Farmers Market Visioning & Engagement

Agency:	City of Ann Arbor
State:	Michigan
Type of Government:	State & Local
Posted Date:	Feb 20, 2026
Due Date:	Apr 8, 2026
Solicitation No:	RFP 26-18
Original Source:	Please Login to View Page
Contact information:	Please Login to View Page
Bid Documents:	Please Login to View Page

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP # 26-18

City of Ann Arbor

Community Services / Parks & Recreation

Due Date: April 8, 2026 by 2:00 p.m. (Local Time)

Issued By:

City of Ann Arbor

Procurement Unit

301 E. Huron Street

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION I: GENERAL INFORMATION .....................................................................…3

SECTION II: SCOPE OF SERVICES ........................................................................... 11

SECTION III: MINIMUM INFORMATION REQUIRED ................................................. 14

SECTION IV: ATTACHMENTS .................................................................................... 18

APPENDIX A: SAMPLE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT

SECTION I - GENERAL INFORMATION

A. OBJECTIVE

The City of Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation Services Area (AAPR) is seeking

proposals from qualified consultants to provide professional services to develop and

lead a comprehensive and strategic public visioning process for Ann Arbor’s Farmers

Market.

First opened in 1919, the Ann Arbor Farmers Market serves 130 market vendors and

hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Located in the Kerrytown District, the

Ann Arbor Farmers Market is a vibrant focal point that attracts visitors to its year-round

outdoor market venue on Wednesdays (May-December) and Saturdays (year-round).

In May 2024, the Farmers Market office building was closed and slated for demolition

due to structural issues. The Farmers Market stalls (i.e. the roof-like structure that

provides cover for vendors and patrons) remain intact, though investments are

currently underway to repair and replace corroded support columns. The aging

infrastructure of the Farmers Market, underscored by the unexpected condemnation

of the office building, has prompted the City to initiate a public visioning process that

will identify community needs and desires for the Farmers Market. This public

visioning process will assist AAPR in improving and developing the Farmers Market’s

function within the community, its operations, and its amenities.

The City is seeking a consultant with professional competencies and capacity to

develop and lead a comprehensive engagement process that solicits input from the

public, as well as from a wide variety of community stakeholders. The firm hired will

provide consulting services to lead an inclusive community engagement process to

identify community values related to the City’s Farmers Market.

The visioning process should capture the community needs, desires and values

related to the Farmers Market, and the process should help facilitate community and

stakeholder visioning for future offerings. Across this visioning process, the process

and conversations should be contextualized by the Parks & Recreation ADA

Transition Plan and the Parks & Recreation Asset Management Plan.

The City is looking for a consultant that will (1) establish background & context for this

process, (2) assess the Farmers Market’s current amenities, operations and

programming, (3) identify priorities for the future, and (4) synthesize and summarize

options for the future of the Farmers Market. The City is seeking these services for an

estimated period of 12 months, likely starting in July 2026 with submission of a final

report to the City by August 2027.

This consultant will coordinate work with the AAPR staff, the Public Market Advisory

Commission, the Parks Advisory Commission, the Downtown Development Authority

and any other established support committees, focus groups or organizations relevant

to this project. The Parks & Recreation Deputy Manager and Capital Project Manager

will oversee the direction and quality of work of this consultant.

B. QUESTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS / DESIGNATED CITY CONTACTS

All questions regarding this Request for Proposal (RFP) shall be submitted via e-mail.

Questions will be accepted and answered in accordance with the terms and conditions

of this RFP.

All questions shall be submitted on or before March 20th, 2026 at 10:00 a.m (local

time) and should be addressed as follows:

Scope of Work/Proposal Content questions shall be e-mailed to Remy Long,

Deputy Manager, Parks & Recreation – rlong@a2gov.org

RFP Process and Compliance questions shall be e-mailed to Colin Spencer, Buyer

- CSpencer@a2gov.org

Should any prospective offeror be in doubt as to the true meaning of any portion of

this RFP, or should the prospective offeror find any ambiguity, inconsistency, or

omission therein, the prospective offeror shall make a written request for an official

interpretation or correction by the due date for questions above.

All interpretations, corrections, or additions to this RFP will be made only as an official

addendum that will be posted to a2gov.org and MITN.info and it shall be the

prospective offeror’s responsibility to ensure they have received all addenda before

submitting a proposal. Any addendum issued by the City shall become part of the

RFP, and must be incorporated in the proposal where applicable.

C. PRE-PROPOSAL MEETING

A pre-proposal meeting will be held:

WHEN: March 13th, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: City Hall Building, 1st Floor South Conference Room, 301 East Huron

Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

The meeting is not mandatory; however, it is highly recommended that interested

offerors attend the meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the project with

prospective offerors and to answer any questions concerning RFP 26-18. Any

questions and answers furnished in the pre-proposal meeting will not be official until

verified in writing through an addendum.

D. PROPOSAL FORMAT

To be considered, each firm must submit a response to this RFP using the format

provided in Section III. No other distribution of proposals is to be made by the

prospective offeror. An official authorized to bind the offeror to its provisions must

sign the proposal. Each proposal must remain valid for at least ninety days from the

due date of this RFP.

Proposals should be prepared simply and economically providing a straightforward,

concise description of the offeror’s ability to meet the requirements of the RFP. No

erasures are permitted. Mistakes may be crossed out and corrected and must be

initialed in ink by the person signing the proposal.

E. SELECTION CRITERIA

Responses to this RFP will be evaluated using a point system as shown in Section III.

A selection committee comprised of staff from the City will complete the evaluation.

The fee proposals will not be reviewed at the initial evaluation. After initial evaluation,

the City will determine top proposals, and open only those fee proposals. The City

will then determine which, if any, firms will be interviewed. During the interviews, the

selected firms will be given the opportunity to discuss their proposal, qualifications,

past experience, and their fee proposal in more detail. The City further reserves the

right to interview the key personnel assigned by the selected offeror to this project. If

the City chooses to interview any respondents, the interviews will be tentatively held

the week of April 27th, 2026. Offeror must be available on these dates.

All proposals submitted may be subject to clarifications and further negotiation. All

agreements resulting from negotiations that differ from what is represented within the

RFP or in the proposal response shall be documented and included as part of the final

contract.

F. SEALED PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

All proposals are due and must be delivered to the City on or before, April 8,

2026 at 2:00 p.m. (local time). Proposals submitted late or via oral, telephonic,

telegraphic, electronic mail or facsimile will not be considered or accepted.

Each respondent must submit in a sealed envelope

• one (1) original proposal

• one (1) additional proposal copy

• one (1) digital copy of the proposal preferably on a USB/flash drive

as one file in PDF format

Each respondent should submit in a single separate sealed envelope marked

Fee Proposal

This page summarizes the opportunity, including an overview and a preview of the attached documents.

due date & time	bid description	bid #	primary contact	status
April 8, 2026 2:00PM	Farmers Market Visioning & Engagement	RFP 26-18	Remy Long	Open

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