CITY OF CLIFTON
DEPARTMENT OF PURCHASING
26-128 GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL COUNSEL SERVICES
FOR
THE CITY OF CLIFTON
2026 - 2027
NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR FAIR AND OPEN PROPOSAL
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:44A-20.4 et seq., the City of Clifton is soliciting Fair and Open Proposals
for General Environmental Counsel Services for a contract period of one (1) year from date of
contract award. Proposals shall be endorsed “General Environmental Counsel Services” and
delivered to Purchasing Agent Amisha Jariwala, City of Clifton, 900 Clifton Avenue, Clifton, New
Jersey 07013.
Due Date: April 30, 2026, at 11:00 AM
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CITY OF CLIFTON
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL COUNSEL FOR THE CITY OF CLIFTON
The City of Clifton is soliciting a Request for Proposal (“RFP”) to provide General
Environmental Counsel Services to the City, as directed by the Municipal Attorney or designee
thereof, for a contract period of one (1) year from date of contract award. All candidates are
required to comply with N.J.S.A. 10:5-31, et seq. and N.J.A.C. 17:27 as amended (Affirmative
Action).
I - GENERAL
City of Clifton is seeking legal counsel whose responsibility will be to represent and advise the
City in any matters involving environmental contamination; remediation; the New Jersey Spill
Compensation Control Act; National Resource Damages; Water Pollution Control Act;
Sanitary Landfill Act; and regulations, requirements and/or violations set forth by the New
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection including any claims filed against the City of
Clifton.
In addition, said legal counsel must also be familiar with and have experience with claims
seeking insurance coverage on behalf of the City against any and all potential carriers wherein
coverage may be available.
All questions relating to the RFP shall be submitted in writing to City of Clifton Purchasing Agent,
Amisha Jariwala, via email to: ajariwala@cliftonnj.org, no later than 3:00 PM on April 23, 2026.
Any questions, which in the opinion of the City warrant a return reply or an amendment to the
RFP, will be furnished to all parties not less than seven (7) business days prior to receipt of
Proposals.
Proposals shall be received no later than 11:00 AM on April 30, 2026, and must be made on
the basis that they either meet or exceed the requirements contained herein.
II - SCOPE OF SERVICES
The City contemplates needing to retain the services of a law firm to act as General
Environmental Counsel to provide advice and legal representation in connection with
environmental issues and represent the City in connection with lawsuits or administrative
proceedings. Attorney will coordinate with the City’s LSRPs and represent the City’s interests
in investigations and possible court or administrative proceedings involving violations of laws
pertaining to environmental matters, including but not limited to those concerning emissions,
discharges, releases of contaminants into the air, ground, and/or water of New Jersey State, as
well as the marketing and sale of products harmful to the environment of New Jersey State.
Counsel shall assist with ongoing cleanup efforts in the City and assist in compelling
Responsible Parties to pursue remediation efforts where necessary.
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Environmental Counsel will also file all necessary pleadings and documents with the appropriate
Courts and/or administrative agencies, in matters for which the firm has been retained.
In responding to General Environmental Counsel Services, submitting Respondents are
encouraged to indicate which area(s) of specialized legal expertise, (i.e., type of environmental
matter), it excels in and wishes to be considered for and to demonstrate its competency in each
indicated area.
In furtherance of this anticipated need, the City wishes to have access to counsel with substantial
investigation and litigation experience for an environmental matter which may include
significant evaluative and investigative preparatory work and may require the retention of
scientific experts.
Work may include drafting pleadings, motions, briefs, and all other papers to be filed in court;
conducting and responding to discovery; attending all pre-trial, trial, and post-trial court
appearances; and handling appeals.
Respondent must also have resources sufficient to advance all costs, including the costs of any
experts needed to assess damage and the costs of the preparatory work described below.
Respondent must also be free of any conflict of interest and must comply with the conflicts
policy referred to in section III.i below.
III - MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Listed below are the minimum requirements necessary to be considered for this proposal:
a) At a minimum, the Respondent shall have five (5) consecutive years’ experience as
Environmental Counsel, representing a municipality or other public governmental
entity.
b) Respondents must demonstrate knowledge of both environmental issues as well as
insurance coverage issues and must demonstrate experience in actions seeking
insurance coverage.
c) The Respondent Must maintain a bona fide office in the State of New Jersey. Please
list the firm’s office address on the proposal signature form enclosed herein.
d) The Respondent Must list past and present public entities represented in claims
involving environmental claims.
e) The Respondent must identify the attorney(s) and support staff that will be assigned
to the account for the defense of the environmental claims and their experience in
handling such actions and the outcomes of the actions that they handled.
f) The Respondent must maintain an office within a reasonable distance to the City of
Clifton.
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g) The Respondent must be licensed to practice law in the State of New Jersey and
appear before all state and federal and administrative courts of the State of New Jersey
for a period of not less than five (5) years preceding appointment.
h) The Respondent must have a sufficient staff to perform the services set forth in the
Scope of Services in this RFP.
i) The Respondent must not have represented or is not currently representing a client
whose interests are adverse to those of the City of Clifton, thereby creating a conflict of
interest and the period of time covered by this restriction is five years prior to the date
of the proposal submitted in response to this RFP.
j) The Respondent must maintain professional liability insurance in the minimum
amount of One Million Dollars per occurrence (One million aggregate).
IV - PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
The Respondent:
1. Shall provide Name, Federal I.D. number, address, phone and fax numbers of
the firm submitting the proposal and a brief description of legal background such
as years in business, size of staff and any affiliations.
2. Shall provide Name, title and address of principal/individual preparing this
response and the contact person for the RFP.
3. Shall provide Name, title, address and phone number of individual(s) to be
assigned as the Environmental Counsel for the City.
4. Shall describe the professional achievements of the firm and the principal who
would be assigned to the City of Clifton as its account consultant such as
educational background, licenses, number of clients handled and number of
years as a environmental attorney. Resumes or summarized credentials are too
be attached.
5. Shall provide a list of New Jersey public sector entities for which the firm has
provided similar services to those contained herein, including the name, title
and phone number of the appropriate contact person within the entity.
6. All respondents must be partners, owners, employees of the firm.
7. Respondents must provide a comprehensive schedule of proposed fees and
hourly rates for partners and associates of the firm.
8. The Respondent may submit any supplemental information it deems important
to the evaluation of this proposal and the reason why it should be considered in
the overall evaluation of the proposal.
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This page summarizes the opportunity, including an overview and a preview of the attached documents.