Resolution 2019-30843 Resolution No. 2019-30843
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE CITY
MANAGER, PURSUANT TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) 2019-092-JC,
FOR AUDITING SERVICES; AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATION TO ENTER
INTO NEGOTIATIONS WITH RSM US LLP, ONE OF TWO FIRMS TIED AS THE
TOP-RANKED PROPOSER; FURTHER, IF THE ADMINISTRATION IS NOT
SUCCESSFUL IN NEGOTIATING AN AGREEMENT WITH RSM US LLP,
AUTHORIZING THE ADMINISTRATION TO NEGOTIATE AN AGREEMENT WITH
CROWE LLP, THE NEXT TOP-RANKED PROPOSER; AND FURTHER
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT
UPON CONCLUSION OF SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATIONS BY THE
ADMINISTRATION.
WHEREAS, the City of Miami Beach (the City) is required to have an annual audit performed on
the City's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) in accordance with Florida Statutes 218.39.;
and
WHEREAS, in 2014, the City of Miami Beach entered into a professional services agreement
with Crowe Horwath, LLP, for Auditing Services, pursuant to RFP 2014-276-LR, for three (3) years with
two (2) optional one (1) year renewal periods; and
WHEREAS, on February 13, 2019, the City Commission approved the issuance of RFP No.
2019-092-JC, for Auditing Services; and
WHEREAS, on February 13, 2019, via Commission Memorandum, the City Manager appointed
an Evaluation Committee (the "Committee"), comprised of: Bryan Rosenfeld, Audit Committee Member,
City of Miami Beach; Ronald Starkman, Audit Committee Member, City of Miami Beach; Patricia
Valderrama, Audit Committee Member, City of Miami Beach; and, Deede Weithorn, Audit Committee
Member, City of Miami Beach; and
WHEREAS, on April 8, 2019, the City received a total of nine (9) proposals from the following
firms: Carr, Riggs & Ingram, CPAs & Advisors; Cherry Bekaert LLP; Clifton Larson Allen LLP; Crowe
LLP; Keefe McCullough; Marcum LLP; Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC; Moore Stephens Lovelace, P.A.; and,
RSM US LLP; and
WHEREAS, the Committee convened on May 1, 2019, to consider the proposals received; and
WHEREAS, the Committee was provided an overview of the project, information relative to the
City's Cone of Silence Ordinance and the Government Sunshine Law, as well as general information on
the scope of services and a copy of each proposal, and was instructed to score and rank each proposal
pursuant to the evaluation criteria established in the RFP for qualitative factors; and
WHEREAS, the Committee's evaluation process resulted in the following order of ranking:
1st ranked proposer(tie): RSM US LLP;
1st ranked proposer(tie): Crowe LLP;
3rd ranked proposer: Marcum LLP;
4th ranked proposer: Carr, Riggs & Ingram, CPAs &Advisors;
5th ranked proposer: Keefe McCullough;
6th ranked proposer: Moore Stephens Lovelace, P.A.;
7th ranked proposer: Clifton Larson Allen LLP;
8th ranked proposer: Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC;
9th ranked proposer: Cherry Bekaert LLP; and
WHEREAS, the results of the Committee process resulted in a tie for first-ranked position
between proposers Crowe LLP and RSM US LLP; and
WHEREAS, after reviewing the results of the Committee process, including proposer
qualifications, the City Manager furtherexercised his due diligence and, consistent with the
requirements set forth in Section 218.391 of the Florida Statutes with regard to auditor selection, has
recommended that the City Commission and authorize negotiations with RSM US LLP; finding that:
(1) RSM US LLP's proposal is $27,410 less than Crowe LLP's proposal (price being a relevant,
but not the sole or predominant factor, in addition to RSM US LLP's strong qualifications), and
(2) as Crowe LLP has served as the City's outside auditor for the last five (5) years, the periodic
rotation of an organization's outside auditors may be beneficial to ensuring the independence of the
audit function, and therefore, this factor weighs in favor of authorizing negotiations with RSM US LLP.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT DULY RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, that the Mayor and City Commission hereby accept the
recommendation of the City Manager, pursuant to Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 2019-092-JC for
Auditing Services; authorize the Administration to enter into negotiations with RSM US LLP, one of two
firms tied as the top-ranked proposer; and, if the Administration is not successful in negotiating an
agreement with RSM US LLP, authorize the Administration to negotiate an agreement with Crowe LLP,
the next top-ranked proposer; and further authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute an agreement
upon conclusion of successful negotiations by the Administration.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this r day of Ttine. 2019.
Dan Gelber, Mayor
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MIAMI BEACH •
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: June 5, 2019
SUBJECT:A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY
OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF
THE CITY MANAGER, PURSUANT TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)
NO. 2019-092-JC, FOR AUDITING SERVICES.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the Resolution.
ANALYSIS
The City of Miami Beach (the City) is required to have an annual audit performed on the
City's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) in accordance with Florida Statutes
218.39. Other audits are required to be conducted in accordance with the U.S. Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars, Bonded Debt Covenants, Performance
Management and/or Grant Agreements. Each audit herein must be conducted by an
independent audit firm.
