Human Services Needs Assessment and Strategies

NEIGHBORHOOD & COMMUNITY SERVICES
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
HUMAN SERVICES NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND STRATEGIES
SPECIFICATION NO. NC26-0190F

City of Tacoma
Neighborhood & Community Services
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) NC26-0190F
HUMAN SERVICES NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND STRATEGIES
Submittal Deadline: 11:00 a.m., Pacific Time, Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Submittals must be received by the City's Procurement and Payables Division by 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
The City is seeking one qualified consulting firm or consultant team to complete the work described in the RFP.
Submittal Delivery: Electronic submittals will be received as follows:
By Electronic Submission: monday.com Submission Link
Respondents must submit one complete electronic proposal package, including all items identified in the
Submittal Checklist and Section 10 of the RFP.
The City will designate the time recorded by the electronic submission system as the official time of
receipt. Please allow sufficient time for delivery. Timely electronic delivery is at the risk of the
Respondent.
Bid Opening: Submittals must be received by the City's Procurement and Payables Division prior to 11:00
a.m. Pacific Time.
Submittals in response to an RFP will be recorded as received but will not be read aloud at bid opening.
As soon as possible after 1:00 p.m. on the submittal deadline, preliminary results will be posted to
www.TacomaPurchasing.org.
Solicitation Documents: An electronic copy of the complete solicitation documents may be viewed and
obtained by accessing the City of Tacoma Purchasing website at www.TacomaPurchasing.org.
* Register for the Bid Holders List to receive notices of addenda, questions and answers, and related
updates.
* Click here to see a list of vendors registered for this solicitation.
Pre-Proposal Meeting: No pre-proposal meeting will be held. Questions and requests for clarification may be
submitted as stated in Section 6 of the RFP.
Project Scope: The City of Tacoma Neighborhood & Community Services Department is seeking a qualified
consultant or consultant team to conduct a comprehensive Human Services Needs Assessment and develop a
distinct but aligned Human Services Strategy, Homelessness Strategy, and Affordable Housing Strategy.
The Needs Assessment will establish a current, equity-centered understanding of community need and
evaluate the accessibility, capacity, coordination, and effectiveness of human services for Tacoma residents,
homelessness response, and affordable housing systems. The assessment will serve as the evidence base for
the three strategies.
The four work products must function as distinct but aligned documents. The selected consultant will conduct
research and data analysis, facilitate community and stakeholder engagement, support City governance
bodies, identify priorities and system gaps, and produce actionable implementation frameworks with outcomes,
measures, responsibilities, sequencing, and resource considerations.
Estimate: The anticipated project budget is up to $200,000. The final contract amount will be determined
through the competitive selection and contract negotiation process.
Paid Sick Leave: The City of Tacoma requires all employers to provide paid sick leave in accordance with
State of Washington law.
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Form No. SPEC-040C Revised: 06/03/2024

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Information: The City of Tacoma, in accordance with Section 504 of
the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), commits to
nondiscrimination on the basis of disability, in all of its programs and activities. Specification materials can be
made available in an alternate format by emailing the contact listed below in the Additional Information section.
Title VI Information:
"The City of Tacoma" in accordance with provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, (78 Stat. 252, 42
U.S.C. sections 2000d to 2000d-4) and the Regulations, hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively
ensure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises
will be afforded full and fair opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated
against on the grounds of race, color, national origin in consideration of award.
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languageaccess@tacoma.gov
Additional Information: Requests for information regarding the specifications may be obtained by contacting
the Sara Bird by email to sbird@tacoma.gov.
Protest Policy: City of Tacoma protest policy, located at www.tacomapurchasing.org, specifies procedures for
protests submitted prior to and after submittal deadline.
Meeting sites are accessible to persons with disabilities. Reasonable
accommodations for persons with disabilities can be arranged with 48 hours advance
notice by calling 253-502-8468.
