Evaluation committee shortlists Guidepost, Rosen after close scoring of library security RFP

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The Hillsborough County evaluation committee reviewed and recorded consensus scores for 11 firms that responded to RFP24-24865, a solicitation for a security risk assessment of the county Library Services Department, and voted to invite the top two firms for in-person oral presentations.

Sakina Ford, chief buyer for Hillsborough County Procurement, opened the meeting and confirmed that the solicitation received 13 proposals; two firms — Paladin Defense Group Inc. and Resilient Digital Ecosystem — were deemed unacceptable and 11 proposals proceeded to committee evaluation. “The evaluation committee meeting and possible scoring for requests for proposals, RFP24-24865, Security risk assessment for the library services department is being held by means of our communications media technology,” Ford said at the start of the session.

The committee scored proposals on three prescribed elements in the solicitation: criteria 1 (proposer understanding, technical approach and work plan; maximum 35 points), criteria 2 (organization and staff qualifications; maximum 35 points) and criteria 3 (project cost, scored automatically by the system). Ford told the committee that DBE/DBE/DMSBE bonus points were evaluated and none were awarded.

Guidepost Solutions finished first with a total score of 78.63. Rosen Security Consulting LLC was second with 78.55; SRMC LLC ranked third with 72.40. Ford recommended the committee consider oral presentations because the top two scores were separated by only 0.08 points: “My recommendation would be to discuss and consider the possibility because of the scores of the first two being so close together, the possibility of bringing them in for oral presentations. And I would recommend the top three for oral presentations,” Ford said.

A committee member moved to bring Guidepost Solutions and Rosen Security Consulting LLC back for oral presentations; the motion carried. The committee agreed those presentations will be in person, recorded, and not open to the public, and that a subsequent evaluation meeting will be posted to finalize any rescoring after presentations. Ford noted that proposers may not submit new materials that were absent from their original proposals during oral presentations.

The committee read and confirmed individual consensus scores by firm and by criterion on the record. Sakina Ford announced the system-calculated cost scores and the combined totals for each firm before the committee acted on the shortlist. No DBE/DMSBE bonus points were assigned and the cost component was scored by formula tied to the lowest submitted price as described in the solicitation.

Committee members discussed the relative strengths and weaknesses recorded in scoring — for example, whether proposers documented previous library risk assessment experience, the clarity and organization of proposed timelines, and whether teams included in-house multidisciplinary experts or relied on subcontractors — and used those findings when assigning consensus points. Committee members also noted logistical concerns for scheduling and completing oral presentations and the follow-up meeting required to finalize rankings.

The committee did not award the contract at the meeting. Members agreed to schedule the oral presentations and a follow-up evaluation meeting to finalize scores and the county’s shortlist. Ford said staff will post the upcoming presentation meetings and coordinate calendars with committee members.