CITY OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

FOR CITIZEN SATISFACTION SURVEY

 

 

NOTICE TO RESPONDENTS

 

The City of Lawrence, Kansas will receive sealed proposals until 5:00 p.m. October 6, 2006 for professional services to assist the City with developing and conducting a 2006 Citizen Satisfaction Survey.

 

Respondents should submit an original with three (3) written copies and one (1) electronic copy to:

 

Debbie Van Saun

Assistant City Manager

City of Lawrence, Kansas

6 East Sixth Street

PO Box 708

Lawrence, Kansas 66044-0708

 

Proposals must be submitted in a sealed envelope clearly marked “Proposal for 2006 Citizen Satisfaction Survey” and received by the date and time indicated.  The City of Lawrence reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, waive any formalities in the proposal process, and accept the proposal determined to be in the best interests of the City.  The cost of the proposal development and any subsequent request for presentations, prior to the awarding of the contract, are the sole responsibility of the respondent.  Negotiations with the best qualified firm may occur in order to obtain a contract incorporating the scope of services, approach to project, method of contracting, experience with public sector compensation programs and terms and conditions determined to be fair and reasonable to the City.

 

 

SECTION I - PROPOSAL INFORMATION

 

The City of Lawrence, Kansas, (the “City”) (population 80,098) is requesting proposals from qualified vendors to assist the City with developing and conducting a 2006 Citizen Satisfaction Survey.  The purpose of this RFP process is to secure a contract with the most qualified vendor to assist City staff in the development, implementation, and feedback sessions related to the citizen satisfaction survey.  The City is a full service city and has approximately 770 full time and part time regular employees.  City departments include Administrative functions including personnel, finance, information systems, legal services and Operations including parks and recreation, codes enforcement, neighborhood development, planning, fire including emergency medical response, municipal court, police, public works including solid waste, vehicle maintenance, street, traffic and stormwater functions, and water and wastewater utilities.

 

The City last completed a comprehensive citizen satisfaction survey in 2000.  While the final content of the 2006 survey is yet to be determined, the City’s initial intentions are to use as many of the questions from the 2000 survey as appropriate to establish a baseline.

 

This RFP includes the instructions for submitting proposals, the procedure and the criteria by which a vendor may be selected.

 

Department:         City Manager’s Office

Contacts:              Debbie Van Saun dvansaun@ci.lawrence.ks.us – Primary Contact

Casey Liebst cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us

     

Address:               Debbie Van Saun

Assistant City Manager

City of Lawrence, Kansas

6 East Sixth Street

PO Box 708

Lawrence, Kansas 66044-0708

(785) 832-3402

                              (785) 832-3405 (fax)

 

Copy Requirements:        Submit three (3) copies of proposal and one (1) copy via computer-media provided in a Microsoft Office or PDF file format.

 

RFP Issue Date:              September 18, 2006

Due Date & Time:           October 6, 2006

                                          5:00 p.m. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTION II – MINIMUM SPECIFICATIONS

 

Project scope and general information

 

The selected vendor will:

 

  1. Have knowledge of and experience in working with public sector organizations in developing citizen surveys;
  2. Provide a Project Manager for this project;
  3. Meet with key employees and/or appropriate committees to develop and implement a survey schedule;
  4. Conduct and/or facilitate interviews with groups and individuals at the City of Lawrence to assess specific questions and/or topics for which customer satisfaction data should be gathered;
  5. Develop a sample survey for review and evaluation by key employees;
  6. Recommend and allow for multiple methods of transmission of surveys (e.g., Web, telephone, mail, email, etc.);
  7. Evaluate the results of the survey and provide the findings to the City for review;
  8. Report the results to the City Commission during a Commission meeting or study session, and report results to the Management Team;
  9. Make results relevant to each department available to the Department Director and employees.

 

SECTION III – PROPOSAL CONTENT

 

Proposals should include information outlined in this section. 

 

A.     Operations

1.      Describe how the vendor plans to assist the City with the development, implementation, and reporting of survey results which is the primary goal of this RFP;

2.      Provide a plan of operations to achieve the objectives set forth in Section II Scope of Services;

3.      Describe how the vendor plans to develop and implement the survey while maintaining the confidentiality of the responses;

4.      Describe the vendor’s experience in developing citizen surveys for other municipalities;

5.      Describe the vendor’s capability and experience in providing multi-level reporting of survey results;

6.      Describe the vendor’s ability and experience in conducting citizen surveys and collect results through multiple formats (Web, telephone, mail, email, etc.);

7.      Describe the firm’s capability and experience in ensuring a satisfactory rate of survey responses;

8.      Provide the City with at least one sample of a citizen survey conducted by the vendor, preferably for a similarly sized municipality;

 

B.     Firm Information, Personnel, References

1.      Provide a brief history of the vendor and its experience in conducting citizen surveys for municipalities;

2.      Provide information on those individuals assigned to work with the City on this project;

3.      Provide a list of the vendor’s municipal clients and include description of the project and a contact name and telephone number;

4.      Provide a list of any clients lost within the last three years and include contact name and telephone number; length of the relationship; and reason for the loss.

 

C.     Financial Proposal

1.      Describe the vendor’s proposed fee, including any applicable hourly or daily rates.  The proposed fee should include all related expenses.

2.      Describe how the City will be charged for these services;

3.      Describe any optional services and the price for each.

 

D.     Other Information

1.   Provide any other information the City should consider in evaluating the vendor’s proposal.

 

 

SECTION IV – EVALUATION CRITERIA

 

 

The City will evaluate proposals and, if a vendor is selected, select the vendor on the basis of:

 

1.      The vendor’s plan to assist the City to meet its goals for a citizen survey;

 

2.      Ability to deploy the survey in multiple formats (Web, telephone, mail, email, etc.);

 

3.      The vendor’s relevant experience, qualifications and success in meeting the scope of services included in this RFP;

 

4.      Projected schedule for completion of the project;

 

5.      Reputation and references from clients with similar programs;

 

6.      The vendor’s proposed cost of services (although price is not required to be the determinative factor);

 

7.      The quality of the proposal, particularly the responsiveness to the RFP requirements, and the adequacy the information provided;

 

8.      Any other factors relevant to the vendor’s capacity and willingness to satisfy the City.