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Form No. SPEC-040C Revised: 06/03/2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUBMITTAL CHECK LIST ......................................................................................................... 5
1. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 6
2. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................................. 7
3. SCOPE OF SERVICES AND DELIVERABLES................................................................... 7
4. CONTRACT TERM ............................................................................................................11
5. CALENDAR OF EVENTS ..................................................................................................11
6. INQUIRIES ........................................................................................................................11
7. PRE-PROPOSAL MEETING..............................................................................................12
8. DISCLAIMER .....................................................................................................................12
9. EVALUATION CRITERIA ...................................................................................................12
10. CONTENT TO BE SUBMITTED - This section represents 100% of the possible scoring
criteria. ......................................................................................................................................13
11. INTERVIEWS / ORAL PRESENTATIONS .....................................................................15
12. RESPONSIVENESS .....................................................................................................15
13. ACCEPTANCE / REJECTION OF SUBMITTALS ..........................................................16
14. CONTRACT OBLIGATION ............................................................................................16
15. STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS / GENERAL PROVISIONS ...........................16
16. INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS ....................................................................................16
17. PARTNERSHIPS ..........................................................................................................16
18. COMMITMENT OF FIRM KEY PERSONNEL ...............................................................17
19. AWARD .........................................................................................................................17
20. ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PROCUREMENT ..............................................17
21. PROPRIETARY OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION ..................................................18
22. ADDENDUMS ...............................................................................................................18
23. LEAP REQUIREMENTS................................................................................................18
24. EQUITY IN CONTRACTING .........................................................................................18
APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................19
APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................................20
APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................................21
Request for Proposal Specification No. NC26-0190F
Template Revised: 08/01/2025
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SUBMITTAL CHECK LIST
This checklist identifies items to be included with your submittal. Any submittal received without
these required items may be deemed non-responsive and not be considered for award.
Submittals must be received by the City of Tacoma Purchasing Division by the date and time
specified in the Request for Proposal page.
The following items make up your submittal package:
Completed and signed Signature Page (Appendix B)
Technical proposal addressing all requirements in Section 10
Resumes for proposed key personnel
After award, the following documents will be executed:
Professional Services Contract
Certificate of Insurance and related endorsements, if required
Request for Proposal Specification No. NC26-0190F
Template Revised: 08/01/2025
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1. BACKGROUND
The City of Tacoma (City), Neighborhood & Community Services (NCS) Department, is
soliciting proposals from qualified consulting firms or consultant teams to conduct a
comprehensive Human Services Needs Assessment and develop distinct but aligned Human
Services Strategy, Homelessness Strategy, and Affordable Housing Strategy.
The City last completed a comprehensive community needs assessment in 2016. Since that
time, Tacoma has experienced significant demographic, economic, housing, public health, and
service-system changes. The City has completed several targeted assessments, but it does not
have a current comprehensive assessment of human services needs. The City's most recent
Human Services Strategic Plan covered 2015-2019. The Homelessness Strategy was adopted
in 2022, and the Affordable Housing Action Strategy was adopted in 2023.
This initiative will establish a current, equity-centered understanding of community need;
evaluate the accessibility, capacity, coordination, and effectiveness of the existing human
services and housing systems; and translate findings into practical strategies that guide City
policy, investments, partnerships, and performance management.
The work must be distinct yet inter-related across all four independent products. The Needs
Assessment will provide the evidence base for the three strategies, and the strategies must
share an aligned set of priorities, outcomes, implementation actions, and measures.
The initiative will be governed by Executive Sponsors, a City Core Team, a Technical Advisory
Team, and one or more Community Advisory Committees. The selected Consultant will work
closely with the City Project Manager and these governance bodies, while maintaining
responsibility for high-quality research, facilitation, analysis, drafting, and project delivery.
The Needs Assessment will address, at minimum: affordable housing; homelessness, including
shelter, homelessness outreach, housing stability, and pathways to permanent housing;
violence prevention, including youth and young adults, domestic and intimate partner violence,
community violence, and commercial sexual exploitation of children; older adult services;
disability services; health and health care, including behavioral health; and food insecurity.
The work must align with adopted and emerging City and regional plans, including Tacoma
2035, the City Comprehensive Plan, Home in Tacoma, the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan, the
Community Safety Action Strategy, the 2022-2028 Homelessness Strategy, the Affordable
Housing Action Strategy, and Pierce County's 2025-2030 Comprehensive Plan to End
Homelessness.
The City anticipates awarding one professional services contract. The anticipated period of
performance is from contract execution through July 2028. The City's goal is to complete and
position all final products for adoption and implementation by July 2028.
To learn more about the City of Tacoma, visit tacoma.gov. Submittals submitted and/or the
selected Consultant may be used for projects of similar type and scope at the sole discretion of
the City for up to one year.
