Infrastructure for Public Good

Tailored Project Support

Partners for Public Good is offering free project planning and procurement support to local governments! Learn more below.

The Opportunity

Does your local government need hands-on planning, procurement, or project delivery assistance during a critical moment in your infrastructure project? PPG is offering pro bono support from our team of procurement advisors. You can expect weekly coordination from dedicated PPG advisors for approximately three months, customized to the context and needs of your city.

We partner with public works teams, transportation departments, utilities, grant writing teams, and more to turn plans into critical infrastructure improvements that deliver real benefits for residents. We can help you:

  • Workshop a high-priority RFP, developing a scope of work, performance metrics, and evaluation criteria for major infrastructure projects
  • Develop a realistic procurement strategy that aims to increase the number of vendor responses and reduce delays
  • Conduct market research to better understand the vendor landscape and inform your procurement strategy
  • Design a contract management plan to effectively handle construction change orders and minimize cost overruns
  • Investigate alternative project delivery models (design-build, progressive design-build, construction manager at-risk, etc.) for a construction project

If your project or department isn’t listed here, we still encourage you to reach out — our support is flexible and designed to adapt to a wide range of infrastructure needs.

What Else Should I Know?

  • Cities should identify one planning or procurement project related to public infrastructure. If multiple projects come to mind, PPG can work with you to prioritize based on your needs and our areas of expertise.
  • Cities should assign one primary city lead to engage with PPG.
    • The city lead will attend at least one weekly check-in with PPG and be consistently responsive to regular emails and calls throughout the engagement.
    • Up to four other government staff may actively participate in this engagement, with all coordination with PPG primarily running through the city lead.
  • Cities are the primary target for this opportunity.
    • Other governmental entities (i.e. states, counties, metropolitan planning organizations, airports, utilities, etc.) may complete this Expression of Interest if their project includes at least one city as a partner.

Fill out this Expression of Interest. The Expression of Interest requests a brief description of the project, its goals, funding sources, current stage, involved stakeholders, and the specific challenge for which the city is seeking support from PPG. This is designed to provide PPG staff an overview of your project and should take no longer than 20 minutes.

Next steps following submission of the EOI:

  • 45-minute conversation: Partners for Public Good will review EOIs to understand project needs, potential impact, and feasibility. Cities will then be invited to a short 45-minute conversation to discuss project details, challenges, and a potential scope of work.
  • Collaborative project scoping: Following this conversation, cities will be invited to one or two 60-minute scoping calls with PPG. During these sessions, PPG and city partners will collaboratively refine a potential scope of work for rapid project support, which will then be documented in a short memorandum of understanding between the City and PPG.
  • Hands-on support: Cities receive up to 12 hours per week of hands-on support for approximately three months, delivered remotely and tailored to your specific project needs.
  • Follow-up and resources: If we believe your project is a better fit for a different opportunity, PPG will follow up with an explanation, offer 1:1 coaching, and, when possible, share additional resources to help cities advance their work. We may also refer you to other ongoing or upcoming program offerings.
  • Legal advice
  • Grant-specific compliance guidance on specific federal policies or requirements
  • Exclusively finding and replacing key search terms in documents
  • Working directly with contractors or vendors to address challenges
  • Leading work independently without ongoing direction, decision-making, and oversight from city staff

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With support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.