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Below are the threshold limits and purchasing rules to be followed by Southwestern staff
Community College Rules of Procurement
Process Threshold Cost
SMALL PROCUREMENT/DIRECT AWARD FOR GOODS/SERVICES: $25,000 or less
Where feasible, obtain competitive quotes.
If unable to obtain three quotes, document why.
INTERMEDIATE PROCUREMENT/COMPETITIVE QUOTES: $25,000 - $250,000
At minimum, must post public notice for seven days, take steps to
include small and diverse firms, and permits the College to secure
goods and services within 30 days. Requires a minimum of three
informally solicited competitive quotes. If three quotes are not
available, a lesser number will suffice provided that efforts to obtain
three competitive quotes are documented.
FORMAL SOLICITATION*:
Invitation to Bid, Request for Proposal requires a rigorous process $250,000 or more
of formal solicitation documents including Department of Justice
review, 30 day public posting, formal process steps and evaluations,
contract negotiation. A sealed competitive process can take four to
six months.
*Oregon Buys Procurements $150,000 or more
BOARD APPROVAL OF CONTRACTS:
The College requests Board approval for contracts prior to award Board approval for contracts ≥$75,000
SOUTHWESTERN OREGON COMMUNITY COLLEGE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
COLLEGE LABOR ATTORNEY
DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF PROPOSAL: March 18, 2026 at 3:00 p.m.
PLEASE SEND PROPOSALS VIA EMAIL TO: denise.russell@socc.edu
Phone: 541-888-7206
TO BE OPENED BY: Rachele M. Lyon
Vice President of Administrative Services
541-888-7402
For a PDF version of the RFP, Click Here
The Southwestern Oregon Community College District Board of Education is seeking proposals from legal firms, associations, or attorneys for personnel services and labor relations.
The College Labor Attorney appointed to serve on July 1, 2026, shall act as the Labor Attorney for the College for the three-year window beginning July 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 2029.
Proposals must be received at the above address by March 18, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. It is entirely the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that their proposal is received at the above location by this deadline. Proposals which are received after the deadline will not be considered and will be returned to the proposer, unopened.
The College reserves the right to reject any proposal not in compliance with all prescribed public procurement requirements, and to reject for good cause any or all proposals upon finding that it is in the public interest to do so.
No proposal will be received or considered unless fully complete in the manner provided in this proposal document and advertisement for proposals.
Submit only one proposal for consideration. Multiple proposals will be deemed non-responsive.
Southwestern Oregon Community College follows the Oregon public contracting code, ORS 279 and related regulations, as modified by the College’s local contract review Board. Certain purchases go through a prescribed bid/quote/proposal process. (For the purposes of this document, “bid”, “quote” and “proposal” may be used interchangeably.) A Request for Proposals (RFP) allows the College to evaluate vendors’ proposals using criteria in addition to or instead of price.
As a proposer, you are expected to submit proposals that are accurate, complete, and contain all terms and conditions which you feel are necessary. If, after submitting your proposal, you find changes are necessary, you may change or withdraw your proposal any time up to the time of the proposal submission deadline. However, after the deadline, the bid may not be changed or altered in any way. If accepted, your bid/quote/proposal is considered a binding contract that you, as the proposer, will be expected to honor. No proposer may withdraw his/her bid after the deadline, or before award of the contract, unless said award is delayed for a period exceeding 60 days.
Submittals will be judged on the completeness and quality of content as described in this Request for Proposals. Only those submittals that contain complete information as required by these specifications will be considered for evaluation.
Submission of a response shall indicate to the College that the proposer accepts all the terms and conditions contained in this RFP and associated documents. It is understood that all submittals shall become a part of the public file on this matter without obligation to the College. The College may reject any submittal that does not comply with all the prescribed submission procedures and requirements in this Request for Proposal, and may, for good cause, reject any or all submittals, or any part of a submittal, upon a finding that it is in the public interest to do so.
Questions that arise during preparation of the RFP shall be submitted by email to denise.russell@socc.edu who will forward questions to the Southwestern Oregon Community College Vice President of Administrative Services.
All questions must be received by the Vice President of Administrative Services no later than March 11, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. All questions and answers thereto shall be provided to all responders via email by March 16, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.
