2.1.6  Prepare a Request for Proposals

If the community intends to hire outside professional assistance to prepare the plan, before hiring someone, it should first issue a Request for Proposals (RFP), advertise it prominently, and give consultants an adequate amount of time to prepare their submissions. Once the community has received the proposals and reviewed them, it can interview a handful of finalists, and then make the choice.

Needless to say, it is essential that an RFP process be completely open, and that there not be any bias in favor of a particular firm or applicant going into the selection process. To minimize favoritism, the RFP should clearly describe the process whereby the consultant will be selected, who will make the selection, the criteria for making the selection, and the time-line for making a decision.

One advantage of preparing an RFP is that it forces the community to explain clearly to everyone (including citizens and local officials) why it wants a plan, what it wants the plan to achieve, and the process it intends to follow in preparing the plan. A second advantage is that submissions in response to the RFP provide insights, observations and suggested approaches that enable the community to better understand its problems. As a result, a community that goes through an RFP process becomes smarter and wiser, and is better prepared to detail the services that meet its objectives, avoiding problems and pitfalls along the way.

Preparing a request for proposals is a good idea even if in the end the community decides to contract with a regional planning commission or county planning department. Public planning agencies as well as private consulting firms can be asked to submit a formal response to an RFP--and going through such a process can be equally beneficial to a public agency by forcing it to explain its ideas and its recommended approach before embarking on a lengthy planning process.