Workplace Investigations and Labor Negotiations

The City of Anaheim, hereafter referred to as the “City” is seeking proposals from a pool of qualified and professional firms, hereafter referred to as “Consultants,” that specialize in independent workplace investigation services related to employee misconduct, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, policy violations, Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) complaints, whistleblower complaints, workplace violence issues, and other sensitive personnel matters.

Consultants that utilize licensed attorneys to conduct workplace investigations, particularly investigations involving complex disciplinary matters, potential litigation exposure, public safety personnel, or issues involving significant legal or operational risk.  Experience conducting legally defensible investigations in compliance with California public sector employment laws is highly desirable.  

The City is also seeking consultants with demonstrated expertise in public sector labor negotiation, including experience serving as chief negotiator for public agencies, advising and strategizing on collective bargaining agreements, analyzing and interpreting Memoranda of Understanding (“MOUs”), drafting bargaining proposals and summaries, attending closed session meetings with the City Council, and advising the City on impasse procedures, grievance matters, and labor strategy.

This Request for Proposal solicitation is to identify the most qualified, responsive and responsible consultants or individuals to provide either one or both services over the course of a proposed contract, not to exceed $200,000.

The selected consultant(s) ideally would be firms with attorney investigators as well as firms with strong public sector HR, labor negotiation, and workplace investigation experience. The firms shall be familiar with Skelly procedures, administrative investigations, disciplinary due process requirements as well as substantial experience conducting impartial fact-finding investigations, review documents and evidence, interview witnesses, prepare written investigative reports with factual findings and policy analysis, provide credibility assessments, and, where appropriate, testify in administrative, arbitration, Civil, or other proceedings. Demonstrated experience conducting investigations governed by the California Public Safety Bill of Rights and the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights, is highly desirable.

There is no guarantee of a minimum amount of work or compensation for any of the respondents selected.  The City will award multiple contracts to the most qualified respondents.

Any Agreement between the City and the successful respondent would take effect following approval by the City Council or City Manager and execution of the parties.

Workplace Investigations and Labor Negotiations. Proposals are due no later than 5:00 pm on Friday, July 3, 2026.

Background

The City of Anaheim, founded in 1857, is one of the nation’s premier municipalities and is one of California’s most populous and most visited cities. Anaheim covers 50 square miles with more than 351,000 residents, more than 3,000 City employees, and is the largest city in Orange County. The municipal corporation’s annual budget is $2.4 billion. Anaheim supports a thriving business community with companies such as: L3 Harris Technologies, Extron, and the Disneyland Resort. Successful sports franchises call Anaheim home, including: Angels Baseball, Anaheim Ducks, and the U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team. Anaheim also boasts world-class meeting and entertainment venues with the Anaheim Convention Center, LEED-certified and the largest convention center on the west coast; Honda Center; City National Grove of Anaheim; Anaheim GardenWalk; Angel Stadium; and ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center).  With the upcoming 2028 Olympics, Anaheim prepares to host indoor volleyball at the  Honda Center. Major milestone developments such as the OCVIBE and the DisneylandForward expansion continues growth to Anaheim. Annually, Anaheim welcomes more than 26 million visitors to the City, truly making it a destination where the world comes to live, work, and play.

Project Details

• Reference ID: #107-HR-05/28/2026
• Department: Human Resources
• Department Head: Linda Andal (Director)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-06-17T00:00:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-06-24T00:00:00.000Z

Evaluation Criteria

• Relevant experience and qualifications of assigned investigators (20 pts) —

  Demonstrated experience with the firm and team members, especially within public sectors. Familiarity with public agency environments: Understanding of public sector policies, labor negotiations, labor relations, investigative protocols, and applicable state laws.

• Ability to meet Scope of Services (20 pts) —

  The range of services provided and the firm’s ability to complete timely and effective labor negotiations with bargaining units from a variety of disciplines, and address various types of investigations.

• Quality of sample work product (20 pts) —

  Clarity, organization, communicate effectively, and thoroughness of sample investigative reports

• Cost and fee structure (20 pts) —

  Competitiveness of proposed fees, including clarity of billing practices and value offered relative to cost. Cost and availability of services

• Availability and responsiveness (10 pts) —

  The firm’s ability to begin work in a timely manner, reassure deadlines, quality of response and conformance with RFP requirements, and communicate effectively with City staff

• References (10 pts) —

  Strength and relevance of client testimonials, especially within public sectors.

