Huntington Park City Council on June 2 voted to reject all proposals for neighborhood canvassing services tied to a $25,000,000 California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) grant and directed staff to reissue the request for proposals (RFP) on the PlanetBids procurement platform.

The decision came after public commenters urged the council to reopen the RFP to give community-based organizations (CBOs) a fair chance to compete, and after staff explained that one of two original proposals was ruled nonresponsive because required fee documents were not uploaded through the digital submission process.

The council’s action follows the CPUC award announced Nov. 7, 2024, which funds ‘‘middle and last mile’’ broadband infrastructure intended to expand Internet access. Mr. Infanson, a city staff presenter, told the council the RFP was issued April 15 through PlanetBids, notifying 266 vendors; 19 firms downloaded solicitation documents and the city received two proposals by the May 8 deadline. "Based on the requirements from the RFP … the staff recommended that the Principia Group was a responsive bidder and that Alliance for a Better Community was nonresponsive," Mr. Infanson said, citing ABC’s failure to upload a separate digital fee proposal and its submission of a physical envelope to the city clerk’s office.

Erica Cervantes, director of policy and advocacy for Alliance for Better Community, said community organizations supported the city’s digital equity goals but called for greater transparency and inclusion in the procurement. "We respectfully urge for the rerelease of the RFP so more organizations can apply," Cervantes told the council during the public-comment period, noting the earlier council resolution committing the city to fight digital discrimination.

The city manager told the council the CPUC award is a reimbursable grant and that the city must spend funds before requesting reimbursement. "The city did not receive a check in the amount of 24,000,000. This is a reimbursable grant, meaning that the city has to spend the money before we can collect the reimbursement," the city manager said.

Council members and staff also discussed the city’s recent switch to PlanetBids to broaden outreach. Staff emphasized that the RFP instructions required separate digital submission of technical and fee proposals; council members said the procurement language and the mix of digital and physical submission channels created confusion for some local nonprofits. One council member noted the two bids varied substantially in cost during the discussion: "I know one of them for sure is at 57K. What was the other bid for?" Another council member answered, "$200,000," during the exchange on bid amounts.

City legal counsel advised the council to use a single, consistent procurement platform to reduce legal risk. After questions and public comment, the council voted to reject all proposals and direct staff to reissue the RFP via PlanetBids with a fully digital submission process. The council’s motion set a new public-release date of June 3, a closing date of June 18, and instructed staff to return the item for council consideration on July 7; the vote on the motion was recorded as unanimous.

The council also instructed staff to refine RFP language and to increase outreach to local nonprofits while keeping digital submissions centralized on PlanetBids to preserve transparency of questions and answers. Staff noted the city had already contracted Bowman to develop construction bidding documents for the broader broadband buildout and that design-and-construction and project-management RFPs would be released on PlanetBids in the coming week.

Next steps: staff will reissue the neighborhood-canvassing RFP on PlanetBids June 3–18, accept only digital submissions per the revised instructions, and report responsive bids to the council for possible action at the July 7 meeting.