The Northern Neck Planning District Commission is soliciting proposals from qualified and experienced firms, entities or person(s) to assist with the Management Plan for the newly designated Northern Neck National Heritage Area comprising the counties of King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland. The local coordinating entity for the NNNHA is the Northern Neck Tourism Commission and the administrative/fiscal agent is the Northern Neck Planning District Commission. The Northern Neck PDC is funding this project with grant assistance from the U. S. Department of the Interior- National Park Service.

The Management Plan provides a framework for interpretation, conservation, management, and development based upon the ideas formulated during an extensive community planning process. This framework constitutes a reference guide for all actions that relate to the heritage area and the heritage resources, and present a phasing schedule that organizes a range of programmatic and physical actions. This includes extensive public outreach (local, state, tribal, regional and federal) to develop long-range policies, goals, strategies and actions; an implementation plan with short, mid-, and long range actions and performance goals; a business plan; an interpretive plan; and a marketing and promotion plan.

The National Park Service completed the Northern Neck National Heritage Area Feasibility Study in June 2020. Potential proposers can review this document on the Northern Neck Planning District Commission website at www.northernneck.us.

Timeframe

All project tasks identified in a negotiated scope of work must be completed no later than May 30, 2025.

Scope of Services

The scope of services will include:

• Developing the Vision, Mission, and Themes for the NHA
• Developing Policies, Goals, Strategies, and Actions for the Implementation of the Plan
• Identifying Sources of Project Funding
• Conducting a Full Resource Inventory for Heritage-Related Assets
• Developing an Interpretive Plan
• Developing a Business Plan
• Developing a Marketing and Promotion Plan
• Identifying priority projects for implementation

Project completion will be defined as final adoption by the Northern Neck Tourism Commission, Northern Neck Planning District Commission and National Park Service.

Proposal Contents

1. Statement of Qualifications

All respondents must submit a written Statement of Qualifications to include information about the respondent directly related to each of the Selection Criteria. All information should be submitted succinctly.

2. Proposal

Respondents must provide an explanation of how they propose to accomplish the project outcomes within the stated timeframe.

Selection Process

The Northern Neck PDC will appoint a Selection Committee to review and evaluate all proposals submitted by firms responding to the RFP. The proposals will be evaluated and ranked based on the Selection Criteria. The Selection Committee may ask top ranked proposers to attend a presentation interview as part of the evaluation process. Proposers invited to interview should be prepared to have general discussions on non-binding estimates of cost to provide requested services.

At the conclusion of the evaluation process the proposers will be ranked in priority order with the highest-ranking proposer being selected to negotiate a contract with the Northern Neck PDC. If a contract satisfactory to both parties cannot be negotiated, the NNPDC will then enter into negotiations with the next highest-ranking proposer and so on until an agreement is reached.

Selection Criteria

The respondents will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. The Consultant's understanding of the intended project outcome, i.e., what the intended end product is to be and what the project is intended to accomplish.
2. The Consultant's proposed approach for achieving the outcome.
3. The scope of specific services the Consultant intends to provide including how the Consultant proposes to involve the Grantee in the planning process and the Consultant's overall approach to the project.
4. Any potential problems the Consultant perceives with the project as proposed.
5. Professional qualifications and experience of the individuals the Consultant will assign to provide the planning services.
6. Knowledge of Federal laws and regulations pertaining to the National Heritage Area Program and the Management Plan requirements.
7. Knowledge and familiarity with the NHA Management Plan process.
8. Capacity of the Consultant to perform the work within the given time limitations, taking into consideration the current and planned workload of the firm.
9. Names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of clients for whom the Consultant has performed projects of a similar type and size within the last 5 years.

Submittal

Respondents should submit proposals electronically in PDF format via email no later than Tuesday, October 31, 2023 Noon EST to:

Jerry W. Davis, AICP, Executive Director
Northern Neck Planning District Commission
P.O. Box 1600
Warsaw, Virginia 22572
804-333-1900
jdavis@nnpdc17.state.va.us

Minority and/or female-owned businesses are encouraged to apply. The Northern Neck PDC is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin or against faith-based organizations.