REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: ENDOWMENT FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES

The City of Sierra Vista, acting as the fiscal agent, is soliciting proposals to provide ENDOWMENT FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES for the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area MOU Adaptive Management Committee (“AMC”) and Cochise Conservation and Recharge Network (“CCRN”) for a contract term to be completed by December 31, 2025, with the potential to extend upon mutual agreement. The City may award an on-call contract to up to three (3) consultants.

Services under this RFP may be federal grant funded, therefore the documentation included in this RFP complies with federal procurement regulations and the successful individual/company is expected to agree to comply with all federal regulations as described in this RFP.

The Adaptive Management Committee of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area Memorandum of Understanding (AMC) includes four member agencies that voluntarily collaborate to provide water security for the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Fort Huachuca, and local communities. Member agencies include the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Fort Huachuca, the City of Sierra Vista and Cochise County. Together they oversee a science-based collaborative process that guides hydrologic monitoring and informs water project implementation. Project implementation is carried out by a separate “partnering partnership”, the Cochise Conservation and Recharge Network (CCRN), that includes some additional agency members.

Since 2015, the CCRN has developed and implemented projects that protect groundwater resources in strategic locations along approximately 25 miles of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA), managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The network currently includes 8 sites including groundwater protection projects and groundwater recharge facilities, that are described on their website at: ccrnsanpedro.org. Member agencies of the CCRN include: the City of Sierra Vista, who serves as the fiscal agent for the voluntary collaboration, Cochise County, the Hereford Natural Resource Conservation District, the City of Bisbee, the U.S. Army Fort Huachuca, and the U.S Bureau of Land Management.

The member agencies of the AMC are in the process of establishing a long-term stewardship fund to ensure funding is available for ongoing operations and maintenance of the eight CCRN projects, coordination of both collaborative partnerships, and hydrologic monitoring activities at both project sites, and within the SPRNCA and surrounding watershed. An initial investment by the U.S. Army’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI), through a Challenge Grant for $1.8M has been secured for this purpose in 2025. Additional funding will be required to generate the amount of support required for all of these ongoing needs over time. A Finance Planner is needed to identify other sources of potential funding to grow the endowment, and to create a financing plan for the fund to ensure its further establishment and sustainability over time. This intensive planning effort is anticipated to occur from September 2025-December 2025.