Title
Discuss Economic Development Strategic Plan RFP top responses
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The last Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) was completed in 2018. The City is now at the stage where it needs to update the existing EDSP to meet the needs of Alameda and the Economic Development program over the next five years. In response to this need, the City issued an RFP on July 9th, with responses due August 17th. A total of 19 proposals were received and reviewed by staff. Staff have narrowed down the responses to the top four, which are being presented to the EDAP members to solicit discussion and feedback.
BACKGROUND
In 2018, the City Council adopted the existing EDSP, which was designed to guide the City’s economic development activities over the following five to ten years. The EDSP served as Alameda’s roadmap to achieve economic growth, and to improve the quality of life for residents and employees. The overall goal of the EDSP at that time was to focus limited City resources for economic development on the business sectors in which Alameda was an attractive option, where there was room for growth, and where they complemented Alameda’s long-term goals.
The last EDSP identified ten priority areas to support Alameda’s economic resiliency. The priority areas were divided into two major categories:
Business sectors identified as opportunities for growth
1. Life Sciences
2. Clean Tech, Green Tech, High Tech
3. Blue Tech and Maritime
4. Retail and Restaurants
5. Tourism/Hospitality
6. Artists and Small Manufacturers
Critical services to support the retention, expansion and growth of businesses in Alameda
1. Transportation Choices
2. Housing
3. Workforce Development
4. City Services and Policy Documents
The last EDSP can be reviewed at the following link: <https://www.alamedaca.gov/files/content/public/v/148/departments/base-reuse-and-economic-development/edsp-2018.pdf>.
The new Economic Development strategy will provide a road map for the City to determine where to allocate resources and identify priorities over a five-year period in business attraction, retention, and expansion. The goal of the new strategy is to move the Economic Development program forward to meet current as well as future needs and priorities. The City is aiming to ensure the background analysis for the plan can be completed prior to the new City Council setting its three year Citywide Strategic Plan priorities, so that the Council will have the current data and background conditions information it needs to make informed decisions. This is critical as Economic Development is a cross-departmental function that may impact how other areas of the City operate.
Request for Proposals (RFP)
Based on the feedback from the June EDAP meeting, the Economic Development Strategic Plan RFP contained the following three scope activities:
1. Evaluation of Current Conditions and Trends
Provide the context and analysis needed to develop the strategic plan workplan and roadmaps, look at the economic performance of Alameda, and show how this performance compares to surrounding communities. The requirements for this task included the following:
• Review existing economic development programs and incentives.
• Conduct a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the City’s competitive position.
• Identify the fastest growing and most competitive industries in Alameda compared to Alameda and Contra Costa counties using quantitative analysis and broker interviews.
• Complete an inventory of existing space available for retail, office, industrial, lab space and research and development to include asking rents, total square footage, and vacancy rates. Include sub-areas of Downtown Alameda Business Association, West Alameda Business Association, Harbor Bay, Marina Village and Alameda Point subdistricts.
• Analyze sales and transient occupancy tax (TOT) tax trends per district as compared with the County and East Bay.
• Analyze housing costs and multi-family rents compared to Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
• Conduct a general assessment of water, sewer and electrical rates to determine competitive advantages/disadvantages.
• Compare above information with Alameda and Contra Costa counties to determine competitive advantages/disadvantages.
2. Stakeholder engagement
Develop and execute a stakeholder engagement plan to solicit thoughtful participation and input from six stakeholder groups and key individual stakeholders. Stakeholders include the following:
1. Members of the Alameda Mayor’s Economic Development Advisory Panel
2. Advisory group made up of members from the Alameda Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Alameda Business Association and the West Alameda Business Association
3. Advisory group made up of tenants and business owners of Alameda Point
4. Advisory group made up of developers and brokers active in the Alameda community
5. Advisory group made up of members of the arts community
6. One-on-one Major commercial owners and developers in Harbor Bay, Research Park at Marina Village, Alameda Point and the Northern Waterfront
3. Develop an Economic Development Strategic Plan
Prior to the development of the plan, complete the following analysis:
• Given current economic conditions, determine whether the six business sectors previously identified are still opportunities for growth to be focused on and whether there are more nuanced NAICS codes / industries that require more targeted focus.