In 2014, the City of Miami Beach entered into a professional services agreement with Crowe
Horwath, LLP, for Auditing Services, pursuant to RFP 2014-276-LR, for three (3) years with
two (2) optional one (1)year renewal periods, with costs ranging from $228,000 to $248,600
on a per year basis. In consideration of the approaching expiration of the current contract
with Crowe Horwath, the Administration is requesting a replacement contract for the
continuation of the annually required auditing services.
Pursuant to the above requirements, the City is required to procure auditing services to
examine the City's Basic Financial Statements included in the City's Comprehensive Annual
Financial Report (CAFR), Federal grant programs and State projects (OMB A-133 Single
Audit) and the financial statements of the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency's (RDA) ,
the Parking Systems Fund's (PSF) , the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority's
(VCA), the Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC), as managed by Global Spectrum
(GS), the Safe Neighborhood Parks and Bond Program (SNP), Children Trust (CT) and
Building Better Communities (BBC). Therefore, by way of RFP 2019-092-JC, the City
seeks to fulfill this statutory requirement.
The solicitation was reviewed and approved by the Audit Committee with the addition of a
provision at least two senior auditors for the duration of the engagement. Auditing services
shall provide the City with an annual audit on the City's Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report (CAFR), in accordance with Florida Statutes 218.39. Additionally, it is important to
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note that, pursuant to Section 218.39, Florida Statutes, the evaluation committee for this
project shall be the City's Audit Committee.
On February 13, 2019, the City Commission approved the issuance of the RFP No. 2019-
092-JC, Auditing Services, which was issued on February 14, 2019. The Procurement
Department issued solicitation notices to 513 firms utilizing www.publicpurchase.com. 60
prospective proposers accessed the advertised solicitation. A voluntary pre-proposal
conference to provide information to the proposers submitting a response was held on
February 25, 2019. RFP responses were due and received on April 8, 2019. The City
received a total of nine (9) proposals from the following firms:
• Carr, Riggs & Ingram, CPAs &Advisors
• Cherry Bekaert LLP
• Clifton Larson Allen LLP
• Crowe L LP
• Keefe McCullough
• Marcum LLP
• Mauldin&Jenkins, LLC
• Moore Stephens Lovelace, P.A.
• RSM US LLP
The Evaluation Committee was approved via Commission Memorandum on February 13, 2019.
The Evaluation Committee, comprised of Audit Committee members as required by Florida
Statutes, convened on May 1, 2019, to consider proposals received. The Committee was
comprised of the following: Bryan Rosenfeld, Audit Committee Member, City of Miami Beach;
Ronald Starkman, Audit Committee Member, City of Miami Beach; Patricia Valderrama, Audit
Committee Member, City of Miami Beach; and, Deede Weithom, Audit Committee Member,
City of Miami Beach.
The Committee was provided an overview of the project, information relative to the City's Cone
of Silence Ordinance and the Government Sunshine Law. The Committee was also provided
with general information on the scope of services and a copy of each proposal. The Committee
was instructed to score each proposal pursuant to the qualitative evaluation criteria established
in the RFP. The RFP stipulated that points for cost would be added to the qualitative scores
established by the Evaluation Committee to determine an overall ranking for all proposals
evaluated. The evaluation process (qualitative and quantitative, as stipulated in the RFP)
resulted in the ranking of proposers as indicated in Attachment A, in the following order:
1st — Crowe LLP (tied)
1st — RSM US LLP (tied)
3rd_ Marcum LLP
4th— Carr, Riggs & Ingram, CPAs &Advisors
5th— Keefe McCullough
6th— Moore Stephens Lovelace, P.A.
7th_ Clifton Larson Allen LLP
8th— Mauldin &Jenkins, LLC
9th— Cherry Bekaert LLP
CONCLUSION
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In reviewing the proposals received, I find that the City is fortunate to have received nine (9)
responses to the RFP from well qualified firms. In reviewing the results of the Evaluation
Committee process, I note that the process resulted in a tie for top ranking between Crowe LLP
("Crowe") and RSM US LLP ("RSM"). Both firms appear to be very well qualified; and, in fact,
Crowe is the City's current audit firm, since being awarded in October 2014, and RSM
has served as the audit firm prior to Crowe. Either firm can perform the required services without
any concerns.
However, I find the RSM proposal offers the City two primary benefits over the Crowe proposal.
First, RSM provided a lower overall cost to the City for the required services which is $27,500
lower than Crowe's proposal. Second, I believe it is good practice to rotate audit firms
periodically to make sure the City's audits are benefiting from a fresh perspective every couple
of years. While there are differences of opinion regarding the issue of rotating auditors, the
Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), in its best practices for audit procurements,
has opined that "governmental entities should undertake a full-scale competitive process for the
selection of independent auditors at the end of the term of each audit contract." In cases where,
fully qualified firms are not available to compete for an agency's audit contracts, GFOA believes
that contract rotations may be counterproductive. However, that is not the case here with two fully
qualified firms available to serve the City.
Therefore, I recommend that the Mayor and City Commission authorize negotiations with RSM
US LLP first. If the Administration is unable to successfully negotiate an agreement with RSM
US LLP, I recommend negotiations with Crowe LLP. Finally, I recommend that the Mayor and
City Clerk be authorized to execute the'agreement with the selected firm.
KEY INTENDED OUTCOMES SUPPORTED
Strengthen Internal Controls To Achieve More Accountability
Legislative Tracking
Finance/Procurement
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
_ 1
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