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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Mercer Group Clean RFP 1 City  of  Bozeman   Request  for  Proposals   (RFP)   Strategic  Plan  and  Visioning       The  Mercer  Group,  Inc   2 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services 10501 East Seven Generations Way Suite 207 Tucson, Arizona 85747 (520) 891-1953 Phone (520) 721-7101 Fax bridgegroupllc@gmail.com November 30, 2015 Mr. Chris Kukulski City Manager City of Bozeman 121 North Rouse Ave. Bozeman, Montana 59771 Dear Mr. Kukulski: The Mercer Group Inc. is pleased to present our proposal for developing your Vision and Strategic Plan. Our proposal has been developed based on the requirements of your Request for Proposals Strategic Plan dated November 2, 2015. We have extensive experience and an exceptional track record of facilitating and developing strategic plans that work for our clients and their communities. Our consulting team is fully qualified to meet the City of Bozeman’s goals and timeline for this project. The steps outlined in this proposal are based on what we think will work best for the outcomes you want to achieve in the strategic plan. We recognize that you have a much better handle on what may or may not work best for your organization and community, so we are flexible in modifying our approach to meet your needs for the outcomes you want to achieve. The approach we are recommending is based on our experience of over 20 years with facilitating, developing and implementing strategic operational plans for public sector clients. We take significant pride in our track record with clients in tailoring our strategic planning approach to their needs, when necessary making immediate adjustments to the approach and responding promptly to any issues that may come up in the strategic planning process. I am authorized to negotiate and sign the contract for our firm. If you have any questions or require additional information regarding our proposal, please contact me at (623) 693-0032 or email williamstipp@gmail.com Very truly yours, William Stipp Senior Vice President 3 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services The Following is an Executive Summary and Our Understanding of your project requirements. Additional details are provided throughout the proposal: Project Task Our Experience Alignment  and  Strategic  Plan  Development  online   Survey  “Starting  With  the  End  In  Mind”   ALL of our previous clients have had no trouble adopting, implementing or executing their strategic plans. Why has this occurred? We start our process by making sure that the Mayor and Council, City Manager and Staff in agreement/alignment with the components they want in their new strategic plan, how it will work with current systems and processes of the city and identifying the results they want from their plan. Visioning  and  Public  Engagement   We have extensive experience facilitating a process to amend or confirm your Vision for the City. Our innovative online Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Surveys will provide the needed information to determine what amendments, if any, need to be made in the City’s Vision. We can also review the City’s Mission and Core Values for changes as part of this process. Our public engagement process is unique and provides opportunities for informed discussion and dialogue on the City’s strategic priorities and long-term goals. This process can easily be adapted to your Online City Hall Services. Organizational  Review Our proposal includes an organizational survey based (at levels you determine) on the nationally recognized Malcolm Baldrige Organizational Excellence Standards. It makes little sense to have the right plan without evaluating if you are providing the right leadership to make your organization successful. Methodology,  Operational  and  Administrative   Framework   Our consultants utilize an innovative Integrated Strategic Planning approach. This approach links the strategic plan to your agenda process, budget, staff work plans/evaluations and performance measurement systems. Implementation  Plan  and  Updating  Process-­‐The   final  plan  will  include  an  implementation  strategy   with  specific  recommendations  and  timelines  for   organizational  leadership,  staffing,  and  financing.   The  timelines  will  include  definitive  goals  and   objectives  against  which  the  success  of  the  plan  can   be  measured.  The  plan  will  include  clear  and   reasonable  measures  to  monitor  success.     The strategic plan that we develop for you will be focused on executing your Vision, Mission, Core Values and Strategies through specific projects. We will also identify performance measurement opportunities to assist in ensuring that the projects you are implementing are getting the intended results. Our work will provide very clear timetables for completing tasks. The plan will also include a process for annually updating and reviewing projects during the budget, to add new initiatives and/or adjust the timing of projects. Unlike other consultants, we recognize that a strategic plan has to be dynamic. Conditions will change year after year and you have to have a plan that can adapt and recalibrate based on potential changes. Project  Challenges  We pride ourselves at working toward what our clients want to achieve and not trying to force our boilerplate system into your successful processes. Our consultant team is flexible and adaptable to what the City of Bozeman needs to get the results that you want from your strategic plan. Based on a review of your website, Bozeman appears to be