REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. Request for Services for Conducting Outreach and Communications For Peninsula Clean Energy

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1 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Request for Services for Conducting Outreach and Communications For Peninsula Clean Energy Amendment A: Responses to Questions on RFP 1. Is there an overall budget for the program? County funding for Peninsula Clean Energy has been allocated based on a phased approach. The County Board of Supervisors (Board) have allocated funds for Phase II of Peninsula Clean Energy s implementation timeline, including up to $325,000 for the design and initial implementation of the marketing campaign. This includes, but is not limited to: development of the marketing campaign plan, development of PCE messaging for campaign, content development and designing additional collateral/marketing materials. The budget is inclusive of outreach consultant/sub-consultant services as well as any costs accrued conducting outreach and communications for Peninsula Clean Energy. This includes, but is not limited to, costs for: printing, postage, digital marketing, print marketing, social media marketing and translation services. The Office of Sustainability plans to return to the Board in March 2016 to request funding for Phase III of Peninsula Clean Energy s implementation timeline, including additional funds for outreach and communications. Phase III outreach and communications tasks will include, but are not limited to: additional content

2 development, collateral/marketing materials development, social media marketing, digital paid media marketing, paid and earned print media marketing, media relations, promotional items and content development and design for customer enrollment notices. Selected firm or individual will only be responsible for developing the content and design of the customer enrollment notices. Printing and mailing services for these notices will be contracted out to a separate firm; therefore, printing and postage costs can be excluded from the total project budget. Note that this additional funding is subject to Board approval, and thus is not guaranteed. The Office of Sustainability encourages all interested firms or individuals to submit proposals. In your proposal budget, please state what can be done within the initial budget and what tasks may require additional funding. 2. Is there a specific amount set aside for digital/print marketing, promotional items, printing, direct mail costs? There is not yet specific amounts of funding set aside for individual tasks outlined or included in the scope of work. It is up to each RFP respondent to estimate what these tasks might cost and include those costs in their total projected budget. Upon review of the questions on the Request for Proposals (RFP), the County will now be requiring that each proposal include a projected budget, broken down by task and sub-task. Budget items should include direct service costs for consultants and sub-consultants as well as any associated costs necessary to fulfill the scope of work outlined in RFP Section II.A. This includes estimated costs for digital/print marketing, promotional items, printing, postage, direct mail costs, translation services, and any other costs that may be accrued designing and implementing the marketing campaign and other outreach and communications tasks outlined in the RFP.

3 The proposed budget shall be included as an attachment to the RFP proposal in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and be submitted with the proposal no later than 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 8, Should the budget include print/postage costs for the enrollment notices? See responses to questions 1 and 2 above. Selected firm or individual will only be responsible for developing the content and design of the customer enrollment notices. Printing and mailing services for these notices will be contracted out to a separate firm; therefore, printing and postage costs can be excluded from the total project budget. 4. Should we make some assumptions about the number of events for the purposes of determining costs? For the purposes of this proposal, you may assume only one event, which will be a promotional launch party (tentatively planned for October 2016). Additional events may be proposed in the full marketing campaign plan, if needed. 5. You have requested a detailed explanation of costs. Would a breakdown by task total with deliverables and direct costs meet your needs? See response to question 2 above. 6. Does Peninsula Clean Energy include all customers in cities and unincorporated areas of the County--or are any areas not included? Peninsula Clean Energy s service territory will include the unincorporated areas of the County and any cities that vote to join the program as founding members. The deadline for cities to join is February 29, Peninsula Clean Energy will serve all types of electricity customers within its service territories. Customers may choose to opt-out of the program at any time and return to PG&E as their

