TEWATOHNHI'SAKTHA CONSULTING

Tewatohnhi'saktha Consulting's mission is to assist aboriginal, or aboriginal-related organizations in the area of economic development and governance, while concurrently achieving economic benefits for its organization and Kahnawake through the fees earned on consulting mandates.

Our focus is on the following areas:

Organizational strategic planning
Business planning
Policy writing

To request a quote, please email Bud Morris

Requests for Tender

Due to the volume of work that is carried out by Tewatohnhi'saktha Consulting, there are occasionally opportunities for consultants to be awarded contracts that will help achieve our project goals. Please see individual listings below:

Development of a Strategic Plan
Deadline for Submission: 4:00 p.m. on Friday November 4, 2011

Notice to bidders: Any questions from bidders regarding the Request for Proposal for the development of a strategic plan for Tewatohnhi’saktha must be submitted in writing to Kyle.Delisle@kedc.biz and will be answered in writing (by email). All questions and answers will be posted below. The deadline to submit questions is November 2, 2011, 8:30

Strategic Plan RFP Q&A

1. Are there any other documents related to the divisional plans that are not shown on the website?
No, all relevant information pertaining to the RFP is posted on www.kedc.biz.

2. I note that several stakeholders are to be involved in the new strategic planning process. Who, other than KEDC staff and Board members, were involved in the 2009 - 2012 strategic planning process?
The only other stakeholders that were involved in the 2009-2012 strategic planning process were the Chiefs of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK).

3. Which external consultant assisted with the development of the 2009 - 2012 planning process?
Unfortunately due to confidentiality restrictions, the names of the consultants cannot be disclosed.

4. Will that person/company be bidding on the new business? If in fact an external consultant was involved with the 2009 - 2012 planning process and intends to submit a bid, in your humble opinion, does this person/company have a competitive advantage over other bidders via specific knowledge he/she has about your or the Board's or the staff's opinions about the process?
The RFP has been widely distributed and posted on various communication outlets and therefore it is unknown which consulting firms will be submitting proposals at this time. Please refer to Section 7 of the RFP for evaluation of proposals.

5. Have you or your staff or the Board overtly or inadvertently given to the consultant your thoughts about how you might like the next process to be different or what you liked or didn't like about the process? Asking it differently, does he/she in fact have any competitive advantage over others who may submit bids?
No, KEDC reserves the right to secure a consultant or a team who provides the most advantageous solution to KEDC and one who best demonstrates their ability to provide the expected outcomes of the proposal. Each proposal will be evaluated using the same evaluation process. Please refer to Section 7 of the RFP for evaluation of proposals.

6. Please note that your covering letter indicates that "KEDC wishes...to undertake the preparation of a strategic plan for KEDC's divisions and for the organization as a whole". However the body of the RFP indicates that "Divisional sessions will be facilitated by the Divisional Directors. Should a Director wish to outsource this responsibility, the respective Divisional Director will issue a separate request for proposal that is not considered under this request for proposal." Therefore I presume that you would like some kind of indication of how the consultant would do the divisional facilitations, even though they are separate from the RFP?
No, not at this time.

7. Also, at this stage, do you know which divisions will be seeking the assistance of a consultant?
No, not at this time.

8. Must the consultant who does the overall strategic plan also be the one mandated by the divisions if they decide they want outside assistance? Or can it be a different consultant so long as the different consultant seamlessly covers off all important considerations?
It is at the discretion of the Divisional Director to decide if they require outside assistance or if they are comfortable with completing their division’s plan without external assistance. It is also at the discretion of the Director which consultant they will contract to assist with their divisional plan.

9. Did the four divisions use external consultants for their respective 2009 - 2012 plans? If so, who were the consultants and did they do all divisions?
Three of the four divisions required external assistance for facilitation. Unfortunately due to confidentiality restrictions, the names of the consultants cannot be disclosed.

10. Did KEDC or the divisions receive assistance from any external consultant with the implementation of the three-year plan? Although there is no mention in the RFP of assistance with implementation, did you nevertheless want us to quote for this separately?
No, please provide all information pertaining to the requirements listed in the RFP.

11. Facilitation of Three Staff/Stakeholder Engagement Sessions
a) Based on previous years, how many individuals participated in all three of the workshop sessions?
Approximately 30 individuals were involved in the workshop sessions.
b) Based on previous years, did the workshop sessions require one or two full days of engagement with staff and key stakeholders?
Two full days were required.

12. Key Success Measures (KSM)
a) The existing Strategic Plan outlines KSM’s are outcome measures of success. Who is responsible for measuring operational performance on an annual basis?
Senior Management (CEO and Divisional Directors)
b) The KSM’s identified are predominantly quantitative indicators? How do know if the Kahnawa:ke community members are satisfied with the programs, services and activities being offered through the four strategic business divisions of Tewatohnhi’saktha?
This is an item we wish to address in the upcoming strategic planning sessions.