• Interview/Demonstrations (100 pts) —

  The City reserves the right to consider the top-ranking proposals based on a natural break in the evaluation scores. In the event of closely ranked proposals, the City will focus on the proposals that fall within this natural break for further consideration. An interview phase will be conducted with the highest-ranking proposals to allow for a more in-depth evaluation of the vendor's qualifications and approach before a final selection is made.

Submission Requirements

• Question One (required) —

  List current and past performance experience providing workplace investigation services related to employee misconduct, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, policy violations, EEO complaints, whistleblower complaints, workplace violence issues, and other sensitive personnel matters, including demonstrated success on comparable projects and overall contract performance. 

  • Experience conducting investigations in unionized public sector environments, including familiarity with Public Employment Relations Board issues, Skelly matters, Peace Officer Bill of Rights issues, Garrity admonitions, ADA/FEHA matters, and California public employment law. 
  • Ability to provide prompt response times and complete investigations within established timelines, including availability for urgent matters and the ability to produce final written reports within an expedited timeframe in response to politically sensitive or high-priority cases.      
  • Quality of written work product, including sample investigative reports, interview summaries, findings matrices, credibility analyses, and disciplinary recommendations. 
  • Experience testifying in arbitration, civil service hearings, administrative appeals, PERB matters, or litigation regarding investigative finding. 
• Question Two (required) —

  List current and past performance experience providing public sector labor relations services, including as a chief negotiator for collective bargaining agreements. 

  • Experience serving as a chief negotiator for public agencies, including negotiations involving multiple bargaining units and complex or high-profile issues.         
  • Demonstrated ability to develop and execute bargaining strategy, including costing proposals, preparing executive briefings, and advising on management rights, labor risk, and contract implementation.        
  • Experience drafting, negotiating, and interpreting Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), Letters of Understanding (LOUs), proposals and counterproposals, and advising on grievance processes, arbitration strategy, and disciplinary matters in unionized environments.       
  • Familiarity with Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) matters, meet-and-confer obligations, and California public sector labor law. 
• Question Three (required) —

  What are the specific legal or HR certifications (e.g., AWI-CH, SHRM-SCP) held by your lead investigators, and what is their experience navigating EEOC and state-level compliance?

• Question Four —

  Ability to meet Scope of Work: list proposed approach, methodology, or work plan, including understanding of Project objectives, proposed solutions, and ability to address key challenges within the required scope.

• Question Six (required) —

  Please list 3 government/local agency references: Anaheim may contact the references provided by the respondent to verify past performance, including the successful completion of comparable projects, adherence to schedules, and overall contract performance.

• Confirmation of Authorized Representative (required) —

  I certify that I, the individual responding to this RFP, am an authorized representative with the authority to certify and submit the following legally binding statements in this Proposal on behalf of my company.*

• Name and title of authorized representative certifying and submitting this proposal response. (required)
• Proposal will be valid for a period of 365 days (required) —

  Proposal will be valid for a period of days

• How long will your proposal be valid? (required)
• Company Legal name and DBA, if applicable (required)
• If your company is incorporated, please include the name(s) and title(s) of the officers (required)
• Business Address (required)
• Telephone Number (required)
• Email Address (required)
• Length of time the firm has been in business (required)
• Length of time at current location (required)
• Federal Tax I.D. No. (required)
• Regular Business Hours (required)
• Contact Person in Reference to this RFP (required)
• Contact Person/Email Address for Accounts Payable (required)
• Conflict of Interest Statement (required) —

  The Political Reform Act (Government Code sections 81000 - 91014) and Government Code section 1090 prohibit any City public official or officer from involvement in a governmental decision or contract in which he or she has a financial interest.

  It is the responsibility of the contractor, contractor’s employees, and subcontractors who perform work under contract with the City to evaluate any potential conflict of interests. Be advised that a prohibited conflict of interest may void any award where a conflict exists.

  I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I have reviewed and understand the above paragraphs, and in furtherance of the foregoing, I have evaluated and caused my company’s employees and subcontractors to evaluate any potential conflict of interests. Based on this evaluation, I hereby further certify that no such conflict of interests exists. 

