College Lake County Issues Marketing RFP For Academia
Unless otherwise directed by the College of Lake County Board of Trustees (“Board of Trustees”), the following general procedures are used in the selection of vendors to provide professional services:
1.1. An Evaluation Committee is appointed, chaired by the Manager of Purchasing and Contracts, to receive and evaluate proposals.
1.2. The College of Lake County (“College”) receives written proposals. The proposals shall include background of the agency, references from past and present clients, the names and background of the project personnel, a narrative or work plan describing their approach to the specific project, a project task schedule (as applicable), fees, and any other submittals requests within the proposal.
1.3 The Evaluation Committee members will independently review and evaluate proposals received based on the established selection criteria. The College will also request that any short-listed finalists conduct a presentation of their services. If necessary, the College may request interviews with one or more proposers to clarify and/or expand on the proposal. In accordance with the requirements of the proposal, the College may negotiate terms, conditions and fees with one or more proposers.
1.4 Evaluation Criteria and Award An Evaluation Committee, which will include College representatives, will review proposals in accordance with specified criteria. The College will also request that any short-listed finalists conduct an oral presentation of their services. The Committee will submit its recommendation to the Board of Trustees for approval. Responses to this RFP will be evaluated according to the outlined criteria:
A. Demonstrated Experience – 25%
B. Staff Qualifications – 20%
C. Scope of Work (SOW) – 25%
D. Project Plan and Timeline – 15%
E. Project Management – 15%
This solicitation, the evaluation of proposals, and the award of any resulting contract shall be made in conformance with applicable College policies and Illinois law. The College reserves the right to withdraw this Request for Proposal at any time. All documents submitted to the College on behalf of this RFP will become the exclusive property of the College and will not be returned. This RFP does not commit College to negotiate a contract, enter into an agreement nor obligate it to pay for any costs incurred in the preparation or submission of any proposal or in anticipation of a contract or agreement. The College reserves the right to reject all proposals, and to do business with any one or more of the agencies responding to this RFP. The College reserves the right to seek clarification of information submitted in response to this RFP and/or to request additional information during the evaluation process. The College may also request that any short-listed finalists conduct oral presentation and demonstration of their solution. Any contract(s) resulting from this Request for Proposal will be awarded to the most responsive and responsible proposer whose proposal, in the opinion of the College, offers the greatest benefit to the College when considering the total value, approach to the SOW and total cost (this would include incidentals and reimbursements).
Background:
The College of Lake County (“the College”) is a comprehensive community college offering a wide range of academic programs and serving a district northeast of Chicago with a population of over 700,000 residents in more than 50 demographically diverse communities. Centered in Grayslake, with two branch campuses in Vernon Hills and Waukegan as well as CLC Online, the College provides credit programs, GED and adult basic education, contract training, as well as non-credit offerings for personal or career development. In recent years, enrollment in online classes has increased, and the College is interested in pursuing more opportunity for growth with the online learning modality to better fulfill our mission of providing high-quality, accessible learning opportunities to the communities we serve. In order to identify programs with the greatest potential for growth in the online mode, last year Phase I of an Market Research Study for Online Academic Programming commenced with a comprehensive, data-driven market research study conducted by an external consultant to identify and recommend potential online academic programs for CLC to bring to market. With the findings of this study as a foundation, the next step is to establish a marketing strategy for online learning at the College for Phase II.
Scope of Work:
The online academic programs identified in Phase I of the Market Research Study for Online Academic Programming for College of Lake County identified for the purpose of this study to bring to market include:
· Associate in Arts Degree – General (FY21) o Associate in Arts Degree – Education (FY22)
o Associate in Arts Degree – Human Services (FY23)
· Associate in Sciences Degree – General (FY22)
o Associate in Sciences Degree – Computer Information Technology (FY22)
· Associate in Arts or Associate in Sciences Degree – Business Administration (FY22/FY23)
· Associate in Applied Sciences Degrees
o Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Supply Chain Management (FY21)
o Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Accounting (FY22)
o Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Computer Information Technology (FY23)
o Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Early Childhood Education (FY23)
The market research study during Phase I was conducted prior to the current health crisis. Pre-COVID, College of Lake County’s enrollment as of census for the Fall 2019 semester was approximately 11,500 collegelevel students, over 3,000 of which were enrolled in online classes. As a result of COVID, the College expanded flexible course format options to students. Fall 2020 census data indicates approximately 10,500 students enrolled in college-level classes with nearly 9,900 taking online classes. This shift in enrollment due to current circumstances is an important factor that needs to be taken into consideration moving forward. As part of the Discovery Phase of this project, in addition to a review of the findings of the research conducted during Phase I, a data analysis of current labor market, economic factors and other indicators is necessary in order to determine the potential impact on projected enrollment online trends for community colleges overall and the College of Lake County specifically. The College will provide data to support this analysis; CLC provided data could include labor market data for occupations related to the identified programs, unemployment figures by occupations of interest to determine whether target groups have been impacted by the current situation, poverty level, median household income and computer/Internet access rates, as well as data related to the CLC student profile, noting any shifts in overall and online enrollment broken down by demographics.
