Request for Statement of Qualifications for Hiring a consultant to assist in forming a downtown alliance and planning agenda for a downtown development plan For The Bear Lake Chamber of Commerce (Procurement Unit) and Garden City Utah

Posted: December 2, 2025

Deadline for Questions: December 22, 2025, at 1:00 pm MST

All questions must be submitted via email to Mark Smoot at bearlakechamber@gmail.com by the date above.

Qualification Due Date: December 31, 2025, at 1:00 pm MST

Qualifications Submission:

Qualifications must be submitted via email to Mark Smoot at bearlakechamber@gmail.com by the Qualification Due Date above.

A. Background/Purpose Statement

Garden City, Utah, is a rural gateway town located on the western shore of Bear Lake in northwestern Rich County. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town is home to just over 600 residents. Surrounded by U.S. Forest Service lands to the west and Bear Lake to the east, Garden City is a popular summer destination known as the “Caribbean of the Rockies.”

During the summer months, the city welcomes more than 20,000 weekly visitors who stay in over 500 short-term vacation rentals and enjoy a variety of recreational opportunities. In recent years, growing fall and winter recreation has helped Garden City evolve into a true year-round destination. The area’s long-standing tradition of raspberry cultivation remains central to its identity, with visitors seeking out raspberry shakes, jams, syrups, and other local specialties.

The Bear Lake Valley has a rich history, first inhabited by Indigenous peoples and later settled by western pioneers in the 1860s. Ranching and homesteading were the region’s primary economic activities throughout the 19th century. Over time, the valley attracted vacationers and second homeowners drawn by its scenic beauty and recreational offerings.

Bear Lake itself is a natural freshwater lake known for its unique turquoise-blue color, abundant wildlife, and natural surroundings. Public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management offer mountain terrain and diverse outdoor experiences. The majority of visitors come from Utah’s Wasatch Front, located approximately two hours southwest via Salt Lake City’s international airport. Ongoing population growth in both Utah and Idaho continues to drive Bear Lake’s appeal as a recreational and second-home destination.

Over the past two years, the Bear Lake Valley Chamber of Commerce has collaborated with Utah State University’s Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Studios to complete both a valley-wide and a Garden City-specific Vision Plan.

Valley Wide Vision Plan: https://usu.box.com/s/2if5w5j55friwcnnohzict58v1iy40jv Garden City Vision Plan: https://usu.box.com/s/azon2ox4v0somawd900u9hcvlxxxrr7d These plans present compelling visions and warnings regarding the trajectory of Garden City and its neighboring communities, ecosystems, and Bear Lake. Conversations regarding the future of the Garden City are occurring, however, a grassroots structure that inspires and facilitates the desperately needed collaborative conversations regarding the future of Garden City has yet to form.

This Request for Statement of Qualifications (RFSQ) is issued in accordance with the Utah Procurement Code and applicable administrative rules of the Utah Administrative Code. If any provision of this RFSQ conflicts with the Utah Procurement Code or Utah Administrative Code, then the Utah Procurement Code or Utah Administrative Code will take precedence.

The purpose of this RFSQ is to for The Bear Lake Valley Chamber of Commerce to contract professional services required to facilitate the collaborative creation of a Downtown Garden City Alliance, composed of local government representatives (including the Mayor’s Office, City Council, and Planning and Zoning Commission), business owners, property owners, and community members.

The consultant will lead the process of forming and assisting the Alliance in collaboratively developing a shared vision and creating an organizational infrastructure, and establish actionable one-year, two-year, and five-to-ten-year work plans for the Alliance. The process will emphasize meaningful collaboration, shared values, and long-term community priorities. A key outcome of this initiative will be a formal document capturing the Alliance’s mission, vision, goals, and roadmap for implementation for the Bear lake Valley Cahmber of Commerce (Procurement Unit).

B. Term and Fee

The contract resulting from this RFSQ will be for a one-time purchase of services for a total of $50,000.00. Work will commence no later than February 1, 2026, and be completed no later than May 10, 2026.

C. Communications and Question and Answer Period

1. Vendors are prohibited from communications regarding this RFSQ with the Procurement Unit staff, evaluation committee members, or other associated individuals EXCEPT the procurement officer overseeing this RFSQ.

2. The Question and Answer period closes on the date and time specified above. All questions must be submitted as described above during the Question and Answer period. Questions may include notifying the Procurement Unit of any ambiguity, inconsistency, scope exception, excessively restrictive requirement, or other errors in this RFSQ. Questions are encouraged.

