Background/Rationale

  1. Have you provided necessary histories and descriptions of your organization and/or community relating to the feasibility study?
     

  2. Have you provided a description of the issues, problems or special circumstances facing your community or organization that made you decide to do a feasibility study?

Purpose/Objectives

  1. Have the goals for the planning study been determined? If various groups are involved, have their own particular needs been resolved in relation to a consolidated set of goals so that any potential conflicts that may occur when the study is underway have been alleviated? If no, is this resolution to be part of the scope of the study?
     

  2. Are these goals written in a clear and readily understandable manner so that they are comprehensible by all the members of the study team?

Scope/Constraints

  1. Are the geographic boundaries of the study area outlined?
     

  2. Is a time table for the study sketched out including proposed target dates for meetings with the consultants; preparations of draft and final reports; public meetings and any other significant stages in the completion of the study?
     

  3. Have you asked the consultants to provide a flow chart or its equivalent indicating the dates mentioned in the preceding section and other key events in their proposal?
     

  4. Have you asked that sufficient time be allowed for review of the draft final report by funding agencies?
     

  5. Have you stated what materials your organization or agency will provide to the consultants?
     

  6. Have you asked that operating budgets and capital costs be broken down so that the components that constitute these estimates can be analyzed?
     

  7. Have you asked that operating costs be projected for a five year period?
     

  8. Have you identified any areas of your community or of your operation, administration or facility which need special attention?

Information Required

 

Describe the information that you expect will be needed to meet the objectives of the study. Have the following items been considered 

  • Social and economic characteristics of the community and/or user groups (age, income, sex, occupation, etc.);

  • An investigation of needs or the demand for the particular facilities in question;

  • Inventory of existing programs, facilities that are relevant to the feasibility of the proposed facility;

  • Capital, operating and maintenance costs and revenues of existing facilities as they pertain to the change or establishment of a facility;

  • The administrative structure of departments and agencies that provide cultural and recreational services that affect the project under investigation;

  • Review and analysis of existing pertinent reports and studies;

  • A review of programs and technical advances now in place to illustrate the state-of-the-art, for situations in Canada or elsewhere;

  • Compatibility of any proposal or alternative proposal with the local neighbourhood.  Have general environmental concerns been noted if applicable?

  1. Have you explained how the information is to be used in the study once it is collected?

For example, will these steps be required: 

  • Data analysis based on community needs and financial capability;

  • Prioritizing of recommendations;

  • Financial implications of each recommendation;

  • Proposed implementation of each recommendation;

  • Support of recommendations by logical argument and background information?

  1. Have special situations in the study been noted?

 For example:

  • Historical building evaluation requires reference to pertinent standards and documentation techniques;

  • Museum suitability requires reference to pertinent provincial standards;

  • Performance standards require indication of need for theatre, acoustic, landscape or other specific research consultants.

  1. Has information about the availability of grants been requested?

Community Participation

  1. Have you stated who should be involved in the study?

 Have the following groups been considered:

  • Elected and appointed representatives,

  • Public agencies and institutions,

  • Local community and special interest groups,

  • Service clubs,

  • Facility board members,

  • Staff and volunteers,

  • The general public?

  1. Have you described how the community is to be involved in the study?

Have the following methods of involvement been considered: 

  • On the study team,

  • On task committees,

  • Through public meetings,

  • Through the submission of proposals and briefs,

  • Through public surveys,

  • Through an education or public relations process using newspaper, radio coverage and other means,

  • Through analysis of already compiled information?

Roles and Responsibilities

  1. Have you indicated who is to do all or portions of the study? Have you given reasons for these preferences?

  2. Have the tasks that each party will be doing been outlined?

For example:

  • Arrange and conduct meetings;

  • Carry out specific tasks;

  • Prepare and distribute surveys;

  • Conduct interviews;

  • Analyze data, co-ordinate information from involved sectors;

  • Prepare recommendations;

  • Write the final report, prepare graphic material;

  • Publish study and distribute copies of the study?

End Use of the Study

  1. Have you described what status the study will have upon completion? Is it clear who will use the results of the study and when? 
     

  2. Have the required format and number of copies for the draft final and final reports been specified? Will printing be included in the study cost? Have all special presentation requirements been outlined?

General Notes on Writing Terms of Reference

  • Terms of Reference should be written in a directive style, i.e. "The consultants will…," "These areas should be studied…".

  • Details on who will be responsible for what and how disputes will be solved need not be covered in the Terms of Reference. They will, however, be part of the legal contract eventually drawn up with the chosen consulting firm.

  • Terms of Reference should convey that you are interested in obtaining the very best advice available. A consultant must at all times be directed to keep the best interests of a community in mind and to put those forward regardless of the no doubt very strong community or group aspirations with which they are confronted.

  • A feasibility study examines alternative ways of resolving an issue.  The Terms of Reference need to show that you require careful consideration of alternative courses of action and not an abrupt "leap to a conclusion".

 

 NEXT: A Process Overview