REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), the oldest and most prestigious of professional societies in this field, is inviting agencies/institutions with demonstrated experience in  conference planning to submit proposals for an initial two-year cooperative arrangement in helping to plan and organize the Society’s 2009 and 2010 annual meetings.  This arrangement may then lead to a longer term contractual agreement.

Since its origins in the mid-1950s, CIES has expanded its membership significantly to include nearly 1800 individual and 1200 institutional members.  As indicated in Appendix 1, attendance at annual meetings of the society has increased by approximately 50 percent between 2000 and 2007.  Although most conference attendees are US- based, approximately 20% come from other countries.   The recent size and complexity of the logistics associated with the annual meetings has placed a substantial burden on the incoming Vice-President, who traditionally has been responsible for planning and organizing all aspects of the conferences. 

For these reasons, the CIES Board now seeks bids from qualified conference planning entities to provide services in the areas of:  1) venue selection (specifically hotels)* and obtaining air carriers at reduced group rates; 2) all phases of conference registration and associated correspondence (off- and on-site); and 3) managing all aspects of logistics and administration of the conference at the selected site.  More specifically, services should include:

• Formulating site recommendations in coordination with the CIES Vice-President
• Negotiating hotel rates and complementary benefits;
• Managing registration and all related correspondence;
• Coordinating services and logistics associated with special conference functions (such as banquets);
• Coordinating A/V needs associated with individual panels and events;
• Managing the registration desk and addressing conferees’ questions and special needs;
• Assisting with special entertainment options for VP review;
• Preparing a venue “Welcome Booklet” containing information on local sites, dining and entertainment options;
• Negotiating book advertisements in the conference program;
• Assisting with the printing of the conference program;
• Handling billing and payment of vendors;
• Arranging for conference amenities (such as “conference bag”, note pad, pen, etc.) as discussed and agreed with VP;
• Managing conference registration funds and associated accounts;
• Preparing a conference report on attendance (by category), financial statement, and list of problems and recommendations.

Proposals will be judged on three main criteria:  l) scope and appropriateness of services offered ; 2) track record of the organization with regard to past history of working with similar professional societies and the experience and qualifications of staff directly responsible for working with the CIES Vice-President and Secretariat; and 3) cost of services provided.  Proposals should not exceed fifteen (15) pages in length, including a description of the budget, but not appendices and CVs.  Proposals should adhere to the following organizational structure:

• Relevant experience (organizational capability statement attached as annex);
• Bio statement on lead person/s (with CVs attached) ;
• Proposed handling of tasks in the RFP
• Special ideas/ suggestions;
• Strategy for liaising with the VP / Board of Directors; 
• Cost Proposal with possible options if desired

The deadline for submission of proposals is midnight March 1, 2008.  Questions and submissions should be sent electronically to Professor Robert F. Arnove [arnove@indiana.edu].  The CIES Board of Directors anticipates announcing its selection in April, 2008.

Appendix 1 provides basic information on conference sites between 2000-2007, number of registered attendees and conference fees for various categories of participants for the 1995 and 2007 conferences, as well as various tasks that the CIES Vice-Presidents have typically undertaken in the past.

* Although Charleston, South Carolina (and a conference hotel there) has been chosen as the site of the 2009 CIES annual meeting, the 2010 city has not yet been determined.

Appendix 1

            The CIES has experienced explosive growth recently—the number of registered participants increased by over sixty percent over the past five years. Typically, CIES conferences in large cities and in the vicinity of comparative and international programs or international organizations (e.g., Washington, Stanford, Baltimore) tend to attract a larger number of participants. A major surge in registrations occurred at the conference in Stanford with close to 1,000 participants. Prior to the 2005 conference at Stanford, registration ranged—with the exception of the conference in Washington—between 721 and 775 participants. An eight-year perspective on conference attendance and financial returns to the Society from those meetings is given in the table below.  

Year	Conference Site	Registered Attendees
2000	San Antonio	870
2001	Washington, DC	1,040
2002	Orlando	775
2003	New Orleans	721
2004	Salt Lake City	725
2005	Stanford	1,000
2006	Honolulu, HI	950
2007	Baltimore, MD	1,250
Average	------------------	916

Approximately forty percent of the participants tend to be students and register at a reduced conference fee.  Approximately ten percent of the participants are one-day registrants and also register at a reduced fee.  The fee structure for the Baltimore conference is presented in the following table:

Conference Fees, 2007 CIES Conference

Fees	On or Before 1/15/07	After 1/15/07	On-Site
Regular CIES member	180.00	200.00	220.00
Regular Non-Member	200.00	220.00	240.00
Student CIES Member	65.00	75.00	95.00
Student Non-Member	75.00	85.00	105.00
One-day Registration	80.00	80.00	100.00

Major responsibilities for past Vice-Presidents have included selection of venue, selection of hotel, program planning and scheduling of panels and coordinating with hotel on room assignments, pre- and site registration, as well as other coordination of volunteer and paid staff for the conference.  We hope to strike an effective balance between allowing VPs some flexibility for organizing the conference while relieving them of the burden of attending to the time consuming logistics of a conference with over 1,000 people. 

All the points mentioned above–increased conference participation, increased conference fees, stable financial condition of the Society, and the heavy burden placed on prospective Vice-Presidents, who may not have adequate student and staff support—lead us to propose that CIES considers hiring a professional conference planner on a trial basis to assist Presidents-elect beginning with the 2009 conference.   We believe this experiment would be most effective if we choose to work with the same planner over a trial period of 2 years. In addition, a permanent conference planner would be able to learn from past experiences and transfer knowledge acquired from one conference to the next.