RFP: Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Update

RFP for Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Planning Services

UPDATE 10/24: Due to a higher than anticipated response to the RFP, we are pushing back our schedule for interviews. We had originally anticipated holding interviews during the week of October 30, 2017. A new schedule for interviews is being developed. Selected firms will be notified of the new schedule.

UPDATE 9/29: Addendum 1 is available.

UPDATE: If you are unable to attend the voluntary pre-proposal conference on September 25 at 3:00pm, you can call in with the below information.

Call-in number: (712) 775-7031

Meeting ID/Access Code: 649-670-487

The Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) intends to hire a consultant to provide services to develop an update to the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and develop a broad regional strategy focusing on a strategic situational assessment of the metropolitan region, identification of a limited set of “game changer” initiatives and of the organizational and partnership capacities that will be necessary to implement them. Funding for this project is provided by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), so the final product must meet the requirements of an EDA funded CEDS.

In addition to meeting these requirements, CRCOG is interested in having the CEDS form the core of a broader strategic framework for the metropolitan region. A number of existing plans, recent reports, and agency-wide discussions have identified trends and situations with significant implications for the region. Some of those include: inner-city educational attainment, workforce training, declining population, aging population (and workforce), budgetary problems (local and state), stagnant job growth, new investments in transportation infrastructure, increased interest and investment in “active transportation”, and shifting preferences regarding urban living. To develop a broad strategy focused on moving the region’s economy forward, CRCOG envisions the following next steps as part of the CEDS update:

Goal-Setting: Build consensus around the need for accelerating inclusive/equitable economic growth; that is raising incomes across the income distribution with particular attention to opportunities for engaging those who have often been left behind.
Situational Analysis: Do a clear-eyed assessment of our situation: who, what, where to identify opportunities that we should be pursuing as a metropolitan region (i.e., SWOT with an emphasis on context and opportunities).
Strategic Planning: Formulate a limited number of “game changer” strategies that will move the trajectory of inclusive economic growth in the right direction.
Capacity-Building: Identify organizational forms and collaborations that we will need to implement and sustain the strategies forward over time.