To All Prospective Bidders:

Transcription

1 To All Prospective Bidders: Visit California, a privately funded nonprofit corporation, is seeking a contractor to provide operator services to answer inbound calls from consumers to assist in the promotion of California as a premier travel destination. The California Travel and Tourism Commission d.b.a Visit California is a private non-profit 501(C) 6 funded by assessed businesses that have an interest in promoting tourism to California. California Tourism is marketed exclusively by Visit California. The Tourism Assessment Program was created under the California Tourism Marketing Act in 1995 with the passage of SB 256. The legislation authorized self-imposition of an assessment by businesses that benefit from travel and tourism. It also authorized the establishment of a non-profit, public benefit corporation, Visit California, to oversee the promotion of California as a premier travel destination. Visit California oversees the production of a variety of marketing activities, including on and offline advertising, visitor publications and maps, cooperative programs, public relations and tradeshows all designed to promote California to travelers, tourists and the travel trade. For more details please visit in the Travel Industry section. The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to select a firm to assist inbound consumer callers seeking information about California as a premier travel destination, consolidate consumer orders for printed resources and forward the orders to the Fulfillment Contractor for shipment. Attached is a RFP for those capable of meeting minimum requirements and carrying out the scope-of-work. All proposals will be carefully reviewed and evaluated based on the criteria noted in the attached document. Notice of Intent to Bid (a non-binding document), as well as any questions you may have to clarify this RFP, are due to Visit California no later than 5:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time (PST) Tuesday, November 5, Sincerely, Caroline Beteta President and Chief Executive Officer Visit California

2 VISIT CALIFORNIA Request for Proposal A. INTRODUCTION As the number one travel destination in the United States, California annually generates more than $95.1 billion each year in travel and tourism spending into the economy, directly supports jobs from almost one million Californians and generates over $6 billion in state and local tax revenues. Tourism is California s fifth largest employer among those industries with an export component, accounting for 2.5% of earnings and 4.4% of employment. Since 1998, the California Tourism program (a joint marketing venture of Visit California and the California Division of Tourism) has reversed a decade-long decline in domestic market share and the resulting loss of jobs and billions of dollars in travel-related revenues for California. About Visit California Visit California is a not-for-profit, 501(C)(6) corporation formed in 1998 to work jointly with the State of California s Division of Tourism to implement the annual Marketing Plan, which promotes California as a travel destination. While these two partners (Visit California and Division of Tourism) are separate legal entities, they are commonly referred to jointly as California Tourism. From 1998 to 2003, California Tourism consisted of the originally conceived private-public joint marketing venture partnership of Visit California and the State of California. The primary source of California tourism marketing budget is now directly derived from assessed businesses in the travel and tourism industry, car rental assessment, and a small contribution from the State. Visit California operates under the auspices of the Governor s Office of Business and Economic Development. Director Kish Rajan currently serves as Chair of the organization. Visit California s 37-member board of commissioners is composed of individuals from all 12 designated regions of California. Members represent five principal industry sectors: Accommodations, Restaurants and Retail, Attractions and Recreation, Transportation and Travel Services, and the Passenger Car Rental Industry. Twenty-four of the commissioners are elected by the approximately 5,000 assessed California businesses; 12 are appointed by the governor; and the 37th is the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency Secretary. The Commission meets three times a year to direct Visit California s programs and activities. A 34- member statewide Marketing Advisory Committee also provides input in developing the marketing plan. Tourism is California s fourth largest employer and fifth largest contributor to the gross state product. Visit California Call Center RFP Page 2 of 10 10/22/2013

3 B. PURPOSE The purpose of this request is to select a firm to assist inbound consumer callers seeking information about California as a premier travel destination, consolidate consumer orders for printed resources and forward the orders to the Fulfillment Contractor for shipment. C. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS Proposals must address each item listed, giving specific details of techniques to be used in meeting these requirements. Proposals may be rejected if minimum requirements are not met. All proposals wishing clarification of this RFP must submit questions via to: RFP Submissions rfps@visitcalifornia.com by 5:00pm Tuesday, November 5, Questions must be submitted in an excel format, and must be categorized based on scope of work elements. **Costs for developing proposals are entirely the responsibility of the proposer and shall not be reimbursed by Visit California. This RFP is not subject to state contracting rules and regulations and that Visit California reserves the right to modify any and all terms and conditions in its sole and absolute discretion Proposal inclusion check list: Notice of Intent to Bid, Attachment A, must be received by Tuesday, November 5, Description of Proposer, Item G Scope of Work, Attachment B Budget Form, Attachment C Financial Statements, Item N Evaluation Criteria, Attachment D D. CONTRACT TERM The successful proposer will enter into a contract for services with Visit California. The duration of the initial contract between Visit California and the successful proposer is expected to begin upon the date of contract approval (approximately February 3, 2014) and terminate on December 31, Visit California reserves the right to renew its agreement prior to the end of each contract term for a total of (3) years, providing funding to do so is appropriated for this purpose in subsequent budgets. At the discretion of the program manger, there will be a 6 month oral review in 2014 and subsequent reviews annually in each year the contract is renewed. E. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE This tentative schedule may be altered at any time at the discretion of the Commission. Wednesday, October 23, 2013 RFP Dissemination *select organizations Tuesday, November 5, 2013 Intent to Bid Due; Q & A Due Friday, November 8, 2013 Q & A sent to organizations Wednesday, November 27, 2013 Proposals Due Friday, December 6, 2013 Finalists Chosen Week of December 16, 2013 Oral Presentations by Finalists Week of January 6, 2014 Selected proposer Announced Week of January 13, 2014 Contract Negotiations Monday, February 3, 2014 Start date Visit California Call Center RFP Page 3 of 10 10/22/2013

