RFP - Developing and Facilitating the Strategic Plan Process

Date: Friday, July 7, 2023

Deadline for submissions: August 11, 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time Submit proposals to:  rfp@eval.org

Overview

This is a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking submissions for a firm, group or individual consultant to assist the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Board of Directors with developing the Association’s strategic plan. The length of this consultancy is from August 2023 to December 2023. The RFP contains background information, expectations for this consultancy engagement, and submission guidelines. The contract will be offered to the contractor that best meets the requirements of this RFP.

Introduction

The American Evaluation Association is a professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEA has approximately 7,300 members representing all 50 states in the United States, as well as over 80 foreign countries. As an association, AEA follows unique governing policies with the Board of Directors as leadership. 

The American Evaluation Association seeks to act in ways that embody our mission, vision, and values in pursuit of our defined policies and goals.

Mission: The American Evaluation Association’s mission is to improve evaluation practices and methods, increase evaluation use, promote evaluation as a profession, and support the contribution of evaluation to the generation of theory and knowledge about effective human action.

Vision: The American Evaluation Association’s vision is to foster an inclusive, diverse, and international community of practice positioned as a respected source of information for and about the field of evaluation.

Values: The American Evaluation Association values excellence in evaluation practice, utilization of evaluation findings, and inclusion and diversity in the evaluation community.

The working American Evaluation Association Strategic Plan outlines goals set for the association. For more information on AEA’s governing policies, mission, vision, and values, click here.

Background

Since 2022, the Board of Directors has engaged in a series of discussions and activities designed to prepare us to develop AEA’s strategic plan. These discussions have included understanding whom AEA serves, trends in the evaluation field, and identifying pathways and supports that are relevant (and/or competitive) to AEA’s role in supporting the profession. We have also discussed the role of AEA in informing, guiding, and leading the development of evaluation and professional development in the field. While the Board is responsible for creating the strategic plan to cover the next 5 years, it is a document that is dynamic and adaptable and is to be adjusted based on new information and changing circumstances. Hence, the Board is committed to reviewing, and if needed revising it annually.

The AEA’s Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) has been instrumental in preparing the Board to develop a strategic plan. The GEDIs have provided the Board with preliminary strategic objectives, examined core AEA documents, analyzed membership data, and conducted a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. These activities resulted in the GEDI providing the Board with several recommendations for AEA’s strategic direction. The products produced by the GEDI and additional documents will be shared with the consultant awarded this contract.

Expectations for this Engagement

The consultant awarded this contract is expected to support the Board in developing a strategic plan that will help the Board meet the goals of the association. While the Board will write the final strategic plan, this engagement is essential in assisting the board with the information needed to complete the plan. The consultant will facilitate a series of discussions with the Board.

As part of this consultancy, the following activities are considered essential:

• Desk review and analysis of AEA’s core documents and data.
• Facilitate sessions with the Board, in virtual and in-person environments.
• Work closely with a subset of board members over the course of the engagement.

The deliverable for this engagement is a key input into AEA’s strategic plan and is to include strategic objectives that link directly to AEA’s mission, vision, and values and include measures of success that are qualitative and quantitative. We expect the deliverable to take the form of a memo (up to 10 pages) accompanied by a slide deck that gives an overview of the process and includes the key takeaways from the strategic plan. The memo is to include an overview of the strategic planning process, a description of the core elements of the strategic plan outlined in this paragraph and their importance to AEA’s immediate and future direction, and considerations for the board when finalizing the strategic plan. Membership feedback is important. We expect the consultant to propose an approach to share the deliverables with AEA’s membership that strikes a balance between the budget and the ask.

The consultant will report directly to the AEA Board of Directors and work with AEA staff and appropriately manage communications and relationships with each of these key partners. 

Expertise of the Consultant

• Expertise in facilitation: Prospective consultants should be experts in inquiry,

problem-solving, and facilitation. Those who will be effective will have experience managing group dynamics to best facilitate discourse between board members and encourage communication and teamwork.

• Expertise in translating research to practice: Prospective consultants should have ample experience with interpreting findings from existing studies that have been conducted both inside and outside of the organization and applying these findings practice. An ideal consultant would find opportunities to align findings from prior analysis, the strategic objectives of the organization, and emerging recommendations toward the organization’s vitality.

• Expertise in organizational change management: Prospective consultants should understand change management principles that will inform how AEA implements the strategic plan. Those who will be effective will have experience in leading strategic development in large and diverse non-profit membership organizations.

• Expertise in working with diverse populations: Prospective consultants should have expertise working with a diverse composition of identities (i.e., people of color, various disciplines, and lived experiences). Consultants should have the capacity to employ non-traditional approaches to strategic planning that challenge AEA from a critical perspective. This learning process includes the acknowledging and unlearning of biases as well as implementing approaches that responsively work with minoritized communities to equitable ends.

Proposal

The proposal should be clearly structured into the following sections:

Organizational Overview: A summary description of your organization’s experience according to the listed expertise and content specialties. Include a cover page with a primary point of contact information.

Qualifications: A short profile of the lead consultant, and if applicable, any team members that will be supporting you. We will assume that the team members you propose will be available for the assignment if your organization is selected. Please include a resume for the lead and team members.

Approach: A narrative that shares ideas of how you would approach this project. The goal of this section is not to provide a full project plan but to help us understand how you would think about approaching this engagement.

Budget: A general proposed budget for this effort, including all fees and expenses.

Legal Status: Your organization’s legal status (a public charity, for-profit organization, sole proprietorship, individual, etc.).

Work Samples: Please provide no more than three work samples. These can include a combination of internal work products, interim findings, and public/published reports (e.g., PowerPoint presentations, briefs, articles, etc.). 

The AEA will keep confidential any materials sent to us and will not use these in any way other than for our consultant selection process. Please limit your application to no more than eight pages excluding cover page, budget, work samples, and any resumes/cv. Also, please include the name, title, phone number and e-mail address or the primary point of contact on your cover page.

Budget 

The AEA expects to enter into a contract with a facilitator/contractor. The amount of the contract is ‘not to exceed’ amount of $25,000. The AEA will pay for the consultant’s travel up to $1,500 to facilitate an in-person session at this year’s annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. AEA is not liable for the costs incurred in the preparation of a response to this RFP.

RFP Process

This RFP includes the following phases.

If you are a firm, group or individual with expertise in the above areas and are interested in being considered for this contract, please submit a Letter of Interest (LOI) by July 21  2023 by 5:00 PM based on the local time. Proposal responses are due by August 11,  2023 by 5:00 PM based on the local time. 

You may also send any questions about the RFP or process; we will circulate all questions and responses (anonymously) to all prospective facilitators. Please send a letter of interest, proposal, and supporting documentation electronically in a PDF format to rfp@eval.org.

Project Timeline

This is a five-month contract, starting in early September 2023 and ending on December 31,2023. This engagement includes virtual and in-person meetings. Virtual meeting meetings occur on Zoom. The in-person meeting will take place in October at AEA’s Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Board will provide the applicant that is awarded the contract with the meeting dates and times.

Terms and Conditions

AEA reserves the right to reject any or all applications and to waive informalities and minor irregularities in applications received, as well as to accept any portion of an application or all items proposed if deemed in the best interest of the Partnership.

Modification or Withdrawal of Applications. Applications may be modified or withdrawn prior to the established deadline.

Additional questions? Contact rfp@eval.org.