Citizen Surveys

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)
RFP No. 340-26
CITIZEN SURVEYS
Purchasing Analyst of Record: Andrew Miskell, CPPB
Andrew.Miskell@ThorntonCO.gov
City Hall - 2nd Floor
Contracts and Purchasing Division
9500 Civic Center Drive
Thornton, CO 80229-4326
Main Phone: (303) 538-7325

RFP No. 340-26
Citizen Surveys
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A.1 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:............................................................................................... 4
A.2 PURCHASING ANALYST OF RECORD: ....................................................................... 4
A.3 GENERAL SUMMARY OF PROCUREMENT NEEDS: .................................................. 4
B.1 CURRENT STATE: ......................................................................................................... 5
B.2 BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS: ................................................................................... 6
B.3 ESTIMATED QUANTITIES: ............................................................................................ 6
B.4 AWARD LENGTH: .......................................................................................................... 6
B.5 DEMONSTRATIONS AND INTERVIEWS:...................................................................... 6
B.6 SURVEY COMPONENTS - DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT: ........................................ 7
B.7 SURVEY COMPONENTS - PUBLICATION AND ADMINISTRATION: ......................... 7
B.8 SURVEY COMPONENTS - ANALYSIS AND REPORT:................................................ 8
B.9 MEETINGS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS: ......................................................... 8
B.10 DESIRED CITY SCHEDULE: ........................................................................................ 9
B.11 PREVIOUS WORK SAMPLES: .................................................................................... 9
B.12 F.O.B. POINT: ............................................................................................................. 10
B.13 FUTURE WORK CONSIDERATIONS AND PROCEDURES: .................................... 10
B.14 INVOICING REQUIREMENTS: ................................................................................... 11
B.15 VENDOR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: ............................................................ 11
B.16 COOPERATIVE PURCHASING: ................................................................................ 11
C.1 INSTRUCTIONS FOR ANSWERING QUESTIONS: ..................................................... 12
C.2 PROPOSAL QUESTIONS: ........................................................................................... 12
D.1 PRICING INFORMATION: ............................................................................................ 16
D.2 VENDOR PRICING SUBMITTAL: ................................................................................. 16
D.3 BEST AND FINAL OFFER: ........................................................................................... 16
D.4 PRICING AND ANNUAL PRICE UPDATES: ................................................................ 16
D.5 REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES: .................................................................................... 17
D.6 PROPOSAL ITEMS: ..................................................................................................... 17

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Citizen Surveys
E.1 PROPOSAL POSTED LOCATIONS: ............................................................................ 18
E.2 PROPOSAL QUESTIONS:............................................................................................ 18
E.3 ADDENDA: .................................................................................................................... 18
E.4 SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: .................................................................................. 18
E.5 DOCUMENTS FOR FINAL VENDOR SUBMISSION: ................................................... 19
E.6 PAGE LENGTHS FOR FINAL VENDOR SUBMISSION: ............................................. 19
E.7 CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION............................................... 20
E.8 LATE PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS: ............................................................................. 21
E.9 AWARDS: ...................................................................................................................... 21
E.10 ACCEPTANCE PERIOD: ............................................................................................ 21
E.11 EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS: ............................................................................... 21
E.12 EVALUATION CRITERIA: ........................................................................................... 22
E.13 POST AWARD PURCHASE ORDER: ........................................................................ 22
E.14 STANDARD PROPOSAL CONSIDERATIONS: ......................................................... 23
F.1 SAMPLE AGREEMENT: ............................................................................................... 23
G.1 ACCEPTANCE AND ADDENDA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FORM: ............................. 24
G.2 SAMPLE AGREEMENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FORM ............................................ 25
G.3 REFERENCES AND AUTHORIZATION AND RELEASE FORM: ............................... 26
G.4 DISCLOSURE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (A.I.) USAGE FORM:
............................................................................................................................................. 27
H.1 PURCHASING MANAGER FORM: .............................................................................. 28
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RFP No. 340-26
Citizen Surveys
SCHEDULE, PURCHASING ANALYST OF RECORD, AND GENERAL
SUMMARY OF NEEDS
A.1 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
The following is a list of important items, dates, and times that pertain to this solicitation. All
times listed below are in reference to the local Thornton, Colorado time.
Solicitation Item Date Time
Proposal Issued October 16, 2026
Deadline to Submit Additional Questions October 29, 2026 11:00 P.M.