4 electricity generation provider; at which point, they are no longer Peninsula Clean Energy customers. Certain commercial-class customers with their own electricity contracts ( direct access customers) may also be excluded from Peninsula Clean Energy s service. 7. So that we can properly scale and scope our proposal, can you provide some budget guidance? See response to question 1 above. 8. Page 6 of the Scope of Work under Collateral/Marketing Materials the last 2 sentences of the paragraph state: All PCE collateral and marketing materials must be consistent with PCE s branding guidelines and must be able to be translated and printed in multiple languages. If selected firm or consultant does not have in-house translation services, firm shall provide contacts of other contractors that may be able to provide translation services. Please clarify, does PCE want bidders to include translation costs in their proposed pricing? Are translation subcontractors acceptable to be included in the RFP response? Yes, RFP respondents should include translation costs in their proposed pricing. If you or your firm currently work with a translation service, please include this service as a subcontractor in the RFP response. It is acceptable not to identify a translation service in your RFP response at this time, with the understanding that, if selected, you or your firm will be expected to assist the County in finding a qualified translation contractor and costs for the translations will be included in you or your firm s outreach and communications budget. 9. Page 7 of the Scope of Work under Customer Enrollment Process: Selected firm or individual shall assist PCE staff on statutorily required customer notification process, which includes, but is not limited to, sending four pieces of direct mail (customer enrollment notices) to San

5 Mateo County residents and businesses. Does the PCE database indicate customer language preference and special needs? Will the contractor be responsible for addressing and mailing these notifications? Yes, the Peninsula Clean Energy database shall indicate customer language preference and special needs. This information shall be provided to the selected firm or individual by Peninsula Clean Energy staff. Selected firm or individual shall only be responsible for developing the content and design of the customer enrollment notices. Printing and mailing services for these notices will be contracted out to a separate firm; therefore, printing and postage costs can be excluded from the total proposal budget. 10. Is there a set budget allotment for this project? Do direct costs for media buying, printing, distribution, etc. need to be included in our cost proposal? See responses to questions 1 and 2 above. All direct costs, with the exception of printing and postage for the customer enrollment notices, should be included in the proposal budget. 11. What are the specific weighting or scoring methods for proposal evaluation? See Section IV.D ( Proposal Evaluation ) to see the criteria that will be used in the evaluation. In addition, extra consideration will be given to firms or individuals who have experience working with Community Choice Energy programs or electricity utilities or who specialize in marketing for energy/electricity services or sustainability-based programs. The County will not be using a point-based or weighted scoring system.

6 12. Is there an incumbent agency or firm that has provided services associated with this work to the County of San Mateo Office of Sustainability for instance, support developing the Communications Plan, associated collateral or the program website and social media platforms? The Office of Sustainability has previously worked with both CirclePoint and Green Ideals for associated services. The Office of Sustainability worked with CirclePoint to develop the Peninsula Clean Energy logo and brand, develop the Peninsula Clean Energy website, develop unique graphics, re-design the existing collateral to match the branding guidelines and produce an animated video on Community Choice Energy (currently being developed). The Office of Sustainability worked with Green Ideals to design the layout and content for the Peninsula Clean Energy tri-fold pamphlet. 13. Is the target audience limited to future residential, commercial and industrial customers and other stakeholders within unincorporated areas of San Mateo County or is the program intended to reach into cities either before or after a vote to join the CCA program? The target audience is current and future electricity customers and relevant stakeholders within Peninsula Clean Energy s service territory. The goals of outreach and communication efforts are to: 1) Increase brand recognition and knowledge of Peninsula Clean Energy among electricity customers in Peninsula Clean Energy s service territories and 2) retain Peninsula Clean Energy customers (with the objective of keeping opt-out rates below 15%). County staff and consultants have been conducting robust outreach to city staff and elected officials for over a year and will continue these efforts after cities choose to join (or not join) the program. 14. Is there a county budget allocation for the Outreach and Communication Services and, if so, what is it? See responses to questions 1 and 2 above.

7 15. Is there a budget for paid communication/advertising print, outdoor, digital, TV and/or radio and, if so, what is it? See response to questions 1 and 2 above. 16. How if at all do you want respondents to account for printing and mailing costs associated with state-mandated prior- and post-launch communication? See responses to questions 1, 2 and 3 above. 17. Could you give me any sort of guidance on budget? See responses to questions 1 and 2 above.