THE NEWPORT COUNTY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
THE NEWPORT COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
NEWPORT COUNTY & THE EAST BAY
RHODE ISLAND
Release Date:
April 21, 2014
Proposal Due Date:
May 19, 2014
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Newport County Development Council (NCDC), the non-profit Foundation of the Newport County
Chamber of Commerce, is seeking a national consultant with expertise in economic development best
practices to lead an effort to create a regional economic development organization. This consultant will
develop an organizational framework for this regional entity based on national best practices applicable
to Newport County and the East Bay that includes, but need not be limited to:
 overview of specific functions;
 outline of appropriate outreach, marketing and engagement tools, techniques and processes;
 proposed short, medium and long term staffing needs;
 a five-year funding plan for start-up and operations for future sustainability.
BACKGROUND
A group of stakeholders has been meeting for the past eighteen months to develop a plan to create a
regional economic development entity. Stakeholders included the Newport County Chamber of
Commerce, the municipalities of Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Jamestown, and Bristol,
Commerce RI, formerly the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, the Economic
Development Foundation of Rhode Island, the vanBeuren Foundation, Social Venture Partners,
Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, Ninigret Partners, Naval Station Newport, Aquidneck Land Trust,
Newport County Dinner Train and Kirby Commercial. Over the past year the group has met and
continued to work together in county-wide conversations and efforts for closer regional collaboration to
strengthen the county’s economic and civic vitality. These efforts have been across various economic
development infrastructure need areas including: working on regional broadband/fiber initiatives;
potential disposition and redevelopment of surplus federal properties associated with Naval Station
Newport; collaborative work to explore potential cost and efficiency saving methods for critical
infrastructure; as well as, economic planning visioning exercises. These activities are in line with US
government federal economic development priorities focused on “place-based” policies that afford
communities working in collaboration to develop and implement proactive local-based integrated
efforts to promote economic and environmentally sustainable “place policy”. These efforts are allowing
Newport County and the East Bay to meet the challenges posed by the Obama Administration’s
Memorandum on Effective Place-Based Policies effort that advocates the position that, “The prosperity,
equity, sustainability, and livability of neighborhoods, cities and towns, and larger regions depend
on the ability of the Federal government to enable locally-driven, integrated, and place-conscious
solutions guided by meaningful measures, not disparate or redundant programs which neglect their
impact on regional development.”i Moreover, this “place-based” integrative economic
development approach, which is already developing within Newport County, has also been chosen
in the beginning of 2013 as the economic development model for the State of Rhode Island. Based
on these actions that have demonstrated a more productive and collaborative understanding of
economic development initiatives, the Newport County and East Bay communities and the Newport
County Development Council are interested in developing and implementing the next
transformative step that will allow us to move towards a nationally recognized “best practice”
locale for “place-based” economic development. Using the “place-based” model will also allow us
to identify and foster emerging industries that fit our industry clusters, and the geographic and
workforce environment taking into account preserving our unique and superior quality of life and
place.
These communities contend that the specific tangible deliverables outlined in this proposal, an
organization with a draft budget and future funding options, with a county-wide integrated
economic development strategy, and the parameters for a county-wide economic development
professional position, will provide that needed next transformative step in our collective economic
development efforts.
One of our goals is to create a “user-friendly” approach to civic engagement. Such “user-friendly”
engagement includes the concept of “one-stop-shop” access to government services and
information including collation and dissemination of economic data and resources. In the economic
development sphere, there exists the recognition that a county-wide effort towards regional
integration of data and information, coupled with a “user-friendly”, information accurate and time
sensitive dissemination system, will allow the communities to better compete in the regional,
national and global market. This proposed next step allows that process to continue and
accelerate, while complementing existing larger civic engagement initiatives of key communities
within the county.
A unique advantage for our region and communities already is that we already have an
understanding that when one of its fellow communities expands an existing business or recruits a
new business, it is a win for all the communities in the region. This type of region-wide “win-win”
attitude is not seen in most other areas in Rhode Island, or for that matter in most of the larger
New England region. However, the current sharing of information between the East Bay
communities to date has been in an informal and ad hoc method. This effort will be the first step in
a formal integration of economic development for the county’s communities. This effort will
complement the state’s current RhodeMap RI/State Planning effort which has stated that Newport
County is probably the most advanced within Rhode Island at seeing the benefits for coordinated
and proactive cooperation among its communities to advance “place-based” economic
development efforts.
SCOPE OF WORK
The Newport County Development Council (NCDC)and the Newport County Chamber of Commerce
(NCCC) seek the services of a nationally recognized Consultant to work with the NCDC/NCCC and
other stakeholders to create a regional economic development organization and sustainable five
year strategic plan for the organization using nationally recognized best practices resulting in a
turnkey regional economic development organization.
DELIVERABLES
1. Create the structure for a regional economic development organization, based on nationally
recognized best practices as they would apply to Newport County and the East Bay.
2. Identify the funding mechanism for a two-year start-up and a three-year sustainable
strategic plan including a growth strategy based on regional industry drivers and “placebased” economic development practices.
3. Create a 5-year budget based on the funding mechanisms identified.
4. Define measures for success based on nationally recognized benchmarks.
5. Create a position description for a permanent economic development professional including
identification of resources and strategies for recruiting to fill the economic development
position created, as well as recommendations to potential staffing needs and associated
position descriptions for the medium and long term (Year 2+).
6. Create and foster local and state relationships, build business networks and engage
community leaders to establish a network of resources and contacts to support the regional
economic development organization.
7. Working with Commerce RI, develop the parameters for a data-rich and user friendly
county-wide integrated economic development website that maximizes participation in
Commerce RI’s regional economic development website and other available economic
development assistance.
TIMELINE & BUDGET
This is a twelve month project with a budget of $100,000. Payment schedule will be determined upon
consultant selection and approved deliverable schedule.
QUALIFICATIONS/EVALUATION
Proposals should include your organization’s credentials, background and relevant experience and will
be evaluated on the basis of quality of work plan ad approach.
SELECTION PROCESS
Proposal will be evaluated by a group of stakeholders selected by the NCDC/NCCC. Three proposals will
be selected for personal interviews. All proposal respondents will be notified of the selection process
results by be selected and scheduled for in-person interviews. All proposal respondents will be notified
of the selection process results by June 3, 2014.
INSTRUCTIONS TO PROPOSERS
Seven copies of your submission should be delivered by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 19, 2014,
to the Newport County Development Council, ATTN: Jody Sullivan, 35 Valley Road, Middletown, RI
02842. The final contract with specific due dates for the various deliverables shall be set by mutual
agreement between the consultant and the Newport County Development Council.