Response to Written Questions November 4, 2026
Proposal Due Date November 12, 2026 11:00 P.M.
A.2 PURCHASING ANALYST OF RECORD:
The Purchasing Analyst of Record for this solicitation will be the central point of contact
throughout the solicitation process. All questions and inquiries must be submitted in writing via
a direct email to the Purchasing Analyst. No communication is to be directed to any other
Thornton personnel.
The Purchasing Analyst of Record's contact information is as follows:
Name: Andrew Miskell, CPPB
Title: Purchasing Manager
Email: Andrew.Miskell@ThorntonCO.gov
A.3 GENERAL SUMMARY OF PROCUREMENT NEEDS:
The City of Thornton, CO ("Thornton") is seeking Proposals from interested firms for the
purchase of services from a consultant to conduct on behalf of, analyze results, and report out
to Thornton on surveys sent to Thornton citizens on a periodic basis.
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CURRENT STATE, SCOPE OF WORK, AND SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
B.1 CURRENT STATE:
Thornton is part of the Denver metropolitan area and is the largest city in Adams County. In
2026, the population is estimated at one hundred fifty-three thousand (153,000) and growing at
an average rate of two percent (2%) annually. Thornton is governed by a Mayor and eight (8)
Council Members. The Mayor is elected at large while two (2) Council Members are elected from
each of Thornton's four (4) wards, which are represented through approximately equal
population sizes. The southern portion of Thornton is largely built out while there are still
significant development and growth occurring in the northern portion of the city. A portion of
Thornton's population includes a significant percentage (37.4%) of Latino households. This is a
group that has proven difficult to connect with in past outreach programs, and options for
reaching them will be an important consideration for this community survey.
Thornton has regularly conducted a survey since 1988, with the goal of gauging overall
satisfaction with Thornton services and identifying how key proposals will be received by our
community. For this proposal, Thornton seeks a firm to conduct a survey that will build off
previous surveys in order to track performance over time, as well as allow us to benchmark
results against similar cities. Thornton is expecting to include a few custom questions related to
key issues and, ultimately, to use the results of this survey to assist in decision making on
Thornton services, policies, and budget considerations.
The City recently reviewed the purpose and key component of the community survey and is
interested in proposals that address the following considerations: timing, audience, approach to
survey structure, questions, alignment with the strategic plan, and utilization/communication.
The firm shall provide the overall management including design and development of the survey
instrument, administration of the survey, analysis of the results, and shall report on the findings.
The consultant will develop an outreach plan to maximize participation with underrepresented
populations as demonstrated in variances between prior surveys and census data. The firm shall
recommend a sample size that will yield statistically valid results from the population of
approximately one hundred fifty-four thousand (154,000).
The City of Thornton, Colorado (Thornton) is seeking proposals from qualified firms with
extensive experience in conducting community surveys to design, develop, administer, and
interpret results for the City of Thornton. The purpose of this survey is to assess the overall
satisfaction of the community with the delivery of city services, for the community to rate the
overall quality of life in Thornton, and to garner insight into community perception of upcoming
projects and proposals.
It should be noted by the proposing Vendors that Thornton has engaged with ETC Institute
during a previous contract period. Thornton has published this RFP in response to our
agreement with the current provider having reached its expiration date with no further contract
renewals. Proposing Vendors are not required to have a physical office located within the
Denver Metro region.
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B.2 BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS:
Thornton has a current estimated 2027 budget of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for the annual
survey, date collection, and reporting out of findings.
B.3 ESTIMATED QUANTITIES:
It is expressly understood and agreed that the resulting agreement is to supply Thornton with its
complete actual requirement of the services specified in this proposal for the contractual period
based upon actual needs and availability of annual appropriated funding.
However, for information only, dollar amounts paid by Thornton to the Vendor per year during
the previous agreement have been:
Year Dollar Amount
2020 $27,669.20
2021 No Service Requested
2022 No Service Requested
2023 $35,800.00
2024 $16,000.00
2025 $26,440.00
2026 No Service Requested
Total $105,909.20
Thornton typically has utilized community surveys on a regular basis in previous years. Moving
forward, Thornton is considering conducting this survey on a rotation of once every two (2) years.
In addition, Thornton is interested in proposals that consider additional pulse or targeted surveys
on a more frequent basis. However, Thornton does not guarantee survey collection and
reporting by the awarded Vendor in future years. All future fiscal years of use of the awarded
Vendor shall be dependent upon funding approval and appropriation by the Thornton City
Council.
