March 9, 2012 REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FY , , , , LOCAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY AUDITS

Transcription

1 March 9, 2012 REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FY , , , , LOCAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY AUDITS The Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC) as the administrator of the Local Transportation Authority (LTA) requests proposals from independent certified public accounting firms who are interested in performing the required audits of the regions Local Transportation Authority. The proposal is to be for performing the required audits for each of the next five years, the fiscal years ending June 30, 2011, June 30, 2012 June 30, 2013, June 14, 2014 and June 30, The ICTC is requiring that the audits for the years ended June 30 th 2013, 2014, 2015 be completed in draft no later than the following November 30 th. The audit for FY has not yet been completed, therefore the Auditor will find that there are two audits (FY and FY ) that will be required by December 30 th Independent certified public accounting firms interested in performing said audits are invited to submit their sealed proposals (3 copies) no later than 3:00 p.m. on Friday, May 4th, 2012 to: Mark Baza - Executive Director Imperial County Transportation Commission 1405 N. Imperial Ave., Suite 1 El Centro, CA Inquiries concerning this proposal should be directed to Kathi Williams, Project Coordinator, at (760) Inquiries concerning the technical operations of the Local Transportation Authority should be directed to Mark Baza, Executive Director at (760)

2 GENERAL INFORMATION The Imperial County Local Transporation Authority (LTA) was created to implement the Imperial County Local Transportation Authority Retail Transactions and Use Tax Ordinance as originally adopted by the electorate on November 7, The primary purpose of this ordinance was to enact a one-half of one percent retail transaction and use tax. The proceeds of this tax would be allocated to the cities and the Countyof Imperial for local street and road purposes. In addition, a small petentage of the tax revenue would be used for administration (1%), transit (2%) and state highway (5%) purposes. The tax is to be collected for a fourty year period beginning on The end date for the tax is For additional general information please review a recent audit (FY ) as listed on the ICTC website and within the following attachments to this R.F.P. Also Included in the attacments are: Attachment C: Attachment D: By - Laws of Imperial County Local Transportation Authority Imperial County Local Transportation Authority Retail Transactions and Use Tax Ordinance and Transportation Authority Expenditure Plan SCOPE OF SERVICES REQUIRED The Auditor will prepare the the annual State Controller s report, Government Compensation report (as necessary) and annual financial statements for the Local Transpotation Authority, as well as, and the LTA financial statements for the its member agencies as follows: The required audit will actually consist of nine separate audits and a management report that will be bound into one final report. The audit reports for the ICTC must include report on the LTA Administration, Transit and the State Highway Reserve Trust Funds, and the allocations process which are administered by the Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC). Eight of the audit reports will be for the following entities that receive allocations of funds from the Local Transportation Authority: A. City of Brawley B. City of Calexico C. City of Calipatria D. City of El Centro E. City of Holtville F. City of Imperial G. City of Westmorland H. County of Imperial I. ICTC

3 Before a final report is submitted to the Local Transportation Authority, each audited entity must be allowed a minimum of fifteen (15) days to review a draft report provided by Auditor, concerning their entity. The audited entity may submit a written response to the auditor, and the ICTC executive director concerning any findings and recommendations. This response will be included in the final report. If any entity does not respond to any findings and recommendations, it should be so noted in the final report. The audit reports must contain,at a minimum, the following: Audit#1 Independent Auditor s Report Management s Discussion and Analysis (The Auditor will prepare with input from LTA Management) Financial Section Statement of Fiduciary Net Assets Statement of Changes in Fiduciary Net Assets Notes to Financial Statements Supplementary Information Audits #2-#9 LTA Estimated Revenues (Five Years) LTA Fund Five Year Program of Projects Schedule of Findings and Recommendations Status of Prior Audit Findings and Recommendations Response of Auditee to Schdule of Findings and Recommendations and Status of Prior Audit Findings and Recommendations. (If no response is submitted, the Auditor must note in the final report that no response was submitted) Audit reports for the seven cities and the ICTC must contain the following: Independent Compliance Report Local Transporation Authority Fund Balance Sheet Statement of Revenues, Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balance Statement of Revenues, Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balance-Budget and Actual Notes to the Financial Statements

4 Supplementary Information: Five Year Program of Projects Schedule of Findings and Recommendations Status of Prior Audit Findings and Recommendations Response of Auditee to Schedule of Findings and Recommendations and Status of Prior Audit Findings and Recommendations. (If no response is submitted, the Auditor must note in the final report that no response was submitted) The auditor should use Attachment C and D as a guide in determining proper compliance with the Local Transportation Authority Expenditure Plan. Among the items that the auditor must examine are the following: 1. Did the local agency receive the proper allocation of revenues and were these funds deposited promptly in a separate fund? 2. Did the local agency expend the funds in accordance with the five-year list of projects as approved by the Local Transportation Authority? 3. The auditor must verify that the level of the Maintenance of Effort, as certified by the agency, was met. 4. The auditor must also determine that any intrest earned is properly posted to the fund and expended only for those purpose for which the funds were allocated. The auditor must use the attachments as a guide in determining proper compliance with the Local Transportation Authority Expenditure Plan. Among the items that the auditor must examine are the following: 1. Did the ICTC receive all of the taxes collected by the State? Were these funds deposited properly into the Local Transportation Authority Fund? 2. The auditor must determine that funds were properly allocated to all entities. 3. The auditor must report on the status of the funds allocated for reserve for Administration, Transit and State highways and if expenditures of these funds were made in accordance with the Local Transportation Authority Expenditure Plan. 4. The auditor shall determine that administrative expenditure were made in accordance with the Local Transportation Authority Expenditure Plan. Management Report (if necessary): The management report will detail any finding and recommendations noted in any of the audit reports. Also, this report must state any necessary

