Project Information

Bid Title

Information Technology Managed Services

Issuing Agency

Costa Mesa Sanitary District

Location

California

Published Date

Mar 24, 2026

Closing Date

Apr 21, 2026

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Original Source

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Bid Documents

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Project Description

Notice Inviting Bids/Request For Proposal	Bid Status	Bid Tabulation	Awardee
Information Technology Managed Services Request for Qualifications - Released 02/24/2026 Request for Proposals - Released 03/24/2026 Only available to firms pre-qualified during RFQ Attachment A - Insurance Requirements Attachment B - Sample Agreement Attachment C - Scope of Services Checklist	Status: Open Due:  April 21, 2026 by 4:30 p.m.

Attachment Preview

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

o Minimum five (5) years providing managed IT services with experience

serving California public agencies (special districts, cities, or counties

preferred)

o Familiarity with public records, transparency, regulatory compliance

requirements, and a public agency’s needs for uptime and accessibility

• Technical & Cybersecurity Expertise

o Experience managing Microsoft 365 environments

o Network infrastructure management (endpoints, servers, firewalls,

switches, wireless access points, virtual private networks, etc.)

o Cybersecurity program management aligned with recognized

frameworks (e.g. National Institute of Standards and Technology)

o Experience with endpoint detection and response (EDR), Security

Information and Event Management (SIEM), MFA, and vulnerability

management

o Disaster recovery and business continuity planning experience

• Staffing & Service Expectations

o Dedicated account management team, including an account manager

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

o 24/7 Help desk structure with guaranteed response times and well-

documented escalation procedures

o Qualified staff with relevant education, and certifications (e.g.,

Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, CISSP, etc.)

• Financial Stability

o Minimum five (5) years in business

o Stable and mature business model with a proven track record of

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)

Public Release

RFQ Submission Deadline

RFQ Evaluation Period

Notification of Results to RFQ Applicants

Request for Proposals (RFP) Public Release & Start

of Question & Answer (Q&A) Period

Site Visits

Q&A Submission Deadline

2/24/26

3/10/26 @ 4:30 p.m.

3/10/26 – 3/19/26

3/23/26

3/24/26

4/2/26 – 9 a.m. & 2 p.m.

4/7/26 @ 4:30 p.m.

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Commodity Codes

• NAICS 541511Custom Computer Programming Services
• NAICS 541512Computer Systems Design Services
• NAICS 541513Computer Facilities Management Services
• NAICS 541519Other Computer Related Services

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