B.4 AWARD LENGTH:
The initial award from this solicitation will be from the date of the final signature of the agreement,
until December 31, 2032. No further extensions or renewals shall pass this date for service from
the awarded Vendor, unless otherwise previously authorized in writing by the Thornton
Purchasing Division.
B.5 DEMONSTRATIONS AND INTERVIEWS:
Thornton reserves the right to review a Vendor's proposed solution that would be on hand or in
the field of use. The proposed solution may be viewed at Thornton's sole discretion virtually or
at a physical Thornton facility. It will be at Thornton's sole discretion if a demonstration is
deemed to be necessary during the evaluation phase of this solicitation.
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In addition to demonstrations, Thornton may also elect to conduct Vendor interviews in order to
clarify and answer additional questions. All interviews will be held at a physical/virtual location
at Thornton's sole discretion and shall be at Thornton's decision if an interview is deemed as
being necessary.
Thornton shall not compensate a proposing Vendor for any costs incurred by a Vendor that are
related to a demonstration or interview conducted by Thornton during this RFP process.
B.6 SURVEY COMPONENTS - DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT:
The awarded Vendor shall collaborate with Thornton staff to develop a survey that is statistically
valid and can be repeated on a regular basis. The survey should further have the following
attributes:
1) Builds upon Thornton's prior community survey results and include questions related to
general service satisfaction, priorities, key issues, strategic plan alignment, and other topics
as deemed pertinent.
2) The survey format and execution must be designed to reach a diverse range of community
members and should be presented in a way that is sensitive to cultural and legal issues
among the foreign-born population. It must include options for English and Spanish
responses, along with a preference for broad language accessibility.
a) Thornton is interested in including multiple methods to take the survey and different ways
and locations for respondents to return the survey. The methodology should be tailored
in such a way that it encourages multiple populations to engage with and complete the
survey.
b) Thornton further desires survey data to be formatted such that it can be utilized for GIS
mapping (survey responses mapped and identifiable by neighborhood)
3) Consultant shall identify an appropriate sampling frame and sampling set that will result in
statistically valid level of response from randomly selected residents that are representative
of Thornton's diversity in age, race/ethnicity, language, income, and four (4) council wards.
Additionally, Thornton desires the survey to include strategies to reach non-voting and other
hard to reach community members.
B.7 SURVEY COMPONENTS - PUBLICATION AND ADMINISTRATION:
Upon approval of the survey for public response, the awarded Vendor shall, at a minimum:
1) Conduct the survey;
2) Collect and tabulate responses that the Vendor receives from the Thornton citizens;
3) Provide technical support related to the survey;
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4) Resolve any problems that are encountered; and
5) Provide interim status reports regarding participation and how outreach efforts are going.
B.8 SURVEY COMPONENTS - ANALYSIS AND REPORT:
Upon completion of the survey, the awarded Vendor shall provide a final analysis that includes
at a minimum:
1) Analyzing findings to identify areas of success, along with potential areas of concern and/or
top priorities for future work by Thornton.
a) Preferably the analysis will also analyze areas of concern and priorities as they relate to
budget investment and the strategic plan focus areas;
2) Provide cross tabulations by age, race, ethnicity, and council ward;
3) Prepare a final written report that summarizes the findings and a summarized final report to
be shared publicly with the community and staff;
4) Present to Senior Leadership in a meeting following approval of the final report by Thornton
staff;
5) Present to City Council in a Public meeting following approval of the final report by Thornton
staff;
It is also preferred that the Vendor provide benchmarking of Thornton against prior years, similar
cities in Colorado and the United States
B.9 MEETINGS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS:
The awarded Vendor will be expected to attend meetings as necessary to execute the work.
At a minimum, consultant shall anticipate the following:
1) Kick-Off Meeting - The Vendor shall meet with Thornton staff to kick-off the Project and to
discuss the schedule, deliverables, and expectations.
2) Preliminary findings - The Vendor will present the preliminary findings and deliverables to
Thornton staff after initial results of the survey become available (before final report is issued)
and discuss initial findings.
3) Final Report - The Vendor will present the final report to staff and City Manager. The
Consultant may be asked to present the final report to City Council.
