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Pinellas County discusses procurement plan as county prepares HUD recovery plan and $831 million allocation
Summary
County staff told commissioners they ranked disaster‑recovery consulting firms and plan to put multiple firms under contract to prepare a HUD recovery plan, noting the county must submit a plan within 120 days and that roughly $800–831 million is available for Pinellas County and 23 municipalities.
County staff briefed the Board of County Commissioners on plans to contract disaster‑recovery consulting firms and to develop a HUD plan required to access substantial recovery funding for Pinellas County and its municipalities.
Staff explained the county issued a competitive solicitation and ranked respondents; the evaluation team drew a natural score break after 11 firms and recommended placing those 11 under contract to preserve flexibility while the county defines program needs. "We bid it, and they ranked them, and they drew a line at 11," a staff presenter said; staff added most contracting is likely to go to the top four or five ranked firms once program needs are defined.
Staff described a compressed timeline for the HUD plan. A presenter said the county has 120 days to submit a plan to HUD for the larger recovery allocation and that the first task after any contract approval would be to get a firm under contract to prepare that plan. The county cited approximately $800,000,000 (the presenter used the figure "800,000,000" in discussion) previously referenced and later stated "we have 831,000,000 to go to Pinellas County, which includes 23 cities." Staff noted the allocation will cover the county and 23 municipalities, and said the unincorporated area is one of 23 eligible jurisdictions.
Commissioners asked why the county recommended 11 firms rather than contracting only the top four. Staff said keeping 11 firms preserves specialty expertise that may be needed for discrete tasks and gives the county flexibility as plan specifics emerge.
Staff described likely uses for consultant support, including preparing the HUD plan, administering federal compliance and environmental reviews, managing grants and disbursing funds, and standing up program delivery (for example, housing programs or infrastructure). The presenter said the county expects to request waivers from HUD to speed distributions and that many decisions will depend on HUD rules and on negotiated waivers.
No formal board vote was taken during the briefing. Staff said they will return with a recommended contract action to put firms under contract and to begin the 120‑day plan work with HUD.
Ending: Staff emphasized speed and the need to create an organized outreach and project‑ranking methodology for the 23 municipalities rather than responding on an ad‑hoc basis to individual requests.
