Request for Proposals (RfP) for Proptech Recruiting and HR Support Services

Introduction

Urban Intelligence Ltd (Urban Intelligence), an early-stage and innovative technology company based in Bristol, is excited to collaborate with a professional recruitment partner to fill several essential roles within our organisation. Our commitment to digitising the urban landscape through technology has set the stage for our growth, and we are seeking exceptional new talent to join us on this exciting journey. This RfP outlines our specific requirements for recruitment services.

Company Overview

Urban Intelligence is a technology firm that specialises in providing software and data science solutions for central and local government to identify land for future housing and other land uses. Our dedication to leveraging technology to reshape places fuels our search for top-notch talent to amplify our impact. We operate in a niche between the built environment and technology sectors, and the nature of our work means that the skills and expertise required are quite unique and specialised. We are passionate about a range of issues including housing, the built and natural environment and improving quality of life for citizens through data-driven decisions.

Scope of Services

As part of our ambitious growth strategy, we are planning to make a number of key hires in the coming year. We are seeking the expertise of a recruitment and potentially HR partner to identify, evaluate, and present highly qualified candidates for the following roles:

Lot 1 – Built Environment

• Town Planners (including Graduate to Director level)

Lot 2 – Technology

• Software Engineers (including a new Lead Engineer)
• Data Scientists
• Product Managers
• UI/UX Research and Design

Lot 3 – Business Development and Support

• Sales and Marketing Specialists
• Operations and Support
• Finance and Administration

Requirements

We will be seeking best value and expect the chosen recruitment agency to have a proven track record in successfully recruiting for similar early-stage technology positions, with a strong understanding of the industry’s talent landscape. Key requirements include:

• Demonstrable experience in recruiting for technology roles, focusing on planning/proptech and/or digital software.
• Familiarity with the Bristol and London job market and insights into compensation trends.
• Access to a well-established network of highly qualified candidates in the relevant lot(s).
• Proficiency in supporting comprehensive candidate assessments, including technical evaluations where applicable.
• Proven ability to meet timelines and promptly provide high-calibre candidates.
• Excellent communication skills to facilitate interactions between candidates and the business management team.

Proposal Guidelines

We invite interested recruitment agencies to submit a comprehensive proposal (max 10 pages A4), including the following components:

• Preferred Lot: Indicate which of the above lot(s) you are interested in applying for.
• Agency Overview: An introduction to your agency, highlighting your expertise in recruiting for early-stage technology positions.
• Proposed Team: CVs/LinkedIn Profile URLs for the relevant members of the proposed agency team.
• Methodology: A breakdown of your recruitment process, covering candidate sourcing, evaluation, and interview coordination.
• Candidate Evaluation: An explanation of your approach to assessing technical skills and cultural fit.
• Timeline: A proposed timeline for presenting candidates, considering our time-sensitive hiring needs.
• Fee Structure: A transparent breakdown of your fee structure, including any additional costs.
• Client References: At least two references from similar companies you have provided services to.
• Compliance: Details on how you ensure compliance with data protection and employment regulations.
• Technology Utilisation: Any technological platforms or tools you use for candidate tracking and communication.

Contract Award and Selection Criteria: 

We will be running a 2 stage process for the evaluation and scoring of proposals:

Stage 1 – Written proposal submissions 

The selection of the recruitment agency will be based on the following scoring criteria:

• Price (per role or fixed fee) and proposed flexible payment structure. (50%)
• Experience and proficiency in recruiting for early-stage technology roles. (20%)
• Alignment with Urban Intelligence’s values and culture. (20%)
• Effectiveness of the proposed recruitment process including familiarity with compliance and regulations (e.g. GDPR). (10%)

Stage 2 – Interviews

We plan to hold interviews with the shortlisted teams. These are currently planned to be held on Thursday 31st August 2023.

• The criteria/details will be the same for all shortlisted suppliers.
• The Stage 2 interview criteria/details will be provided after the Stage 1 results are communicated to suppliers.
• Shortlisted suppliers will have 1 week to prepare for the interview.
• The time allocation will be 30 minutes for the presentation.
• Shortlisted suppliers will be interviewed on the same day and will be allocated a time slot on the relevant day.
• Scoring and evaluation criteria of the interview will be communicated at the time of the shortlisting notification.

The contract award will be based on a combination of the stage 1 and stage 2 scores.

• Each stage has a total score of 100
• The final winning bid score will therefore be out of 200.

Timescales

Submission Deadline

Please submit your proposal no later than 5pm on 25th August 2023 to procurement@urbanintelligence.co.uk. Note that late submissions will not be considered.

Confidentiality

All information shared in the proposal will be treated as confidential and used solely for evaluating potential recruitment partners.

Clarification Questions

For any inquiries or clarifications regarding this RfP, please contact procurement@urbanintelligence.co.uk by 5pm on Friday 18th August. Please note that for fairness and transparency all clarifications will be made publicly available on the RfP page on our website. No other forms of communication (i.e. solicitation) with the Company, its shareholders, directors or employees will be accepted and may lead to disqualification from the process.

Disclaimer

By submitting a response to the RfP, the Supplier acknowledges:

• Urban Intelligence has prepared this RfP in good faith and does not warrant its accuracy, completeness or relevance, nor that it has been independently verified. To the extent that Urban Intelligence is permitted by law, it excludes any liability (whether in contract, negligence or otherwise), for any incorrect or misleading information contained in this RfP, or any inadequacies, inaccuracies or incompleteness of the RfP, and makes no representations or warranty, express or implied, with respect to the information contained in the RfP documents or on which such documents are based or with respect to any written or oral information made or to be made available to an interested bidder or its professional advisors and any liability therefore is excluded.
• This RfP is a request for a proposal and not an offer document; answers to it must not be construed as acceptance of an offer or imply the existence of a contract between the parties.
• Under no circumstances will Urban Intelligence be liable for any bid costs incurred by the bidder in responding to the RfP.
• Urban Intelligence reserves the right to award the contract for which proposals are being invited in whole, in part, or not at all.