February 18 – March 18, 2026
Advertisement of Request for Proposal
March 11, 2026, at 2:00 p.m.
Last day to submit questions to denise.russell@socc.edu
March 16, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.
Answers to questions posed from applicants emailed to all proposers
March 18, 2026, at 3:00 p.m.
Last day to submit proposals for consideration
March 18 – April 1, 2026
Initial screening and selection for Board of Education interviews
April 2, 2026
Notification of agents selected for interview
April 26, 2026
Board of Education interviews (if deemed necessary)
April 27, 2026
Anticipated Appointment of College Labor Attorney
CONTRACT
The College Labor Attorney will initially be appointed for three years beginning July 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 2029. The appointment shall be in accordance with Board Policy 6031 Appointment of Board College Labor Attorneys. With Board of Education approval, a two-year extension may be given after the initial three-year appointment, for a total of five years. After five years, the Board of Education is required by its bylaws to solicit proposals for College Labor Attorney services. When an appointment is not extended, the Board of Education will direct the College President or his/her designee to prepare criteria for College Labor Attorney services for Board of Education approval and to solicit proposals from firms or individuals desiring to provide College Labor Attorney services.
Contracts may be reopened by either party in October of any year. Before November 15th, either party may give notice to terminate the contract effective June 30th of the next year.
This procedure does not prevent the Board of Education from taking action to revoke the appointment of a College Labor Attorney at any time upon affirmative vote of five (5) members of the Board of Education at a Board meeting. The successful proposal and all terms and conditions contained in this Request for Proposals will be made part of the contract. The management of this contract for the College will be the direct responsibility of the Vice President of Administrative Services.
In the event that the contractor fails to carry out or comply with any of the terms and conditions of the contract, the College reserves the right to demand remedy of any failure or default within ten (10) days. In the event that the contractor fails to remedy the failure or default within the specified period, the College shall have the right to cancel and terminate the contract without additional notice.
No officer or employee of Southwestern Oregon Community College has any authority to place any interpretation, either verbal or written, upon the foregoing or annexed specifications without written approval from the Office of Administrative Services.
Proposals which are incomplete or that contain irregularities of any kind, which are not in conformity with the law may be rejected.
Each bidder, by the submission of a proposal, assents to each and every term and condition set forth anywhere in these specifications and agrees to be bound thereby.
By submitting this proposal, the bidder certifies conformance to the applicable Federal Acts, Executive Orders and Oregon Statues concerning Affirmative Action toward equal employment opportunities. All information and reports required by the Federal or Oregon Governments having responsibilities for the enforcement of such laws, shall be supplied to the College upon request for purposes of investigation to ascertain compliance with such acts, regulations and orders.
No direction or approval given by the College or any representative of the College which deviates in any respect from the specifications or other contract documents shall be valid or recognized unless and until the same is reduced to writing and issued in the form of a written order over the signature of the Vice President of Administrative Services.
Neither the Contract nor any interest of the College Labor Attorney therein can be transferred to any other person or persons without the written consent of the College, and any such attempted transfer shall be utterly void and may be treated by the College as a willful failure or refusal on the part of the College Labor Attorney to perform the Contract according to its terms and conditions.
No official of the College who is authorized in such capacity and on the behalf of the College to negotiate, make, accept, or approve, or to take part in negotiating, making, accepting, or approving any furnishing of service for the College, shall become directly or indirectly interested personally in this contract or any part thereof. No officer, or employee, of or for the College who is authorized in such capacity and on behalf of the College to exercise any legislative, executive, supervisory, or other similar functions in connection with the services provided or in any part thereof, items, insurance contract, or any other contract pertaining thereto, shall become directly or indirectly interested personally in this contract or any part thereof.
The Board of Education of Southwestern Community College herein expressly reserves the following rights:
Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:
1.Number of years of experience providing personnel related services and labor relations services.
Individuals selected for a Board of Education interview may be asked to respond to additional written questions before the interview.
Neither the College nor it’s the Board of Education are liable for any costs incurred by a legal firm, associations, or attorneys in the preparation of the RFP or attending an interview.