4 F. DELIVERY OF PROPOSAL Each bidder is required to deliver (2) typed copies of its proposal. The proposal must also be delivered on a web-based platform, ed, or CD to Visit California office at the address below, no later than Wednesday, November 27, :00pm PST. Proposals may not be faxed. Proposals may be sent by courier such as FedEx or UPS to: Visit California Call Center/Operator Services Request for Proposal ATTN: RFP Submissions 555 Capitol Mall, Suite 1100 Sacramento, CA USA All web-based or ed versions of proposals need to be sent to the RFP Project Managers at rfps@visitcalifornia.com. G. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSER: To provide background on your company, please provide the following as a part of your RFP response: Company/Client Overview Describe the nature of your services. Note the company s history in the travel and tourism industry, if any. Address from which the primary work on the contract would be performed. Size of company by headcount. List all tourism-related clients for whom you have acted in the United States during the past 12 months, and certify that there is no conflict of interest between any existing contract, client relationship and the ability of your company to fully and vigorously represent the needs of Visit California. If you currently work with the Texas State Tourism Office, Florida State Tourism Office, New York State Office of Tourism, New York City DMO, Orlando DMO or Las Vegas DMO, please demonstrate that you will have a separate team working on the California account. Client relationships that could potentially be a conflict of interest must be listed together with a discussion of how the proposer will resolve the potential conflict of interest. Personnel/Management Identify and introduce the team that will manage the contract work using whatever medium will best convey the information. Along with the introduction, this section should include the following: Overall experience with tourism accounts. Current resumes/biographies that provide education, experience and expertise with pertinent information demonstrating qualifications for this RFP. Each team member s length of time with organization. Subcontractors The Proposer should identify all proposed subcontractors for work that exceeds $5,000 and document which portions of service will be performed by subcontractors and their ability to perform the work. Additionally, Proposer should submit resumes of proposed subcontractor s key personnel. Do not exceed two (2) pages per person. Visit California Call Center RFP Page 4 of 10 10/22/2013

5 The use of subcontractors is subject to approval by the President and CEO of Visit California. Therefore, not all work recommended by the Proposer will necessarily be approved and not all subcontractors listed in the Proposal will necessarily be selected. The Proposer must make it clear to any subcontractors included in the Proposal that even if the Proposer is selected, the subcontractors may not necessarily be selected. Case Studies Please provide 2-3 case studies showcasing existing programs with similar scope. Include an evaluation of why it was successful and what key learnings were taken from the program. H. WORK PLAN Proposals must address, at minimum, each item listed in the Scope of Work including each of the Project Tasks. Proposals may be rejected if minimum requirements are not met. I. BUDGET FORM A completed Budget Form must be included, Attachment C. All costs associated with this Proposer s Attachment B, Scope of Work must be included. In addition, hourly rates and fees for professional skills must be broken out; out-of-pocket expenditures or reimbursable costs must be shown for each task. Account administrative costs should be estimated. J. AVAILABLE FUNDS Visit California has funded these services with a maximum budget of $35,000 for services rendered in a fiscal year. Budget efficiency is a key evaluation area for this RFP. K. FINANCIAL STATEMENT Proposer must provide evidence of financial stability. The proposer must document sufficient financial statement or audit report. Visit California Call Center RFP Page 5 of 10 10/22/2013

6 Attachment A NOTICE OF INTENT TO BID CALL CENTER/OPERATOR SERVICES Due: Tuesday, November 5, :00 PM Pacific Standard Time Send to: Debi Robarts Operations Coordinator rfps@visitcalifornia.com Name of Proposer: Contact Person: Mailing Address: Agency URL: Telephone: Fax Number: Address: Signed Visit California Call Center RFP Page 6 of 10 10/22/2013

