This is a service / maintenance or supply contract in Bradenton, Florida. Contact the soliciting agency for additional information.

The City of Bradenton, will receive proposals for the purpose of selecting a qualified proposer to provide strategic planning and consulting services for an initial term of one (1) year with the option to renew for four (4) additional one (1) year periods. Proposers are required to comply with Part II, Scope of Services. The City may not accept incomplete bids. The City of Bradenton is seeking proposals from qualified firms to assist in identifying information drawn from stakeholders, residents, business owners, elected officials, City staff, and executive management, in developing policy tools to enable it to set future strategic plans and business direction. The successful Consultant will facilitate an inclusive, participatory process to identify and analyze data from both the internal and external environments, assist the City in a thoughtful interpretation of the data, identify specific policy and strategic issues, and create a 2, 5, 10, and 20- year strategic plan to include a comprehensive set of goals, objectives, and critical tasks that can be implemented throughout the City of Bradenton. SCOPE OF SERVICE A. Prior to and during the process of creating the strategic plan the Consultant shall: i. Conduct preparatory one-on-one meetings with the City Council, the City Administrator, Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and/or City Attorney. ii. Conduct preparatory group and/or individual meetings with Department Directors and any additional staff deemed necessary. iii. Conduct preparatory group and/or individual meetings with civic organizations, selected previous government employees and any other members or organizations as deemed necessary by the City. iv. Facilitate public meetings to gather input from residents, business owners and other stakeholders. v. Evaluate the existing organizational information, budget information, and other related documents to gain an understanding of current strategies and how they should be included in the Strategic Plan. Such information may include, but is not limited to, the City's finances, infrastructure, staff, demographics, socioeconomics, business development, job opportunities, housing, recreation, and technology. vi. Conduct City Council workshops that include the following: a. Facilitate a discussion of the City's assets, liabilities, and priorities. b. Provide a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the City. vii. Inventory of existing programs and partnerships to serve as a baseline to identify service gaps and opportunities for delivery options, partnership, and collaborations. B. The Strategic planning process should address various topics including, but not limited to: i. Building a stronger relationship between community and local government to help assure well-balanced growth. ii. The City's tax base, revenues and economic development. iii. Replacement of and/or improvements to technology, infrastructure and equipment. iv. Environment, quality of life, sustainability, and green initiatives. v. Demographic and economic diversity. vi. Areas for expansion, diversification and redevelopment of commercial sectors. vii. State and Federal funding. Including partnerships with the County to obtain various funding sources. viii. Efficiency and effectiveness of City services and any necessary procedural and/or process improvements. C. Identify options, consider opportunities and associated opportunity costs that may be necessary to reach the City's goal. D. Identify the appropriate agency, organization or team to take responsibility for specific goals and action steps. E. Prioritize and rank existing City services and programs based on the abilities to achieve established goals. F. Identify new strategies to meet identified goals with an implementation timeline that is within the City's capacity. G. Work with the selected Visioning Consultant to incorporate findings from the Visioning Plan into the Strategic Plan. H. The Strategic Plan shall include: i. The City's mission and vision statements. ii. Prioritizing goals and objectives identified through feedback from the community, Council, and staff. iii. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Specific (SMART) goals and objectives. iv. Benchmarking. v. Out of the box creative ideas. Question: The deadline to submit all questions, inquiries, or requests concerning interpretations, clarification or additional information pertaining to the Request for Proposals is August 18, 2023 by 5:00pm. Respondents are encouraged to communicate any questions regarding this RFP by the deadline stated above. Questions should be sent in writing via email to Erin.Jones@bradentonfl.gov Questions and answers will be communicated to all respondents by issuing an addendum posted electronically The City reserves the right to modify this schedule at any time. Evaluation Meeting - 09/07/2023 Presentations by Short-Listed Proposers - 09/14/2023 Notice of Recommended Award - 09/15/2023 Contract Award - October 2023 No pre-proposal meeting is scheduled RESERVED RIGHTS The City reserves the right to accept or reject any or all Offers, in whole or in part, for any reason whatsoever, to waive minor irregularities and technicalities, and to request clarifications or additional information from Offerors. The City reserves the right to accept all or any part of the Offer and to increase or decrease quantities to meet additional or reduced requirements of the City. Any sole Offer received by the submission date may or may not be rejected by the City Administrator or designee. In the event the City rejects the sole Offer, it may elect to negotiate with any responsible provider. The City Administrator or designee, reserves the right to cancel a Solicitation at any time and to cancel any recommended award or recommended contract at any time prior to execution. Offerors are advised that any person, firm, or other party to whom they propose to award a subcontract must meet all minimum qualifications as stated in the Specifications. Unless otherwise stated in the Solicitation, any resulting contract resulting from the Solicitation are non-exclusive. The City reserves the right, in its sole opinion, to purchase goods or services listed in the Solicitation through the State of Florida Contracts, cooperatives, other current government contracts, and non-profit contracts as provided in the City's Procurement Code. The City reserves the rights to solicit separate requirements that are a portion of a larger contract as a whole. Additionally, at the City's sole option, additional contracts may be entered into as a result of such situations as unusual volumes, time/delivery requirements, special requirements, other brands, lease, project specific requirements, or similar situations. The City reserves the right to correct formula errors on forms provided by the City for use by the Offeror. After award of the Solicitation, the City reserves the right to add or delete items/services at prices to be negotiated at the time of addition or deletion. At contract renewal time(s) or in the event of significant industry wide market changes, the City may negotiate justified adjustments such as price, terms, etc., to this contract when the City, in its sole judgment, considers such adjustments to be in the best interest of the City. The City may or may not require the prospective Offeror to participate in negotiations and to submit additional technical information or other revisions to their Offer as may result from the negotiations. If a resulting contract is terminated, the City reserves the right to go to the next lowest responsive Offeror with the balance of the resulting contract, unless otherwise stated in the Solicitation. The City reserves the right to refuse to award to any Offeror based upon prior contractual relationships between that Offeror, or a substantially related person or entity, and the City. This shall include, but is not limited to, situations in which the Offeror or, a substantially related person or entity, has had its contractual relationship with the City terminated or issued notice of default within three (3) years of the date of the issuance of the Solicitation. Any awarded Offeror or subcontractor that will have access to City facilities or property may be required to be screened to a level that may include but is not limited to; fingerprints, statewide criminal and juvenile records check. There may be fees associated with these procedures. These costs are the responsibility of the Consultant or subcontractor The method of Contractor Selection has not been Determined at this time.