Compensation Salary Study & Survey

CITY OF WINDER MAYOR AND COUNCIL WINDER, GEORGIA

Closing Date/Time:

September 12, 2025

City of Winder

25 E. Midland Ave

Winder, GA 300680

Request for Proposal (HRD25-01)

Compensation Salary Study & Survey

The CITY OF WINDER MAYOR AND COUNCIL is soliciting Proposals from qualified firms to complete a Compensation Salary Study & Survey for the various departments/offices of the city. The objective of the survey is to define a salary program that is competitive with other comparable government entities, utility agencies, which we market ourselves against in surrounding cities and counties, and other geographic areas as to attract and retain qualified employees.

It is the City’s intent that this Request for Proposal (“RFP”) provides competition among submitting offerors. It shall be the offeror’s responsibility to advise the Human Resources Director, in writing, if any language, specification, etc., or any combination thereof, inadvertently restricts or limits the requirements stated in this RFP to a single source. Such notification must be received by the Purchasing Agent not later than five (5) days prior to the date set for acceptance of the proposal.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information in the RFP, we recognize that the information may not be complete in every detail and that all work may not be expressly mentioned in these specifications. It is the responsibility of the proposing company to include in their proposal all pertinent information in accordance with the objectives of the city.

Proposals MUST be submitted in the format prescribed herein. Failure to comply with the directions listed in this RFP, or omission of requested information could result in disqualification of your firm’s proposal. Proposals are to be submitted in a sealed envelope, clearly marked in the lower left-hand corner:

Pricing information is to be included within the proposal. The proposals and pricing information will be received at the offices of the City of Winder’s :

One (1) original and (2) separate electronic (flash drive) copies of the Proposal and Pricing Information must be received at the City of Winder at 25 E Midland Ave Winder GA 30680, not later than September 12, 2025, by 12:00 p.m. ET. AbsolutelynoProposalsandPricing Information will be accepted after the above deadline.E-mailed Proposals and Pricing Information are not acceptable. Proposals and Pricing Information received after the deadline will be returned to the sender unopened. Names of submitting firms will be provided upon request and public via open records.

ALL QUESTIONS are to be directed to Jonathan Lynn, City Administrator and acting Purchasing Agent, jonathan.Lynn@cityofwinder.com . All questions are to be received not later than five (5) days prior to September 12, 2025. Responses to substantive questions will be provided as written Addenda and will be posted upon the City of Winder website, www.cityofwinder.com

Proposals and Pricing Information received will become the property of City of Winder and shall be used as the city sees fit. All information contained in the Proposals and Pricing Information will remain confidential until after the award and signing of the contract. City of Winder reserves the right to cancel the Request for Proposal or to reject any and all responses received, to waive any technicalities or other minor informalities if it determines, in its sole discretion, that such cancellation or rejection is in the best interests of City of Winder.

City of Winder assumes no responsibility or liability for the costs incurred by the submitting firm to prepare and/or submit a proposal. The entire cost of preparing and submitting Proposals and Pricing Information, or any work in connection therewith will be borne by the submitting firm or team of firms.

Proposals must be signed by an authorized official to bind the offeror, and it shall contain a statement to the effect that the Proposal is firm for a period of at least ninety (90) days from the closing date for submission.

Firms shall not offer any gratuities, favors, or anything of monetary value to any official, employee, or agent of the City of Winder Mayor and Council for the purpose of influencing consideration of this qualification.

To ensure all prospective respondents have the same level of knowledge relative to the project, as well as ensuring any additional data is made available to all proposers, no vendors shall contact or discuss any aspect of this Request for Proposal with any City of Winder employee or elected official, selection committee member, or project team member, during the RFP process until award has been made. If contact is made that vendor may be disqualified from the process. All questions in regard to this Request for Proposal are to be submitted to Jonathan Lynn, City Administrator and acting Purchasing Agent, jonathan.Lynn@cityofwinder.com as detailed in the general information section of this document.

Ownership of all data, material, and documentation originated and prepared for the city pursuant to this contract shall belong exclusively to the city.

The selected firm will be given written notification of being selected by the City. The City will negotiate and execute a contract with the selected firm prior to the beginning of the actual services. Should contract negotiations fail, the City will negotiate with one of the highly ranked firms. In general, the contract will comply with applicable laws and standard provisions and shall contain the following terms: Detailed scope of services, schedule for providing services, and cost of services.

The Firm shall indemnify, protect, defend and hold harmless the City of Winder, their agents, and employees, from and against any and all claims, demands, judgments, or causes of action, including costs and attorney’s fees by any party or parties whatever for loss, damage, injury, fines or penalties of any kind of character either to persons or property directly or indirectly arising out of the operations performed under the Contract except such loss, damage, or injury as is caused by the sole negligence of the City.

RESPONDENT PROPOSAL PACKET CHECKLIST (REVISED 08/2025)

PROJECT:  Compensation Salary Study & Survey

PROPOSAL DATE:

Enclosed with this Proposal Packet are the following Forms and instructions. Use this checklist to ensure you have properly completed all the Forms. You must return the following pages to be eligible for consideration of this project:

One (1) original and two (2) separate electronic (flash drive) copies

E-Verify Contractor Affidavit

Reference Page

Ship Proposal to:

City of Winder

25 E. Midland Ave

Winder GA 30680

Attn: Jonathan Lynn, City Administrator

Termination for Cause – City of Winder may terminate the Contract at any time the Contractor defaults in the performance of any term of the Contract or fails to make substantial progress under the terms specified in the Contract. Such termination shall be without prejudice to any of the City’s rights or remedies provided by law.