Request for Proposal Specification No. NC26-0190F
Template Revised: 08/01/2025
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2. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Respondents must demonstrate all of the following minimum qualifications in their submittal
package:
* At least five years of organizational or principal-level experience conducting community
needs assessments, strategic planning, public-sector policy analysis, or closely related
work.
* Successful completion of at least three projects of comparable complexity for a city,
county, regional government, public agency, or large community-serving system.
* Demonstrated expertise in mixed-methods research, including quantitative data analysis,
qualitative research, community engagement, and synthesis of administrative and
publicly available data.
* Demonstrated experience developing actionable strategies related to human services,
homelessness, affordable housing, community health, or other relevant social policy
systems.
* Demonstrated ability to conduct culturally responsive and accessible engagement with
people who have lived experience of service-system barriers and with communities
disproportionately affected by inequity.
* A designated project manager with authority and availability to manage the work through
completion.
* Capacity to begin work promptly following contract execution and complete the final
deliverables by July 2028.
* Ability to obtain and maintain all licenses, registrations, and insurance.
3. SCOPE OF SERVICES AND DELIVERABLES
It is the City's intent to select a Consultant based on the qualifications and abilities of the firm
and key project personnel, the quality and feasibility of the proposed approach, and the
Consultant's ability to produce integrated, implementation-ready deliverables.
The Consultant will provide the labor, expertise, tools, facilitation, analysis, documentation, and
project management necessary to complete the following scope. Respondents may propose
refinements that improve the methodology or sequencing, provided the proposal addresses
every required task and deliverable.
3.1 Project Management and Governance
* Conduct a project kickoff and confirm roles, decision rights, communications,
meeting cadence, quality-control procedures, and escalation protocols.
* Prepare and maintain a detailed project management plan, work breakdown
structure, schedule, deliverable calendar, risk register, and decision log.
* Support the City's Executive Sponsors, Core Team, Technical Advisory Team, and
Community Advisory Committee(s) with agendas, materials, presentations, facilitated
discussions, and concise meeting documentation.
Request for Proposal Specification No. NC26-0190F
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* Provide regular written status reports describing progress, upcoming activities,
decisions needed, risks, budget status, and corrective actions.
3.2 Existing Conditions, Plan Review, and Data Inventory
* Review relevant City, County, State, federal, and community plans, assessments,
studies, budgets, performance reports, policies, and program data.
* Develop a crosswalk identifying areas of alignment, duplication, conflict, gaps,
dependencies, and opportunities for integration among existing plans and initiatives.
* Create a data inventory that identifies available datasets, data owners, geographic
and demographic coverage, quality limitations, privacy considerations, and gaps
requiring supplemental research.
3.3 Human Services Needs Assessment Methodology
* Develop a detailed methodology for City approval that integrates quantitative
analysis, qualitative research, community voice, lived experience, service-provider
expertise, and policy review.
* Define the population, geographic, demographic, equity, and service-domain
frameworks to be used throughout the assessment.
* Establish a transparent approach for identifying and prioritizing needs, including
criteria such as prevalence, severity, disparities, unmet demand, barriers to access,
system capacity, preventability, community priorities, and potential for City impact.
3.4 Research and Analysis
* Analyze population and demographic trends, social and economic conditions,
housing need and affordability, homelessness, health and behavioral health, food
access, violence and safety-related needs, disability and older-adult needs, and
other priority human services conditions.
* Disaggregate findings to the greatest extent feasible by race and ethnicity, age,
disability, gender, household type, income, geography, housing status, language,
sexual orientation, and other relevant factors while protecting privacy and avoiding
statistically unreliable conclusions.
* Map the human services, homelessness, and affordable housing ecosystems,
including City-funded and non-City-funded services, eligibility and access points,
service capacity, geographic distribution, referral pathways, coordination structures,
and known barriers.
* Assess service demand, utilization, waitlists, unmet need, capacity constraints,
funding patterns, workforce conditions, system fragmentation, and opportunities for
prevention and early intervention.
* Benchmark Tacoma against comparable jurisdictions and identify evidence-informed,
promising, and community-defined practices that may be applicable locally.
* Identify limitations in the available evidence and recommend sustainable
improvements to City data collection, sharing, governance, and performance
monitoring.
