Tourism Development Act Applicant Financial Reviews

The Commonwealth of Kentucky, Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet, is issuing a Request for Proposal to procure personal service contracts for consulting services to evaluate applications under the Kentucky Tourism Development Act (KTDA). The Cabinet anticipates awarding up to three contracts to qualified vendors who will conduct comprehensive economic and fiscal impact analyses of KTDA applicant projects. Consultants must assess whether proposed tourism developments meet statutory requirements, including evaluation of out-of-state visitor attraction, project costs, net positive fiscal impact, revenue sufficiency, and employment effects. Key deliverables include site visits to proposed project locations, detailed written reports with supporting analyses, coordination with state budget and finance officials, and presentations of findings at public KTDFA meetings. Vendors must demonstrate qualifications and relevant experience in economic and fiscal impact analysis, provide sample reports from previous similar analyses, submit detailed work plans with clear methodology and timelines, and include itemized project budgets with staff rates and assumptions. Technical proposals will be evaluated on a maximum of 200 points, with possible additional points up to 50 for oral presentations, for a total possible score of 250 points. Critical dates include a written questions deadline of March 4, 2026, an offeror's conference on March 19, 2026 via Zoom, and a proposal submission deadline of 3:30 PM Eastern on April 8, 2026. The initial contract term runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028, with the Commonwealth retaining the right to renew for up to two additional two-year periods subject to approval by the Finance and Administration Cabinet and the Legislative Research Commission Government Contract Review Committee.

The RFP does not specify set-aside designations or restrictions based on disadvantaged enterprise status, nor does it identify any incumbent vendors or current contractors. No specific budget range or award value is stated in the procurement documents; however, funding for consultant studies is provided by the KTDA applicants themselves, with costs charged to applicants and transferred to the Cabinet as a pass-through per KTDA statute. All expenses must be reimbursed on an out-of-pocket basis only with supporting documentation, and work does not commence until the applicant provides funds to cover estimated costs. Travel costs for required site visits must be listed separately in the detailed project budget. Vendors must be registered in Kentucky's eProcurement system and submit proposals electronically in two parts—a technical proposal and any proprietary information—each as a single document in Microsoft Word, Excel, or PDF format.