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Pittsburgh commissioners approve $300,000 federal government affairs contract to track legislation and pursue funding
Summary
The City of Pittsburgh approved RFP 260702, a roughly $300,000 contract to retain a federal government affairs team led by Buchanan Ingersoll with subcontractors including Aspire to monitor federal bills, pursue funding opportunities and provide special-projects facilitation; commissioners pressed proposers for details on participation splits and local presence.
Pittsburgh commissioners voted to approve RFP 260702, a federal government affairs contract the city says will monitor federal legislation, maintain relationships with key congressional committees and identify funding opportunities for city projects. The contract was described in the meeting as roughly $300,000.
The agreement was introduced to the commission by Matt Singer, deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office. Singer said the selected team will “guide the city in how we monitor and track bills that are within the federal government,” and help identify and pursue federal funding opportunities and community-project funding. He said the contract also leaves room for “special projects facilitation” so the firm can advise the city on developing positions and outreach when federal policy or funding opportunities arise.
Kirk Conrad, senior adviser of government relations at Buchanan, told commissioners Buchanan has a long regional presence and worked with the city before, and that the firm and its partners were chosen to complement the city’s priorities. Michelle, a representative of subcontractor Aspire, said Aspire is a women‑owned grant development firm with experience on major infrastructure grants for the city and that the team brings relevant grant-writing and benefit-cost analysis expertise.
Several commissioners asked how the proposers would ensure the participation percentages and subcontractor splits that were described in the proposal, given this is a professional services contract. One commissioner said they were “curious how the PR and ... other consultants” percentages would be allocated and whether primes and subs were locally based. Conrad and the proposers said Buchanan and its partners have local ties and offered to provide a detailed breakdown of how work and percentages are split among the prime and subcontractors.
A motion to approve the contract was made and seconded; during roll call the clerk recorded votes in favor from Commissioners Conley, doctor Cushman, Siegel, Barnett and Gibbs, and the plan was declared to have "passed as presented." The commission did not record dissenting votes on the transcript.
Commission staff said they will send out the approval letters to proposers and follow up with the promised breakdown of subcontractor percentages. The commission also asked that proposers appear at a subsequent meeting to explain percent allocations in more detail if an item had been approved by email prior to the meeting.
What’s next: staff will distribute formal approval letters to the selected firms and provide the commission with the detailed subcontractor participation breakdown that commissioners requested.
