PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA – The City of Long Beach is seeking grant writing consultants and firms to provide grant writing services for various City Departments that require assistance applying for county, state, federal and philanthropic grants. Now through Feb. 23 at 11 a.m., eligible organizations are encouraged to submit proposals through the City’s Request for Qualification (RFQ) Vendor Portal, PlanetBids, for consideration.

The RFQ seeks to create a list of qualified on-call grant writing consultants/firms who possess specific grant writing expertise across various areas, including infrastructure, economic development, health, libraries and parks, to serve various City Departments by providing tailored grant writing services and support for county, state, federal and philanthropic/foundation grants where needed. Responding individuals or firms must provide evidence that they have previously written grants that have successfully secured county, state and federal funding for government agencies. 

To be eligible, consultants and firms must meet the following criteria:

• Be a grant writing consultant or firm offering tailored grant writing services with at least five years’ experience providing grant writing services for a range of simple to complex federal, state, county, and philanthropic grants to government agencies.
• Have familiarity with current procedures for submission of applications under grants.gov, including the use of Workspace, preparation of SF-424s and other relevant federal forms; similar knowledge of FEMA and other portal requirements; requirements of SAM.gov, FFATA, etc.
• Have experience and capacity to produce grant deliverables under tight deadlines.
• Have strong project management and administration skills.
• Be able to apply an equity lens throughout the grant application process.
• Have a Long Beach business license (must be obtained prior to final contract award).

Details related to scope areas, eligibility requirements and submission instructions are available at PlanetBids. The City also has developed an instructional video on the registration process.

The City manages over $290 million in federal, state, county, and other grants from year to year. These grants are a combination of formula grants (distributed automatically based on population or other criteria) and competitive grants (awarded based on eligibility and competitiveness). Both types of grants typically require the City to submit an application; however, applications for competitive grants often require a considerable amount of additional work to collect and synthesize relevant information, compose grant narratives, prepare or assemble supporting materials, complete required grant forms, and receive organizational approval and formal signatures.

While the City does have some staff across the City’s 22 departments assigned to grant writing, additional grant writing services will be needed to provide the capacity to secure future grant funding to address the backlog of local needs. This capacity is particularly relevant considering significant federal, state, and county funding available under the American Rescue Plan Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, grant programs included in the State of California annual budget, and Los Angeles County grant programs for parks, stormwater, active transportation and health and human services.

This opportunity, which would allow the City to secure additional recovery funds, is made possible by Long Beach Recovery Act, a plan to fund economic and public health initiatives for Long Beach residents, workers and businesses critically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional information about the Long Beach Recovery Act is available at longbeach.gov/recovery.

Media inquiries can be directed to Briana Jimenez, Recovery Communications Specialist, Long Beach Recovery Office, 562.570.6122 or Briana.Jimenez@longbeach.gov.