Grant Writing Services

Mesa Public Schools is seeking a grant writer to work approximately 15-20 hours per week for the District. The grant writer would be responsible for the following: identifying viable grant opportunities, informing staff of grant opportunities, assisting staff in writing desired grants, taking the lead role in writing major grants, and developing grant compliance protocols.

Project Details

• Reference ID: 27-13MP
• Department: Purchasing Department
• Department Head: Michelle Hamilton (Director of Purchasing)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-04-10T23:00:00.000Z
• Answers Posted By: 2026-04-13T23:30:00.000Z

Meetings & Milestones

Evaluation Criteria

• Price (10 pts) —

  The price or cost of the Proposal. Price or cost is a significant factor but not the most important factor.

• Ability (10 pts) —

  The Offeror’s ability and readiness to fully perform according to the scope of work and other requirements of the Solicitation, taking into consideration any additional services, specialized services or expertise offered that would meet or exceed the requirements of the Solicitation.

• Responsiveness (10 pts) —

  The responsiveness of the Proposal to the requirements of the RFP, including an understanding of the scope of work and how it can be achieved most efficiently and effectively.

• Qualifications (10 pts) —

  The Offeror’s experience in performing comparable projects with appropriate staffing and timely completion of goals.

• Ability (40 pts) —

  The Offeror’s ability and readiness to fully perform according to the scope of work and other requirements of the Solicitation, taking into consideration any additional services, specialized services or expertise offered that would meet or exceed the requirements of the Solicitation.

  Considerations include but are not limited to:

  • Process for identifying viable grant opportunities
  • Assessment of grant opportunities
  • Collaboration with district leadership
  • Tracking of awarded grants/deadlines/etc
  • Training
  • Protection of district data

   

• Qualifications (30 pts) —

  The Offeror’s education, years of experience, and professional development/training that demonstrates expertise in grant writing, especially as it relates to comparable projects in education focus and scope.

  Considerations include but are not limited to:

  • Resume(s)
  • Years in operation/areas of expertise
  • Examples of prior grants
  • Number of grants secured over last 5 years, including larger grants, through various funding sources
  • Experience with Arizona public school districts
  • References
• Responsiveness (15 pts) —

  The responsiveness of the Proposal to the requirements of the RFP, including an understanding of the scope of work and how it can be achieved most efficiently and effectively.

  Considerations include but are not limited to:

  • Understanding of the scope of work
  • Any deviations/exceptions to District's terms and conditions
  • Contract terms in vendor-provided agreement (if any)
• Cost (15 pts) —

  The cost of the Proposal.  Cost is a significant factor but not the most important factor.

Submission Requirements

• Response Submittal "Embedded Attachments or Documents" (required) —

  Our firm understands that we are not to embed any website URL’s, links to documents, or digital binders, or answer any question which references content located at an outside source within the questionnaire, as they will not be evaluated. We will answer the question in the space provided or as an attached document as directed.

  When a document is required to be uploaded, it should be in pdf format and unlocked.

• Evaluation Criteria: Ability
• Describe your process for identifying viable grant opportunities aligned with district priorities. (required)
• How do you assess whether a grant opportunity is a good fit for a school district before recommending pursuit? (required)
• Describe your approach to collaborating with district leadership, departments, and school sites during the grant development process. (required)
• Explain how you track awarded grants, deadlines, reporting requirements, and return on investment (ROI). (required)
• Provide examples of training you have delivered related to grant writing, grant management, or compliance. (required)
• How do you protect the confidentiality of district data when leveraging online services, such as Google Workspace or generative AI? (required)
• Evaluation Criteria: Qualifications
• Identify the number of years in operation and primary areas of expertise. (required)
• Provide examples of major grants you have led or significantly contributed to, including: (required) —

  • Funding source

  • Award amount

  • District or organization type

  • Your role in the process

• Identify the number of grants you have secured in the past 5 years with a value of greater than $20,000. (required)
• Identify the Arizona school districts you have served in the past 5 years. (required)
• Identify the amount of funding you have secured for public school districts in any state within the past 5 years. (required)
• Of the grants that you have secured in the past 5 years, how many fell into the following categories: (required) —

  • Federal

  • State

  • Local Government

  • Private donor

  • Other (please describe)

• Provide resume(s) of the individual(s) who will be assigned to this work. (required)
• Upload Attachment B - Vendor Reference Listing. (required)
• Evaluation Criteria: Responsiveness
• Provide a summary of your understanding of the scope of work outlined in this RFP. (required)
• Additional or separate contract —

  The form of contract for any award made as a result of this proposal will be a district purchase order, referencing this bid, which shall be considered a part of the contract. The amount will be based upon the fees shown in the bid, and will take into consideration previous and anticipated expenses for the forthcoming year. If your firm will require the District to sign an additional or separate contract, a copy of the proposal contract must be included with the proposal.

• Evaluation Criteria: Cost
• Services Generating Cost to the District —

  Your annual price for services should be provided in the Pricing Proposal section. If there are any additional costs not included in the annual price, a listing of any services generating a cost to the District must be uploaded, plus a formula or explanation of how these additional costs will be determined and billed to the District.