a well run city and we look forward to working with you. 4 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services Firm Credentials and General Background: Why Use The Mercer Group? The City of Bozeman is seeking a consultant to facilitate revise, and/or confirm the City of Bozeman’s organizational vision, mission, long term goals, and standards for prioritization. The Mercer Group is committed to developing and facilitating a successful strategic planning process. We will work effectively with the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and staff members to develop and implement a forward thinking strategic plan. The Mercer Group’s strategic plan will be a living document with Strategic Focus Areas, Guiding Principles, and a Work Plan that links your existing performance measurement metrics to your updated Vision and Mission Statements. The focus of our approach is to develop a strategic planning system that provides a seamless process for implementing current and future priorities. Our consulting team for this project has extensive experience facilitating the development of strategic plans that work for our clients and are easily updated without the further use of a consultant. Our experience working with a variety of clients in the public and private sectors will be very helpful to the City of Bozeman. The team has developed strategic plans for communities with populations ranging from 5,000 to over 100,000. Our unique advantage on this project is that our consultants bring experience from both the city manager and elected official perspectives. In addition, our team focuses on only a few clients simultaneously whereby preventing scheduling conflicts and the frustration that follows from consultants who are “spread too thin”. The Mercer Group, Inc. is a management-focused consulting firm incorporated in the State of Georgia. We operate nationwide, with strongly established areas of practice in the Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast, and rapidly growing Southwest, and West practices. Our firm has thirty-one people serving the public sector from eighteen offices across the United States. Our corporate website (www.mercergroupinc.com) provides additional information on our firm and its practice areas, bios of Mercer principals, and project and client lists. 5 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services The Mercer Group provides exceptionally high quality consulting services to a wide range of public sector clients: Ø State and local governments Ø Counties Ø Utilities Ø School districts Ø Transit authorities Ø Fire districts Ø Health care providers Ø Special districts Ø Colleges and universities Specialty practice areas of our firm include: Ø Strategic planning and policy studies Ø Service delivery alternatives, including the feasibility of consolidation/merger and collaboration/shared services Ø Organizational reviews and structure analysis Ø Management, organization, operations, financial, and productivity improvement Ø Human resource management, compensation and classification studies, and performance management systems Ø Executive recruitment Integrated Strategic Plan Model The Mercer Group has implemented similar strategic planning efforts for other clients and we are fully capable of carrying out the scope of work requested by the City of Bozeman. We highly recommend that the City of Bozeman continue to integrate its strategic plan into the business practices of the organization and begin linking it to the City Council’s agenda process, budgets, staff work plans/evaluations and any current and/or newly developed performance measures. The results of the performance measures can be used to continuously update the plan. Strategic  Plan   Board  Agenda  Process   Budget   Capital  Plan  Staff  Work  Plan   Performance  Measures   Update   Plan   6 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services The Integrated Strategic Planning approach creates a balance that aligns both your financial and human capital (employees) to focus on achieving the strategic goals and objectives of the plan. A strategic plan is not just a document that identifies the strategies, goals and objectives for prioritizing your services, programs and capital needs. This is just one element, but it can offer much more. Our process fully integrates your budget process with the strategic plan. It also provides a system for prioritizing strategic projects and work plans for your staff to improve service delivery and effectiveness based on the strategies and goals in the plan. Finally, The Mercer Group will also demonstrate how to fully integrate the strategic plan projects and initiatives into the City Council’s agenda process. The Mercer Group uses an innovative format and approach to facilitating the revision of your strategic plan. Our format allows us to tailor our strategic planning approach to meet your specific needs and requirements. Since we will revise the strategic plan based on your needs, we want to make sure everyone is in agreement on the outcomes you expect from the strategic plan. To accomplish this we will use a Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Surveys. Phase 1 – Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Surveys for Initial Meetings Alignment Do you always get what you expect without some planning in advance? The Mercer Group uses an innovative online confidential Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Surveys to determine the key components that will be included in the City of Bozeman’s Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Surveys serve two purposes. One focus of the survey is to determine