Workday Consulting Services for City of San Mateo - 2026

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
City of San Mateo
Workday Consulting Services
CITY OF SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA
07/16/2026
CITY OF SAN MATEO
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94403

I. INTRODUCTION
The City of San Mateo (the City) is requesting proposals from qualified consultants (firms) to
provide Workday consulting services on a time and materials basis. The selected Consultant
will be responsible for assisting the City of San Mateo with troubleshooting complex issues and
implementing new features within Workday.
Although the selected Consultant will be expected to respond to a variety of Workday
modules, the City expects the majority of the issues to deal with the Payroll, Absence, Time
Tracking, and Benefits modules. The selected consultant must have expertise in reporting,
integrations, calculations, and complex payroll configurations.
All responses to this opportunity must conform to the requirements of the Request for
Proposal (RFP). Failure to do so may result in the response being considered non-responsive.
All proposals submitted to the City shall become the exclusive property of the City. All
submissions shall become a matter of public record subject to disclosure.
II. BACKGROUND
The City of San Mateo, incorporated in 1894, is the largest municipality in San Mateo County,
California. The City is centrally located on "The Peninsula," between San Francisco to the north
and San Jose to the south. The City borders the communities of Belmont, Burlingame, Foster
City, and Hillsborough, as well as the unincorporated Highlands-Baywood Park area of San
Mateo County.
The City of San Mateo is a charter city and has a Council-Manager form of government. Five
council members, elected by district, serve for four-year terms. The City Council selects a
mayor from among its members each December for a one-year term. The City Manager is
appointed by the Council and serves as the chief executive officer responsible for the day-to-
day administration of City affairs. The Council also appoints a city attorney. There are seven
advisory boards and commissions appointed by the Council.
The City provides a wide range of municipal services including police, public works, parks and
recreation, library, planning and zoning, building inspection, code enforcement, affordable housing,
sewer system, street maintenance, economic development, and general administrative services.
The City shares a consolidated Fire Department with the cities of Foster City and Belmont, which
City Human Resources and Finance staff support.
The City implemented Workday in two phases: Financials in November 2022 and Human Resources
and Payroll in March 2025. During implementation, the City discovered that it has an unusually
complex payroll and absence configuration that proved difficult to implement within Workday.
Due to some of these complexities, some payroll requirements defined by the City during
implementation were not met, and highly customized workarounds were built to address some of
these needs. The City is seeking a consultant with the expertise needed to quickly analyze highly
customized Workday calculations and configurations to fix issues, make improvements, ensure no
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new issues are created, and enhance the City's custom reporting capabilities.
III. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The objective of the RFP is to receive proposals for serving as the City's sole Workday
consultant. The top proposals received may be invited for an interview according to the project
timeline listed later in Section VIII - Selection Timeline.
IV. SCOPE OF SERVICES
Consultants may submit proposals for scope of services listed below.
Subject to further discussion with the selected firm(s), the City anticipates that the scope of
work on this assignment may include some or all of the following services:
Workday Consultation Services
1. Meet with City staff to refine coordination logistics including any issue tracking
systems the Consultant may have in place for their customers.
2. Monitor requests for assistance and quickly assign the appropriate consultants with
the right subject matter area expertise required for the request.
3. Meet with City staff and work through different troubleshooting and implementing
changes resulting from policy updates, audits, or labor agreements.
4. Troubleshoot complex issues with integrations, including bidirectional integrations
with third-party organizations and data transformation within Workday Studio.
5. Implement changes to Workday Production tenant when necessary.
6. Provide the City with the necessary documentation of configuration changes and train
City staff how to resolve or avoid similar issues.
7. Assist with any issues related to Adaptive Planning, including integrations between
Workday and Adaptive Planning and utilization of OfficeConnect.
8. Provide expertise on a variety of Workday modules, including but not limited to:
Payroll, Absence, Time Tracking, Human Capital Management (HCM), Compensation,
Benefits, Accounting, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Purchasing, and Budget
/Adaptive Planning.
9. Perform all work remotely and work effectively with City staff in both written
communications and virtual meetings.
10. Assist with strategic planning efforts for new features or modules within Workday, as
necessary.
V. SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
Proposers who wish to be considered for this project must submit an electronic copy of their
proposal to the City for review. Electronic documents should be submitted in PDF form.
Proposals should be clear and concise. At a minimum, each proposal must include the following
information in sections as outlined below.
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a. Submittal Cover Form and Cover Letter
The proposal shall be submitted with a cover letter. The letter accompanying the proposal
must provide the name, title, address, telephone number, and signature of the individual(s)
authorized to negotiate and bind the firm contractually. An unsigned proposal or one signed
by an individual unauthorized to bind the firm may be rejected. The cover letter shall
provide a summary of the firm's capabilities and availability of staff, information and
qualifications of the proposed lead who will be representing the firm.
b. Project Approach and Proposed Scope of Work
Provide a detailed description of the firm's proposed approach to the Scope of Services
described in Section IV. At a minimum, the approach shall include a plan for the tasks
described in the scope of services and any recommended revisions or additions to the list of
tasks.
c. References
Provide a list of at least three client references for whom the firm has performed similar
work to that requested in this RFP during the past five years. For each client, please provide
the name of the client, location, proposed staff who worked on the project, description of
services, telephone number and email address.
d. Resumes and Qualifications of Proposed Personnel
This section should list key team members who will be assigned to the project, their role on
the project, primary office location, relevant experience, and applicable licenses and
certifications. This section should also include brief resumes for all key personnel proposed
for the Project.
e. Fee Schedule
Provide a detailed rate table outlining hourly rates any other related costs or provisions and
limitations. Indicate whether costs will vary depending on the module within Workday, task
type, or a consultant's level of expertise. Clarify if there are any limitations for the number
of cases the City can submit each week or month, or if there are any other limitations to the
services that can be requested by the City.
