Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, December 06, 2022
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER AWARDING A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT TO CHOURA VENUE SERVICES TO PROVIDE ON-CALL CATERING SERVICES AT THE CARSON EVENT CENTER
Body
I. SUMMARY
On July 21, 2022, the City issued Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 22-013 for on-call catering services at the Carson Event Center. Services rendered would include the provision of food, alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages, catering staff, and necessary catering equipment to all Carson Event Center clients. Rather than pay a fee, the selected vendor would provide the City a percentage of its gross monthly earnings as revenue. Upon completion of a proposal review and evaluation, Choura Venue Services was selected as the most qualified vendor. The initial contract term is for three (3) years, for the period January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2025, with two (2) optional one-year extensions thereafter at City’s discretion and at the same rates of compensation. Staff recommends that City Council approves the proposed contract (Exhibit 1).
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. APPROVE the proposed Agreement for Contract Services with Choura Venue Services to provide on-call catering services at the Carson Event Center for an initial three (3) year term, from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2025, with two (2) optional one-year extensions at City’s discretion thereafter (Exhibit No. 1; “Agreement”).
2. AUTHORIZE the Mayor to execute the Agreement, following approval as to form by the City Attorney.
Body
III. ALTERNATIVES
TAKE any other action City Council deems appropriate.
IV. BACKGROUND
On July 1, 2022, the City of Carson issued Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 22-013 to locate qualified vendors to provide professional on-call catering services at the Carson Event Center. The evaluation criteria included relevant experience, capacity to deliver services, overall cost including applicable discounts, ability to offer rentable equipment with reasonable price/value, and a varied menu that is culturally diverse while meeting dietary needs.
Only Choura Venue services submitted a proposal in response to the RFP. (Exhibits 2-3). Once the formal evaluation process was completed, Choura Venue Services was determined to be a qualified vendor based on meeting the RFP requirements and evaluation criteria, including with respect to cost and ability to deliver the requested services.
As detailed in the contact, Choura will provide on-call catering services, including initial proposal, menu approval, food preparation, as well as pre-event setup and post-event breakdown/cleanup. It will also submit to the City client reports for each event, as well as detailed monthly revenue statements. These reports will contain a detail of sales numbers, client contracts, and monthly fees due to Carson as revenue. Choura will be compensated for the services in the form of the revenue collected from patrons for catered events net of a user fee calculated as a percentage of gross sales (excluding sales tax and gratuities) as follows:
|
Type |
Percentage |
|
Alcoholic beverages |
30% |
|
Food and non-alcoholic beverages |
22% |
|
Rentals, excluding sales using outside contract services |
20% |
|
Off-premises sales of food and beverages where Center Facilities are used by Choura |
20% |
|
Patron rentals of equipment, supplies, etc. from Choura |
10% |
|
City-sponsored events and City-affiliated organizations |
0 |
Staff anticipates that the revenue percentage as a portion of the firm’s gross monthly sales will range from 10% - 30%. Pursuant to the RFP, the agreement is non-exclusive; the City reserves the right to select a different or additional caterer for any event(s) or purpose(s). Also, as an on-call contract, the Agreement does not guarantee Choura a right to perform any minimum amount of services, nor to receive any minimum amount of compensation - services will be performed only on a task-by-task basis as authorized by the City’s contract officer.
As a provision of the previous catering services contract C11-001 (which is expiring at the end of 2022), Choura selected the menu and provided food/beverages for all City Council meetings at no additional expense, as part of the compensation in exchange for the exclusive right to provide catering services at the Event Center. However, RFP 22-013 created a non-exclusive, on-call agreement. Therefore, unlike the previous contract, Choura is not required to provide food/beverages at any City Council meeting as part of the compensation under the proposed Agreement.
In light of Choura’s proven ability to provide the requested on-call catering services, staff recommends that the City Council approves the proposed Agreement for Contract Services with Choura Venue Services.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact as an expense to the City. However, the City of Carson will receive 10% - 30% of Choura’s gross monthly sales as revenue.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Agreement. (pgs. 3-27)
2. Choura Venue Services proposal for RFP No. 22-013. (pgs. 28-37)
3. Choura Venue Services proposal cost file (pgs. 38-126)
Prepared by: Michael Whittiker, Community Services/Parks and Recreation Director and Toni Costanzo, Administrative Specialist