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Record of Proceedings

El Paso City Council Work Session: Procurement Process Overview and Executive Session - August 4, 2025

City Council — Monday, August 4, 2025

BodyEl Paso, Texas

SessionCity Council

DateMonday, August 4, 2025

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:32:23

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0:19

Good morning, Ms.

0:20

Prime.

0:20

We are ready for the work session.

0:22

Good morning, Mayor.

0:24

And good morning.

0:25

This is a meeting of the City Council for Monday, August 4th, 2025.

0:32

It is 9 o'clock a.m.

0:33

Mayor Johnson is present and presiding in Council Chambers, along with Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Maldonado Rocha, Representative Boyatrejo, Representative Nino, and Representative Limon.

0:46

Mayor, we have a quo.

0:47

All right, Representative Lamont, would you lead us in the Pledge Allegiance?

0:52

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands on nation under God.

1:09

Okay, Ms.

1:09

Prime, I believe we're taking agenda item number one.

1:12

That's correct, Mayor.

1:12

And item number one is presentation and discussion on the overview of the procurement sourcing policy and procurement process.

1:20

This is session two of the procurement process overview, competitive seal proposal.

1:25

And for the record, representative canales joined the meeting at 901 a.m.

1:32

Good morning, Claudia Garcia with Project and Strategic Sourcing Department.

1:36

I'm back.

1:37

Good morning.

1:38

And this morning I have uh a strategic partner with me.

1:42

So I'm just gonna let him introduce himself so we can go ahead and start the presentation.

1:47

Good morning, Mayor and Council.

1:48

My name is Daniel Garcia, assistant director for CID.

1:50

Good morning, Danny.

1:57

Okay, so as uh indicated in my last session, we're gonna be going over a procurement.

2:04

So I can show you the multiple steps that we have for uh a procurement, especially for construction, and the method we're gonna be explaining it is a competitive seal proposal uh methodology.

2:16

First session we went over the purchasing functions and uh a highlight of our policy.

2:22

Today we're gonna be going over the procurement process and in our next session we're gonna be going uh about some we're gonna be reviewing some aspects of contract administration and the vendor outreach purchasing is doing.

2:35

So welcome to session two.

2:38

And uh we wanted to provide a timeline of the design bid build or uh construction.

2:45

We have multiple phases uh for these uh type of projects, starting with design, uh procurement, contract, contract execution, and then construction.

2:57

We have estimated some uh uh months for each phase.

3:02

Design, it can take up to 12 months, procurement can take up to nine months, contract execution about two months, and then the construction uh timeline, it will be project specific as we are um completing those uh projects.

3:18

So we're gonna go ahead and start with the design phase.

3:22

And Daniel is gonna be taking over this.

3:29

So good morning, council.

3:31

So during the define uh design uh process, usually we procure the services of an A and E, either an architect or a civil engineer, mechanical engineer, depending on the scope of work.

3:41

We negotiate and we have two avenues, either the on-call or project specific.

3:46

Once we get the proposals in, we negotiate a price or a proposal fee, delineate a duration or a schedule which delineates the 30, 60, 90 design milestones for us just to review the plans and specs, the contract and overall 100 design.

4:02

That's when the design inspects are completed, reviewed, approved, and that goes into a contract or in this case the CSP proposal.

4:10

Any questions?

4:13

Do you guys want to take questions as you go through the presentation or wait to the end?

4:17

As we go through, okay.

4:21

So, council, if you have any questions as they go through, they want questions in.

4:25

Okay.

4:29

So once the design phase is completed, that's when CAD starts coordination with purchasing, so we can procure the construction of uh this project.

4:38

So now we're gonna be moving to the procurement phase of a design bit build uh project.

4:47

Uh as indicated earlier, we're gonna be going over the procurement under the competitive seal proposal methodology.

5:00

This is regulated by uh state statute, and in this particular methodology, we are requesting proposals, we're ranking all the proposals, we're able to negotiate with the highest rank, and then we can enter into a contract.

5:08

Multiple policies are applied uh to this methodology as well as other uh construction methodologies, but just to indicate some of them, we have a policy for CSPs and I'm gonna be showing you later in the presentation how hard Paso it is applicable for this methodology.

5:25

So these are the phases for procurement.

5:28

Uh we are gonna be preparing a solicitation.

5:31

We're gonna be advertising that document.

5:33

We're gonna be evaluating the proposals that we're gonna be receiving.