The College of Lake County (CLC) is soliciting proposals from qualified organizations to develop and implement a comprehensive marketing plan focused on promoting online academic programs following recommendations proposed in Phase I of the Market Research Study for Online Academic Programs. This includes establishing target markets, developing marketing strategies and creating a schedule for marketing and advertising each of the online academic programs identified from Phase I based on defined audiences and target marketing, as well as an overall branding strategy. The primary objective of this project is to attract new students to enroll in the online academic programs identified during Phase I. Below are the target enrollment growth estimates in terms of number of student majors by year for each identified program based on Phase I market research study findings:
3.1 Associate in Arts Degree – General
3.1.1 Associate in Arts Degree – Education: Year 1 (10 new student majors); Year 2 (20 new student majors); Year 3 (30 new student majors)
3.1.2 Associate in Arts Degree – Human Services: Year 1 – (10 new student majors); Year 2 (20 new student majors); Year 3 (30 new student majors) 3.2 Associate in Sciences Degree – General
3.2.1 Associate in Sciences Degree – Computer Information Technology: Year 1 (30 new student majors); Year 2 (50 new student majors); Year 3 (70 new student majors)
3.3 Associate in Arts or Associate in Sciences Degree – Business Administration: Year 1 (10 new student majors); Year 2 (25 new student majors); Year 3 (40 new student majors)
3.4 Associate in Applied Sciences Degrees
3.4.1 Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Supply Chain Management: : Year 1 (10 new student majors); Year 2 (20 new student majors); Year 3 (30 new student majors)
3.4.2 Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Accounting: Year 1 (15 new student majors); Year 2 (30 new student majors); Year 3 (45 new student majors)
3.4.3 Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Computer Information Technology: Year 1 (15 new student majors); Year 2 (30 new student majors); Year 3 (45 new student majors)
3.4.4 Associate in Applied Sciences Degree – Early Childhood Education: Year 1 (10 new student majors); Year 2 (20 new student majors); Year 3 (30 new student majors)
3.5 Associate in Applied Sciences Degree and/or Certificate – Human Resources Associate: Year 1 (10 new student majors); Year 2 (20 new student majors); Year 3 (30 new student majors)
4. Project Goals To support the primary objective to increase enrollment (as previously described), the College has identified goals to support this objective. Phase II seeks to:
4.1 Increase brand awareness and name recognition of online learning at CLC and online learning at the College of Lake County
4.2 Develop an innovative value proposition for online learning at CLC that can be applied to the identified online academic programs and is harmonious with the overall brand established by the College
4.3 Define target markets and establish profiles (demographic, geographic, psychographic) for each of the identified online academic programs
4.4 Identify strategies to appeal to growth markets identified in Phase I
4.5 Recommend marketing strategies, including campaigns, messaging and positioning for digital, print, radio, TV, signage, website, social media and other identified modes such as search engine optimization, for each online academic program based on identified target markets and profiles
4.6 Determine key metrics to be used to assess the effectiveness of marketing initiatives
4.7 Implement the marketing strategy and advertising in cooperation with College of Lake County’s PR and Marketing Department, related Academic Division Leadership and other relevant institutional stakeholders
Due Date:
November 14
Address:
Victoria Lane, Purchasing Manager vlane@clcillinois.edu College of Lake County, Department of Purchasing and Contracts 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60030
Agencies to consider include Magrino PR and Shift Communications.
