[Consultantservices] RFQ posted Tuesday 9/12/2006 9:14 a.m.

[Grace Williams]

AICP has adopted the following policy:
The AICP Commission requests that entities soliciting planning
consultants follow a two-part RFQ/RFP selection procedure. <
http://www.planning.org/consultant/consult2.html> to read a description
of such a two-part process in PAS Report 443, Selecting and Retaining a
Planning Consultant: RFPs, RFQs, Contracts, and Project Management, by
Eric Damian Kelly, FAICP. To view more excerpts from the report, <
http://www.planning.org <http://www.planning.org/>
>/consultant/choose.htm 

Request for Qualifications - Consultant Services 

Webster County Development
The City of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa
Submittal Deadline: October 4, 2006

The following information and criteria will govern the solicitation,
review of, and hiring of an economic development and/or land planning
team or teams by Webster County Development.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION/SCOPE OF WORK
This Request for Qualifications/Proposals (RFQ/P) seeks proposals from
well-qualified economic development professionals and/or specialized
land planners to complete the following studies.  Interested firms are
invited to respond to any or all of these studies, but each proposal for
each study should stand alone.

*	Northcentral Agricultural Park Master Plan.  The City of Fort
Dodge and Webster County, Iowa and Webster County Development have been
working together to develop an agricultural industrial park in
unincorporated Webster County served by municipal utilities.  The site
is served by two competing rail lines and has an existing 30" water line
capable of 5 mgpd and two 16" sanitary sewer lines are under
construction to the site with a capacity of 5 mgpd.  VeraSun Energy
completed construction and opened a $100 million dry corn mill ethanol
production facility on 246 acres at the site.  Tate & Lyle will break
ground on 342 acres this month for the construction of a $270 million
wet corn mill operation.  A consultant is needed to develop a complete
comprehensive master plan for the agricultural park area.  The
consultant will need to work with and understand the operations and
current/future needs of VeraSun Energy and Tate & Lyle to answer
questions about future land needs, truck and rail transportation issues,
and other utility and infrastructure goals.  The consultant will then
further study the corn mill industry and in particular the wet corn mill
industry to determine the types of related industry that can be
recruited for mutual benefits and synergy.  The consultant shall also
analyze bio-chemical and other opportunities based on the commodities in
our region.  The end result of the study should also include a ten to
fifteen year development strategy and marketing plan.  The market
strategy should include the types of companies and the opportunities and
advantages we would have to attract them. 

*	Primary Sector Company Research.  Webster County Development
would like to help provide an environment where existing primary sector
companies trust local government, are satisfied with their services, and
would consider Fort Dodge and Webster County their first choice for new
product lines, plant expansions and efficiency reinvestments.  We
believe there are approximately thirty primary sector companies in this
community having eighty percent of their sales outside the State of
Iowa.  A consultant will be selected to meet with and survey these
companies to find areas in which they are underserved by or are
underutilizing our incentives and community assets.  The consultant will
also analyze with the companies the needs they have pertaining to labor
recruitment and their holistic priorities for the community for their
future growth plans.  The result of the study should be a prioritization
list of financial tools and community facility and asset building that
will best serve the industries. 

*	Target Market Study.  This County and region are home to a
quality workforce and Webster County Development seeks to find ways to
most effectively market its potential employees to the companies that
would be most interested in them.  We are looking for a consultant to
perform a targeting study that takes inventory of the socioeconomic
qualities of our region to determine the most appropriate industry
sectors for marketing.  This study should provide us with true insight
into our labor pool's capabilities and our community assets to determine
the types of jobs that can be recruited here and pay a living wage.  The
consultant will construct a market analysis of each of the targeted
industries showing their growth potential and their projected pay ranges
and compensations.  Further, the study shall provide 10-year growth
projections for each market sector identified. 

*	Gap Financing/Venture Fund Survey.  In order to provide the best
possible chance for a new business to locate and succeed, Webster County
Development would like to give consideration to increased availability
of gap financing and the development of a venture fund.  A consultant
will be selected to survey the commercial loan officers and other
development and business officials in our multi-county region to
determine the level of need for this type of funding.  We would like to
know the number and types of viable projects that did not happen or did
not achieve their full potential because of a lack of access to
financing.  This survey shall be completed with recommendations and
strategies for achieving the kind of gap financing that may be needed. 

PROVISION OF DATA/REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK
Webster County Development will provide access to any studies that may
have been performed in the past, however the vast majority of the
research for all four of these studies will need to be fresh and from
interviewed or surveyed sources.

REQUIRED INFORMATION FROM CONSULTANT
All proposals shall include appropriate resumes to include information
and history of the project team, related experience, staff participating
in the project to include functional roles on this project, and past
client references.  A time frame for the completion of the project and
an anticipated cost range is also needed.  Please remember, proposals
are welcome for any or all of these studies but each proposal must stand
alone to be judged against other like proposals.

DEADLINE
Six copies of your proposal must be received by Webster County
Development at the following address by Wednesday, October 4, 2006:

John Kramer 
Webster County Development
1406 Central Avenue 
Fort Dodge, IA  50501 
515-955-7788
 <mailto:wcdbz at frontiernet.net> wcdbz at frontiernet.net

 

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