Mid Kings River GSA approves consultant contracts; RFQ process explained by counsel

At its March 24 meeting the Mid Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency voted to approve multiple consultant agreements, including a website/portal contract and a contract for public outreach, election facilitation and an engineer's report to support a potential Prop 218 election.

Staff said stakeholder review had been part of the procurement process. Jennifer Thompson, the GSA’s legal counsel, gave the board a plain‑language explanation of the RFQ process used for these procurements: because staff did not have a fully specified end product for items such as a website or portal, the GSA issued a request for qualifications to solicit concepts and capabilities rather than price‑based bids. "So rather than putting forth specific specifications... the price was left out of the equation until after the particular vendor contractor was chosen and at that time the committee was able to see the different prices after negotiations with the chosen vendor were complete," Thompson said.

Garrett told the board stakeholders had seen pricing information after negotiations concluded and that the advisory committee felt comfortable moving forward with the recommended firms. Board members moved and seconded the recommendations and the clerk recorded affirmative roll call votes from the supervisors present.

What the board approved: staff presented contracts recommended by the stakeholder committee for (1) website/portal services and (2) outreach, election facilitation and an engineer's report for a Prop 218 process; the board approved the recommendations and directed staff to proceed with contract negotiations and implementation.

The board did not record significant opposition during the votes. Thompson and staff said they would return to the board with final contract documents and cost details as negotiations conclude.