• Non-Collusion Declaration (required) —

  I represent the party (“Respondent”) making the foregoing proposal (“Proposal”) and declare as follows:

  • The Proposal is not made in the interest of or on the behalf of any undisclosed person, partnership, company, association, organization, or corporation; 
  • The Proposal is genuine and not collusive or a sham; 
  • The Respondent has not directly or indirectly induced or solicited any other respondent to put in a false or sham proposal and has not directly or indirectly colluded, conspired, connived, or agreed with any other respondent or anyone else to put in a sham proposal or withhold from submitting a proposal;
  • The Respondent has not in any manner directly or indirectly sought by agreement, communication, or conference with anyone to fix the Proposal price of the Respondent or of any other respondent or to fix any overhead profit or cost element of the Proposal price, or of that of any other respondent, or to secure any advantage against the public body awarding the contract of anyone interested in the proposed contract; and
  • All statements contained in the Proposal are true, and further, that Respondent has not directly or indirectly submitted its Proposal price or any breakdown thereof, or the contents thereof, or divulged information or data relative thereto, or paid and will not pay any fee in connection therewith, to any corporation, partnership, company, association, organization, bid depository, or to any member or agent thereof, or to any other individual except to any person or persons as have a partnership or other financial interest with Respondent in the general business. 
• Contractor Performance (required) —

  Address whether at any time during the past five years respondent has had a contract terminated for convenience, non-performance, or any other reason, or has been a party in a legal action involving a customer. Describe the situation(s) including name and address of contracting party and circumstances.

• Litigation in relation to the services provided to the City or other government entities in the past five (5) years (required) —

  Respondent must certify either Yes or No:

  1. (Yes) Respondent certifies current/past litigation as follows:

     1. Respondent shall provide detailed information regarding litigation (court and case number), liens, or claims involving Respondent, or any company that holds a controlling interest in Respondent, in the past five (5) years.

  2. (No) Respondent certifies that Respondent or any proposed subcontractors do not have any past or current litigation described above.
• Respondent shall provide detailed information regarding litigation (court and case number), liens, or claims involving Respondent, or any company that holds a controlling interest in Respondent, against the City in the past five (5) years (required)
• Name/Ownership Changes (required) —

  Respondent certifies past company name changes and/or ownership changes, for Respondent’s firm as follows:

• If yes, please describe: (required)
• Statement of Compliance (required) —
  1. (Yes): Proposer certifies it is in strict compliance with this RFP, including, but not limited to the terms and conditions set forth in the Model Contract and its Attachments, and no exceptions are proposed. 
  2. (No): Proposer certifies it is in strict compliance with this RFP, including the terms and conditions set forth in the Model Contract and its Attachments and Exhibits, except for those exceptions expressly listed as required by this RFP and attached hereto.  Attachments for each proposed exception to this RFP, including, but not limited to the Model Contract, must include: 
     
     1. The complete provision Bidder is taking exception to.
     2. The RFP page number and section of the provision Proposer is taking exception to.
     3. The suggested rewording (i.e., Microsoft Word track changes)
     4. Reason(s) for submitting the proposed exception.
     5. Any impact the proposed exception may have on the services to be provided.
• Identify Contract Exceptions to be Considered Below: (required)
• Financial Status (required) —

  Proposer shall indicate whether its principals, directors, or majority shareholder(s), or any company Proposer has held a controlling interest in, or which has held a controller interest in Proposer, has ever filed or has been involuntarily put into bankruptcy or has been declared bankrupt. If yes, attach statement indicating the bankruptcy date, court jurisdiction, trustee’s name and telephone number, amount of liabilities, amount of assets and current status of bankruptcy.  Select "YES" to attach information or select "NO" if no prior or pending action.

• W-9 FORM (required)
• Upload Documents Here (required)
• Evidence of Insurance (required) —

  Please upload your insurance certificate and endorsements that demonstrate your ability to provide the required insurance.

• Pricing (required) —

  In what format would you like vendors to submit their pricing?

• Delivery Time (required) —

  Would you like the vendors to include their anticipated delivery or lead time? Select yes if lead time is applicable to this project.

• Would you like to include a Minimum Qualifications section in this RFP? (required) —

  Select "Yes" if you want to include a section that defines required Minimum Qualifications that respondents must meet to be eligible for consideration. This section is used to ensure that only respondents with appropriate experience, certifications, or other baseline criteria are evaluated.

• List the Minimum Qualifications Applicable to this Project (required) —

  Minimum Qualifications:

  Clearly specify all mandatory qualifications respondents must meet. Use bullet points or numbered lists for clarity. Consider including:

  • Required certifications (e.g. CPA), licenses (e.g. CSLB), or accreditations (e.g., state-issued professional licenses, industry certifications, etc.).
  • Minimum years (standard is five (5) years) of experience in providing the requested service.
  • Minimum number of similar projects successfully completed and/or project sizes or capacities relevant to this procurement within the last five (5) years.
  • Any financial stability requirements (such as financial statements), if applicable.
  • Any specific technical expertise, regulatory knowledge, or personnel qualifications that are essential for successful contract performance.