Oregon WTDB Continuous Improvement Committee Assessment 2026 (OregonBuys #S-52500-00016064): Bidder’s research brief

Executive takeaway

The Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC), acting through its Office of Workforce Investments (OWI), is seeking a single consulting firm to conduct the Workforce Talent and Development Board (WTDB) Continuous Improvement Committee (CIC) Assessment for 2026. The solicitation indicates an estimated 12-month term, an estimated cost of $200,000, and no allowable travel expenses. If your team can deliver an assessment with strong stakeholder-facing rigor, actionable recommendations, and an equity-centered lens—without relying on travel—this is worth a close look.

What the buyer is trying to do

WTDB describes its purpose as ensuring equitable prosperity for all Oregonians by empowering Oregon’s workforce and employers through an inclusive, coordinated training and education system. The Board’s work includes leading a long-term workforce vision, partnering across workforce/education/training (including Local Workforce Development Boards), advising the Governor and legislature, aligning resources and services, identifying barriers and avoiding duplication, providing accountability among public workforce partners, sharing scalable best practices, promoting transparency through public meetings, and promoting continuous improvement and mission/vision alignment.

This procurement is focused specifically on supporting WTDB’s Continuous Improvement Committee through an “assessment” effort in 2026.

What work is implied (bullets)

• Plan and deliver a WTDB CIC “assessment” over an estimated 12-month period (verify detailed deliverables in attachments).
• Engage with the WTDB/HECC-OWI context: inclusive coordination across workforce, education, training, and employer needs.
• Evaluate alignment to mission/vision and continuous improvement practices (as described in the solicitation narrative).
• Identify barriers and potential solutions; assess risk of duplication across services/systems.
• Translate findings into actionable recommendations that can be communicated in public-meeting settings (WTDB emphasizes transparency through public meetings).
• Execute the work with no travel cost reimbursement (plan for remote-first methods unless attachments state otherwise).

Who should bid / who should pass (bullets)

Who should bid

• Consulting firms with demonstrated experience conducting committee/program assessments and continuous improvement evaluations in workforce, education, training, or public-sector coordination environments.
• Teams comfortable producing board-ready outputs that support transparency and public-meeting communication.
• Firms that can perform stakeholder engagement and analysis without relying on travel reimbursement.
• Small businesses and minority-owned businesses aligned with the stated set-aside.

Who should pass

• Firms that require significant onsite travel to deliver quality work (travel expenses will not be allowable cost).
• Teams without a clear approach to equity-centered assessment and cross-system coordination (central to WTDB’s stated vision/mission).
• Firms unable to support an assessment effort over an estimated 12-month term.

Response package checklist

• Completed proposal response to the OregonBuys RFP (verify required forms, certifications, and formatting in attachments).
• Technical approach describing how you will conduct the CIC assessment and convert findings into actionable recommendations (verify required sections in attachments).
• Work plan and schedule for the estimated 12-month period (verify milestones/deliverables in attachments).
• Budget/pricing response aligned to the estimated cost level and the rule that travel expenses are not allowable (verify pricing template in attachments).
• Past performance or relevant experience demonstrating assessment/continuous improvement work in workforce/education/training and public governance settings (verify what is required in attachments).
• Staffing plan and roles (verify labor category/resume requirements in attachments).
• Submission confirmation of deadline: March 19, 2026 at 3:00 PM Pacific Time (verify submission mechanics in OregonBuys).

Pricing & strategy notes

The solicitation states an estimated cost for the work of $200,000 and explicitly notes travel expenses will not be allowable cost. For bid strategy:

• Use the $200,000 estimate as the buyer’s expectation for overall scope and staffing intensity; shape your approach to fit within that level.
• Design a remote-first engagement model and build all anticipated travel into your fully burdened rates (if allowed) or avoid travel entirely—do not assume reimbursable travel.
• Research comparable Oregon public-sector consulting awards for assessment/continuous improvement work (use OregonBuys history and HECC/OWI-related postings if available) to sanity-check staffing levels and deliverable effort.
• Plan for clear, board-consumable deliverables since the WTDB emphasizes transparency through public meetings; proposals that show how findings will be communicated tend to read as lower risk.
• Confirm whether pricing is fixed price, not-to-exceed, or another structure (verify in attachments).

Subcontracting / teaming ideas (bullets)

• Partner a lead assessment/strategy firm with a specialist in workforce system coordination (LWDB-facing experience) to strengthen stakeholder and implementation credibility.
• Add a subcontractor skilled in facilitation and public-meeting-ready synthesis to match WTDB’s transparency emphasis.
• Include an equity-focused evaluation partner to reinforce alignment with WTDB’s “equitable prosperity” vision (ensure roles and outputs are clear and measurable).
• If you are a small/minority-owned prime, consider subs for targeted research tasks (literature scan, landscape review, synthesis) to preserve budget for core analysis and recommendations.

Risks & watch-outs (bullets)

• No allowable travel cost: proposals that implicitly require travel may be non-competitive or infeasible.
• Scope specificity risk: the snippet references “Consult Services” and an assessment; confirm detailed tasks, deliverables, and evaluation criteria in the full RFP attachments.
• Stakeholder complexity: WTDB’s ecosystem spans workforce, education, training, employers, and LWDBs—ensure your approach can handle cross-system input without scope creep.
• Public transparency expectations: outputs may need to stand up in public meeting settings; write deliverables with that audience in mind.
• Contract flexibility: HECC “reserves the right to amend the resulting Contract for related services and time as HECC determines necessary”—watch for change management language and ensure your proposal sets clear assumptions.

Related opportunities

• Workforce Talent and Development Board Continuous Improvement Committee Assessment 2026 (BidPulsar notice)

How to act on this

1. Pull the full solicitation and attachments from OregonBuys using the reference in the notice; confirm deliverables, submission requirements, and evaluation criteria.
2. Draft a remote-first assessment methodology that clearly maps to WTDB’s mission elements (alignment, barriers/solutions, avoiding duplication, accountability, best practices).
3. Build a lean staffing plan that fits the stated estimated budget and reflects the no-travel constraint.
4. Decide teaming now (equity evaluation, facilitation/synthesis, workforce-system specialist) and lock roles before writing.

If you want a second set of eyes on win themes, compliance, and a crisp assessment approach tailored to this RFP, contact Federal Bid Partners LLC for capture and proposal support.