We look forward to receiving your proposals and the possibility of partnering to bring exceptional talent to Urban Intelligence. Thank you for your interest!

Urban Intelligence Team

Clarification Q&A

Last updated: 21/8/2023

Please could you clarify UI’s recruitment budget for 2023 (and 2024 if possible)?

Our business year runs from 1 Oct to 30 Sep. The budget for recruitment fees for 2023/2024 is currently envisaged to be £50,000 across all lots.

How many new hires are planned within your 2023/2024 financial year?

This is subject to the performance of new hires at the beginning of the year and our resulting success! However, we would like to say 8-10 new hires across all lots during the business year.

Please could you confirm the quantity of each position in each lot. For example: 3x Software Engineers, 1x Software Engineering Manager, 2x QA

It is difficult to say at this stage what the overall blend will be as it will depend on what skills and expertise the hires possess and what gaps will remain to be filled. However for indicative purposes at this stage:

• 1 x Planning Graduate (Lot 1)
• 1 x Senior Planner (Lot 1)
• 1 x Associate/Director Planner (Lot 1)
• 1 x Lead Engineer / CTO (Lot 2)
• 2 x Full Stack Engineers (Lot 2)
• 1 x UI/UX Designer (Lot 2)
• 1 x Business Development/Sales Lead (Lot 3)
• 1 x Marketing Manager (Lot 3)
• 1 x Operations Manager (Lot 3)
• 1 x Administrative Assistant (Lot 3)

Roughly when are you planning to have people in post for each of these roles?

The roles marked as ASAP are the highest priority hires, the other roles can be distributed across the year.

• Planning Graduate – ASAP
• Senior Planner – Jan 24
• Associate/Director Planner – Jan 24
• Lead Engineer / CTO – ASAP
• Full Stack Engineers – Spring/Summer 24 (we currently have a reliable agency partner)
• 1 x UI/UX Designer – ASAP
• 1 x Business Development/Sales Lead – ASAP
• 1 x Marketing Manager – ASAP
• 1 x Operations Manager – ASAP
• 1 x Administrative Assistant – Spring/Summer 24

Which do you have an ability to hire immediately, as opposed to those that are contingent on success of other roles?

Priority is being given to roles that help to generate revenues including fee earners, business development and marketing. The other support roles are subject to the winning of new business (see those marked as Spring/Summer).

What are the projected salaries and benefits on offer for each of the listed roles?

These are subject to the agreement of the budget for the next business year and recommendations from the selected partner(s) on benchmark salary levels. However, we would aim to ensure that these were competitive with the market standard. In terms of other benefits, we are open to recommendations from the partner(s) on what benefits would be most attractive to great talent. We would be willing to include a range of benefits including; share options (subject to vesting), private healthcare, gym membership / wellbeing allowances, training allowances, relocation allowances depending on the seniority of the role.

Could you be able to share your average salary ranges for each position in lot 2?

See above.

What are Urban Intelligence’s Values?

We are passionate about being an innovative leader in digital planning. We care about enabling data-driven decisions to ensure that the places we build are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable for future generations.

We understand that the legitimacy and perceived fairness of the planning system is critically important to ensuring the existence of trust when it comes to decision making for our communities. Whilst as a small business, we don’t necessarily have all the answers to what are wider societal and cultural challenges, we are making an effort to ensure that we operate in a manner that promotes equality of opportunity and progression. We are passionate about contributing net benefits to the environment, the economy and wider society.

Our investors include Iceni Projects, Venture Studio from Crisis, Development Bank of Wales, Ordnance Survey (Geovation) – each of these has their own values and criteria that we endeavour to align ourselves with where possible. VS from Crisis sets out their own mission is to ‘accelerate the end of homelessness for good through entrepreneurship’. As part of their investment, Urban Intelligence has signed up to a series of KPIs on monitoring and improving Diversity, Equality and Inclusion and signed up to the Blueprint for Better Business principles. We are taking our commitments seriously and have recently sponsored 10 bursary places for ‘rising stars’ within the public sector to attend the Planning Officers Society conference in Gateshead. This was set out with the objective of increasing the participation of young professionals at industry-leading events within the sector.

We are currently particularly driven to increase the gender diversity of our team. We are also considering a number of proposals for increasing diversity within the digital planning sector by sponsoring STEM based learning opportunities for planners and other forms of digital training for those who are underrepresented. We are also currently working to become a B-Corp within the coming year.

I can see from the Q&A section that this is currently set at £50k to deliver across 8 to 11 roles and just wanted to understand if there was any movement on this budget. We want to be as competitive as possible but given the nature of these roles will struggle to work within this and so wanted to clarify before we enter the process.

We are seeking an economy of scale in working with a recruitment partner to fill multiple roles. £50k is our current expected budget across all lots. Please submit a price that you feel aligns with the two lots you mention – currently indicated as 7 roles in total – on a per role or fixed fee (bundle) basis, and we’ll assess each bid competitively against other submissions.

I can imagine you will get a lot of proposals through, so I just wondered what your strategy was regarding how many agencies you will be reviewing (i.e., if 100 agencies apply will you be reviewing all 100?)

We will review each proposal received on its own merit. Depending on the volume of proposals received, we will adopt a suitable fair method for assessing each for comparison against other bids.