All reports generated and submitted by the awarded Vendor to Thornton shall adhere to the
State of Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act ("CADA"), including all digital accessibility
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requirements. All reports, diagrams, drawings, etc., provided by the Vendor to Thornton shall be
in an electronic format that is usable to Thornton (e.g., Adobe PDF, Microsoft Office, etc.) either
through email or download, which shall become the property of Thornton.
As of 2021, House Bill 21-1110 and related regulations (8 CCR 1501-11) promulgated by the
State of Colorado's Office of Information Technology ("OIT") require all local government
technology and electronic documents (i.e., Reports generated in Adobe PDF, Word, etc.) to meet
or exceed the applicable Website Content Accessibility Guidelines ("WCAG") standards,
regardless of if the product/information is external facing or used solely by Thornton employees
on an internal basis.
Proposing Vendors are to note that Thornton does not govern or have oversight over these
requirements. For more information on the CADA and WCAG guidelines, please follow this
hyperlink to the State's OIT website: https://oit.colorado.gov/hb21-1110-faq
B.10 DESIRED CITY SCHEDULE:
The proposing Vendor shall include as part of their proposal a list or chart (e.g. Gantt chart) of
the Vendor's proposed/expected timeline, with key milestones/dates. The following are a list of
dates and important items that Thornton has listed as only a guideline for survey administration:
Survey Administration Schedule (general timeframes)
* January/February - Contract signed with awarded Vendor, with a purchase issued
thereafter;
* Late February - Initial Kick-Off Meeting between Vendor and Thornton;
* Early March - Draft survey questions and formatting review with Thornton;
* Late March - Final survey questions and formatting submission due to Thornton for
review;
* Early April - Survey published;
* Mid-April - Survey close;
* Late April - Preliminary survey results due to Thornton; and
* Early May - Final report due with presentations to Thornton.
B.11 PREVIOUS WORK SAMPLES:
Proposal samples will be required with this proposal. The samples must be submitted at the
time of the proposal due date listed above. Samples will include other citizen or general survey
examples that the proposing Vendor has done for other government entities and private firms.
Failure to comply with this requirement, or failure of the sample to meet the required
specifications, may be cause for Thornton to reject the vendor from consideration of this
proposal. The sample or samples that are required as part of this request for proposal, shall be
uploaded electronically as individual separate files, along with the Vendor's proposal via BidNet
Direct at www.bidnetdirect.com.
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Each sample provided shall have the name of the government entity or private firm that the
proposing Vendor has supplied the study to, along with the date provided, and a current valid
contact that Thornton may reach out to as part of a reference check. Each sample should be
uploaded as its' own, pdf, Word, or other electronic file, and shall be separate from the main
proposal documents for this proposal. Each sample will need to contain an Executive Summary
for each project that is a highlight and summary of their findings on that project.
B.12 F.O.B. POINT:
Prices quoted for all work, report dissemination, and presentations shall be F.O.B. Destination
and delivered, as required, to the following points:
Attention: City Manager's Office
City of Thornton, Colorado - City Hall
9500 Civic Center Drive
Thornton, CO 80229
B.13 FUTURE WORK CONSIDERATIONS AND PROCEDURES:
The Agreement that results from this solicitation with the awarded Vendor shall serve as the
basis for the agreed upon terms and conditions and general expectations for all projects under
this award. For future work that includes new modules, additional interface/integration points,
etc., where funding has been appropriated by Thornton's City Council, will likely follow the
general process below between the awarded Vendor and Thornton:
1) An initial needs assessment and design meeting with the Thornton PM that is assigned to
the Project, and the Vendor personnel.
2) An initial Vendor recommendation and quoted SOW with pricing that reflects the agreement's
pricing structure and requirements that is to be sent to the Thornton PM for review.
a) Each Scope of Work shall contain at a minimum:
i) Detailed line-item pricing with units, descriptions, quantities, estimated labor hours,
etc.;
ii) Confirmation of the agreement's pricing structure having been utilized;
iii) Implementation schedule;
iv) Milestone payments with detailed Scope of Work deliverables under each milestone
payment; and
v) Any additional special considerations regarding the job environment.
(1) Note, it is at this stage that the PM and the Vendor may have revisions of the Scope
of Work and pricing to reach a final fulfillment of Thornton's needs.
3) Once the Thornton PM finds the quote satisfactory, the Thornton PM will enter a requisition
into Thornton's financial system for the finalized Scope of Work and pricing, which will flow
to a Contracts/Purchasing Analyst in the Contracts and Purchasing Division for review.
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