• Identify which industries to continue to target and develop attraction strategies and a roadmap to follow tied to the individual sectors.
• Identify within this, the extent to which the focus should be on retention and growth versus attraction.
• Given existing staff resources and budgets, determine the role economic development staff can play in the four previously listed critical services categories and determine which service categories to continue to focus on.
Based on the information and understanding gained from the evaluation of Alameda’s current conditions and trends, the stakeholder groups and the background evaluation described above, develop an Economic Development Strategic Plan that:
• Identifies industry best practices for utilizing data in developing programs, allocating resources and in making decisions.
• Compare the City’s current development project processes, including setting fees, taxes, rates, and incentives to regional best practices, and provide recommendations to City staff for improvement.
• Identifies best practices for developing and enhancing strategic partnerships with entities such as county government, trade associations, business groups, schools, labor unions, etc.
• Defines the City’s role in workforce development, including the development of strategies to enhance educational opportunities and job training, and the required relationships with trade and professional schools and higher education.
The Strategic Plan should also include specific activities to:
• Support small businesses and foster entrepreneur development.
• Support business attraction for targeted sectors.
• Support business retention and expansion.
• Include an Economic Development Marketing Plan that is multi-pronged and includes, but is not limited to, the creation of branding, campaigns, collateral, and website and social media content.
Finally, the Plan should include the following components:
• A road map for any necessary modifications to the Economic Development Work Plan within the resources provided, and alternatives requiring more resources, with costs and benefits.
• A plan for telling the story of the Economic Development program, activities and successes internally and externally.
• An explanation of the important economic development roles tangentially assumed by other City departments (ie AMP, planning, building, public works, police)
• Identify appropriate economic development performance tracking metrics and methods and the cadence for performance monitoring by metric (quarterly, annually, biannually, every 5 years).
• Identify priorities and resources necessary for implementing recommendations.
• Provide recommendations for the frequency of future Economic Development Strategic Plan updates.
RFP Timing
The anticipated remaining timeline for the RFP is as follows:
• August 17, 2026 Received RFP responses back
• September 2, 2026 EDAP review/comments on RFP responses
• September 8, 2026 Finalist oral interviews
• October 20, 2026 Council to review finalist contract
DISCUSSION
In response to the RFP, nineteen proposals were received by the cutoff time of 4:00 pm on August 17th. Economic Development staff reviewed the proposals based on the following criteria.
|
|
Technical Criteria |
Points |
|
1 |
Clear understanding of the project requirements and work to be performed |
25 |
|
2 |
Quality of staff and staffing plan, inclusive of subconsultants (Relevant experience and technical competence of the prime consultant and their proposed subconsultants, the personnel assigned to this project, and the degree of participation in the project by the key personnel) |
20 |
|
3 |
Recent experience with similar kinds of projects, references |
20 |
|
4 |
Proposed fee structure - cost competitiveness and value to the city |
20 |
|
5 |
Degree of promptness and commitment with which the consultant can commence and complete the work with demonstration of an aggressive and shorter project schedule completion date |
10 |
|
6 |
The responsiveness and overall quality of the technical proposal |
5 |
|
|
TOTAL POINTS |
100 |
Overall, staff were pleased with the number and quality of the responses and felt that the pool included some of the top firms in the Bay Area and beyond. Based on the criteria listed above, staff narrowed down the responses to the top four proposals to be considered as follows (not in order of preference):
1. Willdan Financial Services
2. Good City Company
3. Harris & Associates
4. BAE Urban Economics
Willdan Financial Services
Willdan Financial Services is an operating division of Willdan Group, Inc., based out of Temecula, CA. The financial services division has a regional office in Oakland, CA and has been providing public finance and economic development consulting services for over 40 years.
• Subconsultant Team
o Blue Flamingo (Chico)
§ Blue Flamingo is a civic marketing, branding and communications firm
§ Will lead community outreach, marketing and branding
o The Metts Group (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho)
§ The Metts Group is a national industry attraction and workforce development expert
§ Will lead industry attraction and workforce development
• Personnel Experience/ Project Experience
Willdan, as well as the assigned project managers, have extensive economic development strategic planning experience in the Bay Area, throughout California and in other states. The two subconsultants are also leaders in their field.
