Climate Action Plan (CAP) Development Services

PROJECT OVERVIEW Columbia County, New York is developing a Climate Action Plan (CAP) for both government operations and the broader community. The goal is to identify and prioritize actions that will reduce our future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, thereby reducing the impacts of climate change on our residents, our economy, and the environment. On behalf of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, the impacts of climate change are currently being addressed through the County's Climate Smart Task Force and Coordinator. This Request for Proposals (RFP) seeks to identify an experienced planning consultant to assist the County in a stakeholder-driven planning process to develop a CAP. This process will develop goals and strategies to reduce GHG emissions that best respond to the particular challenges and needs of our County, local governments, residents, businesses, and non-governmental organizations. The Columbia County CAP will identify the baseline of current GHG emissions by both County government operations and the Columbia County community as a whole based on the GHG inventories being developed by the County Planning Department and the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC). The CAP will recommend policies and other actions that will reduce these emissions over time. The consultant shall also work with the Climate Smart Task Force's Land Use Subcommittee to enhance and expand on sources and sinks of GHG emissions from agriculture and forest land-uses in the County identified in CDRPC's community GHG inventory. The inventory can be found on CDRPC's Climate Action Portal at this address: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d6e83ce87edf4d43adc20834389c190a. We expect our selected consultant, in collaboration with CSC Task Force CAP Committee, will lead stakeholder outreach, analyze GHG emission sources and sinks, and propose policy recommendations that lead to long-term GHG reductions. The result will be a plan that includes implementation strategies for both County government operations and the broader Columbia County community. The CAP will also identify the resources required and potential funding sources available to implement a prioritized list of strategies. The initial contract term for this proposal is for two (2) years and it is the County's intention to complete the development of the CAP within eighteen to twenty-four (18-24) months from the date that contract is entered into by both parties. It is expected that the consultant will be available to work on the CAP during this entire period, and during any extensions of the contract period. Please refer to the full RFP Package for all requirements. Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years: NONE Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) SDVOB Goal: 6.00% Minority / Women Business Enterprise contracting goals (MWBE) Total MWBE Goals: 30.00%