Study guide
7.1 Project & Program Management (RFP/RFQ/Contracts)
AICP Certification Exam American Institute of Certified Planners
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1 Introduction & Exam Overview
1.1 Current Exam Facts 1.2 Format, Scoring & Prometric Options 1.3 One Path Eligibility & Experience Assessment 1.4 Study Strategy & Content Outline Map
2 Research and Assessment Methods — Core Skills
2.1 Research Methods & Knowledge Acquisition 2.2 Data Quality, Validity, Reliability & Bias 2.3 Spatial Analysis, GIS & Visualization
3 Research and Assessment Methods — Engagement & Collection
2.4 Community Involvement for Assessment 2.5 Data Collection Strategies, Privacy & Confidentiality
4 Fundamental Planning Knowledge — History, Settlement, Law & Theory
3.1 Planning History, Movements & Influences 3.2 Patterns of Human Settlement 3.3 Foundational Legal Principles & Statutory Basis 3.4 Planning Theory
5 Fundamental Planning Knowledge — Systems, Values & Technology
3.5 Related Professions & Interdisciplinary Practice 3.6 Natural, Social & Economic Systems 3.7 Core Values: Equity, Sustainability & Public Interest 3.8 Technology, Smart Cities & IT Tools
6 Communication and Interaction — Core Skills
4.1 Communication Skills & Media Relations 4.2 Accessible & Inclusive Electronic Media 4.3 Listening, Comprehension & Reflection 4.4 Social Justice & Culturally Appropriate Communication
7 Communication and Interaction — Process & Politics
4.5 Consensus Building, Facilitation & Negotiation 4.6 Outreach Strategies Design & Evaluation 4.7 Evidence-Based Arguments & Political Situations
8 Plan and Policy Development — Core Process
5.1 Preparing to Plan: Scoping, Visioning & Context 5.2 Policy Formulation, Analysis & Drafting 5.3 Goals, Objectives & Equity Frameworks 5.4 Stakeholder Inclusion & Conflict Resolution
9 Plan and Policy Development — Analysis & Equity
5.5 Evaluating Consequences & Alternatives 5.6 Funding, Financing & Fiscal Strategy 5.7 Community Character, Form & Design Policy 5.8 Addressing Systemic Inequity in Plans
10 Plan Implementation — Tools & Consistency
6.1 Codes, Regulations, Budgeting & CIP 6.2 Funding Activation & Strategic Partnerships 6.3 Consistency Review & Project Assessment
11 Plan Implementation — Execution & Evaluation
6.4 Action Steps, Responsibility & Scheduling 6.5 Monitoring, Evaluation & Plan Updates 6.6 Multi-Project Integration & Obstacle Mitigation
12 Administration and Management
7.1 Project & Program Management (RFP/RFQ/Contracts) 7.2 Internal Organizational Management & Budgeting 7.3 External Relations, Boards & Transparency 7.4 Mentoring, Quality Control & Accountability
13 Leadership
8.1 Leadership for Plan Making & Public Interest 8.2 Ethical Advocacy & Institutional Accountability 8.3 Equity Leadership, Coaching & Mentoring 8.4 Promoting Planning & Professional Development
14 Areas of Practice — Plans, Zoning & Transportation
9.1 Comprehensive & Long-Range Planning 9.2 Subarea, Corridor & Neighborhood Planning 9.3 Current Planning & Zoning Administration 9.4 Transportation Mobility & Access
15 Areas of Practice — Housing, Economy, Design & Services
9.5 Housing Planning & Affordability 9.6 Economic Development 9.7 Urban Design, Historic Resources & Parks 9.8 Health, Food Systems & Facility Services
16 Areas of Practice — Resilience, Infrastructure & Equity Geographies
9.9 Sustainability, Resilience & Natural Resources 9.10 Hazard Mitigation & Infrastructure Planning 9.11 Rural, Regional & Equity Advocacy Planning
17 AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
10.1 Public Interest & Responsibility to the Public 10.2 Clients, Employers, Profession & Colleagues 10.3 Rules of Conduct, Conflicts & Enforcement 10.4 Ethics Scenarios & Decision Frameworks
7.1 Project & Program Management (RFP/RFQ/Contracts)
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Project and program management deliver planning work on time, within budget, and to quality standards—using scope, schedule, staff allocation, and risk control.