• Additional Information
• Use this question to upload any additional information you feel is relevant for the District to know when considering your proposal.
• Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms and Conditions of the Solicitation
• Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms and Conditions of the Solicitation (required) —

  Explanatory Note: The purpose of this question is to confirm the Bidder’s or Offeror’s acknowledgement and acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Solicitation, subject to any exceptions or modifications to terms or conditions that are expressly requested or that have been requested and approved prior to submission of the Offer. All exceptions or modifications to the Solicitation, regardless of whether Organization Name (also referred to as the District) approved such items prior to submission of the Offer, must be clearly set forth in this question.

  The Offeror, acknowledges and accepts all terms and conditions of the Solicitation, except as expressly noted below or in the additional pages attached hereto. As used in this question, “terms and conditions of Solicitation” means all terms, conditions, specifications, certifications and warranties set forth in the documents that comprise the Solicitation, including the Uniform Instructions for Offers, Special Rules for Offers (if any), General Terms and Conditions of Contract, Special Requirements of Solicitation (if any), Specifications/Scope of Work, and Solicitation Addendums (if any).

• Exception Requested (required) —

  If you requested an exception under the Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms and Conditions of the Solicitation, please clearly explain the requested exception/deviation. Reference the specific language that you are taking exceptions/deviations to. Unacceptable exceptions shall remove your proposal from consideration for award. Mesa Unified School District #4 shall be the sole judge on the acceptance of exceptions/deviations and their decision shall be final.)

  Enter N/A if this does not apply

• Request for Confidentiality of Proprietary Information —

  Explanatory Note: The purpose of this question is to request that the District treat as confidential specific information in the Offer that the Offeror or Bidder believes is a trade secret or other proprietary information. All information that is the subject of the request for confidentiality must be designated on the question below reflecting the page number and paragraph of the Offer in which it appears. An explanatory statement for the request must be clearly set forth in this question. The District Representative shall review the statement and provide the determination in writing whether the information shall be protected. If the District Representative determines that the information shall be protected from disclosure, the District Representative shall inform the Bidder or Offeror in writing of such determination. Requests to protect pricing information or the entire Offer from disclosure will be denied.

• Request for Confidentiality of Proprietary Information (required) —

  The Offeror, by the undersigned representative, requests that the specific information, described below and identified on the page or pages of the Offer in which it appears, be treated as confidential information and protected from disclosure to the public.

   

  1. Description of specific information that is the subject of the request.

   

  2. The reason or reasons why the information should be treated as confidential.

   

  Enter N/A if this does not apply

• List of Subcontractors —

  The Contractor must list below the Trade, Company name, license and classification numbers of all qualified subcontractors and/or suppliers they will employ for the various portions of the work indicated. Failure on the part of the Contractor to complete this list properly may constitute sufficient grounds to reject the bid. If no subcontractors will be listed please indicate with a N/A

  Example: Trade, Company Name, ROC License #, ROC License Classification

• List of Subcontractors (required) —

  The Contractor must list below the Trade, Company name, license and classification numbers of all qualified subcontractors and/or suppliers they will employ for the various portions of the work indicated. Failure on the part of the Contractor to complete this list properly may constitute sufficient grounds to reject the bid. If no subcontractors will be listed please indicate with a N/A

  Example: Trade, Company Name, ROC License #, ROC License Classification

• Non-Collusion Affidavit
• Non-Collusion Affidavit (required) —

  You the Vendor do confirm that your persons, corporation, or company who makes the accompanying Proposal, having first been duly sworn, deposes and says:

  That such Proposal is genuine and not sham or collusive, nor made in the interest of, or behalf of, any persons not herein named, and that the Offeror has not directly or indirectly induced or solicited any other Offeror to put in a sham proposal, or any other person, firm or corporation to refrain from offering, and that the Offeror has not in any manner sought by collusion to secure for itself an advantage over any other Offeror.

• Offer and Acceptance
• Offer and Acceptance (required) —

  Please download the Offer and Acceptance form from attachments and complete, then upload here.

• Requested Forms —

  Please complete the following downloadable forms and upload them in their respective questions.

• W-9 (required) —

  Please upload your complete W-9 here

• Certificate of Insurance (COI) (required) —

  Please upload your complete COI here

• Pricing Proposal (required) —

  Please upload your complete PRICING PROPOSAL here. Please make sure that this information is NOT included in the RFP Response Area.

• Data Verification Questions —

  These questions will be utilized to confirm information you provide

• System Award Management Verification (required) —

  Please enter your company's Legal Name and/or dba Name:

• Arizona Corporation Commission (required) —

  Please enter your company's Legal Name and/or dba Name:

• Is this a GPPCS Solicitation (required)
• Is this a S.A.V.E solicitation (required)
• Electronic Pricing Table (required) —

  Do you need an Electronic Pricing Table for this solicitation?

• Pricing Proposal Upload (required) —

  Would you like to add an area for the vendor to upload a pricing document?

• Is this project going to be federally funded? (required)
• Special Terms and Conditions Verbiage (required) —

  Please check all you will require in Special Terms and Conditions

• Do you need the Asbestos and Hazardous Materials Statement (required) —

  If you click yes this document will be added to attachments

• Do you need a subcontractors? (required) —

  If you click yes, Subcontractors verbiage will be added to Special Requirements and the subcontractors list will be added to attachments.

• Is there a potential for software? (required) —

  If you click yes, additional verbiage will be added to special requirements tab

• Insurance Requirements (required) —

  Please choose which insurance requirements you will need for this project

• Partial Bids (required) —

  Yes = Acceptable

  No = Unacceptable

   

   

• Expected Award Timeframe (required) —

  Please choose how many days you would like to have the vendor hold pricing for:

Questions & Answers