City of Battle Ground, Washington
RFP for Community Vision and Strategic Action Plan

SUBMIT PROPOSALS TO:

City of Battle Ground
Community Development Department
C/o Erin Erdman, Community Development Director
109 SW 1^st Street
Suite 127
Battle Ground, WA 98604

ABOUT THE CITY

City of Battle Ground is located in the heart of Clark County, Washington, just four miles from Interstate 5. The City has seen tremendous growth through the last 20 years; it currently consists of approximately 8.6 square miles and has a current population of 20,370 people. The City is a bedroom community to the greater Portland/Vancouver Metro area.

BACKGROUND

The last community vision exercise that the City participated in was in 2000-2001. At that time, the City conducted public outreach and developed a 50-year vision in conjunction with the Comprehensive Plan Update, and associated capital facilities plans. The 50-year vision led to the land use and zoning map configurations that we see today as well as the legacy standards for current development.

Today the City is a very different place. We have experienced a tremendous amount of growth within the city boundary and the areas around us. There has been interest from the community, developers and other local agencies to revisit the vision of Battle Ground and plan for the future.

WHAT THE CITY IS LOOKING FOR

The City of Battle Ground is looking for proposals from qualified consultants to contract for consulting services to guide a Community Vision and Strategic Action Plan process for the City. Consultants are invited to submit a proposal, which includes an outline of their experience and qualifications in performing work directly related to the services required.

The consultant will propose a work plan to develop a Community Vision through public involvement and participation, lay the groundwork for what the citizens of Battle Ground would like the identity of the City to be. The vision will also guide decision makers to focused growth areas throughout the City as well as target industry and viable economic development.

The Community Vision should understand the whole community, reflect core community values, address emerging trends and issues, imagine a preferred future, and promote local action. The vision findings of this exercise will then be prioritized and added to a Strategic Action Plan.

The intent of the Strategic Plan is to help the City direct its efforts and resources toward a defined vision for the future. The plan should include benchmarks or milestones that measure the City's progress along the way.

The City needs to adopt a plan that the community accepts. The process should include both active and passive involvement ensuring diverse and extensive community participation.

The process should address and provide direction/goals on the following issues:

Community Vision

• Determine where the City is now and help Battle Ground decide what it wants to be in the future. This should take into account what makes Battle Ground unique and special, and how the City can use these characteristics to prepare for the future.
• Determine a community accepted brand or identity slogan for promotion and direction.
• Provide a process that allows general alignment and focus of the City Council, City administration, and staff, with the citizens, business interests, community groups, and local organizations.
• Recognize economic development potential and ways to diversify the local economy
• Identify and analyze potential partnerships with other entities; (such as public/public, public/private).

Strategic Action Plan

• Transform the conceptual goals from the visioning process into realistic, achievable targets.
• Evaluate existing and future public infrastructure and maintenance; priorities, phasing; help identify how city resources should be allocated and how to ensure existing infrastructure is maintained and future infrastructure is responsibly planned.
• Plan for fiscal sustainability.

SCOPE OF SERVICES

The proposed scope of services must include at a minimum, the following items. The successful candidate will be able to

Phase 1 – Community Vision

• Facilitate a Community Visioning process consisting of public meetings, focus-group sessions, open houses, surveys and other outreach forums. These gatherings would result in the submission of a multitude of suggestions from members of the Battle Ground community. The desired outcome is a community vision entailing guiding goals, each with specific visioning targets that could serve as a framework for the strategic planning process, and direction for a brand or identity.
• This should be accompanied with a public involvement program that engages the community in the process as well as provides future public involvement forums to keep the community in the loop as we meet and change goals.

Phase 2 – Strategic Action Plan

• Incorporate the targets and ideas from Phase 1 into a strategic Action Plan.
• Conduct an internal and external scan, i.e., looking at or reviewing, the community's resources, strengths and assets in light of trends and influences affecting the community.
  • Internal scan would include an inventory of community resources, e.g., city resources and finances, people, health, education, business and job opportunities, housing, art and culture, leisure, recreation and entertainment, and geography.
  • External scan would look at what is happening outside of the community on a local, regional and national level that may affect a community, e.g., demographics, economy and lifestyle trends.
• Describe the overall strategy and identify key challenges and opportunities.
• Develop an action plan and establish implementation steps and schedule.
• Establish benchmarks or milestones that measure the City's progress throughout the Strategic Planning process.