Termination for Convenience – City of Winder may terminate this Contract at any time by written thirty (30) days’ notice to the Contractor. The Contractor will be paid for those services actually performed.

Mutual Agreement – City of Winder and the Contractor may, upon receipt and acceptance of not less than thirty (30) days’ written notice, terminate the Contract on an agreed date prior to the end of the contract period without penalty to either party.

Lack of Funds – Not withstanding any other provisions of the contract, if funds anticipated for the continued fulfillment of this contract are at any time not forthcoming, City of Winder shall have the right to terminate the contract without penalty by giving not less than thirty (30) days’ written notice documenting lack of funding.

The proposer agrees that they presently have no interest and shall not acquire any interest, directly or indirectly, which would conflict in any manner or degree with the performance of the services hereunder. The proposer further agrees that no person having any such known interest shall be employed or conveyed an interest, directly or indirectly, in the Contract. All respondents must provide a statement of disclosure, which will allow the Owner to evaluate possible conflicts of interest.

Proposals submitted are not publicly available until after award by the City of Winder Mayor and Council. All Proposals and supporting material, as well as correspondence relating to this RFP becomes the property of City of Winder when received. Any proprietary information contained in the qualification should be so indicated. However, a general indication that the entire contents, or a major portion, of the qualification is proprietary will not be honored.

Pursuant to Georgia law, any trade secrets that are required by law, regulation, bid, or request for proposal to be submitted to the City are exempt from disclosure under the Open Records Act. However, this exemption applies only in specific circumstances. If records containing trade secrets are submitted to the City, and the submitting company wants to protect the trade secrets contained in those records from disclosure, an affidavit must be attached to the records stating that specific information in the records is a trade secret. Please note, a company cannot merely mark otherwise open records with “confidential” or “proprietary” in order to protect such records from disclosure. The affidavit must be submitted with the records when they are first provided to the City, and the affidavit should affirmatively declare that specific information in the records constitute trade secrets pursuant to Article 27 of Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Georgia Code. The submitted affidavit should clearly identify the information and/or records that constitute trade secrets and must provide the specific location of such trade secrets in the records submitted (i.e., page(s), section(s), etc.). If the City does not receive an affidavit identifying specific information as trade secrets, the trade secret exemption will not apply. Upon receiving a request for such records under the Open Records Act, the City will respond in accordance with O.C.G.A. 50-18-72(a)(34) and other applicable law.

It is agreed that the successful responder will not assign, transfer, convey, or otherwise dispose of a contract that results from this Request for Proposal or his right, title, or interest in or to the same, or any part thereof, without written consent by the City.

The City of Winder is a progressive City located over 15.33 square miles of continued growth, competing in a rapidly changing, highly competitive labor market. There are no bargaining unit employees employed by City of Winder Government. The City has approximately 265 positions including (full- time and part-time) employees, and one Mayor and six Council Members serving in the following areas:

The purpose of the compensation salary study & survey is to define a salary program that is competitive with other comparable government entities, utility agencies, and private employers within the same geographic area so as to attract and retain qualified employees. The use of the term “Compensation” is solely for the inclusion of “relative compensation” further detailed under Requirements.

To achieve that objective, City of Winder Government is seeking proposals from qualified firms experienced in conducting a comprehensive survey. The survey should take place over a 60 – 90- day time frame and shall include all requirements as stated within this RFP.

Compensation and benefits study were conducted by a private consulting firm, however, much has evolved since this study. This was accomplished by gathering pay data from other public and private employers then comparing those to the City’s classification salary range schedule. A new salary range schedule was established and is currently being utilized.

The existing classification plan for the City is comprised of classifications assigned grades to pay ranges with a minimum, mid-point, and maximum salary range for each.

Salary increases are comprised of merit increases of which are subject to the employee’s annual performance appraisal and the availability of budgeted funds. The fiscal year for the City begins July 1 ^st .

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

The City of Winder will evaluate proposals and will select the proposal that best meets the interest of the City. The City shall be the sole judge of its own best interest, the proposals, and the resulting agreement.

The City evaluation criterion includes the following:

• Qualifications of firms - 15%
• Experience with local and municipal governments- 25%
• Examples of previous compensation studies and reports 20%
• References - 15%
• Price - 25%

Addendum - Questions:

Q: How many unique job titles are included in the scope of this project?

• Our position titles are pretty standard, and we have about 100 plus position titles.

Q: Does the City expect the entire project to be completed within 60-90 days or just the custom compensation survey of peer organizations?

• We are striving to have the study completed within 3-4 months, while decisions may take longer, the market comparison, review of job descriptions, and suggested pay grade options should be completed within that time frame.

Q: Does the City expect that meetings and presentations will be held virtually or in-person?

• We are open to both; it will depend on what is most appropriate for the discussion.

Q: Does the City expect the selected consultant to rewrite all job descriptions?

• We expect the job description to be reviewed with each department head, and all job descriptions at the end of the project will have a uniform look, style, and the consultant will provide a template for future positions and creation of salary grade.

Q: How many references would the City like to be included in the proposal?

• No required amount, substance over quantity.