We are soliciting proposals to conduct outreach throughout the Knoxville MSA in association with a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant issued by the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency. Additional information can be found within the document below.
Request for Proposals
Submissions
Proposals are due March 15, 2024 by 4:30 p.m. EST and can be submitted electronically.
Questions
Ally Ketron
Strategic Planning and Communications Manager
Knoxville-Knox County Planning
865-215-3234
ally.ketron@knoxplanning.org
Questions and Responses
Questions received by the March 4 deadline, as well as staff responses, can be found below.
Question: What portion of the $1 million grant is designated as the budget for the Regional Outreach Consultant to be chosen in this RFP process?
If possible, could you please supply a budget ceiling or estimated cost range. We can imagine different cost scenarios to complete the work but don’t want to risk being too comprehensive with our approach and proposing a budget that is beyond what TPO is expecting/has planned for. We could also prepare 2-3 budget scenarios that are somewhat tiered in what we could do or offer (e.g., budgets with and without software/other things that can be omitted/extracted; different types and number of outreach events for different populations, etc.).
Answer: The City of Knoxville contracted with Knoxville-Knox County Planning for regional outreach throughout the MSA. The total amount of that contract was $350,000, though the total amount designated for an outreach consultant will be less than the total contract amount. The final budget for the outreach consultant will be dependent on the scope of work proposed. We encourage respondents to assign costs to each task so that the budget can be adjusted if necessary during refinement of the scope.
Question: Are you looking for letters of support from partnering organizations?
Answer: Letters of support from partnering organizations are welcomed but not required.
Question: If there are only a couple of applicants, we are open to partnering with other organizations/sharing work. Is there an opportunity for this?
Answer: We are unable to comment on potential partnerships between applicants prior to seeing full responses.
Question: Are the tasks included in the scope of work expected to be performed in the order given?
Answer: There will likely be overlap of the tasks listed within the scope of work, and the consultant does not have to complete them in the order listed.
Question: Will the PCAP be completed and available to share with respondents to the RFP before the deadline of March 15?
Answer: The PCAP was submitted to the EPA on March 1, 2024 and was posted on the Breathe website on March 5, 2024.
Question: The RFP states “Proposals should provide a schedule for accomplishing all tasks for Phase II related to the CCAP.” Is there no outreach required by respondents to the RFP for Phase I?
Answer: Phase I, or the Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), was the first deliverable due under the planning grant and was submitted to the EPA on March 1, 2024. This effort included outreach to stakeholders, identification of LIDAC communities, and a general plan for future outreach during the CCAP. Because the PCAP has already been submitted, respondents do not need to incorporate the phase into their responses.
Question: Does Knoxville MSA/Knoxville-Knox County Planning currently work with an agency? If so, is that agency anticipated to respond?
Answer: Knoxville-Knox County Planning does not currently work with an agency.
Question: Do we need to be an existing vendor?
Answer: You do not need to be an existing vendor in order to submit a proposal.
Question: Which population segments do you wish to survey? How are they defined?
Answer: Low-income and disadvantaged communities (LIDACs) will be a focus of outreach efforts. The PCAP includes a list of measures aimed at reducing GHG pollution throughout the Knoxville MSA region, and aims to provide 40% of the benefits of the measures to LIDACs identified through the federal Justice40 Initiative in Executive Order 14008. Additional population segments will also be surveyed.
Question: Should the response include scope and cost associated with fielding, analyzing, and reporting on the survey results or only the development of a proposed tool and approach for distribution?
Answer: The response should include a full scope and all costs associated with surveys, which may include tools, distribution, fielding, analyzing, and reporting.
Question: Is the expectation that subsequent surveys would be tracking surveys to measure changes in awareness and perception, or would subsequent surveys have unique goals?
Answer: While it is likely that there would be more than one survey with unique goals, there is not a defined expectation at this point. Planning would look for guidance on additional surveys and whether tracking is beneficial. If scope and budget is dependent on the type of survey, that should be noted in the proposal.
Question: Are you open to other recommendations for capturing target population input to inform the development of communications tools and content and to identify trusted community groups?
Answer: Knoxville-Knox County Planning welcomes all ideas, recommendations, and best-practices suggested by respondents to engage in this work throughout the region.