7 ATTACHMENT B SCOPE OF WORK This section describes the work plan that must be included in the Proposal and details to the content and format that should be utilized in preparing the work plan. The proposed work plan should describe how the Proposer intends to perform the scope of work during a 12-month period and shall be subject to negotiation between Visit California and the Awardees for the initial contract period. The work plan will be used to negotiate the contract scope of work, and to score several of the point categories of the RFP, as described in Attachment D, Evaluation Criteria. To assist with your response, please reference the following background and informational resources. General CTTC Materials: 5 Year Strategic Marketing Plan: Year%20Strategic%20Plan%20FINAL.pdf Work Plan: OBJECTIVE As an organization, Visit California s primary objective is to create desire and inspiration for travel to California. A critical component in delivering on that objective is through communication with potential travelers and ultimately fulfillment of high quality destination collateral materials. WORK PLAN Please develop your work plan in two parts. Part A Currently Visit California s call center services are optimized to assist consumers with ordering California travel collateral materials. Limited destination information is provided and callers not requesting information are transferred as directed by Visit California. Current call volumes are as follows: Calls Received Resulting in Packet Resulting in Transfer Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 1,243 1, Current Service Expectations: - Selected proposer would transfer and maintain VCA s five (5) toll-free telephone numbers that are capable of receiving calls from within the United States and Canada. Visit California Call Center RFP Page 7 of 10 10/22/2013

8 - Currently VCA s business is serviced by a computerized automatic call distributor, which can accommodate a minimum of seventy-five (75) incoming lines, twenty-four (24) hours per day, each day. - Live operators are available for a minimum of 13 hours per day (7am-8pm PST) and have recorded messaging capability. - Capability will exist for Visit California to monitor calls and/or request audio files of specific calls. - Requests for printed collateral material will be entered utilizing a standard web form developed and managed by VCA. If this does not work within the selected proposer s technology environment, proposer will build a web form and integrate APIs to facilitate two-way exchange with VCA and other potential vendors as directed by VCA. - Beyond facilitating guide orders, call center representatives will be trained to provide referrals as directed by VCA and/or additional concise tourism information to callers. - Visit California will work with selected vendor to develop an agent training program. Utilizing the information provided in the RFP, please provide details on how you would structure the Visit California account team and your proposed approach for handling the business using existing infrastructure. Part B For this part of your response, we would like you to think beyond the existing structure/expectations and provide thinking on how you would structure VCA s call center services if you were building the system from scratch. Your response should include (but not be limited to) use of automated vs. live operators, hours of operation and staffing levels, availability of alternate communication forms (i.e. live chat), assistance with social media monitoring/response. Disaster Recovery Please provide an overview of your disaster recovery plan. Reporting Please provide insight into existing systems in place to provide program reporting and supply sample reports that are reflective of what VCA would receive. Currently, VCA expects to receive the following level of reporting: - At a base level, a weekly report would be required to show the previous week s call volume and an aggregate of call volume to date. - Monthly reports reflecting all call activity. o At a minimum, monthly reports should include: # of calls, total call time, purpose of calls (i.e. guide request, information request), geographic breakdown of call volume. - In addition to monthly reports, quarterly reports will be provided and will include deeper call analysis and recommendations for process improvements. Selected vendor will be expected to aggregate data and provide reporting on all activity including work conducted by subcontractors. Visit California Call Center RFP Page 8 of 10 10/22/2013

9 ATTACHMENT C BUDGET FORM Please provide a detailed breakdown of proposed budget structure for both Part A and Part B responses. Should include (but not be limited to) the following items: 800 Line Service Operator Services - calls resulting in a packet - customer service calls Technology - Data Management / Synchronization Account Management & Reporting TOTAL COSTS Visit California Call Center RFP Page 9 of 10 10/22/2013

10 FOR VISIT CALIFORNIA/AGENCY USE ONLY Bid/Proposal: Evaluated By: Date: ATTACHMENT D PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA Proposals will be reviewed, evaluated and scored by an evaluation committee. Evaluation of proposals will be based on the criteria shown as follows for each component; each criterion will be scored according to the degree of responsiveness present in the proposal being evaluated. 1. RELEVANT EXPERIENCE/DEMONSTRATED RESULTS OF FIRM Quality of experience in previous tourism-related accounts and ability to implement a comprehensive call center/operator services program. 2. SCOPE OF WORK Quality and perceived effectiveness of proposed programs in scope of work and likelihood of achieving program objectives. Effectiveness and suitability of strategic and tactical approach. Detail of plan. 3. QUALIFICATIONS OF PERSONNEL Prior experience and how it relates to this project. 4. COST EFFECTIVENESS The maximum services are provided in relation to the fee charged and value of overall project. The budget is reasonable and appropriate. Max. Points Score TOTAL POINTS 100 Visit California Call Center RFP Page 10 of 10 10/22/2013