DEFINING THE REQUIREMENTS
Early Learning Center Provider Request for Proposals
Technical Writing • Requirements Development • Evaluation Design • Organizational Communications
In 2018, as Board Chair of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York, I led a project to identify an independent early-learning provider to lease and operate a child-care center in our underused weekday education space. Although an interested provider had already emerged, we chose to conduct a public competitive process to consider qualified organizations throughout the region.
I wrote a 13-page Request for Proposals (RFP) that established the requirements and procedures for selecting a provider. Drawing on input from early-childhood education professionals, board members, and other stakeholders, I developed submission instructions, provider qualifications, evaluation criteria, and due-diligence requirements.
The RFP included a 100-point scoring framework and a 34-item documentation checklist. These tools helped ensure that applicants supplied comparable information about their educational programs, staffing, financial viability, safety practices, and operational plans.
The project required translating a complex organizational decision into clear instructions for external applicants and a consistent, transparent evaluation process for decision-makers.
