Information Technology Managed Services

Request for Qualifications (RFQ)
Information Technology (IT)
Managed Services
Costa Mesa Sanitary District
290 Paularino Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Release Date: February 24, 2026
Submittals Due: March 10, 2026 by 4:30 p.m.
Protecting public health and the environment for current and future generations.
cmsdca.gov

INTRODUCTION
The Costa Mesa Sanitary District (hereinafter referred to as "District") is seeking
qualified firms to provide comprehensive managed information technology (IT)
services. This Request for Qualifications will establish a list of firms eligible to receive
a subsequent Request for Proposals (RFP).
BACKGROUND
The District is an independent special district formed in 1944. It is governed by an
elected five-member Board of Directors and its boundaries encompass the city of Costa
Mesa and small portions of the city of Newport Beach and unincorporated Orange
County. Serving a population of approximately 118,000, the District is responsible for
providing residential trash collection, recycling, and wastewater collection services.
The District owns and maintains a wastewater collection system with 224 miles of
pipeline and 20 pump stations used to transmit wastewater to the Orange County
Sanitation District for treatment and recycling. These core responsibilities are
accomplished through a combination of public and private services, including an in-
house administrative and wastewater maintenance staff and private contracts for
trash hauling and recycling, legal, treasury, and IT services.
TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW
The District has 27 employees and 2 sites located in Costa Mesa. The current technical
environment includes 66 endpoints, 23 servers (both cloud/virtual and on premises),
Microsoft 365 (100 email accounts and 41 licensed users), 158 active directory users
(106 enabled/active), and Zoom as the unified communications platform. Additional
details will be made available to eligible applicants upon request during the RFP
process.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
In general, the selected firm will be expected to provide:
* Onsite and remote IT support, including front-line day-to-day support and
complex technical support
* Network administration and monitoring, including ongoing management of
on-premises and cloud servers, firewalls, switches, wireless access points,
backup systems, internet connectivity, phone system, and endpoint
management
* Cybersecurity oversight, including threat monitoring, multi-factor
authentication (MFA), endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools,
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vulnerability scanning and remediations, incident response planning, and
security awareness training
* Strategic IT leadership to develop multi-year project plans and budgets, guide
software streamlining and integration, recommend hardware replacement
cycles, and advise on compliance and risk mitigation
* Vendor management, including oversight of and collaboration with internet,
security systems, audio visual (AV), geographic information systems (GIS),
printer/copier, and software service providers
A more detailed scope will be provided in the subsequent RFP.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Eligible firms must demonstrate the following qualifications:
* Public Agency Experience
Minimum five (5) years providing managed IT services with experience
o
serving California public agencies (special districts, cities, or counties
preferred)
Familiarity with public records, transparency, regulatory compliance
o
requirements, and a public agency's needs for uptime and accessibility
* Technical & Cybersecurity Expertise
Experience managing Microsoft 365 environments
o
Network infrastructure management (endpoints, servers, firewalls,
o
switches, wireless access points, virtual private networks, etc.)
Cybersecurity program management aligned with recognized
o
frameworks (e.g. National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Experience with endpoint detection and response (EDR), Security
o
Information and Event Management (SIEM), MFA, and vulnerability
management
Disaster recovery and business continuity planning experience
o
* Staffing & Service Expectations
Dedicated account management team, including an account manager
o
and onsite technical support for a minimum of two (2) days per week,
with sufficient staffing to account for turnover and day-to-day coverage
24/7 Help desk structure with guaranteed response times and well-
o
documented escalation procedures
Qualified staff with relevant education, and certifications (e.g.,
o
Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, CISSP, etc.)
* Financial Stability
Minimum five (5) years in business
o
Stable and mature business model with a proven track record of
o
satisfied clients
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SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
Proposals shall be submitted in PDF format, no longer than 15 pages, and must include
the following:
1. Cover Letter
a. Authorized signature
b. Primary point of contact information
2. Firm Profile
a. Legal name
b. Address of headquarters and/or branch nearest to the District
c. Years in business
d. Number of employees (specify number of full and part-time, and base
locations of employees and/or employee groups)
3. References
a. Identify three (3) comparable public agency clients as references and
include a brief description of the scope of services provided by the firm,
the current and/or past contract term dates, and contact information for
each reference
4. Technical Capabilities
a. Brief descriptions of services offered that directly pertain to the
District's scope (pages 2 and 3), including:
i. Onsite and remote helpdesk support model, including standard
service levels for incident response and resolution with severity
definitions and target response times. At minimum, address the
following:
1. Severity 1 (Critical outage/security incident)
2. Severity 2 (Major impairment)
3. Severity 3 (Normal issue/service request)
4. Severity 4 (Low priority/minor request)
ii. Network administration
iii. Cybersecurity oversight
iv. Strategic planning and budgeting
v. Vendor management
5. Staffing, Certifications, & Reporting
a. Organizational chart
b. Key personnel resumes and relevant certifications (e.g. those related to
Microsoft, cybersecurity, network management, etc.)
c. Brief description of the firm's approach to the following reporting types:
i. Monthly service reporting (ticket volume, response times,
resolution times, etc.)