5 adjustments of funding to any local agency because of failure to meet their certified level of Maintenance of Effort. Deliverables as requested include 1. for the draft report; all nine separate audit reports be bound along with the management report into one report with fifteen (15) copies with one (1) electronic PDF version 2. for the final report; all nine separate audit reports be bound along with the management report into one report with fifteen (15) copies with one (1) electronic PDF version. The Auditor shall make a formal presentation of the audit reports and answer questions as necessary before the Board Members of the Local Transportation Authority. The Board currently meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month at approximately 6:00PM. COORDINATION OF AUDIT ACTIVITY 1. The auditor will be expected to use and relay on the information contained in this RFP and from records maintained primarily by the ICTC, Imperial County Auditor-Controller and the various local member agencies. 2. The auditor must report immediately any instances of defalcation or misuse of Local Transportation Authority funds, or any serious non compliance with the statutes or regulations to the ICTC. 3. The auditor will be expected to arrange for progress meetings with the ICTC at any time upon request or when any problem is found during the field work which would materially affect the outcome of the audit. 4. Auditor shall submit billing for audit services to the ICTC. Payment for audit services will be made in monthly installments upon acceptance of the audit reports by the ICTC. 5. Limited office space is available for field work by the audit team, upon request at the ICTC offices. I. General INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM PROPOSER The purpose of this section is to explain the various items that must be included to qualify your proposal for acceptance. The RFP is not to be constructed to be a contract or a commitment on the part of the ICTC. The ICTC reserves the right to reject all proposals submitted, to seek additional information from proposers or to issue another RFP in the ICTC deems it necessary. All proposals shall remain firm for a period of 90 days from the due date, Friday, May 4th, All proposals submitted will become the property of the ICTC and may be used by the ICTC as deemed appropriate.

6 The bidder may withdraw a proposal by submitting a written request for its withdrawal to Mark Baza, Executive Director, and signed by the authorized agent at any time prior to the proposal submission deadline. The bidder may thereafter submit a new proposal prior to the deadline. Modifications offered in any manner, oral or written, will not be considered after the deadline. II. Proposal Contents A. Title Page Show the subject of the proposal; name of your proposer s firm, address and telephone number, the date, and the contact person s name and title. B. Table of Contents The Table of Contents should be comprehensive and clearly indicate the types material included by section and page number. C. Description of the Proposer 1. Size of Firm 2. Organizational Structure 3. Location of the office from which the work is to be done and the number of partners, managers and other professional staff. 4. Firm s audit experience in the last three (3) years for the following a. Local Government b. Audits similar to the Local Transportation Authority c. Other audit experience that would qualify you to perform the LTA audit 5. Qualifications of Audit Team a. Supervising Auditor 1) Name 2) Brief resume b. Description of how supervision will be provided c. Names and brief description of the experience of the rest of the audit team 6. Name, title, address and telephone number of person authorized to make representations for proposer D. Description of work to be Performed 1. Clearly describe your understanding of the required services to be provided 2. Timing of the audit a. Estimated starting date b. Estimated date of completion- Audit and required reports for the year ended June 30 th, must be completed by the following November 30 th. 3. If conditions are discovered which lead to the belief that material errors, defalcations or other irregularities may exist, or if any other circumstances are encountered that require extended services, the auditor will promptly advise

7 the ICTC. No extended services will be performed unless they are authorized in the contractual agreement or in an amendment to the agreement. E. Retention and Availabilty of Workpapers All work papers prepared by the auditor in connection with the Local Transporation Authority must be retained for a period of three years by the firm and these working papers shall be available upon request during the auditor s normal business hours for examination to representatives of the ICTC. F. Proposed Audit Fees The ICTC desires to contract with the same firm to perform the County s Local Transportation Authority Audits for fiveconsecutive years, fiscal years ending 06/30/11, 06/30/12, 06/30/13, 06/30/14 and 06/30/15. Therefore, all interested firms are to include proposed audit fee of performing the Local Transportation Authority Audits as if they were to be engaged to perform the audit for five consecutive years. A budget limit has not been established for this work, therefore all interested firms are asked to examine the effort of work performed and submit their best pricing. Proposed Audit fees should be broken down for each fiscal year in the following Manner: 1. Classification of personnel on audit team (Senior Auditor, Junior Auditors, etc.) 2. Hourly rates for each classification of audit team 3. Estimated hour per classification 4. Other out-of-pocket costs 5. An additional fixed cost per hour for additional work, or change orders should it become necessary to add work unforseen or otherwise required in the course of this project G. Any other applicable comments or material your firm wishes to submit, Bidders are cautioned from submitting extraneous and uncessary materials. H. Signature of authorized person for firm. INTERPRETATIONS OR CHANGES IN RFP Any interpretation of, or changes in, this RFP will be made an addendum to each firm to whom it was issued and shall become part of the RFP. The ICTC will not be responsible for any other explanation or interpretation. Bidders are responsible for examing the ICTC website relative to the LTA for adendums issued.

