This is a service / maintenance or supply contract in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Contact the soliciting agency for additional information.

Electronic responses ONLY will be accepted for this solicitation. For internal processing, including tabulation of proposals, please provide your company's Federal Employer Identification Number or alternate identification number (e.g. Social Security Number). Pursuant to G.S. 132-1.10 (b) this identification number shall not be released to the public. This page will be removed and shredded, or otherwise kept confidential, before the procurement file is made available for public inspection. This page is to be filled out and returned with your proposal. Failure to do so may subject your proposal to rejection. Orange County, North Carolina is seeking proposals from qualified individuals and organizations to facilitate a data driven strategic planning process that is grounded in the principles of equity, responsive to the concerns and priorities of the community, positions the County to address the challenges of the future, and is fiscally sustainable. The outcome of this process will be a comprehensive strategic plan that presents a clear planning process and approach, a community engagement process, relevant data and analysis of trends, identification of opportunities and strategies, a process to prioritize and focus County programs and services, and an implementation plan with performance measures that track progress on achieving the goals of the plan. The successful proposer will have broad experience and knowledge in public sector strategic planning, community engagement, plan implementation, and performance measurement. The successful proposer will also have knowledge of the roles, responsibilities, and authorities of county government and its programs and services as well as the roles and responsibilities of the Board of County Commissioners. Further, the successful individual or organization will have a thorough understanding of the legislative, governmental, administrative, financial, programmatic, and support functions of county government. The successful proposer will possess excellent facilitation, consensus building and communication skills. Individuals or organizations responding to this solicitation will be expected to provide solid references and examples of strategic plans created for other public sector entities. Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the terms and conditions of this RFP and any addenda issued hereto. Contract Award OC December 5, 2022. Consultants should enter "RFP#: 367-OC 5373: Questions" as the subject for the email. Questions submittals should include a reference to the applicable RFP section. Questions received by the deadline date, Orange County's response, and any additional terms deemed necessary by the Orange County will be posted in the form of an addendum to Orange County website and shall become an Addendum to this RFP. No information, instruction or advice provided orally or informally by any Orange County personnel, whether made in response to a question or otherwise in connection with this RFP, shall be considered authoritative or binding. Consultants shall rely only on written material contained in an Addendum to this RFP. Consultants should enter "RFQ#: 367-OC5373: Company's name, To Create a Countywide Strategic Plan": as the subject for the email. Electronic (PDF Format) submittals should be less than 15MB in size All qualified proposals will be evaluated, and awards will be made to the Consultant(s) meeting the RFP requirements and achieving the highest and best final evaluation, based on the criteria described below. While the intent of this RFP is to award a Contract(s) to a single Consultant, Orange County reserves the right to make separate awards to different Consultants for one or more work elements, to not award one or more of those elements r to cancel this RFP in its entirety without awarding a Contract, if it is considered to be most advantageous to the County to do so. Orange County reserves the right to waive any minor informality or technicality in proposals received. The consultant will assist the Board of Commissioners and County leadership in developing a comprehensive strategic plan for Orange County, North Carolina. The Plan is intended to direct efforts and resources toward a clearly defined vision for the future using a strategic planning framework. The Plan will be data driven, grounded in the principles of equity, responsive to the priorities and concerns of the community, position the County to address the challenges of the future, and will be fiscally sustainable. The Plan will articulate a vision, mission, core values, priorities, goals and objectives, implementation plans, performance measures, and a procedure for Plan review and maintenance. The County acknowledges that each Consultant may have a different perspective, approach, and model to develop a comprehensive strategic planning document. The proposal should clearly discern the approach that will best enable the County to achieve its organizational goals. With that flexibility in mind, the scope of work should include but not necessarily be limited to the following elements: o A process that allows for general alignment and focus among the Board of Commissioners, County leadership, staff, residents, business interests, community groups, etc. to foster a sense of inclusion and cohesion in the County's strategic direction. o A timeline and schedule for the project that identifies major milestones, opportunities for meaningful information sharing, and decision points. o Data on demographic, economic, social, and environmental factors and trends that are impacting or are expected to impact County residents, County government, and other institutions, programs, and services. The proposal should include the capacity to conduct a statistically valid community survey that evaluates residents' demographics, perceptions of the County, satisfaction with County services and communications, priorities for core County services, and priorities that will be most important in the future. The survey should be designed so that it also informs the upcoming update to the County's Comprehensive Plan with the support and input from the County's Planning Department. o Comprehensive outreach and community engagement that gathers information from residents, community groups, major employers, and key partners such as the University, school districts, nonprofit community, and municipalities in the County. The proposal should specifically include creative and effective approaches to gather input from traditionally marginalized communities. This outreach should also be designed to be useful in the update to the County's Comprehensive Plan with the support and input from the County's Planning Department. o A schedule and format to provide information and receive guidance from the Board of Commissioners that complies with North Carolina's Open Meeting Law. The proposal should include an estimated number of facilitated discussions with Board of Commissioners in order to accomplish the development of the desired strategic plan. o Engagement with County leadership and employees as stakeholders in the Plan and as subject matter experts in strategy and initiative development and performance measurement. o A framework to align other Countywide plans such as the long term COVID-19 long term recovery plan, racial equity plan, school capital needs plan, climate action plan, transit plan, facilities plan, master aging plan and others to the comprehensive strategic plan. o A decision making framework that helps the Board of Commissioners set priorities. o An effective, considered, innovative, and fiscally sustainable strategic plan document that prioritizes County initiatives and resources to achieve specific goals within a specific period of time. o Goals and objectives and/or initiatives that support the vision, mission, and values of the Plan. o An implementation plan that transforms conceptual goals into realistic, achievable targets. o Performance measures or key indicators and outcomes that will serve as the basis for measuring progress in Plan implementation. o Analyses of any potential partnerships that could be leveraged to more efficiently and effectively advance the Plan. o Tactics for effectively communicating the outcomes of the strategic planning process and for providing ongoing information on progress to improve transparency and accountability during Plan implementation. o A recommended process for periodic plan reviews, updates, and/or other plan maintenance.