• Cost - $222,200 for 788 hours = $281.97 per hour average
• Timing for Plan Completion - September, 2027
Good City Company
Good City Company is a local government consulting company headquartered in Redwood City. The company has been in business since 1991 and primarily serves Northern California public agencies.
• Subconsultant Team
o Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. - EPS (Oakland)
§ EPS is a land economics firm with more than 40 years of experience working with cities
§ Will lead data analysis, current conditions and trends
• Personnel Experience/Project Experience
Good City has extensive experience producing Economic Development Strategic plans for other Bay area cities. In addition, their assigned project managers have extensive municipal economic development experience. EPS is considered one of the Bay Area leaders in their field.
• Cost - $208,221 for 840 hours = $247.88 per hour average
• Timing for Plan Completion - June, 2027
Harris & Associates
Harris & Associates is a consulting firm focused on helping public agencies solve complex challenges. For over 50 years, their Municipal and District Finance group has served more than 100 public agencies.
• Subconsultant Team
o Chabin Concepts (Chico)
§ Chabin Concepts has served over 400 communities since their founding in 1989. Over the last 6 years, they have completed 10 economic development strategic plans and 16 comprehensive economic development strategies.
§ Will lead economic positioning and marketing
o Urban Scenarios (Portland)
§ Urban Scenarios specialize in translating market and real estate information into place-based strategies and visual tools through the use of ESRI StoryMaps.
§ Will lead industry analysis, stakeholder engagement
o Economic Forensics and Analytics - EFA (Petaluma)
§ EFA is an economic and public-policy consulting firm established in 2000.
§ Will lead economic conditions and trends
• Personnel Experience/Project Experience
All members of the team have extensive experience in their field and have produced the highest number of comparable economic development strategic plans from the group of four finalists.
• Cost - $243,868 for 1,072 hours = $227.48 per hour average
• Timing for Plan Completion - June, 2027
BAE Urban Economics
BAE is a national urban planning and real estate consulting firm that has been in business for 40 years. Since 1986, they have completed more than 2,900 projects. The firm is passionate about the “triple bottom-line of sustainable economics, equity and environment.
• Subconsultant Team
o Jones Lang LaSalle - JLL (SF Regional office)
§ JLL is a global leader in real estate data analysis and strategy
§ Will lead community outreach, marketing and branding
o Greensfelder Real Estate Strategy
§ Greensfelder is one of California’s leading retail and commercial revitalization consultant companies.
§ Will lead industry attraction and workforce development
• Personnel Experience/Project Experience
BAE and its principals have been involved with numerous Bay Area economic development projects as well as work in the life science sector. The two subconsultants also bring extensive experience as leaders in their field.
• Cost - $215,825 for 917 hours = $235.36 per hour average
• Timing for Plan Completion - April, 2027
Staff have also requested that the firms each provide a sample of the background data reporting and analysis, and a sample Economic Development Strategic Plan from another jurisdiction. Staff will amend this report to provide those documents when they are made available. The proposals for the four teams, as well as samples, will be interesting to review and discuss in the EDAP meeting.
Next Steps
Staff are seeking EDAP’s feedback on the elements of the proposals that the Panel thinks are strong, areas the EDAP would like to see more work, and any potential areas of clarification or priorities that EDAP thinks should be explored in the evaluation of the firms. Staff will be conducting interviews with the final four firms on September 8 and are able to seek clarification from the firms during or prior to this interview step. EDAP may appoint a panelist representative to serve on the interview committee if that is desired and the schedule permits.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend that EDAP review the four proposals in preparation for discussion and feedback.
Respectfully submitted by,
Dwayne Dalman
Economic Development Division Manager
By,
Cesar Mesias, Economic Development Specialist II
Exhibits:
1. Exhibit 1 - Willdan Financial Services EDSP
2. Exhibit 2 - Good City EDSP Proposal
3. Exhibit 3 - Harris & Associates EDSP Proposal
4. Exhibit 4 - BAE EDSP Proposal