenance and support options including any multi-year discount opportunities and major version upgrade costs.
  4. Training Costs - brief description and breakdown of all options for technical, operational, and administrative knowledge transfers for the proposed solution including on-going training. Please include cost for both onsite training and distance/online options if available.   
  5. Consulting/Professional Services - estimate of total hours needed to complete each project phase, including the specific amount hours to be onsite and remote. 
  6. Estimated budget that includes travel costs and any projected reimbursable expenses.   
  7. Recurring and non-recurring elements should be identified and quoted separately, if applicable.  
  8. Next Major Version Upgrade Costs - provide typical costs associated with a major version upgrade of the product. 
  9. Additional Licensing Costs – list per license costs associated with adding additional users, and include the length of time this pricing will be valid.  
  10. If services beyond the scope of this RFP are proposed, they should be clearly identified as such, with scope and price separate from the services requested here.  The proposal must clearly state the basis under which the City may be billed for these additional services. All conditions and assumptions must be stated in the proposal. 
• Other Required Responses
• Business License Requirements —

  WHO NEEDS A BUSINESS LICENSE?

  1. Is this vendor physically located in the City of Santa Monica?

  Yes (Vendor must have a City of Santa Monica business license - contact the Business License unit for the appropriate forms. Skip question 2 & continue to “ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS” section below)

  No (Continue to the next question)

   

  2. Does this vendor physically come into the City of Santa Monica to conduct business and/or make deliveries?

  Yes(Vendor must have a City of Santa Monica Out-of City Business License. contact the Business License unit for the appropriate forms. Continue to “ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS” section below)

  No(STOP, no license needed)

   

  ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

  If this vendor is located in or comes into the City of Santa Monica to conduct business, in addition to having a CITY OF SANTA MONICA BUSINESS LICENSE, they will be required to have insurance (see agreement for descriptions).

  The business license documentation is only required from the successful Proposer.

• Notice Regarding Disclosure of Contents of Documents (required) —

  All responses to this Request for Proposal (RFP) accepted by the City of Santa Monica (City) shall become the exclusive property of the City. All proposals accepted by the City shall become a matter of public record and shall be regarded as public, with the exception of those elements of each proposal which are defined by the contractor as business or trade secrets and plainly marked as "Trade Secret", "Confidential" or "Proprietary". Each element of a proposal which a contractor desires not to be considered a public record must be clearly marked as set forth above, and any blanket statement (i.e. regarding entire pages, documents or other non-specific designations) shall not be sufficient and shall not bind the City in any way whatsoever. If disclosure is required or permitted under the California Public Records Act, or otherwise by law, the City shall not in any way be liable or responsible for the disclosure of any such records or part thereof.

• Oaks Initiative (required) —

  CITY OF SANTA MONICA OAKS INITIATIVE NOTICE

  NOTICE TO APPLICANTS, BIDDERS, PROPOSERS AND OTHERS SEEKING DISCRETIONARY PERMITS, CONTRACTS, OR OTHER BENEFITS FROM THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA

  Santa Monica’s voters adopted a City Charter amendment commonly known as the Oaks Initiative. The Oaks Initiative requires the City to provide this notice and information about the Initiative’s requirements. You may obtain a full copy of the Initiative’s text from the City Clerk.

  This information is required by City Charter Article XXII—Taxpayer Protection. It prohibits a public official from receiving, and a person or entity from conferring, specified personal benefits or campaign advantages from a person or entity after the official votes, or otherwise takes official action, to award a “public benefit” to that person or entity. The prohibition applies within and outside of the geographical boundaries of Santa Monica.

  All persons or entities applying or receiving public benefits from the City of Santa Monica shall provide the names of trustees, directors, partners, and officers, and names of persons with more than a 10% equity, participation or revenue interest. An exception exists for persons serving in those capacities as volunteers, without compensation, for organizations exempt from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3), (4), or (6), of the Internal Revenue Code. However, this exception does not apply if the organization is a political committee or controls political committees. Examples of a “public benefit” include public contracts to provide goods or services worth more than $25,000 or a land use approval worth more than $25,000 over a 12-month period.

  In order to facilitate compliance with the requirements of the Oaks Initiative, the City compiles and maintains certain information. That information includes the name of any person or persons who is seeking a “public benefit.” If the “public benefit” is sought by an entity, rather than an individual person, the information includes the name of every person who is: (a) trustee, (b) director, (c) partner, (d) officer, or has (e) more than a ten percent interest in the entity. Therefore, if you are seeking a “public benefit” covered by the Oaks Initiative, you must supply that information on the Oaks Initiative Disclosure Form. This information must be updated and supplied every 12 months.

• Living Wage Ordinance Certification (required) —

  CITY OF SANTA MONICA LIVING WAGE ORDINANCE
  Certification for Providers of Services to the City of Santa Monica
  (Fiscal Year 24/25 – July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025)
  TO BE COMPLETED BY ALL CONTRACTORS PROVIDING SERVICES TO THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA IN EXCESS OF $54,200

  The City of Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 4.65, Living Wage Ordinance (LWO), establishes a Minimum Wage of $20.32 for certain employees of contractors providing services to the City where services exceed $54,200 or more and requires that contractors also provide the same health care and other benefits to employees’ same sex spouses and domestic partners as are provided to other employees’ spouses.

  An employee covered by the LWO is any person who does not actually work as a manager, supervisor, or confidential employee, and who is not required to possess an occupational license.

  The Living Wage Ordinance applies the services sought pursuant to this bid and bidders are required to prepare and return the Living Wage Certification Form. If the bidder is selected, the bidder must maintain payroll records that include, at minimum, the full name of each employee providing services under the contract, job classification and rate of pay. Bids that fail to include Certification Forms may be considered non-responsive and excluded from further consideration.

  Please prepare the following certification if you are a contractor engaging in a contract for services with the City of Santa Monica in excess of $54,200.

  Your signature on this certification grants the City permission to review any and all payroll books and records and any company documents pertaining to the benefits offered to employees to assure your compliance with the LWO during the term of the contract.

  Please direct any questions to:

  City of Santa Monica Finance Department 
  Attention: Living Wage Compliance Section 
  1685 Main Street, Mail Stop 09
  Santa Monica, CA 90401

  You can also contact staff regarding living wage ordinance questions by e-mail at finance.mailbox@smgov.net or by phone 310-458-8281.

• Certificate of Compliance (required) —

  Please upload your completed Certificate of Compliance document here.

• Non-Discrimination Policy, Debarment Certification & Non-Collusion Declaration (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• Levine Act Disclosure Form (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• Initial Term (required) —

  Please enter the initial contract term. For example "one (1) year" or "three (3) years".

• Options to Renew (required) —

  How many options to renew? For example, "five (5) options" or "one (1) option".

• Option Period (required) —

  What is the Renewal Option Period? For example "one (1) year" or "twelve (12) months".

• Is this Living Wage? (required)