RFP SJVLS 2019-003: Organizational Restructuring Consultant

Purpose

The San Joaquin Valley Library System (SJVLS), a library Consortia headquartered in Fresno, California, seeks proposals from qualified consultants with experience working with public library consortia to review and assess our organizational structure, operations, as well as our service delivery policies and practices so that the organization may improve its operations, update current guiding documentation, and prepare the organization to become a fully independent agency in the future.

The consultant will recommend practical, achievable and realistic revisions and adjustments to the organizational structure of SJVLS that will detail the following:

  • Create a pathway that will allow SJVLS to assume greater responsibility in carrying out the tasks and objectives of the organization with the goal of an autonomous agency.
  • Recommend modification to the JPA to provide flexibility, efficiency and accountability in all aspects of service.
  • Outline roles, responsibilities and authority of SJVLS staff & member libraries.
  • Eliminate duplication and overlap of responsibilities within the organization.
  • Identify best course of action for the provision of services be it by SJVLS staff, subcontracting external service providers, or through service agreements with member libraries.
  • Improve our delivery time and quality of services.

Background

SJVLS is a library consortium established in 1979 under the California Library Services Act by the public library systems of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Mariposa, and Tulare Counties, and the city/district libraries of Coalinga-Huron, Porterville, and Tulare. In all, SJVLS represents 10 library jurisdictions and 110 individual library locations including large urban, medium city/suburban, and small, isolated rural libraries. The consortium was established with the intent of partnering to coordinate activities, share resources, and exchange expertise. This sharing of resources and collaborating with shared goals have enabled the member library to deliver higher quality services than they would be able to deliver on their own.

The Fresno County Public Library was the leader in establishing the Joint Powers Agreement and is designated as the fiscal agent in said agreement. Until recent years, the Fresno County Librarian also served as the Administrative Librarian for SJVLS. SJVLS staff members have been employees of Fresno County since its inception and Fresno County’s Central Library houses SJVLS offices and the System’s data center. In addition to the dedicated SJVLS staff, significant financial and administrative duties are carried out by Fresno County Library. Many of these activities have been financed through reimbursements from SJVLS funds. Nevertheless, the organizational model and its process have been determined to be unsustainable due to the increasing complexity of services coupled with changes in distribution of costs, and the time required to carry out the fiscal and administrative duties. As such, SJVLS seeks to create a SJVLS 2019-003 Organizational Restructuring Consultant 13 clearly defined long-term strategy with specific milestones that will allow help it define a new organizational model so that it may become a self-sustaining and efficient agency with enough resources, infrastructure and staff to operate independently.

In 2012, SJVLS has carried out studies to optimize operations and workflows with the expressed interest of minimizing operating costs due to economic challenges. This study, although related, is focused on achieving a greater level of sustainability in terms of workloads and with the intent to become an independent agency.

We anticipate that the contracted vendor will need to work in tandem with the organizations’ legal department to draft and update new legal documents so that the organization to may implement the necessary modifications in order to achieve the outlined goals of this project.

Request Interpretations or Corrections

Requests for clarification, interpretation, or correction may be submitted via fax at (559)600-6283 or via email to alberto.martinez@sjvls.org

Closing Instructions

All submissions must be received by the date and time indicated as the Closing Date in the Key Dates section below. Proposals and quotes should be submitted to:
San Joaquin Valley Library System
2420 Mariposa Street
Fresno, CA 93721

KEY DATES

RFP Issue Date: September 23, 2019
Vendor Teleconference: September 30, 2019
Deadline for Requests for Interpretations or Corrections of RFP:
Calling instructions will be posted the week prior
October 1, 2019
Response to Questions Posted: October 4, 2019
RFP Closing Date: October 21, 2019

View PDF of RFP