REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS:
Data and Internal Workflow Solutions

Applicants applying by 11:59PT Friday, October 10th, 2025, will be given priority consideration, with the RFP open until filled. Submit your application via this form.

Introduction and Background

Organizational overview

The Center for Good Food Purchasing uses the power of procurement and partnerships to create a transparent and equitable food system for people, animals, and the environment. We do this by helping major institutions nationwide adopt and implement the Good Food Purchasing Program.

Over 65 institutions in 26 major US cities have enrolled in the Program. With a collective annual food spend surpassing $1.2 billion, these institutions and cities are committed to directing their purchasing power toward the five Program values: local and community-based economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and community health and nutrition centered around the principles of equity, transparency, and accountability. Using the Program’s metric- and data-driven framework, they measure and improve food purchasing practices over time.

We also work with national partners, local grassroots coalitions, and institutions to shift toward values-based purchasing from farm to fork and build a cohesive network movement to support more resilient and equitable food systems.

The Center for Good Food Purchasing is a fiscally-sponsored project of Community Partners.

Project Overview

Purpose

The Center for Good Food Purchasing seeks a consultant to provide an organizational-level review and needs assessment related to our contract/client management, data management/analysis/reporting, and data security processes and systems, and recommend an integrated course of action that will optimize organizational efficiency.

Goal

To design and develop a roadmap for the Center for Good Food Purchasing to implement processes and systems for contract/client management; data management, analysis, and reporting; and data security. The roadmap will include recommendations for additional or
alternative resource needs related to systems (e.g. technology platforms), processes (e.g. implementation strategy, ongoing processes), and people (e.g. skills to be cultivated, additional personnel needed) as well as estimated timeline, sequencing of actions, and budget considerations and impacts for implementation of the roadmap.

Note that while this project does not include implementation of the roadmap, the Center for Good Food Purchasing is open to the awarded proposer becoming the implementer of the roadmap, bypassing the need for a second proposal process. However, award of this proposal does not guarantee that the awarded proposer will implement the roadmap.

Phases of the Project

Phase 1: Discovery and Current State

Objectives
  • Understand, articulate, and map the organization’s current needs and challenges related to the following:
    ○ Managing and monitoring grants and contracts from prospecting through contract close-out
    ○ Collecting, cleaning/normalizing, analyzing, and reporting food purchasing data
    ○ Ensuring we follow best practices for data security related to the above areas in accordance with GDPR or CPRA.
  • Assess current state — staff capacity; processes; and technology platforms, tools, and other systems in place (databases, reporting tools, scoring algorithms, etc.) — for ability to meet organizational needs.
Key Activities
  • Project Kickoff: Conduct project kick-off meeting with key stakeholders. The purpose of the kick-off meeting will be to communicate and ensure alignment on project scope, team roles, timeline and time commitments, goals, and expectations of Center staff, stakeholders, and project team.
  • Review of Organizational and Previous Discovery Materials: Review our organizational documents including theory of change, strategic plan, and annual work plan. Analyze existing reports, assessments, findings, and process and procedure documents related to the organization’s technology needs.
  • Data and Reporting Analysis: Review current data and information storage strategies, internal processes, data flows, sources of institutional food purchasing data, and reporting processes to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
  • Technology Audit: Assess existing systems for data collection, analysis, and reporting. Identify any existing technology platforms or tools that should be retained or upgraded.
  • Discovery Sessions with Stakeholders: Conduct interviews with key stakeholders (staff, leadership, systems consultants, institutional food suppliers) to understand their data requirements, pain points, goals, current practices, data use and analysis proficiency, and challenges.
  • Current State Mapping: Map existing processes, data systems and technology platforms.
Deliverables
  • Project kickoff deck and facilitation.
  • Map of existing systems, technology platforms, and workflows.
  • List of key stakeholders and their requirements.
  • Discovery report summarizing findings, including technology gaps, user needs, data requirements, data security needs, and process maps.

