Explanation
1. Background
This legislation authorizes the Director of Development to enter into contract with Next Street for professional economic development consultancy services in an amount up to $130,000 to provide a comprehensive assessment and study of opportunities for entrepreneurship-based economic development in Columbus, Ohio.
The project was formally advertised on the Vendor Services web site from July 25, 2018, to August 15, 2018. The city received seven (7) responses. A proposal from Angelou Economics was deemed non-responsive due to it being submitted after the deadline.
The responsive firms were:
CONSULTANT LOCATION FROM COUNTY AUDITOR'S OFFICE WEB SITE
Council of Development Finance Agencies Columbus
CJSD Consulting Powell (Delaware Co)
Crane RD Columbus
Creative EDC North Carolina
Next Street Massachusetts
SourceLink Missouri
The department is in the early stages of contract negotiation and anticipates the final fee will not be known before the final deadline to go to Council and encumber funds in 2018. If the final scope results in a fee greater than $130,000, the department will execute a contract with a scope that that does not exceed $130,000 and will return to Council and seek approval to modify the contract to complete the remainder of the scope and add additional funds in early 2019.
By assessing the city-wide ecosystem, the City of Columbus embraces the fact that effective entrepreneurship-based development is more likely to succeed when it is based on research that identifies existing assets and gaps, is inclusive of all stakeholders, driven by collaboration, and is used to develop actionable and measurable strategies. Therefore, it is the intentions of the City, by commissioning this study, to develop and present an entrepreneurial development framework and small business agenda for comprehensive and inclusive entrepreneurship-based economic development. In developing these outcomes, the City wishes to provide a con...
Click here for full text