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Determining the Need for Consulting Services The decision to select a consultant is driven by a number of factors. Those issues include but are not limited to: a) Assessment of in-house expertise b) Availability of Staff c) Desire for an independent review and recommendation Each of these factors is explained in greater detail below. Assessment of In-House Expertise Generally speaking, the City's Staffing practices are designed to provide the City with the necessary expertise to handle the City's regular, on-going affairs. While some exceptions are known, Staff is limited in their ability to provide expert advice on highly specialized or non- recurring matters. For example, the need for a Traffic Engineer is periodic in nature depending on the development and redevelopment occurring in the City. When considering the year-to-year traffic studies that are needed, and when factoring in the monies needed to provide for a Traffic Engineer, Support Staff, and sophisticated traffic modeling software, most cities find it more cost effective to outsource this function rather than to provide it in-house. Availability of Staff In many situations, the City has sufficient expertise on Staff to perform the work being conducted by consultants. However, this requires City Staff to redirect their efforts from other duties and responsibilities. While in some cases this has a negligible impact, in others it can create tremendous opportunity costs. For example, the Council could direct the City's Finance Director to take a more active role in developing financial 'what i f scenarios. But it may require a redirection of time and effort previously spent on managing the City's investment portfolio. The pertinent question to ask is .. ."Where does the City realize the greatest value"? Desire for an Inde�endent Review The presence of an independent review can provide greater integrity in the decision-making process. An independent review provides greater assurances that the information being presented is unbiased and uninfluenced. An independentreview can also be used to compare and contrast preferences and conclusions drawn by citizens, City Council, Staff, and other interested parties. Procuring Consulting Services The laws and regulations pertaining to the procurement of consulting services are limited. The State's competitive bid laws apply only to the procurement of supplies and materials; not services. Locally, Roseville operates under a City Manager form of government, which permits the City Manager to award consulting service contracts up to $15,000. In 2002, the City Council by ordinance lowered this state-permitted threshold to $5,000. �