Submittal Deadline: July 1st, 2020 5PM

Submittal Contact: Adam Plagge
Economic Development Manager
City of Johnston
6221 Merle Hay Road, P.O. Box 410
Johnston, IA 50131

515-343-7424

aplagge@cityofjohnston.com

Request For Proposal Response Scope:

PURPOSE: To establish a community vision for broadband connectivity for residents and businesses in the City of Johnston by evaluating existing and future highspeed internet services, needs and capabilities and identifying tangible steps for achieving the community vision.

PROCESS:

Existing Private Service Analysis:

• Gather, organize and present information on existing residential, business and home business internet connectivity market conditions in the City of Johnston relative to the greater Des Moines Metro and comparable communities.
  • Breakout data by key neighborhoods and areas
  • Provide information on existing and projected internet connectivity needs
• Provide information on existing service providers pricing, speed, expansion planning and policies.
• Identify possible steps and identify costs necessary to meet current and future internet connectivity needs in the City of Johnston and categorize priority areas.
• Community Engagement:
• Meet with key stake holders to determine internet service needs and capabilities including key businesses, resident groups, schools, public works, public safety, Camp Dodge and other organizations as appropriate.
• Development and deployment of an internet connectivity community survey
  • Work with City staff to develop a community survey to arrive at key findings for internet provider service satisfaction, demand, reliability, upload/download speed needs, price sensitivity and overall interest in enhancements to Johnston resident and business internet connectivity.
  • Release and promote survey
  • Tabulate survey results and achieve a greater than 15% household response rate and 20% business response rate
  • Present survey findings to Johnston City Council and other organizations as necessary
  • Public Sector Capabilities, Needs and Processes
• Evaluate existing City of fiber capabilities, plans, reliability, redundancy, adaptability and appropriate uses.
  • Meet with key stake holders to determine needs for City administration, public works, public safety, Camp Dodge and other partner organizations as appropriate.
  • Provide infrastructure gap analysis
  • Provide preliminary evaluation of opportunities to expand scope of municipal services along with high level cost estimates for any proposed expansion
• Review existing permitting and installation policies and provide best practices information.
• Evaluate opportunities for additional public-private cooperation for internet connectivity improvements
• Community Vision
• Incorporating data and feedback from residents and City leadership, work with City staff to develop a Community Vision for improving broadband connectivity in Johnston that includes the following.
  • Affordability, consumer choice, competition in the market, performance and risk.
• Present Community Vision and findings to City Council and other key groups.

CONSULTANT RESPONSIBILITIES AND DELIVERABLES:

The selected consultant will work under the direction of the Community Development Department and will be responsible for consultation with the major stakeholder organizations, citizen boards, and the public and the following additional items:

• General management of the project
• Drafting and preparation of plan documents, graphics, mapping and other support services
• Data collection, analysis and presentation (with support from City staff)
• Organization and facilitation of public meetings (with support from City staff)
• Budgeting project funds
• Presentations and/or updates to the City Council Committee and City Council as necessary
• Products and deliverables shall be as follows:
• Maps and associated data shall be in ARCGIS 9.x format and shall be provided to the City (the City’s GIS data including that on the existing City fiber network will be made readily available as needed to the consultant)
• Text and report files shall be in MS Word and PDF formats.
• All final reports shall be presented in digital format for archiving and reproduction.

RFP TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

1. The City of Johnston reserves the right to amend the request for qualifications at any time.
2. Questions regarding this RFQ should be submitted in writing to the contact provided no later than June 30th, 2020.
3. The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals.
4. Although cost is an important consideration, the City shall not be obligated to accept the lowest cost proposal, but will base its decision on the criteria noted below.
5. Expenses incurred in the preparation of submittals, presentations and other incidental activities related to this solicitation are solely the responsibility of the respondent.
6. All data, documents and other information provided to the City of Johnston by the consultant because of this RFQ shall become property of the City of Johnston.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

Contact Information – Name, address phone numbers and email

1. Statement of Qualifications — A statement of the firm's experience and qualifications relevant to the proposed project, including public participation experience.
2. Overview and Form of Organization — A general overview and history of the company, including form of organization, number of years in business, number of employees, corporate headquarters location, and the names of principals, officers and directors of the firm.
3. Key Personnel — Names of key personnel that will be assigned to this project, their respective titles, experience and periods of service with the firm, including resumes if desired.
4. Project Timeline/Availability/Process — A brief overview of the anticipated timeline and process to complete such a project, including a statement on the availability of key personnel of the firm to undertake the proposed project.
5. Additional Processes — Any additional recommended steps or actions not identified in this RFP should be broken out as optional elements and include a do not exceed cost for proposed services
6. Firms Fee Structure – A summary of the firm’s fee structure for all personnel that would be involved in the project and a not to exceed cost to complete the project.
7. References — Names and telephone numbers of persons the City of Johnston can call for references regarding the firm's past performance, preferably on similar projects.
8. Page Limit — Responses should be limited to no more than 15 pages.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The City will evaluate proposals based on a variety of factors:

• Firm’s experience with projects of similar size, scope and complexity
• Firm’s experience in meeting similar project goals
• Firm’s experience in incorporating active public participation in similar projects
• Firm’s proposed project timeline
• Firm’s references

Based on the materials submitted, the City may invite any or all firms to make a verbal presentation on their proposal.

PROJECT TIMELINES:

RFP Response Due Date: 5 PM July 1st, 2020. Submit Proposals to aplagge@cityofjohnston.com in PDF format. Submissions emailed after 5 PM July 1st will not be considered.

Questions can be directed to Adam Plagge at 515-343-7424 or aplagge@cityofjohnston.com.

Proposal Selection: July 2020

Project Initiation: July-August 2020

Project Completion: Tentative January 2021