Availability Study: Community Engagement

The City of Columbus, Ohio, through its Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), is seeking proposals for a comprehensive vendor availability study focused on community engagement. The primary objective is to conduct an in-depth analysis of vendor experiences and perspectives within the city's procurement ecosystem, specifically examining businesses over a five-year period from 2019-2023. The selected contractor will be responsible for developing and executing a robust community engagement plan that supplements data collection, including conducting virtual and in-person public hearings, surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Evaluation of proposals will be based on a 100-point scoring system with key criteria including project approach (30 points), past performance (20 points), offeror ability (15 points), response clarity (15 points), competency (10 points), and cost (5 points). Key dates include a proposal submission deadline of November 21, 2025, with written questions due by November 4, 2025, and an anticipated project completion within 6 months of the contract start date in Q4 2025. The contractor will be expected to produce a final comprehensive report detailing findings and recommendations.

The study specifically targets businesses identified as Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE), Emerging Business Enterprises (EBE), LGBTQ-owned Businesses (LGBTE), Minority-owned Businesses (MBE), Women-owned Businesses (WBE), and Veteran-owned Businesses (VBE). While no specific contract value is explicitly stated, the project is aligned with the city's $1.8 billion operational budget. Proposing organizations must provide detailed information about their company, project team, references, technical approach, and pricing structure. Proposals will be submitted through the Columbus Bonfire procurement portal, with the city reserving the right to select some, all, or none of the proposed features. The engagement aims to identify potential barriers to procurement opportunities and develop recommendations to enhance vendor participation across diverse business categories. Interested vendors should carefully review the full specifications available at https://columbus.bonfirehub.com/projects/206534/details to ensure compliance with all requirements.