13. Contract Timeline: The Consultant Team selected is responsible to ensure a Strategic Plan is ready for implementation by April 1, 2012. What are your anticipated timelines for selecting a Consultant and what date do you anticipate the final deliverables being complete?
It is envisioned that the consultant will be selected by November 9, 2011 and the final deliverable should be completed no later than March 2, 2012.

14. Budget Parameters: What is the budget range associated with this contract?
The budget range associated with this contract is approximately $35,000.

15. What is your definition of a “cohesive strategic framework?”
Our definition of a cohesive strategic framework is a plan that includes all elements of what Tewatohnhi’saktha needs to do within its mandate to accomplish its mission: “Tewatohnhi'saktha exists to stimulate and enhance Kahnawake's Economic Growth by investing in people and businesses, as well as other economic opportunities”. The cohesive strategic framework thus includes the means to measure progress against goals and objectives and identifies how the strategies are linked together to achieve results.

16. What are the key issues this plan needs to address?
Please refer to Section 2 & 3 of the RFP document.

17. What do you want/expect to see in place 3 years from now as a result of developing and implementing the Strategic Economic Development Plan?
The purpose of the Strategic Economic Development Plan is to determine the vision, mission, and objectives of the organization over the next 3 years.

18. Do you wish to continue the integrated organizational and divisional planning process used the past two years?
Please refer to Section 3 in the RFP document.

19. During the past planning session some employees were disappointed that their division did not make reports to the whole organizational team and they did not hear reports from the other divisions. How much and what type of reporting do you prefer in updating the plan this year?
Please refer to Section 3 of the RFP document.

20. Do you want each division to total the costs of its Annual Top Priority Actions?
Yes.
21. Do you wish to get input/feedback of Kahnawake members living off reserve? If yes, does Tewatohnhi’saktha and/or the Mohawk Council have contact information for members living off reserve?
Please refer to Section 3 of the RFP document.

22. Is the KEDC intending through this project to develop an economic development strategy that would position Kahnawake to compete with its neighbours like Chateauguay, Lasalle and Sainte-Catherine for investment projects and position itself as an external investment attraction agency, in addition to its past role focused mainly on internal business development?
No, the intent is to create regional economic development initiatives.

23. An important component of this project is the analysis of the local economy, the local assets and liabilities, and infrastructure levels to support economic development. Page 6 of the RFP states that KEDC will be responsible for this. This would normally be conducted by consultants as an integral component of the strategy preparation. Has this work been completed, and if so, can a copy be provided so that we may assess its adequacy in terms of our potential consulting responsibility to build a strategic plan based on this work? If it has not been completed, should we include an option to complete this work.
Please refer to Section 3 of the RFP document.

24. To what extent is the KEDC open to evolving into an EDC that is more similar to the roles and functions of a municipal EDC?
KEDC, as it is currently structured, already performs more functions than a municipal EDC since most municipal EDC’s focus only on business retention and expansion or workforce development. Therefore, eliminating certain programs and services would be devolution and could not be considered as it would contravene the KEDC Law.

25. In regards to the objective aimed at enhancing community-owned businesses, are we to understand that this includes also developing competitive strategies for Continent 8, as well as the Kahnawà:ke Business Complex and Office Complex?
Although the competitive strategies for the community-owned businesses will be based on the organizational environmental scan and SWOT, the competitive strategies for each community-owned business will be developed at the divisional level.

26. In regards to identifying specific opportunities for economic development, should we investigate external opportunities others than energy generation (Wind Farming, Gasification, etc.) and added-value logistics? If so will they be pre-identified for us?
It is envisioned that by undertaking the environmental scan and SWOT analysis other opportunities may be identified. If other opportunities are identified, it will then need to be determined in the strategic planning process whether it should be incorporated as an organizational strategy.

27. What is your definition of “economic model for Tewatohnhi’saktha? Do you mean an organisational and business model to deploy economic development services?
Yes, the intent of this objective is to identify any changes required to Tewatohnhi’saktha’s current organizational and business model to ensure that Tewatohnhi’saktha provides its services in the most cost effective and efficient manner.

28. To whom the consultants will be reporting to? KEDC Board? KEDC Chief executive officer? A specific strategic planning committee?
The consultants will be reporting to the CEO of Tewatohnhi’saktha, Mr. John Bud Morris and to the Divisional Directors.

29. For the strategic planning sessions, are we to understand that a Tewatohnhi’saktha employee will be undertaking the logistics of these meetings (mostly likely a questionnaire, preliminary meeting and work session scheduling) and assist us in the meeting as an observer?
The logistics for the facilitation sessions will be undertaken by the Executive Assistant to the CEO and Director of Revenue Generation, Ms. Darlene Roberts. In regards to recording the notes and minutes of the sessions, it is preferred that the consultant provide this service as Tewatohnhi’saktha would like to ensure that all employees are fully engaged in the strategic planning process. If the consultant is unable to provide this service, the cost for Tewatohnhi’saktha to outsource this service separately will be taken into consideration in the evaluation of the consultant’s bid.

30. How many copies of our proposal shall be included in our submission to KEDC?
Please provide 8 copies of your proposal.