First Tier Conflict Indigent Defense Services

The County of Santa Cruz invites sealed proposals from fully licensed, insured, bonded, and certified vendors to furnish all labor, tools, equipment, and incidentals required to provide First Tier Conflict Indigent Defense Services.

The County seeks to procure indigent defense services for cases in which the Office of the Public Defender (PDO) is prevented from providing representation due to ethical conflicts or conflicts of interest (first-tier conflicts). First-tier conflict indigent defense services are currently delivered by a contracted conflicts firm, and the contract will expire on June 30, 2027. The provider is anticipated to begin accepting cases on July 1, 2027.

The current model described above represents approximately 850 cases per year that the Public Defender's Office (PDO) cannot represent due to a conflict of interest.

The County seeks proposals that clearly demonstrate how the defense provider will execute the following responsibilities:

Case Assignment

• Screen for additional conflicts of interest.
• Assign matters based on qualifications, complexity, and workload.
• Promote continuity of representation.
• Case Assignment Coverage: Clients will have representation when the assigned attorney is unavailable or absent.
• System Coverage: Establish procedures to ensure courtroom coverage, including in the event of emergencies, and to avoid calendaring conflicts.

Training

Provider will ensure that attorneys, interdisciplinary staff, and other personnel maintain role-appropriate competency and comply with all applicable legal, licensing, continuing education, and professional training requirements. Provider will participate in Court- or County-provided trainings at the request of the Court or County.

Oversight

The provider will be responsible for maintaining appropriate professional supervision, quality assurance, workload oversight, and mechanisms for addressing performance concerns.

• Provider shall notify the County within three (3) business days of discovery of any finding of ineffective assistance of counsel by any court, any State Bar disciplinary action, or any sustained Marsden motion or other non-voluntary removal as counsel of record.
• Provider shall report and retain documentation sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the terms of the contract and all applicable rules and laws for a minimum of five years.
• Workload monitoring. Provider is responsible for monitoring workloads, identifying when an attorney's workload may interfere with effective and ethical representation, and reassign when needed.
• Interdisciplinary model. The provider must directly provide or arrange access to qualified interdisciplinary personnel providing client advocacy including consequences and impacts of criminal legal system involvement, linkage, navigation, and other services including the research and presentation of mitigation and social histories to necessary decisionmakers.

Public defense provider will attend stakeholder meetings regularly - including but not limited to Criminal Justice Partner meetings, Incompetent to Stand Trial (IST) workgroup, Release to Program Workgroup, and other groups at the request of the County.

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the County's OpenGov Procurement portal. No oral, telegraph, telephone, facsimile, emailed responses or photocopies will be accepted.

The deadline to submit proposals is on **Monday, November 23, 2026 before 5:00 pm**. No late submittals or alternative forms of submittal will be accepted.

All questions regarding this RFP shall be submitted through the Question & Answer section of this project listed on the County's OpenGov Procurement portal.

Evaluation Criteria

• Effective Representation: 40 points (40% of Total)
• Client Services and Outcomes: 20 points (20% of Total)
• Organizational Capacity: 10 points (10% of Total)
• Cost: 30 points (30% of Total)

Respondent shall execute a *Non-Collusion Declaration* and submit *Customer References* with their proposal. Respondent shall be an established entity that has conducted business of the nature specified herein for at least two (2) years.

It is the intent of the County to award all services specified herein to a single contractor. Award of contract is contingent upon approval from the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors as applicable and funding availability.