8 SELECTION OF THE FIRM The selection of the firm to perform the LTA s audits will be based upon an evaluation of the firm s organization, experience, qualifications of the staff, understanding of work to be performed, and proposed costs as submitted in the proposal. It is very important that your proposal be as complete and specific as possible. The proposal will be reviewed and recommendation will be made to the Board of the Imperial County Local Transportation Authority. Firms submitting bids will be notified in advance of the date, time and location of when the Board will select the firm to perform the required audits. Following is the estimated timetable of events. ESTIMATED TIMETABLE OF EVENTS March 9th, 2012 March 23, 2012 May 4th, 2012 May 7-11th, 2012 May 14th, 2012 May 23, 2012 June 27, 2012 July 1, 2012 RFP s available to CPA firms Non Mandatory Pre Bid Conference CPA proposals returned to ICTC CPA proposals evaluated by ICTC CPA firms noticed to which C.P.A. firm has been recommended by ICTC Board of Local Transportation Authority selects CPA firm to perform audits Agreement to perform audit services signed by Chairman of Board of Local Transportation Authority and CPA firm Contract effective date QUESTIONS CONERNING REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for 1:00PM on March 23 rd Attendance is not mandatory but encouraged. All questions relating to the RFP must be received in writing via mail, facsimile, or hand delivery no later than 3 P.M. local time, on March 21st, 2012 addressed to: Kathi Williams, Project Coordinator Imperial County Transportation Commission 1405 N. Imperial Ave. Suite 1 El Centro, CA Kathiwilliams@imperialctc.org

9 PROTESTS ICTC will consider all protests regarding the contracting process or the award of a contract submitted by 4:00 P.M. on the deadlines discussed below. ICTC will only review protests submitted by an actual or prospective proposer or someone else whose direct economic interest would be affected by the award of a contract or by failure to award a contract. A protest by any adversely affected person must be made in writing and must be mailed or hand delivered to ICTC. A protest which does not strictly comply with ICTC s protest procedures will be rejected. Protests relating to the content of the RFP package must be filed within ten (10) business days after the date the RFP is made available to the public by ICTC. Protests relating to the intent to make an award solicited by an RFP must be filed within ten (10) business days of the decision to award. The date of filing shall be the date of receipt of protests by ICTC. Untimely protests will be rejected. If deemed necessary, ICTC shall notify all proposers of record that a protest has been filed and that the award has been postponed until further notice. If necessary, proposers will be asked to extend the time for acceptance of their proposal in order to avoid the need for re-advertisement of the solicitation. A. Protest Contents A letter of protest must set forth detailed grounds for the protest and be fully supported with technical data, documentary evidence, names of witnesses and other pertinent information related to the subject being protested. The protest must also state the law, rule, regulation or practice on which the protest is based. The protestor must demonstrate or establish a clear violation of a specific law or regulation. If the protestor considers that the protest contains proprietary material which should be withheld, a statement advising of this fact must be affixed to the front page of the protest document, and alleged proprietary information shall be so identified wherever it appears. Protests shall be addressed to: Kathi Williams, Project Coordinator Imperial County Transportation Commission 1405 N. Imperial Ave. Suite 1 El Centro, CA kathiwilliams@imperialctc.org

10 B. Reply to Protest An ICTC Protest Committee appointed by the Executive Director will review all protests in a timely manner and reply to the protest, in writing, within ten (10) business days. All material submitted by the protestor will be considered. Such material will not be withheld from any interested party outside of ICTC or any agency which may be involved with the contract except to the extent that the withholding of information is permitted or required by law or regulation. C. Request for Protest Reconsideration Upon receipt of an adverse decision by ICTC, the protestor may file a request for protest reconsideration. A request for protest reconsideration must be directed to the Executive Director in writing and received within ten (10) full business days from the postmark date of the reply from ICTC. The Executive Director will respond to the request for protest reconsideration within ten (10) full business days. The decision of the Executive Director will be in writing and final. No further protests will be heard by ICTC. Attachments: A. Proposal Evaluation Form B. LTA State Controllers Report FY C. LTA By Laws D. LTA Ordinance E. LTA Financial Statements ( see website for this document )

11 A. PROPOSAL EVALUATION FORM SAMPLE PROPOSAL EVALUATION FORM DATE: EVALUATOR: RESPONDENT: PROJECT: CRITERIA MAXIMUM POINTS SCORE 1. Project Technical and Related Experience Methodology and Approach Staff Qualifications Cost and Best Value Completeness and References 10 TOTAL SCORE: Comments:

12 B. LTA State Controllers Report FY

13 C. LTA By Laws

14 D. LTA Ordinance