COMMUNICATIONS

Requests for additional information or documents from the City in order to respond to the RFP must be received in writing no later than January 3, 2018.

All information and documents provided by the City will be posted on the City's website at www.cityofbg.org/community-vision. Any oral communications will be considered unofficial and non-binding on the City.

PROCESS AND TIMELINE FOR SELECTION

A consultant selection committee will review the proposals. The committee may select prospective consultants for further consideration or may directly select and negotiate for a scope of service with the leading candidate. If more than one consultant is considered, then interviews may be conducted or additional information requested.

February 2, 2018 - Deadline for RFP Submittal

Submittals must be received at City Hall, located at 109 SW 1^st Street, Battle Ground, Washington 98604 by the above deadline. Submittals shall be marked to the attention of Erin Erdman, Community Development Director. Digital proposals may be submitted via e-mail to erin.erdman@cityofbg.org, but the city assumes no responsibility for formatting or transmission errors.

February 5-16 – Review and selection of candidates

The evaluation team will select candidate(s) from submittals received. This process will include review of submittals, references, and other information as necessary. The City may conduct interviews with potential candidates if applicable. In making this selection, the City reserves the right to request from any responding entity to clarify its proposal or to supply any additional material deemed necessary to assist in the evaluation of the proposal within the timeline requested by the City.

February 19 – March 2 - Negotiation of contract

The City will attempt to negotiate a satisfactory contract with a preferred candidate. If the City determines, at its sole discretion, that the negotiation is not proceeding satisfactorily, the City may terminate negotiation with the preferred candidate and begin negotiation with another candidate.

SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS

To be considered, interested parties must submit by the deadline five (5) copies (at least one that is unbound and photo copy ready) and one electronic copy on CD or jump drive of a proposal package that includes the following:

• Letter of interest – must be no more than two pages in length and include contact information and signature.
• Summary of qualifications, experience and availability. It should summarize qualifications, relevant experience, and availability to participate in the RFP process, and provide services to the City. It should also identify key staff members who will be participating.
• Project team resume and portfolio – to include current resume of project team members, and references.
• Proposed approach to the process, including a proposed schedule and description of proposed public involvement.
• Proposed budget - The city will consider proposals up to a maximum cost of $100,000. A full description of the expected costs for the work described in the RFP phases 1 and 2 must be provided. Costs for all project tasks must be total and inclusive (e.g. estimated hours/total costs for consultant fees, preparation of deliverables, printing, travel expenses, etc.). Actual compensation is subject to contract negotiation.
• List of professional references –listing most recent professional references and their contact information.
• A minimum of three examples of relevant written work related to Visioning and Strategic Planning: at least one of which will represent a strategic plan prepared on behalf of a City or comparable entity.
• Ability to meet the City's insurance requirement for minimum amounts of insurance as provided in the City's proposed contract attached to this RFP as Attachment "A".

Naming of references is considered permission to contact the reference. The City may contact outside individuals, whether offered as reference or not. The City retains the right to use such information in its decision. Submittal of a response is agreement that the City may contact and use such information.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Responses will be evaluated by the City as set forth immediately below:

1. Completed Letter of Interest
2. Business agency and history, including qualifications.
3. Experience and qualifications of the employees assigned to this project.
4. Samples of work.
5. Letters of recommendation.
6. Ability to meet proposed schedule.
7. Proposed fees, prices, and/or costs.

The City reserves the right to utilize new or revised evaluation criteria at its sole discretion. The City reserves the right to award the contract to the responding entity which best meets the needs and interests of the City or to reject all responses as provided below

CONTRACT

The City's proposed contract and all other terms and conditions can be viewed in the full RFP posted on our website at http://www.cityofbg.org/community-vision.