Provide services on a time and materials as-needed basis, with no guaranteed minimum
level of work unless otherwise negotiated.
All services requested will be expected to be performed remotely, so transportation costs
should not be included.
f. Conflict of Interest
Provide names of individuals associated with the firm that have a potential conflict of
interest. The City may not contract with a proposer if the proposer is an employee, officer,
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or director of the proposer's firm, or any immediate family member of the preceding, has
served as an elected official, employee, board, or commission member of the City who
influences the making of the contract. Furthermore, the City may not contract with any
proposer whose income, investment, or real property interest may be affected by the
contract. Proposals are subject to disqualifications based on such a conflict of interest as
determined by the City.
g. Terms and Conditions
The proposal shall stipulate that it is predicated upon all the terms and conditions of the
Request for Proposals. In addition, it shall contain a statement to the effect that it is valid
for a period of one hundred twenty (120) days from the date of receipt thereof by the City.
It shall be signed by an official authorized to bind the organization.
h. Standard Contract
Proposals should note any requested changes to the City's standard contract for
services, which is attached to this request for proposals.
VI. SUBMISSION OF THE PROPOSAL
Proposals are due on or before the date/time listed in the RFP timeline. Late submissions will
not be considered. Proposer shall send one electronic proposal with the subject "[FIRM NAME]
- Workday Consulting Services" to Jonathan Strange at jstrange@cityofsanmateo.org.
VII. SELECTION CRITERIA AND PROCESS
Responding firms will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1. Quality of proposal;
2. Experience in conducting similar Workday consulting services for local government
agencies in California;
3. Expertise and experience of the project team assigned to the project, and the in-house
expertise;
4. Review of references;
5. Billing rates and anticipated costs;
6. Requested changes to the City's standard contract for professional services.
After the review of proposals, the City may invite some proposers to be interviewed or may
decide to select proposers without conducting interviews and enter contract negotiations
directly. Interviews, if necessary, are expected to be conducted according to the RFP Timeline.
Details of the interview process will be provided along with the invitation to present.
The City reserves the right to cancel the RFP or to reject any and all responses and/or
submittals, or parts thereof, and to waive any technicalities or minor informalities if it
determines, in its sole discretion, that such cancellation or rejection is in the best interest of the
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City.
VIII. SELECTION TIMELINE
The City has designated the following activities and dates as key to the project schedule. The
City reserves the right to change the schedule at its own discretion.
Anticipated Schedule for Selection
Issuance of Request for Proposals 07/16/2026
Deadline for Questions 08/03/2026
City's Responses to Questions Released 08/10/2026
Deadline to Submit Proposals 08/21/2026 5:00PM PST
Interview of Firms (if deemed required) 09/14/2026 - 09/18/2026
Anticipated Contract Award 10/19/2026
IX. DOCUMENTS AND QUESTIONS
The Request for Proposal is available electronically as a free download at
http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/bids.aspx. Addenda will be available as a download at the
same web location. Proposers are responsible for determining if any addenda have been
issued.
Questions regarding this RFP should be submitted via email to Jonathan Strange at
jstrange@cityofsanmateo.org with the subject "Workday Consulting RFP Question - [FIRM
NAME]." All questions received before the "Deadline for Questions" date will be answered
through the RFP posting folder at http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/bids.aspx on or before
"City's Responses to Questions Released" date - see Section VII (Selection Timeline) for these
dates and details. Questions received after the "Deadline to Submit Proposals" date above will
not be accepted.
Questions will be answered by the City via an upload onto the City website by the date
indicated in the RFP Timeline above. The source of any questions will remain anonymous.
X. ATTACHMENTS
APPENDIX 1: Sample Agreement
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Attachment 1 - Sample Agreement
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AGREEMENT WITH _______________
FOR PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT SERVICES
FOR
_______________________________[insert project name/description]
This Agreement, made and entered into this day of ____________________, by and between the CITY
OF SAN MATEO, a municipal corporation existing under the laws of the State of California ("CITY"), and
_________________________, a ____________ [insert legal status of consultant here, e.g., individual,
corporation, limited partnership, etc.], ("CONSULTANT"), whose address is
_____________________________________________.
RECITALS:
A. CITY desires certain _______________________ services hereinafter described.
B. CITY desires to engage CONSULTANT to provide these __________________ services by
reason of its qualifications and experience for performing such services and CONSULTANT has offered to provide
the required services on the terms and in the manner set forth herein.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS AGREED as follows:
SECTION 1 - SCOPE OF SERVICES
The scope of services to be performed by CONSULTANT under this Agreement is as described in Exhibit
A to this Agreement, attached and incorporated by reference.
