RFP - Trust Your Tap - Community Survey Project

The City of Portland Water Bureau, on behalf of the Regional Water Providers Consortium (a 26-member organization serving the greater Portland metropolitan area across Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, and Washington Counties), is requesting proposals for a regional community survey assessing public perception of drinking water quality, barriers to tap water use, and preferred communication methods, with proposals due April 17, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

The survey must target a minimum sample size of 400 to 600 individuals aged 18 and older from the Consortium's service area, administered in English and Spanish, with completion time of 10–15 minutes. Sampling must ensure proportional demographic representation of the greater Portland metro area. Contractors may propose online, phone, mail, or mixed-mode survey approaches with detailed justification. Survey questionnaires will not include questions on digital or video advertisements. The selected contractor must present results at Consortium committee meetings between May and June 2026, with all final deliverables—survey development documentation, complete raw data, written report with executive summary and detailed findings, presentation slide decks, and recommendations for future data collection methods—submitted by May 31, 2026. All invoices must be submitted by October 31, 2026.

The total project budget is $35,000 with no grant funding available. The City emphasizes contracting with equitably aware, environmentally responsible, and locally focused businesses. No incumbent contractor is identified. Proposals are limited to twenty pages (plus separate attachments for references, cover letters, tables of contents, subconsultant descriptions, and the Pricing Template, which are not subject to page limits) and must include proposer information, team details, project approach addressing four tasks, pricing with hourly rates and estimated hours, three references from similar projects within the past five years, and corporate responsibility documentation including equal employment opportunity practices, sustainable business practices, and civil rights data collection.

Evaluation criteria in Phase 1 are Proposer Capabilities (30%), Project Team (15%), Project Approach (25%), Pricing (10%), Corporate Responsibility (20%), Equal Employment Opportunity and Access in Subcontracting (10%), Equal Opportunity Employer and Community Involvement (5%), and Sustainable Business Practices (5%). Fifteen proposals were received; DHM Research, LLC and Probolsky Research have been shortlisted to Phase 2. Questions are due April 10, 2026, directed to Axkana Rios-Martinez at Axkana.Rios-Martinez@portlandoregon.gov or (503) 341-0310.