CORRESPONDENCE - 25F - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Dylan Ruge 310 734 3228 druga@steptoe.com 2121 Avenue of the Stars Suite 2800 Los Angeles, CA 90067 310 734 3200 main u ,steptoexom November 18, 2014 Via HAND DELIVERY SteMoe STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP Sonia R. Carvalho The Honorable City Council Members City Attorney 20 Civic Center Plaza 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, California 92701 Santa Ana, California 92701 Re: City Council Agenda for November 18, 2014 Consent Agenda Item No. 25F Dear Ms. Carvalho and Hon. City Council Members, We write on behalf of the California State Outdoor Advertising Association to urge City Council to reject the proposed Outdoor Advertising Service Agreement (the "Agreement ") with All Vision, LLC ( "AV "), which is on the City Council's Consent Agenda for November 18, 2014 as Item No. 25F. Simply put, the Agreement is a bad deal for the City and will expose it to significant litigation risk, given the myriad procedural and substantive shortcomings in the procurement process and the Agreement itself. First, the Agreement was the result of an unusually —and unnecessarily —short RFP process. The RFP was issued on May 30, 2014 and the submittal deadline was on June 12, 2014, a mere 9 business days later. As you know, Section 2 -806 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code requires RFPs to be issued "a reasonable time prior to the date set forth therein for the opening of bids ...." The extremely short timeframe here was not reasonable, particularly given the lack of an emergency or other exigency requiring a shortened bidding process. Second, the Agreement allows AV to deduct all "Direct Expenses" and "Costs of Construction and Maintenance" before the City sees a dime from revenue generated by billboards on City property. The definitions of these terms are purposefully vague and provide AV with every incentive to run up the costs of the projects rather than minimize them. For this