Request for Proposal Specification No. NC26-0190F
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3.5 Community and Stakeholder Engagement
* Prepare and implement a comprehensive engagement plan that is coordinated
across all four work products and approved by the City.
* Engage Tacoma residents, particularly people with lived experience and
communities experiencing the greatest barriers or harms, through accessible and
culturally responsive methods.
* Engage service providers, advocacy organizations, culturally specific organizations,
housing partners, funders, public agencies, tribal partners, educational institutions,
employers, and other stakeholders.
* Use multiple engagement methods, which may include interviews, focus groups,
listening sessions, surveys, workshops, community forums, and participatory
prioritization activities.
* Provide language access, disability access, trauma-informed practices, and options
that reduce participation barriers. Coordinate with the City regarding any potential
participant compensation and other engagement supports.
* Document who was engaged, methods used, themes heard, limitations, how
feedback affected findings and recommendations, and where perspectives differed.
3.6 Human Services Needs Assessment Deliverables
* An executive summary and public-facing summary suitable for broad community use.
* A comprehensive final assessment describing methods, existing conditions including
current city investments or actions, priority needs, disparities, community assets,
service-system capacity and gaps, geographic findings, funding and policy context,
and data limitations.
* A prioritized needs framework and supporting data tables, maps, charts, and
appendices in accessible and editable formats.
* A presentation of findings to City leadership, advisory bodies, and other audiences
identified by the City.
3.7 Integrated Strategic Framework
* Facilitate a transparent process to translate the Needs Assessment into shared
principles, outcomes, priority populations, strategic priorities, decision criteria, and an
integrated theory of change or results framework.
* Ensure that the Human Services, Homelessness, and Affordable Housing Strategies
operate as a coordinated portfolio, with clear connections among prevention, crisis
response, stabilization, housing, and long-term wellbeing.
3.8 Human Services Strategy
* Develop a Citywide Human Services Strategy that establishes guiding principles,
roles, priorities, investment criteria, partnership approaches, and measurable
outcomes for City human services policy and funding.
* Address how the City should prioritize limited resources; strengthen prevention and
early intervention; improve access, navigation, coordination, and accountability; and
respond to disparities and changing community needs.
Request for Proposal Specification No. NC26-0190F
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3.9 Homelessness Strategy
* Update Tacoma's Homelessness Strategy with Tacoma-specific goals, actions,
roles, and performance measures aligned with Pierce County's 2025-2030
Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness and relevant federal and State
requirements.
* Address prevention, diversion, outreach, crisis response, shelter, supportive
services, housing navigation, permanent housing pathways, regional coordination,
system performance, and the needs of populations facing the greatest barriers.
3.10 Affordable Housing Strategy
* Update the Affordable Housing Action Strategy to reflect current housing needs,
market conditions, funding tools, Home in Tacoma and other land-use changes, anti-
displacement priorities, and the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan.
* Recommend coordinated actions to preserve and produce affordable housing,
prevent displacement and housing loss, expand access for households with the
greatest barriers, and align City land-use, regulatory, financial, and partnership tools.
3.11 Implementation and Performance Framework
* For each strategy, provide prioritized actions, responsible and supporting parties,
sequencing, estimated time horizon, resource and policy implications, dependencies,
risks, equity considerations, and measurable outputs and outcomes.
* Distinguish near-term actions from longer-term initiatives and identify actions that
can be implemented administratively, those requiring budget or policy decisions, and
those requiring regional or external partnership.
* Develop a practical performance measurement framework, including definitions,
baselines where available, targets or target-setting processes, data sources,
reporting cadence, and public accountability mechanisms.
* Provide a consolidated implementation roadmap and recommendations for
governance, cross-department coordination, continuous community involvement, and
periodic strategy updates.
3.12 Final Products and File Requirements
* Provide intermittent draft versions of the Needs Assessment and three strategies for
City review, feedback, and updates. Provide enough time in the development
process to integrate direction or changes from city leadership.
* Provide final versions of the Needs Assessment, three strategies, integrated
implementation roadmap, executive and public summaries, presentations, technical
appendices, data files, and engagement documentation.
* All deliverables must be professionally edited, visually clear, accessible under
applicable City accessibility standards, and provided in both final and fully editable
native formats.
* The City will own all final work products and underlying project materials produced
under the contract, subject to the terms of the executed agreement.
Request for Proposal Specification No. NC26-0190F
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