title
Selection of External Auditors for General Government (B)
explanation
Florida Statutes section 218.39 and Gainesville Code of Ordinances section 2-433 require the City Commission to employ an independent certified public accountant, not connected with the government of the City, to audit the accounts maintained and the financial statements prepared by the City for each fiscal year. The City's current contract for professional auditing services expires after completion of all reports associated with the financial audit for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008.
On September 18, 2008, the City Commission authorized the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for professional auditing services utilizing the methodology and selection factors recommended by the Audit, Finance and Legislative Committee. As a result, an RFP was publicly issued and provided to interested firms on September 25, 2008. Since City finances are segmented into two major areas, General Government and Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), the RFP provided an opportunity for firms to submit a proposal for the General Government segment, the GRU segment and/or both segments combined.
On November 13, 2008, the City received four responses to the General Government segment and three responses to the GRU segment. Each proposal contained a technical qualifications proposal and a separately sealed price proposal. The proposals were evaluated in accordance with criteria set forth in the RFP by staff members of the City Auditor's Office and the respective Finance Departments. Proposals were assigned a composite score on technical and written criteria, excluding the price proposal. Purchasing staff then opened the fee proposals and assigned points to each proposal with higher points given to the lowest submitted fee proposal. Qualified local businesses received an additional five percent of the total evaluation points in accordance with the City's Local Preference Ordinan...
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