how you want to integrate the plan into your current systems and business practices. The second focus of the survey is to determine how you want your strategic plan to work. Strategic Plan Development The Vision and Mission Statements will be used to build the Strategic Focus Areas, Guiding Principles (strategies and long term goals), work plans and performance measures for the strategic plan. The survey will also review the Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities (SWOT) as part of the environmental scan for the City of Bozeman. The results from this survey would be discussed with the Mayor, City Council, City Manager and other designated staff. The Mercer Group can base its facilitation of the strategic plan revision centered on the results from this survey. After the Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Survey, the second step in revising the strategic plan is to determine if your organization is ready to implement a strategic plan. 7 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services Phase 2-Review and Evaluation of Current Organizational Conditions How do you know that your organization is ready to implement the strategic plan? What are your organizational strengths and opportunities for improvement? How does your organization compare with the best run organizations in the world? The Baldrige Confidential online survey provides a “Gap Analysis” for you to identify and begin to focus on areas that may need improvement in your organization for the strategic plan to be successful. The confidential Baldrige Survey reviews how your organization is performing in the seven (7) key areas included the chart above. The results of the Baldrige Survey can be used to develop specific projects for the strategic plan to ensure its success. Phase 3- Community Dialogue Meetings and/or Bozeman Online City Hall Service The Mercer Group’s approach to this phase is to provide a simple, but effective process for engaging in informed dialogue with the community on the City of Bozeman’s strategic priorities and long term goals. The meeting approach we use provides directed questions that engage small group discussions to determine how the community feels about the proposed strategic focus areas, strategies and long term goals that will be included in the strategic plan. The questions that are jointly developed by the City and Mercer can easily be converted to use on the Online City Hall to get the input that would occur at the Dialogue Meetings. The dialogue process relies on small group discussion, reflection and consensus. Each group will have time for dialogue and report out on results. The Mercer consultants will prepare a short report summarizing the meeting and results. Our client tailored, dialogue meeting approach has been a big success in the communities that have used it. The dialogue questions are jointly developed with you and are designed to promote discussion and results. 8 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services The results of the Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Surveys, Baldrige Survey and Community Dialogues and/or Online City Hall service will provide the initial building blocks for developing your Strategic Plan. Phase 4-Workshop 1 – Strategic Plan Development Workshop This workshop will focus on developing a working draft Strategic Plan. Workshop participants will work through key components of the Strategic Plan. In this regard, The Mercer Group’s workshop approach is uniquely innovative since a significant part of the information for building and developing the strategic plan is acquired by using the confidential online surveys. The workshop is then used to build a consensus on what will be included in the draft strategic plan. The workshop includes the following components: ü Review the current Vision, Mission and Core Values Statements- Review and potential revision of the Vision, Mission and Core Value Statement based on the results of the Strategic Planning Alignment and Development and Baldrige Surveys. ü Create Strategic Focus Areas, Guiding Principles (Strategies and Long Term Goals) and Projects- Developed around the results of Strategic Planning Alignment and Development Survey. ü Review Strategic Planning Performance Measurement – Align current performance measures to include in the strategic plan. Performance measures should be focused on tracking organizational performance on strategic planning initiatives. ü Develop Integrated Strategic Planning Model- Integrating the strategic plan into the budget, staff work plans and existing performance measures. A process will also be reviewed for how the strategic plan can be annually updated. ü Review Project Planning Tool- Implement Mercer’s proven, copyrighted project planning tool to improve execution and success on strategic plan projects. ü Develop Strategic Agenda Process- Integrate the strategic plan into the agenda process. ü Develop Communication Plan- Implement a program for communicating progress on the strategic plan to the community. Draft Strategic Plan Following workshop 1, The Mercer Group will develop a draft of the Strategic Plan for review and approval by the City Council following Workshop 2. Phase 5 Workshop 2- Review of Draft Strategic Plan and Future Adoption of Strategic Plan This workshop provides an opportunity for the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, staff and others to review and discuss the work done in Workshop 1. Following this workshop, the strategic plan will be finalized by the consultants for future adoption by the Bozeman City Council. 