Suppose you’ve decided to approach the Parks and Recreation Department about support for petanque in your local parks.
The first step in the process should be to develop a clear and detailed idea for the proposal that you want to present to parks&rec department. Write your ideas down in outline form. Eventually, with luck, this outline will be the basis of your proposal document. As you write the outline, ask yourself the kind of probing questions that soon will be put to you. Have you explained clearly what you want, and why, and why you think the parks&rec department should support it?
The first time that you meet with the department’s representative(s), he/she/they will probably never have heard of petanque. Your first meeting will go more smoothly if you have a printed introductory document to give them. It should provide a short executive summary of information about petanque, and about who plays the game and why. The purpose of the introductory document is to provide both information and reassurance… to provide concrete proof that petanque is something real, something that many people actually do play, and something that other cities support by providing facilities in their public parks. A full-color document makes a vivid impression, so (if you don’t own a color printer), copy your document file onto a flash drive and take it to your local graphics company or office-supply store. They can easily print color copies at a reasonable fee.
Your introductory document should be just that, an introductory document. It is not your proposal document. It is only the first step in your relationship with parks&rec so it should be short and easily digested. After introducing the idea of petanque, and support for petanque in public parks, you might continue with a little information about your local club. If you have a handout with information about your club, this will be a good time to bring that out. Eventually, you can lead the conversation around to an informal presentation of your club’s idea for a parks&rec project. Think of this as a casual, low-key, informal presentation of the ideas in your outline. Expect probing questions and perhaps even ideas, suggestions, or proposals for alternate projects. Stay calm, pay close attention to the feedback that you’re getting, and stay flexible.
If your meeting is successful, the next step will probably be for you and your petanque group to prepare a project proposal document for the parks&rec budget and planning committee. That document should quickly summarize basic information about petanque. (You don’t need to repeat all the detail of your introductory document in this document. Just append it to your proposal document.) The rest of your project proposal document should provide details about the specific construction project being proposed — the project’s details, costs, and benefits. In this document it is important to provide evidence that the proposed petanque facilities will actually be used, so presenting information about your club, its strength, membership, and history is important. It is also important to show that your club is committed to the project and prepared to support it. (In New York City, for example, La Boule New Yorkaise committed to offering free weekly petanque instruction at the new terrains in Bryant Park.)
If the proposal is approved by the budget and planning committee, the parks&rec department will issue an RFP (request for proposal). This is basically a request for contractors to bid on the construction of the planned facilities. By its very nature, an RFP must be very specific and detailed about exactly what is to be built. Writing such a document is not something you can leave to amateurs— the parks&rec dept. will have people who are experts in writing RFPs. Your job will be to work with them and provide them as much information and assistance as they need to get it right.
SOME EXAMPLES AND MODELS
Introductory documents
- Petanque in Public Parks by Stephen Ferg— (pdf) (docx)
We hereby place this document in the public domain. - Pétanque in public parks & places by Philippe Boets— (pdf) (docx)
- Petanque in Public Places by Gary Hosie — (pdf) (docx)
Proposal documents
- Proposal for a Petanque Terrain at C.V. Starr Community Center by The Noyo Yoyos Pétanque Club (2010)— (pdf) (docx)
RFP documents
- RFP for the construction of public petanque courts issued by the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan Parks and Recreation Department (2009)— (pdf)
American Petanque 