RFPs solicit competitive proposals for defined professional services; RFQs emphasize qualifications before or instead of full technical proposals.
Grants and contracts require scope control, deliverable tracking, invoice review, and documentation that protect public funds and legal compliance.
Budget preparation for projects links work packages to labor hours, consultant costs, contingencies, and grant match rules.
Scheduling and staff allocation balance capacity, skill match, and deadlines so critical path items do not slip unnoticed.
Last updated: October 2026
Why Project & Program Management Appears on AICP
Administration and Management is about 7% of the AICP exam in APA's revised outline ( 6% in the 2022 outline)—smaller than plan-making or ethics, but high-stakes in practice and in scenarios. A planner who cannot write a clean Request for Proposals (RFP) , manage a consultant contract , schedule staff across concurrent plan updates, or track a grant budget will fail implementation even with excellent policy content. This section focuses on project or program management : RFPs, RFQs, grants, budget preparation, managing contracts, scheduling, and staff allocation.
Project management typically targets a bounded effort with a defined end product (neighborhood plan, zoning rewrite, corridor study). Program management stewards ongoing or multi-project workstreams (current planning operations, housing program administration, multi-year grant portfolios). Both require scope control, resource assignment, quality expectations, and transparent status reporting.
Core Project Controls
Strong planning project management answers six questions continuously:
- Control Key questions Failure mode
- Scope What is in/out? What decisions does the product support? Scope creep, unfunded “while we’re at it” tasks
- Schedule Critical path, milestones, adoption windows Missed hearing dates; stale data
- Budget Labor, consultants, outreach, contingency Overrun or quality cut without authorization
Staff / skills Who does what; capacity and expertise match Bottlenecks; junior staff alone on high-risk legal drafting
- Quality Review points, standards, acceptance criteria Unforced errors that erode credibility
- Risk & stakeholders Political, legal, data, vendor risks Surprises at public hearing
AICP scenarios often ask for the most appropriate next management step —not the prettiest plan idea. Prefer answers that define deliverables, align resources, document decisions, and protect process integrity.
RFPs: Competitive Proposals for Professional Services
A Request for Proposals (RFP) solicits competitive proposals from consultants (or other vendors) for professional services. A well-built RFP typically includes:
Purpose and background — why the work exists and how it links to adopted plans or mandates.
Scope of work — tasks, products, meetings, data expectations, and exclusions.
Schedule — milestones, draft/final dates, and adoption or grant deadlines.
Budget envelope or fee structure — fixed fee, not-to-exceed, or cost-plus as policy allows (some jurisdictions prohibit stating a budget; know local procurement rules conceptually).
Minimum qualifications and required team roles.
Submission requirements — format, page limits, insurance, references.
Evaluation criteria and weights — e.g., approach, experience, key personnel, cost, equity/inclusion approach, local knowledge.
Procurement and ethics rules — contact limits during the process, conflict-of-interest disclosures, public records notes.
Purpose of the RFP process: define needs clearly, invite fair competition, document a defensible selection, and create a baseline for the eventual contract. It is not a tool to pre-select a favorite firm while performing theater, and it is not free community brainstorming—scope should be clear enough that proposals are comparable.
RFQs: Qualifications First
A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) emphasizes firm and team qualifications rather than a full technical/cost proposal. Agencies use RFQs when:
They will shortlist firms before inviting full proposals (two-step procurement).
Scope will be refined with the selected team.
On-call or multi-project consultant benches are being established.
Cost is secondary at the first stage under local procurement law.
