Economic Development Strategy Services

The Vendor is required to provide for an economic development strategy to guide its efforts in the portfolio over the next 4 to 5 years (2027-2031).
- It is expected that the process to develop the strategy will include:
•    Project initiation and governance setup
•    Economic data and baseline analysis
•    Business owner consultation
•    Stakeholder, public and municipal council and staff consultation
•    Opportunity identification and prioritization
•    Draft strategy and implementation framework (including performance measures and outcomes development)
•    Review and refinement of draft strategy based on feedback
•    Final plan preparation and adoption.
- Engage a third-party to develop an economic development strategy:
•    Consult with local business owners to gather insights to inform the strategy. 
•    This may be via a survey, by target interviews, and by facilitated consultation sessions (either in person or virtual). 
•    Consult with local economic development partners to gather insights to inform the strategy. 
•    This may be via a survey, by target interviews, and by facilitated consultation sessions (either in person or virtual). 
•    Conduct a survey to gather feedback from residents. 
•    Complete interviews with council and senior staff members from across the gather insights to inform the strategy. 
•    This may be via individual interviews or group interviews and may be conducted either in person or virtual. 
•    Review the current official plan policies, land designations, and inventory of existing future employment areas. 
•    Review the strategic plans from invest in county lower-tier municipalities, and key regional municipalities and consider opportunities for alignment. 
•    Review literature and other municipal sector sources for "best practices" for economic development that should be considered.
•    Identify opportunities and challenges for economic development in center.
•    Prioritize recommendations in a multi-year plan.
•    Provide measures of success (e.g., SMART objectives) to ensure accountability on the strategy's delivery.

- Budget: $25,000 to $50,000