How to Buy Professional Search Firm Services

• $10,000 or less: Submit a Purchase Requisition through the CU Marketplace.
• Above $10,000: Submit a Purchase Requisition, or a Standing Purchase Order Requisition, through the CU Marketplace.

In order to obtain: Your purchasing agent needs

• Services over $10,000 : All written documentation regarding the procurement. This may include a quote, statement of work, or email messages/letters of correspondence.

The University conducted a Request for Proposals (RFP) process in the Summer 2023 in order to create a list of approved professional search firms for use by search committees, for any campus of the University, in the recruitment activities of officers and other high-level administrators. The list of approved firms is below. Responses to the RFPs and collateral marketing material submitted by each of the firms are kept at the Procurement Service Center and available for viewing by any interested search committee.

Please follow this procedure to engage a search firm:

1.) Contact your campus HR and Talent Acquisition team to determine whether an in-house search or an executive search firm is appropriate. The Talent Acquisition teams have executive search experience and can support searches based on capacity and/or be a resource when working with search firms. Talent Acquisition can also help evaluate potential search firms and provide feedback, and partner with the firm to ensure the job posting requirements are met. The Talent Acquisition teams can be contacted as follows:

• CU Boulder: Andy Horovitz, Andrew.Horovitz@colorado.edu, Phone: 303-492-1917
• CU Denver: Tawnya Boulier, Tawnya.Boulier@ucdenver.edu, Phone: 303-315-1887
• CU Anschutz: Lindsey Fouquette, Lindsey.Fouquette@cuanschutz.edu, Phone: 303-724-8523
• UCCS: Angela Bender, abender@uccs.edu, Phone: 719-255-3696
• CU System Administration: Sheri Jungman, Sheri.Jungman@cu.edu, Phone: 303-860-5704

2.)  As individual search projects are needed, the requesting department shall prepare a request for a response, giving specific details of the scope of the project and timetable for the search, and send the request to the approved search firm or firms of their choosing. The contacted firm(s) shall be given a time period of at least two days to respond to the request. Such response shall include an indication of their willingness to be considered and their ability to meet the timetable, proposed search strategy, and cost.

3.) Once a firm is selected based on their response, the requesting department shall enter a requisition and include all necessary documentation (including the selected firm’s response) to create a Purchase Order. Please also include documentation indicating Talent Acquisition’s approval for this purchase, in the form of a letter or email. A Purchase Order must be issued before the search firm services can begin.

The list of Approved Search Firms is valid until September 30, 2028 or until another RFP process is conducted, whichever comes first.