The Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia and the Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation (ODDT) seek a qualified Interior Designer who has experience designing person-centered or trauma-informed service environments.
The Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia (the Fund) works in close partnership with the City of Philadelphia and private sector partners to develop and run initiatives that reflect Mayoral priorities and seek to improve the quality of life for all Philadelphians. The Fund will serve as the fiscal administrator for this contract opportunity. The Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation will serve as the project manager for this effort on behalf of the Fund.
The Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation (ODDT) collaborates with departments and the public—employing human-centered design methods—to create services that support the success and well-being of all Philadelphians.
In July 2017, the Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia were awarded a Knight Cities Challenge (KCC) award from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Knight Cities Challenge seeks ideas that help make cities more vibrant places to live and work, focusing on three drivers of city success: keeping and attracting talent, expanding opportunity, and creating a culture of civic engagement.
The award has funded a project titled the PHL Participatory Design Lab, spearheaded by the Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation (ODDT) and the Mayor's Office of Policy, Legislation, and Intergovernmental Affairs.
PHL Participatory Design Lab—comprises an in-house multidisciplinary and cross-agency team of service designers, policy-makers, and a social scientist. The Lab uses participatory design and evidence-based methods, like service design and social science, to improve City service delivery for and with residents, service partners, City staff, and leadership.
The service design team is enhancing aspects of the Office of Homeless Services prevention, diversion, and intake services with participants, staff, service partners, and leadership.
The social science team is determining the effectiveness of the Department of Revenue's outreach strategies for their Owner-Occupied Payment Agreement (OOPA) program, which assists homeowners who are behind on their real estate taxes.
This RFP will support the service design team's work with the Office of Homeless Services Prevention, Diversion, and Intake team.
This RFP does not commit the Fund or the City of Philadelphia to award a contract. This RFP and the process it describes are proprietary to the Fund and the City and are for the sole and exclusive benefit of the Fund/City. No other party, including any Applicant, is intended to be granted any rights hereunder. Any response, including written documents and verbal communication, by any Applicant to this RFP, shall become the property of the Fund/City and may be subject to public disclosure by the Fund/City, or any authorized agent of the Fund/City.
The PHL Participatory Design Lab service design team is looking for a freelance interior designer or an interior design firm to translate a trauma-informed space strategy into an actionable plan that the Office of Homeless Services can implement. The trauma-informed space strategy was created after the team spent time in the field at the City's intake sites with participants, staff, and leadership. It was co-created with staff and trauma-informed service experts.
Because this is grant-funded work, we're looking for freelancers or firms who can start immediately and can complete the design work by the end of 2018. Please see the comments section about flexibility with the end date. This is not a full-time position. It's a contract-based engagement.
Work with the PHL Participatory Design Lab team and the Office of Homeless Services to translate the team's trauma-informed space strategy for the City's prevention, diversion, and intake sites into an actionable implementation plan.
Iterate on the design plans for at least two review cycles.
Finalize work through implementation guidelines.
Train the team on concepts, plans, and guidelines through pass off meetings to capstone the project work.
By submission of a proposal in response to this RFP, the Applicant agrees that it will comply with all contract monitoring and evaluation activities undertaken by the City of Philadelphia and the Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia, and with all security policies and requirements of the City.
As a contractor of the Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia, the selected applicant will be required to maintain insurance. Specific policies and minimum limit(s) will be commensurate with the scope of work to be performed, and will be determined with the Interior Designer once selected. The Interior Designer may be required to provide proof of insurance at the Fund's discretion.
Brief proposal that includes 1) estimated project cost (Please note: The proposed budget should not exceed the small contract amount of $34,000); 2) your availability to start work in November of 2018; and 3) a high-level 2-month project plan with approach, timing, milestones, and deliverable review processes.
Proposals must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. Philadelphia, PA, local time, on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. Please note: The deadline for this RFP has been extended to Monday, November 5 at 9:00 a.m. A PDF version of the proposal must be emailed to: mayorsfund@phila.gov and liana.dragoman@phila.gov.
NOTE: Please do not send private questions about this RFP to the above email addresses. If you have a question, you must post it below in the comments section. We'll respond to your question publicly, so all applicants have the same information.
Hello! Excited about this RFP. I had a few questions.
– When designing for the first intake site, is there a specific site you had in mind?
– Will there by more sites than the ones listed that will use this design?
– Do the suppliers used for the furniture and interiors need to be approved by the City, suppliers that have worked for the City, and/or fullfill the minority requirements?