5:37

Once uh we have uh ranking, we're gonna be negotiating with the highest ranked as per regulations.

5:43

And the last step will be presenting an award recommendation to City Council.

5:50

So, what are the documents that we need to prepare a solicitation under a CSP?

5:55

Well, we will need the scope of work, we will need the independent cost estimate that is produced during the design phase and transferred to purchasing uh by CAD.

6:04

We're gonna get a request criteria or evaluation factors that CAD will be selecting based on the scope of work of the project.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Procurement Processes█████████████████████████████████████████████73%

Public Engagement█████████15%

Procedural███5%

Community Engagement█2%

Vendor Outreach█2%

Personnel Matters█2%

Pending Litigation█1%

Summary of Proceedings

El Paso City Council Work Session: Procurement Process Overview and Executive Session - August 4, 2025

On Monday, August 4, 2025, the El Paso City Council held a work session beginning at 9:00 AM in Council Chambers, City Hall, 300 N. Campbell, and virtually. Mayor Renard U. Johnson presided, with Mayor Pro Tem Alejandra Chávez and Representatives Josh Acevedo, Deanna Maldonado-Rocha, Cynthia Boyar Trejo, Ivan Niño, and Lily Limón present. Representative Chris Canales joined at 9:01 AM. The session focused on a presentation and discussion of the procurement process, specifically the Competitive Sealed Proposal (CSP) method, and concluded with an executive session and subsequent actions.

Discussion Items

Presentation on Procurement Sourcing Policy and Process (Session 2 – Competitive Sealed Proposal): Claudia Garcia, Director of Purchasing and Strategic Sourcing, and Daniel Garcia, Assistant Director for Capital Improvement Department (CID), presented a detailed overview of the procurement process for design-bid-build construction projects. The presentation covered the CSP methodology, including solicitation preparation, advertising, evaluation, negotiation, and award recommendation. Key points included:
- The design phase can take up to 12 months, procurement up to 9 months, contract execution about 2 months, and construction timeline varies.
- The CSP process is regulated by state statute; price must be at least 50 points for civil works projects.
- The city uses an independent cost estimate; if a bid is significantly lower, a price analysis is conducted.
- The city has 85 certified vendors under the Hir El Paso program (tiered certification). The program applies when a certified vendor is within 5 points and 5% of the top-ranked non-certified bidder, allowing award to the local vendor.
- Evaluation committees consist of 3-5 members approved by CID directors, with the project manager excluded. The Cone of Silence is enforced throughout.
- Reference checks: two attempts via email and phone; if no response, the reference scores zero. Vendors are warned in the solicitation to ensure contacts are responsive.
- The city is working on dashboards to track project status and improve transparency.
Council Member Questions and Concerns:
- Representative Deanna Maldonado-Rocha inquired about tracking project status (e.g., the Bonham Elementary site) and the gap between design and advertisement. The city manager noted they are working on manual updates and dashboards.
- Representative Ivan Niño clarified that design must be completed before procurement begins under the design-bid-build model.
- Representative Alejandra Chávez asked about council involvement in approvals and solicitation changes. The city manager explained that approvals tie to funding streams and that clarifications during the Q&A period can extend deadlines.
- Representative Chávez also raised concerns about objectivity in evaluating experience and reputation, and suggested adding language like "offerer's experience in El Paso" to evaluation criteria. The city attorney noted they would need to review legal viability.
- Representative Josh Acevedo questioned the scoring of past performance, noting that contractors who perform poorly on time or quality can still win if price and schedule scores are high. He advocated for better metrics to root out poor performers. The city manager explained that contractor performance is addressed through separate processes (e.g., damages, disqualification) and that the city is developing a vendor report card.
- Representative Cynthia Boyar Trejo asked about small business education and training. The city offers periodic training with the Hispanic Chamber and one-on-one sessions. She also questioned the evaluation of key personnel and health insurance in best-value solicitations; the city noted that incentives like paid vacation are also considered if health insurance is not offered.
- Representative Lily Limón recalled the San Jacinto Plaza project disaster where price was 75 points, leading to a de facto low bid. She noted that after that, the CSP policy was rewritten to prevent price from dominating.
- Mayor Johnson asked about unrealistic low bids and change orders. The city confirmed that price analysis is done and that change orders are capped at 25% of the contract award (state law). The mayor also noted that the city does not currently throw out the highest and lowest bids.
- Representative Acevedo asked about the criteria for the Hir El Paso program (5 points and 5%) and whether the city contacts non-certified local vendors afterward. The city said they are considering that outreach.
- Representative Maldonado-Rocha asked about rater discrepancies and conflict of interest. The city reviews evaluator notes and holds debriefings; they have not had to remove an evaluator. The losing bidder can protest.
- Representative Chávez echoed concerns about potential bias in evaluation and noted that some vendors fear retaliation. The city manager encouraged vendors to request debriefings and use the protest process.
- Representative Trejo asked about best-practice models; the city compares with Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and used a consultant in 2018 to develop the current policy.
- Representative Chávez requested data on bid opening timeliness, number of Hir El Paso awards, and trends in program participation. The city said they will provide reports.