9 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services Project Timeline-(Start January 2016-July 2016) Mercer’s consulting team of Senior Vice Presidents, Bill Stipp and Mike Letcher, will work together on each phase of the project. Having worked successfully in local government for more than 30 years, our consultants are very efficient with the use of your staff’s time. In fact, by using online surveys, we eliminate a number of meetings typically required by other consultants to develop a strategic plan. The following timeline illustrates each phase of the project and the decisions we will need from staff to move to the next phase. Strategic  Plan  Alignment  and  Development  Survey-­‐  Staff  to    review  draL  survey  and  results.   January      Develop  Vision,  Mission,  Core            Values,  Focus  Areas  and  Principles  -­‐  Staff  to  review  and  approve.   February/March   Online  City  Hall  and/or  Conduct  Community  Dialogue-­‐Staff  to  review  and  approve  quesRons  for  Online  City  Hall  and  /or  Dialogue  Session  approach.   April   Conduct  Baldrige  Survey-­‐     Staff  will  determine  level  of  organizaRon  to  be  surveyed       March   Review  Baldridge  Survey  Results-­‐  Staff  review       April   Conduct  Workshop  1-­‐     Staff  to  approve  format  and  material   May   Develop  DraL  Strategic  Plan-­‐     Staff  review  and  approve  draL.     May   Conduct  Workshop  2       June   Amend  DraL  Strategic  Plan       June   Board  Adopts  Strategic  Plan       July   10 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services (Optional Services) Envisio is a cloud-based strategic plan implementation, employee performance management and reporting software that helps organizations operationalize, monitor, and report on the status of your strategic plan while aligning your team to your overall strategy. Envisio empowers real time collaboration on shared initiatives across all hierarchical stages of your plan and its strategic planning framework is customizable to your needs. The software gives individuals full visibility into the shared progress of your strategic plan, which encourages employee engagement in the workplace and fosters a culture of accountability. Designed by senior executives for senior executives, Envisio solves one of today’s most pervasive business problems: How to successfully implement, manage, and report on your strategic plan in real time. As a SaaS platform, Envisio’s core benefit is positioned in its unique ability to tackle the challenges inherent in strategic plan implementation by connecting individuals and teams to plan deliverables through a sophisticated, user-friendly task management and reporting framework. Customers experience dramatic improvements in operational efficiency and plan fulfilment through Envisio’s ability to bring the plan to the forefront for all employees to execute on throughout any organizational structure. Envisio allows users to easily track activities and collaborate on shared objectives across all hierarchical levels of the strategic plan, which provides valuable context into their role and how their work relates back to the overall strategy. From one central, secure location, Envisio’s software creates a comprehensive, interactive, and adaptable strategy implementation environment that allows customers to effectively manage deliverables, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and drive productivity. Qualifications of Staff Project Consulting Team Resumes We are proposing to staff this project with two of our most experienced management consultants. No sub-consultants or contractors will be used. Our consultants will be involved in each phase of the project. Detailed resumes are available upon request. Our consulting team has extensive experience working throughout the country. Lead Consultant Bill Stipp, MPA is a Mercer Group Senior Vice President. He has over 20 years of executive level municipal government experience, retiring from the fire service after 27 years having served as a Fire Chief and other ranks. He has served on national and state committees including the Massachusetts Joint Labor Management Commission. He currently is in his second term as a city council member in a rapidly growing suburb of Phoenix AZ. with an annual budget of $236 million. These experiences provide him an excellent perspective on the challenges and opportunities of being an elected official in addition to seeing strategic planning from both the staff and the policy perspectives. 11 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services Bill recently completed an interim position as Administrator for a Special Taxing District in Arizona overseeing a $10 million budget and 120 employees. This “turn-a-round” assignment was necessary to close an $885,000 budget gap, restore strong management practices and improve governance relations. In addition to strategic planning, Bill also is an organizational assessment consultant with the Mercer Group studying organizational and operational effectiveness. His education includes a Masters of Public Administration Degree from Grand Canyon University, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fire Service Administration and he is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program. Senior Consultant Mike Letcher, MPA, CPM, ICMA-CM, is a Mercer Group Senior Vice President and Director of our Tucson, Arizona and Imperial Beach, California offices. He has 30 years of experience as a city manager, budget director, finance director, human services director, human resource director, and general services/facilities director in cities from 6,000 to 500,000-population. He is a recognized expert in developing