Hillsborough County committee records consensus scores for community survey RFP; declines oral presentations

Hillsborough County’s evaluation committee completed consensus scoring of proposals for Request for Proposals 25-00119, Community Survey and Opinion Research Services, and agreed not to request oral presentations, officials said at a virtual meeting.

The committee — chaired by Liana Lopez, chief communications administrator for Hillsborough County — met remotely to evaluate eight proposals that remained after procurement screened out several submissions. Dawn Demena, senior buyer for the project, opened the meeting and confirmed it was being recorded.

The scoring process covered three technical categories and two administrative factors: quality and ability to meet county objectives (30 points), organizational background and experience (30 points), understanding of scope and technical approach (20 points), cost (20 points, calculated by procurement), and an EMVWBE/DMDWBE bonus (5 points). Demena read the committee’s consensus totals after members discussed references, local government experience, telephonic versus online data collection, statistical accuracy examples and budgets.

Why it matters: the vendor selected from this procurement will conduct a countywide community survey intended to produce data that can shape county communications, outreach and program planning. The evaluation’s emphasis on local government experience and district-level sampling reflects the county’s requirement for representative results across commission districts.

Committee members said many proposers showed strength in methodology or team composition but lacked recent Florida or county-level references. Multiple reviewers flagged missing telephonic components or incomplete descriptions of statistical accuracy in examples. One proposer, HCP Associates Inc., stood out to the committee for demonstrated local government experience and a stated approach to ensuring district-level representation.

Dawn Demena announced the final consensus totals. "For HCP Associates Inc., the total consensus score is 78.52 points," Demena said. The committee recorded these totals for all eight proposers: Caylus LLC 22.23; EMC Research Incorporated 47.41; Evolve Market Research LLC 50.39; HCP Associates Inc. 78.52; Kezia M. Gilliard LLC doing business as KMG 47.38; Provolsky Research LLC 63.29; Research America Inc. 49.18; and Transpro Consulting LLC 65.00.

The committee also reviewed the cost factor calculated by procurement. Transpro Consulting LLC received the maximum cost score (20.00) and Evolve Market Research LLC and Research America received higher cost scores than several other proposers. One proposer, Kezia M. Gilliard LLC doing business as KMG, had applied for the county’s DMDWBE bonus points but received 0 because required letters of intent from the prime contractor and subconsultants were missing.

After announcing totals, the chair asked whether the committee wished to hold oral presentations; members indicated they did not. The committee agreed to finalize and sign the scoring spreadsheet and to have procurement post the meeting recording and proceed with procurement’s next steps.

What was not decided: the committee did not award the contract at the meeting and did not invite oral presentations. Procurement will use the recorded scores and follow county procurement procedures for next steps, including posting a notice of intent to award as applicable.

The meeting record shows substantial discussion about proposers’ local-government experience, telephonic sampling, and clarity of statistical accuracy in proposal examples — factors the committee used to reach its consensus scores. Demena closed the meeting after confirming that the procurement staff would prepare the final scoring sheet for signatures and post the recording.

Ending: procurement staff will finalize the scoring documentation and follow established county procurement steps; no additional presentations were scheduled by the committee at the meeting.