(INFORMAL) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR CITY OF TRACY DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE AUDIT AND QUALITY ASSURANCE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF TRACY AQUATIC CENTER CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS

We are working on an Aquatic Center project in the City of Tracy, California (“City” or “Tracy”). I have been tasked with identifying a firm who can provide an in-depth and impartial audit/analysis of two competing design proposals for the Aquatic Center. By way of this letter, I am providing information and requesting you to submit a proposal to provide professional services to the City. As time is of the essence, and these services are very specialized, this is an informal Request for Proposals (RFP) and you may respond by letter attached to an email by Monday October 20, 2025 by 5:00 PM to cityclerk@cityoftracy.org . The response should include the total cost anticipated to provide the above services and anticipated length of time it will take to complete the requested analysis regarding the competing proposals for the Aquatics Center project.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR CITY OF TRACY DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATE AUDIT AND QUALITY ASSURANCE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF TRACY AQUATIC CENTER CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS

ABOUT THE CITY OF TRACY

The City is a general law municipality located in San Joaquin County, east of the coastal range that separates California’s Central Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area. Tracy is strategically located in the center of a triangle formed by the convergence of three major interstate freeways: I-205 bisects the northern part of the city; I-580 cuts through the southwest corner; and I-5 lies just beyond the eastern boundary of the City. Tracy lies roughly 68 miles south of Sacramento and 60 miles east of San Francisco.

With a staff of over 500 full-time and part-time employees, the City provides a wide range of services to the public. Currently, the Parks and Recreation Department is comprised of 45 full-time employees and an abundance of temporary/seasonal staff, volunteers, and numerous community partnerships.
Historically a railroad transit and agriculture area, Tracy has benefitted from the substantial growth of the region over the last 30 years. Tracy has developed to become a dynamic, diverse, and involved community making it a highly desirable place to live, work, and play for people of all ages and abilities. Presently, the population is approximately 90,000. The recent residential boom is now being complimented with a flurry of commercial growth and infrastructure improvements. As such, both residents and visitors alike are anxiously awaiting more amenities within the City.

BACKGROUND ON THE PROPOSED AQUATICS CENTER PROJECT

An Aquatic Center has been recognized as a need since the early 2000’s and has gone through various iterations of planning, public outreach, and design over the years. In

November 2016, residents approved, a twenty-year half-cent transactions and use (sales) tax, to providing funding for City services/facilities.
In or about 2018, the City Council approved the Aquatic Center as a major amenity that would be funded by Measure V sales tax revenue. During this time, the City collaborated with its residents and a local developer, Surland Companies, to create conceptual programming and cost estimates for the City Council and public to review.
These designs ultimately came to be known as the Aquatic Center “Community Plan” designs. In 2020, the City Council approved the Aquatic Center Program Priorities which includes (in priority order):

• 50-meter-long course competition pool
• Recreation/warm-up pool
• Lazy river
• Waterslides
• Toddler area
• Indoor pool (optional)
• Fitness center (optional)

In 2022, for a variety of complex legal reasons the City pivoted away from the Community Plan design and directed staff to develop new designs. As of 2024, the City has contracted with Construction Manager, Griffin Structures, Inc. to oversee the development of the Aquatic Center project. The Architectural firm Group 4 was retained in 2024 by the City to develop conceptual, schematic designs, community engagement to determine community priorities, and coordination with City departments and regulatory agencies reviewing the Aquatics Center project (the “City Plan”). The City Plan includes many of the community desired elements from the Community Plan. Collectively the Community Plan and the City Plan are collectively referred hereto as the “Design Sets.”

REQUESTED ANALYSIS / AUDIT

The City is soliciting proposals from highly qualified consulting firms that have experience and the ability to provide a comparative analysis (“Audit”) of competing conceptual, architectural, and engineering designs; financial construction estimates and cost projections; revenue and operating and maintenance projections of two proposed Aquatic Center designs (“Design Sets”) that have been prepared for the City.
At its August 19, 2025, the City Council directed staff to provide a comparison between two Design Sets: (1) the “Community Plan” and (2) the “City Plan.” The City Council directed staff to review both Design Sets for feasibility, viability, and cost recovery analysis. The requested analysis should consider the City’s limited resources as a public agency; the complex and interconnected history between the City Plan and the Community Plan; and the expected financial performance of a large-scale Aquatic Center in the City.
The Council’s action specifically directed staff to include the areas of review detailed below, with the intended goal of the Audit being to clarify, validate or refute the Community Plan’s or the City Plan’s assumptions with respect to each of the following:

1. Project Status : The status of each of the Design Sets including the concepts and related design documents – a detailed analysis of where both the Community Plan and the City Plan are on the spectrum of development along the roadmap towards construction, on a typical timeline.
   