SECTION 2 - DUTIES OF CONSULTANT
CONSULTANT shall be responsible for the professional quality, technical accuracy and coordination of all
work furnished by CONSULTANT under this Agreement. CONSULTANT shall, without additional compensation,
correct or revise any errors or deficiencies in its work.
CONSULTANT represents that it is qualified to furnish the services described under this Agreement.
CONSULTANT shall be responsible for employing or engaging all persons necessary to perform the
services of CONSULTANT.
CONSULTANT agrees to comply with the City's minimum wage ordinance as codified in Municipal Code
Chapter 5.92, which differs from the state minimum wage and includes a Consumer Price Index escalator.
CONSULTANT will comply with all data and security requirements as defined in Exhibit C to this
Agreement, attached and incorporated by reference.
SECTION 3 - DUTIES OF CITY
CITY shall provide pertinent information regarding its requirements for the project.
CITY shall examine documents submitted by CONSULTANT and shall render decisions pertaining thereto
promptly, to avoid unreasonable delay in the progress of CONSULTANT's work.
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SECTION 4 - TERM
The services to be performed under this Agreement shall commence on ___________ and be completed
on _____________.
SECTION 5 - PAYMENT
Payment shall be made by CITY only for services rendered and upon submission of a payment request
upon completion and CITY approval of the work performed. In consideration for the full performance of the
services set forth in Exhibit A, CITY agrees to pay CONSULTANT a fee in an amount of $____________, pursuant
to rates stated in Exhibit B to this Agreement, attached and incorporated by reference.
SECTION 6 - TERMINATION
Without limitation to such rights or remedies as CITY shall otherwise have by law, CITY shall
have the right to terminate this Agreement or suspend work on the Project for any reason, upon
ten (10) days' written notice to CONSULTANT. CONSULTANT agrees to cease all work under this
Agreement upon receipt of said written notice.
Upon termination and upon CITY's payment of the amount required to be paid, documents become the
property of CITY, and CONSULTANT shall transfer them to CITY upon request without additional compensation.
SECTION 7 - OWNERSHIP OF DOCUMENTS
All documents prepared by CONSULTANT in the performance of this Agreement, although instruments
of professional service, are and shall be the property of CITY, whether the project for which they are made is
executed or not.
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SECTION 8 - CONFIDENTIALITY
All reports and documents prepared by CONSULTANT in connection with the performance of this Agreement are
confidential until released by CUSTOMER to the public. CONSULTANT shall not make any such documents or
information available to any individual or organization not employed by CONSULTANT or CUSTOMER without
the written consent of CUSTOMER before any such release.
For purposes of this section, "Confidential Information" means information in any form or medium (whether
oral, written, electronic, or other) that the Disclosing Party considers confidential or proprietary, including
information consisting of or relating to the Disclosing Party's technology, trade secrets, know-how, business
operations, plans, strategies, customers, and pricing, and information with respect to which the Disclosing Party
has contractual or other confidentiality obligations, all CUSTOMER Data (including all Personal Information
including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) ) is and will remain the Confidential Information of CUSTOMER.
The following shall not be considered Confidential or Proprietary Information: (i) any information in the public
domain at the time of its communication thereof to either party by the other party; (ii) any information which
enters the public domain, through no fault of the receiving party subsequent to the time of its communication
to the receiving party; (iii) any information which is obtained in good faith by either party from a third party,
provided such third party is not bound by a confidentiality agreement with CONSULTANT or CUSTOMER, as
applicable; (iv) information that was already known to that party prior to the date of disclosure to that party; (v)
information which the receiving party establishes was developed independently of confidential or proprietary
information furnished to it; and (vi) information that is required to be disclosed to any court, government
authority or regulatory authority or pursuant to requirement of any state or federal law.
SECTION 9 - INTEREST OF CONSULTANT
CONSULTANT covenants that it presently has no interest, and shall not acquire any interest, direct or
indirect, financial or otherwise, which would conflict in any manner or degree with the performance of the
services under this Agreement.
SECTION 10 - CONSULTANT'S STATUS
It is expressly agreed that in the performance of the professional services required under this
Agreement, CONSULTANT shall at all times be considered an independent contractor as defined in Labor Code
Section 3353, under control of the CITY as to the result of the work but not the means by which the result is
accomplished. Nothing herein shall be construed to make CONSULTANT an agent or employee of CITY while
providing services under this Agreement.
SECTION 11 - INDEMNITY
CONSULTANT agrees to hold harmless and indemnify CITY, its elected and appointed officials,
employees, volunteers, and agents from and against any and all claims, loss, liability, damage, and expense
arising out of CONSULTANT's performance of this Agreement, except those claims arising out of CITY's sole
negligence or willful misconduct. CONSULTANT agrees to defend City, its elected and appointed officials,
employees, volunteers, and agents against any such claims. The CONSULTANT'S duty to indemnify shall survive
expiration or early termination of this Agreement.
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