BACKGROUND
Memorial University recently marked its 100th anniversary, taking the opportunity to both look back at its history and launch forth into its next centennial. Since then, Memorial Evolve has also launched, a university-wide journey to transform with transparency, purpose and courage. Memorial is evolving to ensure a viable and vibrant future that fuels a brighter, more economically, socially, culturally resilient and prosperous Newfoundland and Labrador. Memorial's current strategic plan, Transforming our Horizons, concludes in 2026, and while much progress has occurred over the last five-year period, much has changed as well, with more anticipated as institutions grapple within increasingly complex environments. Memorial is a comprehensive university which operates within a multi-campus structure (St. John's Campus, Grenfell Campus, Marine Institute and Labrador Campus). The next strategic plan is an opportunity to establish a unified and bold vision to navigate change and foster resilience, while providing strategic focus and building momentum for the future. It is also intended to serve as Memorial's overarching planning framework, guiding future institutional priorities, decision-making, operational planning and accountability. Given the evolving post-secondary landscape, Memorial's mission will also be subject to review and validation as part of this planning process, informed by consultant expertise and community engagement.
Memorial's next strategic plan should be a dynamic framework which:
• Honours and respects the lands and waters, and traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples upon which Memorial University is situated.
• Strengthens equity, accessibility, anti-racism and belonging across academic and administrative functions.
• Prioritizes students and the learner experience.
• Supports and celebrates research excellence and innovation.
• Aligns with financial realities and increases financial resilience.
• Engages the internal and external community with consideration for culturally appropriate, meaningful and accessible engagement methods.
• Collectively inspires us for the future.
• Identifies resources and a framework to guide future decision making and priority setting.
• Strengthens Memorial's capacity to anticipate and adapt to evolving internal and external environments, while proactively managing strategic risks and leveraging emerging opportunities.
• Articulates critical issues and advances our ability to be effective and efficient as an organization.
• Improves interconnections and community across the university, and our interactions with the wider world.
• Heightens accountability and transparency.
• Develops future leadership.
SCOPE
Qualified consultants are invited to submit a proposal to partner in the development of Memorial's next strategic plan, co-designing the planning approach in collaboration with Memorial. Given the rapidly changing post-secondary education landscape, Memorial is open to suggestions on the time horizon of the strategic plan, including consultant recommendations on how the strategic and operational planning cycles should interface and reinforce one another, and how best to integrate a broad strategic plan with aligned and cascading operational plans, in support of an integrated planning environment. This work will involve, but not be limited to, providing recommendations on the initiative's governance and engagement process design, supporting a highly-participatory engagement process, reviewing existing plans and frameworks, as well as relevant findings and lessons from recent institutional initiatives, reviews and engagement efforts, while also considering how Memorial can/must move towards a more integrated planning environment. With this in mind, consultants should demonstrate their experience integrating institutional frameworks into strategic plans.
The strategic plan will be developed within the context of post-secondary education within Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and the world. The plan will be rooted in deep consultation that honours the diversity of Memorial and is responsive to the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the ongoing work of Memorial's Strategic Framework for Indigenization. The process must be highly inclusive and accessible, engaging the myriad stakeholders of Memorial University and the wider community, encouraging participation and support.
The university will receive proposals from firms or consortia of firms to provide consulting services to Memorial University. In addition to the above, the scope of this work includes the following tasks:
• Providing project coordination, facilitation and documentation support for the consultation process, including internal and external community engagement and summary reports that can support development of the strategic plan and, where appropriate, inform other future institutional plans and reviews.
• Drafting the strategic plan (including draft plan revision cycle) and data-driven evaluation framework, which must include, at minimum, proposed outcomes, performance indicators, baseline and target-setting requirements, reporting responsibilities, public accountability measures, and a process for mid-cycle review and refresh.
• Providing recommendations on plan implementation, including high level change management and communications strategies that support the plan.
• Assessment, and if appropriate, recommendations regarding Memorial's mission relative to current and anticipated future post-secondary environment.
• Building in opportunities for mid-cycle updates to the community and plan refreshes to help ensure the plan's continued relevance and responsiveness to change.
• Identifying emerging risks / trends to be considered or incorporated into the plan or its process.
CONSULTATION PROCESS
To ensure the strategic plan is both relevant and accepted, a highly-participatory engagement process is desired to ensure there is opportunity for significant stakeholder engagement and input. The consultant will work with Memorial to shape the consultation process and design a governance structure for the engagement that reflects the multi-campus environment. Governance model recommendations should ensure transparency, inclusiveness and clarity of decision-making. Consultants should recognize the broader institutional context, including concurrent change initiatives and labour relations considerations, and propose approaches that support effective sequencing of engagement activities to maximize trust, participation and institutional readiness.
PROPOSALS
The successful consultant shall provide expert personnel to conduct this work. The consultant should have a proven record in conducting strategic planning within the post-secondary sector and with universities of a similar size. Any sub-consultant shall have a proven record in planning and analysis of a similar nature. The successful consultant, and any subconsultant or team member should demonstrate a strong understanding of Memorial University and its role within the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Proposals should outline, in detail, the following:
• The consultant's corporate profile and past performance, including the scope and specifics of similar-type work undertaken within the past five years and at least four references with current contact information.
o Consultants should include a sample outline or example of a previous strategic plan deliverable as part of their proposal.
o Consultants should include examples of previous engagement/consultation plans which demonstrate multi-modal approaches, experience engaging Indigenous groups and success in reaching historically underrepresented or less-engaged groups. Redaction of confidential client information is permitted.
• The makeup and experience of the consultant's team (including any subconsultants) and the resumes of all team members proposed to be assigned to the project, specifically including team members' familiarity with the post-secondary context of Newfoundland and Labrador.
• The organizational structure of the team to be used.
• The respondent's understanding of the project and the work to be accomplished (focusing on project governance, consultation process, draft and final strategic plan and measurement/evaluation component).
• Recommendations on strategic plan time horizon and the proposed approach for integrating the strategic plan with operational planning cycles.
• A description of the methodology to be utilized in completing the work with specific reference to data gathering, synthesis and analysis, using both internal Memorial and external data to inform strategy.
• A description of the project management, change management and quality control frameworks and approaches to be utilized by the consultant.
• A detailed schedule of work; clearly establishing the different phases of the work. Proposed phases are outlined in the RFP.
• What the final plan will address and what it may not address.
• A high-level implementation roadmap, including consideration of how mid-cycle updates or refresh can occur and be incorporated into the plan.
• A description of how any recommendations will be presented in the final plan.
• The fee structure for the work via the Pricing Form. Proponents are asked to submit the financial proposal (Fees) as a separate PDF file.
• Any other value-added component to the proposal.
For pricing and deliverable organization, proponents are encouraged to structure proposals around the following six phases: Phase 1: Project Initiation, Governance & Engagement Planning; Phase 2: Environmental Scan & Discovery; Phase 3: Consultation & Stakeholder Engagement; Phase 4: Strategic Plan Development; Phase 5: Implementation & Evaluation Framework; Phase 6: Project Closeout & Final Deliverables.
