The Vendor is required to provide to perform a communications audit of the county’s internal and external communications.
- This includes assessing communications outputs and approaches – from an organizational and user perspective – to produce actionable recommendations to improve communications.
- Proponent must recommend approaches to communicate the audit and gather input.
- This audit will assess the following:
a) Communications channels and use
b) Audience needs
c) Policies and processes
d) Department structure
e) Resource allocation
- They will provide a report giving comprehensive analysis of the research and will use the findings to prepare recommendations to address the communications needs of the sturgeon county organization, residents and business owners.
- These recommendations must be practical and consider a ‘now, next and later’ approach, and must clearly identify the intended benefits for the organization and/or its audiences.
- The audit shall consist of:
• A detailed and specific summary report (the report), which consists of:
1. An extensive analysis of municipal communications trends, associated best practices and what comparable regional municipalities are doing compared to county;
2. A thorough, data-backed analysis of sturgeon county’s current communications channels and their effectiveness;
3. Evaluation of communications policies, procedures and guidelines; topics include, but are not limited to the following:
○ Media relations
○ Issues management
○ Reputation management
○ Crisis communications
○ Social media
4. A comprehensive SWOT analysis;
5. An evaluation of the consistency and application of the county’s corporate visual identity;
6. An actionable implementation plan that takes into consideration the county’s current communications’ capacity and recommendations for the future;
7. All required research and analysis compiled as part of the communications audit; and
8. A fulsome analysis of all the data collected as part of the research and public engagement.
• The development and execution of a public engagement plan (engagement plan), using iap2 methodology, to gather information on how county residents and businesses prefer to receive information, along with audience segmentation by geography, age group, and user type, etc., which will be presented for county administration’s review and approval prior to proceeding.
• Proponent must supply their own project team to implement their project plan as the county's ability internally to assist with the audit is very limited.
• Proponent must provide a strong project plan with a schedule of deliverables and a project manager who will keep this project on track. 
• Proponent’s project plan will be presented for county administration’s review and approval prior to proceeding.
• Proponent is required to have a data analyst on their project team to provide comprehensive analysis on the research and data gathered, which will be used to develop strategic and tactical recommendations to elevate the county’s external communication effectiveness.
• Proponent is required to support the county in answering questions from council when county administration presents at the council and at a council meeting.
• Proponent may be required to answer questions about research methodology, their data analysis, trends, etc.
• Proponent will work with county’s communications and engagement services department collaboratively and follow the county’s engagement framework and other related policies.
- Contract Period/Term: 3 years
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: June 20, 2025