strategic plans for public sector clients. Mike is a certified total quality management (TQM) facilitator and the recipient of innovation awards for programs he has developed in Human Resources, Finance and Customer Service. Mike holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Kansas and has published national articles on strategic policy development, improving customer service and redefining the relationship between the Mayor and Council and City Manager. He is an Assistant Professor in the University of Arizona Masters of Public Administration Program (MPA). Mercer Senior Vice Presidents Bill Stipp and Mike Letcher have a unique combination of executive, political and academic level strategic planning expertise, along with a proven track record of developing effective strategic plans for our clients. Why should you select Mercer for developing your strategic plan? We have: Ø Over 20 years of experience developing and implementing strategic plans Ø Experience working in Cities and local governments in multiple states Ø Extensive experience working with Mayors, City/Town Councils, City/Town Managers and Elected Officials Ø Experience from both sides of the strategic planning process – elected and staff perspectives that have implemented strategic plans and have experienced plans that simply don’t work. Ø Academic experience teaching strategic planning at the graduate school level Ø Extensive experience facilitating elected board and staff strategic planning development meetings Ø A passion for developing effective and result oriented strategic plans Ø 100% client satisfaction with our strategic planning services Ø Executive experience developing, implementing and managing strategic plans in previous public sector positions. 12 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services References and Relevant Project Descriptions City of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Population: 103,000 Project Description: Developed a new strategic plan for the city linked to their budget, staff annual work plans, performance measures and Mayor and City Council agenda process. Developing the strategic plan involved meetings with the Mayor and Council, City Manager and Executive Team members. A workshop was conducted with Mayor and Council City Manager and Executive Team members for finalizing the strategic plan for eventual adoption. References: Assistant City Manager Jeff Jenkins Phone: 918-259-8419 E-Mail: jejenkins@brokenarrowok.gov Lake Havasu City, Arizona Population: 52,935 Project Description: Developed new two year strategic work plan for Staff linked to their budget. Involved meetings with Mayor and Council, City Manager and Executive Team members. A workshop was conducted with Mayor and Council, City Manager and Executive Team for finalizing the strategic plan and budget priorities. References: City Manager Charlie Cassen Phone: (928) 453-4141 E-Mail: cassensc@lhcaz.gov City of Oceanside, California Population 169,569 Project Description: Facilitated the updating of their strategic plan, Mission and Vision Statements, Core Values and financial/budget priorities for FY 2014. The update involved six community meetings, meetings with Mayor and Council, City Manager and Executive team members. A workshop was conducted with Mayor and Council for finalizing the strategic plan and budget priorities References: City Manager Michelle Skaggs-Lawrence Phone: (760)-435-3072 E-Mail: mlawrence@ci.oceanside.ca.us 13 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services ATTACHMENT A: NON‐DISCRIMINATION AFFIRMATION FORM The Mercer Group Inc. [name of entity proposing] hereby affirms it will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, or because of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability in the performance of work performed for the City of Bozeman, if a contract is awarded to it, and also recognizes the eventual contract, if awarded, will contain a provision prohibiting discrimination as described above and that this prohibition shall apply to the hiring and treatment of The Mercer Group Inc. [name of entity proposing] employees and to all subcontracts it enters into in the performance of the agreement with the City of Bozeman. Signature of Proposer: ___________________________________________________________ Person authorized to sign on behalf of the proposer 14 City of Bozeman Strategic Planning Services Summary of Charges This quotation is negotiable and firm for a period of 90 days from the date of this proposal. We are very willing to discuss adjusting our quote based on more information regarding the requirements and objectives for the strategic plan. Our total not to exceed cost for developing the strategic plan is $26,800. Project Components Estimated Hours Cost Phase 1-Strategic Plan Alignment and Development Survey and Preparatory Meetings 32 $4,800 Phase 2- Baldrige Survey and Review and Evaluation of Current Organizational Conditions 20 $3,000 Phase 3- Community Dialogue 28 $4,200 Phase 4- Developing Workshop 1 Materials and Workshop Facilitation 62 $7,800 Phase 5-Workshop 2- Review of Draft Strategic Plan 20 $3,000 Travel Cost and Materials Includes 3 on site visits at $1,000 per visit. Video Conferencing Call will be established based on what the City requires. $4,000 Total Not to Exceed Cost $26,800 Envisio Option – outside of NTE costs OPTION $10,000 Insurance Coverage The Mercer Group Inc. is insured by the Philadelphia Insurance Companies located in Bala Cynwyd, PA. Proof of Insurance and a Certificate of Insurance listing the City of Bozeman as the insured will be provided upon acceptance of the proposal before a contract is executed.