SFHA to publish Plaza East services RFP and $7M capital IFB; commissioners seek clearer resident outreach and funding details

The San Francisco Housing Authority told its commission on April 1 that it plans to publish a resident-services request for proposals (RFP) for Plaza East this week and an invitation for bids (IFB) for capital improvements next week.

Suwati Langa, the authority’s housing attorney, said the services solicitation is budgeted at $1,200,000 over three years ($400,000 a year). She described the IFB as a $7,000,000 package, with roughly $5,000,000 drawn from housing authority capital funds and $2,000,000 from city sources.

Commissioners pressed staff for clearer documentation in the presentation packet, including explicit dollar amounts tied to each solicitation, the sources of those funds, and the role of the mayor’s office. “So the services dollar amount is $1,200,000 and that's spread over 3 years,” Langa said. “The IFB is total $7,000,000: $5,000,000 coming from the housing authority capital funds and $2,000,000 to come from the city.”

Commissioners also asked how residents and local vendors would be notified. Langa said solicitations will be published through the authority’s housing marketplace portal and in the paper for larger procurements and said staff will meet with Plaza East residents before solicitations are released to ensure awareness. She also said the authority can provide links and vendor instructions to community members who request them.

Staff agreed to add more detail in future packets about which solicitations are linked, the dollar amounts and funding streams, and plans for on-site outreach so residents and small/local vendors can participate.

Next steps: the authority expects to publish the services RFP within the week and release the IFB the following week; commissioners asked staff to return with documentation showing outreach to residents and the solicitation language that will govern bidder eligibility and evaluation.