LIC Compass RFP Answers to Questions

Request for Proposals for Environmental Graphic Design Consultants 

Released:                           October 25, 2017
Responses Due:                 Tuesday, November 28, 2017, 4pm

The Long Island City Partnership (LICP) is seeking an environmental graphic design consultant(s) to design and implement LIC Compass: A Smart Wayfinding and Signage System, a pilot project.

The proposed LIC Compass project is to create a smart signage solution for wayfinding and neighborhood connectivity that will be piloted in Long Island City (LIC) and western Queens. LIC Compass is to combine visual street signage and “markers” that will help orient users traveling in LIC with beacon technology connecting users to a web based platform that offers digital wayfinding and connections to the neighborhood. LIC Compass is to have a unified branding that visually identifies the LIC neighborhood and is to be recognizable for users both at the street level and on the web based application. The goals and objectives of LIC Compass are to orient users to where they are in LIC; inform users about nearby amenities, services, local businesses, attractions, etc.; lead users along a path to their destination; and provide opportunities for engaging with the LIC community.

The proposed LIC Compass program is a direct outgrowth of the LIC Comprehensive Plan, released in 2016, which identified connectivity and wayfinding as two of the community’s biggest challenges. Cited as the fastest growing neighborhood in the country*, LIC is a diverse, truly mixed-use community with multimodal transit connections to the rest of the City. The neighborhood’s transit connections, its bridges, elevated subway and rail lines, and highways, are vital to making LIC an attractive home for businesses, residents, and visitors but they also serve as barriers to neighborhood movement. In addition, the neighborhood’s street system, crisscrossing of the streets, atypical street addresses, and mix of streets, avenues, and drives can be disorienting and difficult to navigate. LIC’s lack of intra-neighborhood connectivity and public spaces impedes it from becoming a healthy and vibrant community.

LICP is a recipient of one of the NYC Department of Small Business Services’ (“SBS”) Neighborhood Challenge Innovation Grants. In partnership with New York City Economic Development Corporation (“EDC”) and SBS, the 2017 round of the grant competition paired nonprofit community organizations and tech companies to create and implement tools that address specific commercial district issues. LICP has chosen to work with two technology firms (Vectuel and Connecthings) to design LIC Compass: A Smart Wayfinding System for Innovating Community, as defined above.

Inquiries:

Consultants interested in submitting a proposal and who have questions about this RFP are encouraged to attend an optional Q & A forum to be held on Friday, November 10th, 2017 at 1 pm at LICP’s offices at the address noted above in Long Island City. Consultants wishing to attend must preregister by emailing Christina Chavez at cchavez@licpartnership.org.

Consultants with questions should also contact Ms. Chavez via email, preferably before 12 Noon on Thursday, November 9th. No phone calls will be taken. All questions received and answered by LICP will be posted on LICP’s website at www.licqns.com/LICCompassRFP, after Friday, November 10th.

Questions submitted by email must include the Consultant firm name, a contact person, their title and contact information, and are to be emailed directly to:

Christina Chavez at cchavez@licpartnership.org
Subject: LICP RFP for Pedestrian Wayfinding and Signage Designer – Question

Questions received after the Q & A Forum will only be answered at LICP’s discretion.
LICP anticipates holding interviews with select Consultants on the afternoons of December 6th, 7th and/or 8th. Please mark your calendars as these dates cannot be changed.

Submission Requirements:

All submissions must be received by the LICP prior to 4:00pm on Tuesday, November 28th, 2017. Interested Consultant must submit three (3) hard copies their entire proposal. Emailed submissions will not be accepted. 

Please submit proposals to:

The Long Island City Partnership
27-01 Queens Plaza North, 9^th floor
Long Island City, New York 11101
Attn: Christina Chavez

Please refer to Section 1.5 Submission Requirement Dates in the Request for Proposals.