Answers from the Procurement Unit associated with each submitted question will be emailed to all responding Vendors within 1 day or receipt. Questions and their answers will also be posted on the U3P -Bonfire platform for all to see. Questions may be sent/answered individually or may be compiled into one document.

Questions may also be answered via an addendum. An answered question or an addendum may modify the specification or requirements of this RFSQ. It is the responsibility of the Vendors to submit their Qualifications as required by this RFSQ, including any requirements contained in the answered question and/or addenda.

D. Instructions to Vendors

1. The RFSQ is not intended to limit the Qualifications’ content or exclude any relevant or essential data. Vendors are at liberty and are encouraged to expand upon the specifications to evidence service capability.

2. If it is determined to be in the best interest of the Procurement Unit, interviews and presentations may be held at the option of the Procurement Unit. The Procurement Unit shall establish a date and time for the interviews or presentations and shall notify eligible Vendors of the procedures. Vendors invited to interviews or presentations shall be limited to those Vendors meeting the minimum requirements and minimum technical score threshold specified in the RFSQ. Representations made by a Vendor during interviews or presentations shall become an addendum to the Vendor's Qualifications and shall be documented. Representations must be consistent with the Vendor's original Qualifications and may only be used for purposes of clarifying or filling in gaps in the Vendor's Qualifications. Interviews and presentations will be at Vendor’s expense.

E. Scope of Work

1. Project Intent The Bear Lake Valley Chamber of Commerce seeks professional services required to facilitate the collaborative creation of a Downtown Garden City Alliance, composed of local government representatives (including the Mayor’s Office, City Council, and Planning and Zoning Commission), business owners, property owners, and community members.

The consultant will lead the process of forming and assisting the Alliance in collaboratively developing a shared vision and creating an organizational infrastructure, and establish actionable one-year, two-year, and five-to-ten-year work plans for the Alliance. The process will emphasize meaningful collaboration, shared values, and long-term community priorities. A key outcome of this initiative will be a formal document capturing the Alliance’s mission, vision, goals, and roadmap for implementation.

2. Project Deliverables The selected consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

• Facilitate the formation of the Garden City Alliance and define its Mission, Vision, and Values.

• Define the Downtown District boundaries and establish district-specific goals.

• Develop One-Year, Two-Year, and Five-Year action plans, including milestones and schedules.

• Prepare a Final Presentation and Report summarizing the process, findings, and recommendations.

F. Mandatory Minimum Requirements Vendors must demonstrate the ability to meet or exceed the mandatory minimum requirements outlined below by providing a narrative point by point response, in the order listed to each requirement.

The following mandatory minimum requirements must be met in order for Qualifications to be considered responsive, as a Pass/Fail:

1. Vendor must have at least 5 years of experience in consulting with Rural towns that are located in gateway type areas. Gateway being close in proximity to outdoor public lands and recreational areas. Such consulting efforts need to have been focused on destination development and/or community master planning.

2. Vendors must be willing and able to travel to Garden City to conduct community/business gatherings as outlined in their proposal.

3. A description of the consulting firm or organization.

4. Examples of relevant experience, including key processes used, lessons learned, and project outcomes.

5. Names and resumes of key team members who will participate in this project.

6. Confirmation of the project fee ($50,000)

All the items described in this section are non-negotiable.

If it is determined that a Qualifications does not meet these requirements, at any time during the solicitation process, the Qualifications will be deemed non-responsive and disqualified from further consideration.

G. Technical Criteria

The subjective criteria that will be used to evaluate Qualifications are:

1. Describe Company years in Business (10 points)

2. Describe Number of Employees (10 points)

3. Explain the Project Managers Experience (15 points)

4. Explain the Project Teams Experience (20 points)

5. Describe the Project Teams experience with organizing and conducting Public Meetings (20 points)

6. Give examples of the Project Teams experience with meetings/negotiations with private land/business owners (20 points)

7. Describe your Company’s familiarity with Bear Lake Valley and Garden City (20 points)

See Scoring Matrix for further explanations on subjective criteria found in Attachment B -Score Matrix.

For ease of evaluation, the Qualifications must provide a point-by-point response, addressing in detail each area of the evaluation criteria, including addressing how the point-by-point response addresses the issues discussed in this RFSQ.

H. Evaluation Process

1. Stage 1: Initial Review

In the initial phase of the evaluation process, the Procurement Unit will review all Qualifications timely received. Non-responsive Qualifications not conforming to RFSQ requirements or unable to meet the mandatory minimum requirements will be eliminated from further consideration.