Phase 2: Solution Design and Future State

Objectives
  • Develop and propose tailored recommendations and implementation plan(s) that align with the Center’s strategic goals, meet the technical requirements identified during discovery, and prioritize ease of execution, impact, cost, and ROI.
Key Activities
  • Future State Process: Identify future state processes needed to optimize organizational efficiency for contract/client management, data management/analysis/reporting, and data security. Assess how to integrate AI into our existing processes in a manner consistent with organizational values.
  • Staffing/Implementation Resource Recommendations: Make recommendations to fill any capacity gaps that would be required for solution implementation and maintenance (e.g., new staff positions, consultants, or skill enhancement).
  • Platform and Tool Recommendations: Identify and recommend specific technology platforms (e.g., databases, reporting tools, cloud solutions) to support future state processes.
    Considerations: Integration with existing systems, scalability, maintenance requirements, lifespan, data security, user-friendliness, and cost.
  • System Architecture Design: Design the architecture of the data collection, scoring, and reporting system, including:
    ○ Data flow diagrams
    ○ Data storage and retrieval mechanisms
    ○ Data security measures
  • Custom Solution Development: Based on the technology recommendations, identify strategies to develop customized solutions such as:
    ○ Data collection forms or APIs for food purchasing data
    ○ Scoring algorithms and dashboards
    ○ Reporting tools and data visualizations
Deliverables
  • Solution design document (“Roadmap”) detailing future state processes, architecture, tool recommendations, data flows, and integration plan. Recommendations will cover:
    ○ Grant and Contract Management: Internal process recommendations (staff responsibilities, communication needs, security) and platforms to manage enterprise needs.
    ○ Data Collection: Consider cloud-based forms or automated APIs to streamline data input and integration.
    ○ Data Management: Consider platforms and strategies used to clean/normalize data and databases to store program data.
    ○ Data Analysis: Use customizable scoring algorithms, possibly integrated into the reporting tools, such as Tableau or Power BI for easy visualization.
    ○ Reporting & Visualization: Adopt a business intelligence (BI) tool that integrates seamlessly with program data management system(s), such as Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, or Google Data Studio.○ Cloud Infrastructure: Leverage cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure for secure and scalable data storage and processing.
    ○ Data Security: Recommendations for platforms and practices to keep our data secure, as well as recommendations for data use policy language.
  • Prototype or wireframe of the reporting/dashboard interface.
  • Documentation of scoring algorithm logic and data scoring criteria.

Project Timeline & Budget

  • Discovery Phase: 3-4 weeks
  • Solution Design and Development: 4-6 weeks
  • Budget: $12,000-$20,000

Proposal Requirements

All proposals must contain the following (please note and abide page limits; brevity is encouraged):

  • Project Understanding (150 words max): demonstrate that the proposer understands the project goals.
  • Proposer Description (300 words max): describe the firm or team proposing to complete the project, including relevant expertise and previous experience completing similar projects.
  • Values Alignment (150 words max): describe how your organization has demonstrated alignment with our core principles of equity, accountability, and transparency.
  • Time and Budget Table (1 page max): develop a table that outlines the time and associated costs to complete each of the Key Activities and deliver each of the Deliverables, listed above. Note that the Center will pay invoices based only on work completed.
  • Project Management Plan (300 words max): describe project management process, including key personnel, strategies (e.g. client check-in meetings), and expectations of proposer and client
  • Relevant Experience and References (500 words max): describe the development and implementation of technology solutions for firms/organizations with a similar level of complexity. External links welcome. For each example, please provide a reference contact (name, title, organization, role in the project, email address).
  • Team Resumes: please provide resumes for all team members who will contribute to the project.
  • Case description (500 words max): case study of a similarly sized organization or project, including a summary of the key results demonstrating the impact of the solution.

Please submit the above information as a single PDF with the following file name format:
[Proposer Name]_CFGFP Tech Scoping_2025.pdf

Applicants applying by 11:59PT Friday, October 10th, 2025, will be given priority consideration, with the RFP open until filled. Submit your application via this form.
Application url: https://forms.gle/kQaYndKfBhnPCGwa8

Conclusion

This scope of work outlines the necessary phases to implement a robust, scalable, and user-friendly technology solution(s) that meets the needs of the Center for Good Food Purchasing in managing its data. With a detailed approach from discovery through to ongoing maintenance, the Center will have the tools, processes, and staff hiring and training recommendations in place to make data-driven decisions and enhance transparency.

Data and Internal Workflow Solutions RFP Q&A

The Q&A document linked above will be updated as Center for Good Food Purchasing staff post answers to questions received in writing via the question submission form. The Center also will host a live Q&A session on Sept. 30 at 11 a.m. PT. Please check back for updates per the timeline below.

Please note that the Center for Good Food Purchasing reserves the right to decline to answer questions that are not in the best interest of its mission, functions, or fair solicitation practices.

Ref Links: 

Timeline (2025):

  • September 5: RFP is published
  • September 24: Submit questions for Q&A session 
  • September 30: Q&A session at 11 AM (PST) / 2 PM (EST) 
  • October 10: Proposals received by this date will be given priority consideration.
  • Oct 24 – November 21: Proposal review and invitation to interview for proposals received by Oct. 10
  • Application will remain open until the position is filled.