SOLICITATION PROTEST
Prospective proposers may submit a written protest, or request for change, of particular solicitation provisions, specifications or contract terms and conditions to the College no later than seven calendar days prior to the close of the solicitation. Such protest or request for change shall include the reasons for the protest or request, and any proposed changes to the solicitation provisions, specification, or contract terms and conditions. No protest against selection of a College Labor Attorney, because of the content of solicitation provisions, specifications or contract terms and conditions shall be considered after the deadline established for submitting such protest.
Every proposer who submits a response to an RFP shall be informed of the proposer to whom the contract has been awarded. A proposer, who has submitted a proposal and claims to have been adversely affected or aggrieved by the selection of a competing proposer, shall have seven calendar days after receiving the notice of selection to submit a written protest of the selection to the Southwestern Vice President of Administrative Services. To be adversely affected or aggrieved, a protester must claim why all other proposers were ineligible for selection because their proposals were non-responsive or the proposers non-responsible. The College shall not consider a selection protest submitted after seven calendar days from the notice of selection.
The Vice President of Administrative Services shall have the authority to settle or resolve a written protest submitted in accordance with the Protest Sections above. The Vice President of Administrative Services shall promptly issue a written decision.
All protests submissions shall be clearly identified and submitted to:
Southwestern Oregon Community College
Attention: Rachele Lyon, Vice President of Administrative Services
1988 Newmark Avenue, Room 511
Coos Bay, OR 97420
INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS
Proposer shall secure, at their own expense and keep in effect during the term of any Contract, Worker’s Compensation Insurance in compliance with OR 656.017, which requires subject employers to provide Oregon worker’s compensation coverage for all their subject workers.
Proposer shall secure, at their own expense and keep in effect during the term of any Contract, occurrence form commercial general liability and automobile liability insurance for the protection of Contractor, College, its Board of Directors, officers, agents and employees. Coverage shall include personal injury, bodily injury (including death) and broad form property damage, including loss of use of property, occurring in the course of or in any way related to Contractor's operations, in an amount not less than One Million dollars ($1,000.000.00) combined single limit per occurrence.
Proposer may be required to provide College with evidence of professional errors and omissions liability insurance for the protection of College Labor Attorney and its employees, insuring against bodily injury and property damage and arising out of or resulting from College Labor Attorney 's negligent acts, omissions, activities or services, in an amount not less than $1,000,000.00 combined single limit per occurrence.
There shall be no cancellation, material change, reduction of limits or intent not to renew the insurance coverage(s) without 30 days written notice from the Contractor or its insurer(s) to Southwestern Oregon Community College.
Where applicable, as evidence of the insurance coverage required by this Contract, the College Labor Attorney shall furnish acceptable insurance certificates to Southwestern Oregon Community College prior to issuance of a Notice to Proceed. The certificate will specify all of the parties who are Additional Insured. Insuring Companies or entities are subject to Southwestern acceptance. If requested, complete copies of insurance policies, trust agreements, etc., shall be provided too Southwestern. The College Labor Attorney shall be financially responsible for all pertinent deductibles, self-insured retentions and/or self-insurance.
The College’s Labor Attorney will have a minimum of five years’ experience as an attorney providing personnel and labor relation services for the public sector in Oregon. Negotiations experience for community colleges is preferred. Experience and the willingness to participate in the strategies of alternative methods of bargaining is required.
The Labor Attorney services will involve assistance to the College Board and administrative staff, as requested, on a wide range of personnel administration issues and policies including but not limited to:
Affirmative Action
Discipline Procedures
Performance Evaluations
Employee Orientation
Wage-Hour Questions
Employee Screening and Selection
Policy Development and Administration
Worker’s Compensation
Employee Classification Systems
Terminations
The labor relations will primarily involve providing services to the College Board and administration on a wide range of labor relation issues and policies including but not limited to:
Employee Contract Evaluation
Staff Training
Contract Management
Representation at ERB Hearings
Representation during Arbitration
Alternative Methods of Bargaining
Negotiations – Role of Head Negotiator and/or Consultant
The College has two labor contracts:
Southwestern Oregon Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, national origin, age, disability status, gender identity, or protected veterans in employment, education, or activities as set forth in compliance with federal and state statutes and regulations.