2. Stage 2: Technical Qualifications Evaluation

Responsive Qualifications will then be evaluated by an evaluation committee appointed by the Procurement Unit against the Qualifications technical criteria noted in this RFSQ. Qualifications will be evaluated against the technical criteria as follows:

Technical Criteria:

1. Describe Company years in Business (10 points)

2. Describe Number of Employees (10 points)

3. Explain the Project Managers Experience (15 points)

4. Explain the Project Teams Experience (20 points)

5. Describe the Project Teams experience with organizing and conducting Public Meetings (20 points)

6. Give examples of the Project Teams experience with meetings/negotiations with private land/business owners (20 points)

7. Describe your Company’s familiarity with Bear Lake Valley and Garden City (20 points)

Total Technical Points Possible: 115

The evaluation committee, for this RFSQ, will tally the final scores for criteria to arrive at a consensus score by the following method: a total of the scores awarded.

RFSQ Acceptance

Stage 1 – RFSQ: Vendor Qualifications During this stage, the vendors will submit a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) based on the criteria described herein. Vendors will be evaluated based on the evaluation criteria noted herein. An evaluation committee will score SOQs to identify the top three (3) highest-scoring vendors and may conduct interviews if deemed necessary by the committee.

Stage 2 – Interview Presentation If deemed necessary, the top three (3) scoring vendors will move onto the Interview Presentation. A total of 50 demonstration points is possible. Vendors will be given 30 minutes maximum to demonstrate their response to the Technical Proposal for the evaluation committee. The committee will evaluate the offeror on how well they would execute and perform the RFP services and scope of work.

In the case that the Procurement Unit determines that interviews are necessary, UIPA plans to hold these demonstrations in person at our office, located at 60 South Temple, Suite 600, Salt Lake City, UT 84111. We have listed the anticipated date but will communicate the exact date and time to all Offerors who qualify. Estimated date for interviews if deemed necessary would be January 6, 2026.

If an in-person demonstration will not work, we will set up technology to present virtually if needed.

Stage 3 -Fee Acknowledgement: Stage 3 will consist of fee acknowledgement of the posted $50,000 maximum budget with the highest-scoring vendor. If the maximum $50,000 budget, or lower fee, cannot be negotiated with the highest-scoring vendor, Entity will enter fee acknowledgement with the next highest-scoring vendor, and so on until a fair and reasonable contract can be established. Payment terms of agreed upon Fee will be done as follows: 20% of fee to be distributed upon formal binding of contract. An incremental 30% at midpoint as determined by both parties in good faith, with the remaining 50% paid at completion of the scope of work.

• By submission of an RFSQ, the vendor agrees to be legally bound, thereby, if its RFSQ is accepted.

• Contracts arising from qualifications submitted hereunder (including any subsequent negotiations) shall not be binding on The Bear Lake Valley Chamber of Commerce, its officers, employees, or agents, unless and until formally approved and duly executed by The Bear Lake Valley Chamber of Commerce.

I. Protected Information

Vendors may request that part of their Qualifications be protected by submitting a Claim of Business Confidentiality Form.

Pricing may not be classified as confidential or protected and will be considered public information.

Process for Requesting Non-Disclosure: To protect information under a Claim of Business Confidentiality, and Vendor must complete the Claim of Business Confidentiality form, at the time the Qualifications is submitted, with the following information:

· Include a concise statement of reasons supporting the claim of business confidentiality (Subsection 63G-2-309(1)).

· Submit an electronic “redacted” (excluding protected information) copy of the Qualifications. Copy must clearly be marked “Redacted Version.”

The Claim of Business Confidentiality form may be accessed at:

https://purchasing.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/Business-Request-for-GRAMA-Business-Confidentiality-Claim.pdf An entire Qualifications cannot be identified as “PROTECTED”, “CONFIDENTIAL” or “PROPRIETARY”.

Redacted Copy: If an Vendor submits a Qualifications that contains information claimed to be confidential or protected, the Vendor MUST submit two separate Qualifications: one redacted version for public release, with all protected business confidential information either blacked-out or removed, clearly marked as "Redacted Version"; and one non-redacted version for evaluation purposes clearly marked as "Protected Business Confidential."

All materials submitted become the property of the Procurement Unit. Materials may be evaluated by anyone designated by the Procurement Unit as part of the evaluation committee. Materials submitted may be returned only at the Procurement Unit's option.

J. Attachments:

Attachment B: Technical Scoring Matrix