Key Outcomes

No action taken on the procurement presentation; it was for discussion only.
Executive Session (10:30 AM – 1:05 PM): The council retired to executive session to discuss seven items under Texas Government Code sections 551.071 (consultation with attorney) and 551.087 (economic development negotiations).
Action on EX1: A motion by Mayor Pro Tem Chávez, seconded by Representative Limón, passed unanimously to authorize the city attorney’s office to deny the settlement demand in City of El Paso v. Ricks Cabaret and RCI Holdings, D/B/A Jaguars Gold Club (Cause No. 2024DCV0848) and to take all necessary steps.
No action taken on EX2 through EX7.
The work session adjourned at 1:07 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning, Ms. Prime. We are ready for the work session. Good morning, Mayor. And good morning. This is a meeting of the City Council for Monday, August 4th, 2025. It is 9 o'clock a.m. Mayor Johnson is present and presiding in Council Chambers, along with Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Maldonado Rocha, Representative Boyatrejo, Representative Nino, and Representative Limon. Mayor, we have a quo. All right, Representative Lamont, would you lead us in the Pledge Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands on nation under God. Okay, Ms. Prime, I believe we're taking agenda item number one. That's correct, Mayor. And item number one is presentation and discussion on the overview of the procurement sourcing policy and procurement process. This is session two of the procurement process overview, competitive seal proposal. And for the record, representative canales joined the meeting at 901 a.m. Good morning, Claudia Garcia with Project and Strategic Sourcing Department. I'm back. Good morning. And this morning I have uh a strategic partner with me. So I'm just gonna let him introduce himself so we can go ahead and start the presentation. Good morning, Mayor and Council. My name is Daniel Garcia, assistant director for CID. Good morning, Danny. Okay, so as uh indicated in my last session, we're gonna be going over a procurement. So I can show you the multiple steps that we have for uh a procurement, especially for construction, and the method we're gonna be explaining it is a competitive seal proposal uh methodology. First session we went over the purchasing functions and uh a highlight of our policy. Today we're gonna be going over the procurement process and in our next session we're gonna be going uh about some we're gonna be reviewing some aspects of contract administration and the vendor outreach purchasing is doing. So welcome to session two. And uh we wanted to provide a timeline of the design bid build or uh construction. We have multiple phases uh for these uh type of projects, starting with design, uh procurement, contract, contract execution, and then construction. We have estimated some uh uh months for each phase. Design, it can take up to 12 months, procurement can take up to nine months, contract execution about two months, and then the construction uh timeline, it will be project specific as we are um completing those uh projects. So we're gonna go ahead and start with the design phase. And Daniel is gonna be taking over this. So good morning, council. So during the define uh design uh process, usually we procure the services of an A and E, either an architect or a civil engineer, mechanical engineer, depending on the scope of work. We negotiate and we have two avenues, either the on-call or project specific. Once we get the proposals in, we negotiate a price or a proposal fee, delineate a duration or a schedule which delineates the 30, 60, 90 design milestones for us just to review the plans and specs, the contract and overall 100 design. That's when the design inspects are completed, reviewed, approved, and that goes into a contract or in this case the CSP proposal. Any questions? Do you guys want to take questions as you go through the presentation or wait to the end? As we go through, okay. So, council, if you have any questions as they go through, they want questions in. Okay. So once the design phase is completed, that's when CAD starts coordination with purchasing, so we can procure the construction of uh this project. So now we're gonna be moving to the procurement phase of a design bit build uh project. Uh as indicated earlier, we're gonna be going over the procurement under the competitive seal proposal methodology. This is regulated by uh state statute, and in this particular methodology, we are requesting proposals, we're ranking all the proposals, we're able to negotiate with the highest rank, and then we can enter into a contract.

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