– Is the budget for interior design fee, training fee, implementation manual/SOP of materials and vendors, materials for the first intake site, installation of the first intake site OR just interior design fee, training fee, implementation manual/SOP of materials and vendors?
I really appreciate your help and can't wait to submit the proposal!
We're currently working on a response to your questions. Please note that we extended the deadline to this RFP to Monday, November 5 at 9:00 a.m. I'll reply again to your comment when I have accurate answers.
Question #1: When designing for the first intake site, is there a specific site you had in mind?
Answer #1: Yes – there is one specific site in mind. However, it's our hope that some of what we come up with together will act as a best practice for other sites and related spaces. To be clear, this RFP is for one site.
Question #2: Will there by more sites than the ones listed that will use this design?
Answer #2: Related to my answer above — It's our hope that some of what we come up with together can act as a best practice for other sites. This project is for one site in particular.
Question #3: Do the suppliers used for the furniture and interiors need to be approved by the City, suppliers that have worked for the City, and/or fullfill the minority requirements?
Answer #3: I'm still working on the answer to this question and will respond to you – hopefully – by the end of this week.
Question #4: Is the budget for interior design fee, training fee, implementation manual/SOP of materials and vendors, materials for the first intake site, installation of the first intake site OR just interior design fee, training fee, implementation manual/SOP of materials and vendors?
Answer #4: This RFP (at or under $34,000.00) is intended to be the designer's fee only, not the designer's fee + cost of materials and installation.
As soon as I get a solid answer to #3, I will let you know.
I have your answer to question #3 below.
Question #3: Do the suppliers used for the furniture and interiors need to be approved by the City, suppliers that have worked for the City, and/or full-fill the minority requirements?
Answer #3: Our team, OHS, and Public Property will approve all furniture choices with you, but you do not need to use pre-qualified City vendors as we'll work with the landlord to make the changes to the space. The space is not a City-owned building.
How will the new deadline impact the schedule? Thank you!
We can be relatively flexible on the timeline. For example, if deliverables need to run into 2019 a little bit, that's okay. There is urgency, but we want quality work. Please submit a proposal that seems reasonable to you.
–What are the deliverables? Sounds like it would be a floor plan, interior elevations, lighting plan, interior materials specifications, and a 3D color rendering showing the concept.
–Do you need permit level drawings or only conceptual level drawings?
–When do you need them by? If it can be in January that would be very helpful as the whole world is rushing to get work done by end of 2018.
–Is there any way to extend the proposal deadline to Friday 11/2 since we just received an invite?
–How many designs are bidding?
–What are the criteria for choosing a designer? Are you required to choose the lowest bid?
Thanks so much for your questions! Answers are listed below.
Question #1: What are the deliverables? Sounds like it would be a floor plan, interior elevations, lighting plan, interior materials specifications, and a 3D color rendering showing the concept.
Answer #1: Yes – you are correct. In the material specifications, we'd need to map specifications to cost.
Question #2: Do you need permit level drawings or only conceptual level drawings?
Answer #2: We need conceptual level drawings.
Question #3: When do you need them by? If it can be in January that would be very helpful as the whole world is rushing to get work done by end of 2018.
Answer #3: We don't want time to get in the way of quality, but there's a need to take action. If we have to spill into January for the sake of quality, then that's okay.
Question #4: Is there any way to extend the proposal deadline to Friday 11/2 since we just received an invite?
Answer #4: We'll extend the deadline to Monday, November 5 at 9:00 a.m.
Question #5: How many designs are bidding?
Answer #5: I don't have the answer to this question. We've posted this RFP to many design networks. It's an open process.
Question #6: What are the criteria for choosing a designer? Are you required to choose the lowest bid?
Answer #6: We are NOT required to choose the lowest bid, but all proposals should be under 34K. We'll choose a firm that meets all bullets listed in the "Submission Requirements" section.
Please note that we have extended the deadline to Monday, November 5 at 9:00 a.m. This will be the last extension.
Thank you for the responses and extension Liana!
Hello, We are excited about this opportunity. Could you tell us the approximate square footage of the space for this project? Also, will existing drawings be provided to the winning team?
I'm working on the answer to your question. I will respond as soon as possible.
The site we're looking at has three floors, but not all of it is public-facing. We'd like to concentrate on the public-facing components.
We have general floor plans of the levels. The more detailed floor plans of the actual spaces are a bit outdated.