- Instrument Primary ask Typical use
- RFP Approach + often fee for defined scope Discrete study, plan, code update
- RFQ Qualifications / experience Shortlist, on-call lists, design excellence pools
- RFB / IFB (awareness) Price for tightly specified goods/services Commodity or highly specified work
Exam trap: Treating RFP and RFQ as interchangeable. On AICP, prefer the distinction: proposals respond to scope and method; qualifications packages establish capability and fit .
Grants as Project/Program Funding
Planning offices routinely manage grants (federal, state, regional, foundation). Management duties include:
Matching scope to the award conditions (eligible costs, period of performance, reporting).
Tracking match (cash or in-kind) if required.
Submitting progress and financial reports on time.
Documenting procurement and labor under grant rules (often stricter than general funds).
Closing out with final products and residual property/data rules.
Grant-funded projects fail management tests when staff treat the award as unrestricted money, reallocate scope without amendment authority, or miss reporting deadlines that trigger repayment risk.
Budget Preparation for Projects
Budget preparation for a planning project links work breakdown to cost:
Staff hours by role (project manager, analysts, GIS, engagement specialists) × loaded rates.
Consultant / contractor line items tied to scope packages.
Direct costs — printing, translation, venues, surveys, travel, software.
Contingency sized to risk (public process volatility, data gaps, legal review).
Phasing aligned with fiscal years and grant periods.
Budgets should match the scope and schedule . A six-month corridor plan with multilingual engagement and full traffic modeling cannot share the same budget as a staff-only policy memo. When elected officials cut budget without cutting scope, the professional response is to renegotiate scope or timeline —not silently underdeliver.
Managing Contracts
After selection, the contract (or professional services agreement) becomes the control document. Contract management includes:
Confirming scope, schedule, fee, deliverables, and change-order process match the RFP and negotiation outcomes.
Holding kickoff meetings that align expectations and data handoffs.
Reviewing invoices against progress (percent complete, deliverable acceptance).
Enforcing quality standards and requiring rework when products are incomplete.
Documenting amendments when scope legitimately changes.
Closing contracts with acceptance of final products and file retention.
Ethical and legal notes: Follow procurement and open-government rules; avoid unauthorized sole-source justifications; do not accept gifts that create conflicts; keep evaluation scoring documentation. Planners managing contracts act as stewards of public resources , not as passive recipients of consultant drafts.
Scheduling and Staff Allocation
Scheduling uses milestones tied to real decision calendars (commission packets, council agendas, environmental review clocks, grant deadlines). Tools range from simple Gantt charts to formal critical-path methods. What matters for AICP is judgment:
Sequence dependent tasks (existing conditions before alternatives; legal review before adoption draft).
Build review time for supervisors, attorneys, and partner agencies.
Protect engagement windows—do not schedule the only public workshop on a major holiday without alternatives.
Staff allocation assigns people to projects based on capacity, skill, development needs, and risk . Over-allocating star staff to every project burns them out and underdevelops others. Under-allocating senior review on high-stakes rezoning or ethics-sensitive work invites error. Program managers rebalance when new applications surge or a plan update slips.
Worked Mini-Scenario
A city needs a form-based code for a station area within 14 months, funded partly by a regional grant requiring quarterly reports and a 20% local match. Strong management: write an RFP with clear tasks (existing conditions, form standards, zoning map, engagement, adoption support), evaluation criteria weighted for form-based experience and equity-centered engagement, select a firm, execute a not-to-exceed contract with monthly progress meetings, build a staff allocation matrix (project manager 0.4 FTE, planner 0.6, GIS 0.2), schedule legal review and hearing dates backward from the grant end date, and track match hours. Weak management: verbal “hire the firm we like,” no written scope, no invoice review, and discovery at month 12 that match documentation is missing.
- Common Exam Traps
- Confusing RFQ with RFP
- Expanding scope without budget/schedule adjustment
- Treating grant funds as unrestricted
- Selecting consultants without documented evaluation criteria
- Ignoring staff capacity when accepting new projects
Bottom line for AICP: Project and program management is disciplined delivery—competitive, documented procurement; grant- and contract-aware budgeting; and honest scheduling and staff allocation that protect quality and public funds.