Requests for Proposals

SFPE Foundation Announces New FEMA-Funded WUI Curriculum Consultant Opportunity

"Engineering Science for the Fire Service: Advanced Training Topics in WUI Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation"

$75,000 USD available for "Curriculum Consultant" role

Deadline: 11:59 pm ET on Monday, November 4, 2024

The SFPE Foundation recently received a FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant (FY2023) to develop an engineering science-based educational curriculum for U.S. Fire Service personnel that helps address unmet advanced training needs with respect to Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire risk assessment and mitigation. With WUI fires on the rise, more fire departments are called to engage in WUI fire prevention and protection strategies, but most have significant unmet training needs in this area. While training on the basic principles of individual asset protection – such as structural hardening, defensible space, and vegetation management – has increased among fire service personnel in the last few years, access to training on advanced topics remains lacking. Fire protection engineers can offer educational tools and resources regarding advanced topics like WUI fire dynamics, WUI fire modeling, and human behavior in WUI fires (e.g., notification and evacuation strategies). This project will assess advanced training needs that can be addressed with engineering-based resources and guidance, document best practices, develop three modular courses on these topics, and illustrate how these courses can reduce risk by addressing unmet training needs for departments across the U.S.

We are seeking an experienced Curriculum Consultant to develop all three advanced topics modules – WUI fire dynamics, WUI fire modeling, and human behavior in WUI fires (e.g., notification and evacuation strategies) – including all relevant instructional materials for classroom-based delivery, e.g., instructor and student manuals, course learning assessments, group activities and case studies, slide decks, course content, etc. Each module should be about 4 hours in length and designed for a U.S. fire service audience with prior experience and training in WUI fire risk assessment and mitigation basics, such as structural hardening and individual asset protection. These advanced modules should be designed to equip WUI fire service personnel with critical knowledge and guidance from fire protection engineering resources so that they can take appropriate action to mitigate WUI fire risks in their communities. 

The Curriculum Consultant (CC) will work with SFPE Foundation Staff and the Project Advisory Panel to produce the training modules with input from fire service personnel, existing reports, interviews, desk review, the SFPE Foundation WUI Working Group, and other partners; revise the draft curriculum based on feedback from an outreach campaign and dissemination activities, as well as an evaluation of the risk reduction potential of the training conducted by an Engineering Risk Consultant (to be contracted at a later date) during the pilot phase; integrate (via reference in the course material) three one-hour on-demand special topics webinars (to be delivered by subject matter experts contracted at a future date); and collaborate with the efforts of SFPE Foundation staff to publicize the new training content and its potential impact.

We welcome proposals from groups or individuals, though we strongly encourage collaborative proposals that leverage the strengths of multiple researchers and/or organizations working together.

Download the complete RFP and instructions for submittal here.

Complete proposals are due by 11:59 pm ET on Monday, November 4, 2024.