   
2. Proposers’ Schedule : If provided, an analysis of the estimated timeline for each Design Set to be completed. Both Design Sets make representations to the City about the length of time needed to complete its proposed Aquatics Center. Do the schedules align with the current state of the respective Design Set, and is the schedule realistic?
   
   
3. Project Schedule : Based on each of the Design Sets and their respective data, prepare a comparison of the current phase of each Design Set and the typical length of time it may take to finalize designs through to construction bids and construction. Based on what the Community Plan and the City Plan provide, how long would it typically take to get to construction documents, and complete construction barring unforeseen circumstances? Do timelines in Number 2 above align with your analysis here, and are the proposed timelines realistic?
   
   
4. Program Comparison : A side-by-side comparison of the amenities (pools, slides, etc.) and cost estimated to build the amenities in each proposed phase, if in phases. Are they using prefabricated or bespoke? How does this affect the cost?
   
   
5. Total Cost Estimate : Compare the Community Plan’s and the City Plan’s total cost estimates. Have they reasonably factored in all the appropriate contingencies and the assumptions to build their current designs? Are the assumptions reasonable?
   
   
6. Operational Feasibility/ Cost Recovery Analysis : Analyze each Design Sets’ estimated annual revenue, operating costs including the entrance fees, including impact of free passes for equity, staffing needs for operations, contingencies for maintenance, the sustainable design elements included in each plan, the financing options, and any analysis regarding private versus public operators. Are the Design Sets realistic in their cost recovery assumptions?

SCOPE OF WORK/PROJECT DELIVERABLES

Based on the quality and competitiveness of the proposals received in response to this RFP, the successful firm will be required to enter into a Professional Services Agreement

(PSA) with the City, which will include the requirements of deliverables as outlined in this RFP, as well as a final scope of work. A sample PSA is attached for your reference and review to this email as Exhibit A. By submitting a proposal, the firm agrees to all the terms of the PSA, unless proposed exceptions are requested by the firm in its response to the RFP. The City reserves the right to enter negotiations with the successful firm to consider requested exceptions or changes to the PSA, pursuant to the procedure outlined below.
Note that responses will be accepted by respondents who propose as either a single firm or as a team, provided the responses includes all the services requested. For example, a firm may be capable of providing analysis of construction items 1, 2, 3, and 4, listed above, whereas another may be capable of providing only financial analysis of items 5 and 6, above. Respondents must declare which analysis they proposed to provide 1-4 only, 5 and 6 only, or 1-6. Team submissions are expected to be able to provide all the services listed herein (1-6). However, a team response must designate a single Point of Contact (POC), a designated primary responsible consultant who will coordinate, hold team accountable, and provide management and oversite of subcontractors.
Following a comprehensive evaluation of submitted proposals, staff will contact the applicants deemed best suited to partner with the City. The City Manager’s Office will then conduct interviews with the top qualified firms and will identify the most suitable and qualified firm to perform the Audit. The City may elect to negotiate with the firm found by the interview panel to offer the best proposals according to the RFP's criteria. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to advertise for new proposals.
The selected firm is required to perform the work specified herein. In submitting a proposal, the firm represents that it is qualified and capable of providing all the requirements of this RFP. To protect the intellectual property of both the Community Plan and the City Plan, the successful firm will be asked to establish a data room for each Design Set to which only the selected firm and the Assistant City Manager will have access for the purposes of conducting a review of the materials provided in response to the request of the selected firm. The selected firm will be asked to prepare an initial document request list to be provided to the Community Plan design team and the City Plan design team that would enable the selected firm to begin the process of conducting the analysis.
The selected firm will minimally commit to up to 6 meetings with the Assistant City Manager, preparation of a written report of the firm’s analysis/audit findings, exhibits and presentation at a City Council meeting, and up to two meetings each with the two separate design teams. The purpose of these meetings would be to allow for the firm to ask any clarifying questions of the respective Design Sets’ teams, analysis, or underlying assumptions, so that the City can make a clear and fair assessment of all the relevant data.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request for proposals. The City looks forward to your response on or before Monday, October 20, 2025, at 5:00 PM to cityclerk@cityoftracy.org .

Full Request for Proposals