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ii. Security reporting (alerts, vulnerability findings, remediation
status, patch compliance)
iii. Account management meeting frequency and strategic and/or
budget planning meeting frequency
6. Financial & Legal Disclosure
a. Statement of financial stability
b. Disclosure of any bankruptcy, litigation, or contract termination within
past five (5) years
7. Supplemental Information
a. Confirmation of the firm's ability to meet the District's minimum
insurance requirements (Attachment A)
b. Any metrics or key performance indicators used to measure the firm's
performance
c. Any additional information relevant to qualifications
Please note that pricing shall not be submitted at this stage.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Submittals will be evaluated based on:
* Public agency experience
* References
* Technical and management capabilities
* Staffing, certifications, and reporting approach
* Financial stability and business maturity
* Quality and completeness of submittal
The District may conduct reference checks prior to establishing a list of qualified RFP
applicants.
SCHEDULE
Request For Qualifications (RFQ) 2/24/26
Public Release
RFQ Submission Deadline 3/10/26 @ 4:30 p.m.
RFQ Evaluation Period 3/10/26 - 3/19/26
Notification of Results to RFQ Applicants 3/23/26
Request for Proposals (RFP) Public Release & Start 3/24/26
of Question & Answer (Q&A) Period
Site Visits 4/2/26 - 9 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Q&A Submission Deadline 4/7/26 @ 4:30 p.m.
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Q&A Response Deadline 4/14/26
Proposal Submission Deadline 4/21/26 @ 4:30 p.m.
RFP Evaluation Period 4/22/26 - 5/1/26
Notification of Selected Firm & 5/4/26 - 5/15/26
Agreement Preparation
Onboarding & Transition Period 6/1/26 - 6/30/26
Start of Contract 7/1/26
SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS
Submittals must be received by the Costa Mesa Sanitary District on or before 4:30 p.m.
on March 10, 2026 and must be emailed to:
Gina Terraneo, Senior Management Analyst
290 Paularino Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Email: gterraneo@cmsdca.gov
Late responses will not be considered.
COMMUNICATIONS/QUESTIONS/ADDENDA
All communications regarding this RFQ must be submitted in writing to the District's
designated contact:
Gina Terraneo, Senior Management Analyst
Email: gterraneo@cmsdca.gov
Questions related to this RFQ must be received no later than Tuesday, March 3, 2026
by 12 p.m. (noon). The District may respond to questions at its sole discretion.
Questions received after the deadline may not be answered.
Addenda
If the District determines that a change to the RFQ is necessary, the District will issue
a written addendum. Only written addenda issued by the District are binding. Oral
communications, interpretations, or informal responses by any District
representative are not binding and shall not be relied upon by respondents.
No-Contact Requirement
Respondents and their representatives shall not contact District Board Members, staff,
consultants, or agents regarding this RFQ, except through the District's designated
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contact listed above. Violation of this requirement may result in disqualification of the
respondent at the District's sole discretion.
DISTRICT RIGHTS
The District reserves the right to:
* Reject any or all submittals
* Request clarifications
* Issue an RFP to selected firms
* Cancel this RFQ at any time
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Attachment A - District Insurance Requirements
COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
290 Paularino Ave., Costa Mesa, California 92626
(949) 645-8400
To: Consultants/Contractors:
PLEASE GIVE THESE REQUIREMENTS TO YOUR INSURANCE AGENT
The Costa Mesa Sanitary District (CMSD) requires certificates of workers' compensation, general
liability, automobile, and if necessary, professional errors and omissions insurance before you can
begin work for CMSD. All certificates must contain the following:
Workers' Compensation - Minimum policy limit requirements are $1,000,000 bodily injury by
disease; and $1,000,000 bodily injury each employee for accident or disease per occurrence. If
you have no employees, you must sign a Declaration of Non-employee Status form available
from the District. In lieu of a certificate of insurance, a certificate of Consent to Self-Insure issued
by the California Director of industrial Relations is also acceptable.
General Liability - Minimum policy limit requirement is $1,000,000 combined single limit
coverage with insurance designated "per occurrence." Insurance must include coverage for
ongoing operations and completed operations. The insurance carrier providing the commercial
general liability policy must have an AM Best Rating of A- or better and be an admitted carrier in
the State of California or an approved Surplus Line Insurer from California Department of
Insurance.
Automobile Liability - Minimum policy limit requirement is $1,000,000 combined single limit
coverage with insurance designated "per occurrence." The "Any Auto" box must be checked.
Professional Errors and Omissions (if necessary) - Minimum policy limit that is appropriate
to the profession.
Description of Operations - The following wording must be added to the policy: "All operations:
Costa Mesa Sanitary District, their elected and appointed officials, agents, officers, volunteers,
and employees listed as Additional Insured - Pursuant to attached endorsement."
Change in Coverages - The following wording must be added to the policy by endorsement:
"Said policy shall not terminate, nor shall it be canceled nor the coverage reduced, until thirty (30)
days after written notice is given to the District."
Excess and Non-contributing - The following wording must be added to the policy by
endorsement: "Any other insurance maintained by the Costa Mesa Sanitary District shall be
excess and non-contributing with the insurance provided by this policy."
Additional Insured Endorsement - (for General Liability, Automobile only). This must be a
separate attachment naming the District as additional insured. The endorsement must include
the policy number and the wording of the additional insured must be exact, stating: "The Costa
Mesa Sanitary District, its elected and appointed officials, agents, officers, volunteers and
employees are additional insureds." ISO Form CG 20 12 07 98, or a comparable equivalent must
be used.