Request for Proposals Website and Social Media Content Manager for AmericanGraduate.org May 2013

Transcription

1 Request for Proposals Website and Social Media Content Manager for AmericanGraduate.org May 2013 The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is seeking a content manager to act as managing editor and to develop, build and manage online audiences for CPB s American Graduate: Let s Make It Happen initiative, through the website, americangraduate.org and social media channels (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and others). The content manager will manage online audience engagement, identifying and promoting a wide range of content to advance the initiative with educators, public media audiences, and stakeholders. The content manager will also work with public radio and television stations to support their local American Graduate sites by providing feature packages and other customizable tools. The content manager must be willing to work both autonomously and collaboratively in a team environment. The collaborative effort will involve working with CPB staff, public media stations, partners, and national public media organizations. The workload may be unevenly distributed over the course of the contract averaging hours a week. On a month-to-month basis, the content manager should expect some degree of variability based on the editorial, creative, and technical needs of the American Graduate team. The content manager will be required to participate in a meeting at CPB s office twice a month. In addition the content manager may be required to travel to locations of American Graduate events no more than once a month. Any travel and out-of-pocket expenses associated with travel will be reimbursed by CPB in accordance with its travel guidelines. Travel must be approved by CPB in advance in writing. CPB expects to retain the content manager under a fixed fee consultancy for a one year term, renewable on an annual basis for up to two (2) additional years, at CPB s discretion. 1

2 I. ABOUT THE AMERICAN GRADUATE INITIATIVE American Graduate is a long term public media commitment, made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), to help communities implement solutions to the high school dropout crisis. Public media plays a significant role building individual involvement, community capacity, and national awareness in addressing this important issue. More than 75 public radio and television stations in 33 states have joined forces with over 800 partners and 200 at-risk schools to shed light on the problem and share solutions. American Graduate puts faces on the numbers and increases understanding of the risks and solutions through national and local broadcast content, covering all facets of the issue, via web and mobile platforms. In addition, American Graduate is engaging and empowering teachers, parents and students to help those most at risk of dropping out through community collaborations and classroom resources. Americangraduate.org is a rich destination for visitors to learn more about public media s efforts to address the dropout crisis. Americangraduate.org features over 1,000 locally produced videos and clips from national broadcasts; information for visitors on how to get involved with local partners; a research center containing relevant reports, statistics, maps, etc. on the dropout epidemic; and educational resources for educators, parents and other stakeholders. The national website also includes a private page containing collateral initiative resources (e.g., logos, talking points, promotional scripts) from multiple contributors, including the Initiative Manager, CPB, and national content producers for station use. II. TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS The content manager must be able to build pages using various content management systems. Currently americangraduate.org runs on Joomla. As new public media publishing tools become available, the content manager may be required to work with the web developer on a transition plan to ensure all data and information is transferred to the a new site and build pages in Django or Drupal. The content manager must be familiar with issues surrounding content compatibility within a variety of browsers, including current versions of Windows Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome, and a variety of screen settings. The content manager will be required to work with externally developed and supported third-party plug-ins and APIs which may include the ITVS OVEE Platform, Public Media Platform, PBS Cove player, NPR APIs, Brightcove, YouTube, Twitter feeds, Flickr, newsfeeds and other social media modules. III. PROJECT ACTIVITIES The content manager is responsible for identifying, organizing, publishing and promoting in an innovative and timely fashion, content to support the American Graduate initiative through americangraduate.org. Content for the site will include educational resources, station activity, and partner information. The content manager will also be required to employ all available social media outlets to advance the initiative. The content manager must provide exhaustive 2

3 editorial oversight to ensure all content is presented in a manner that identifies public media s role in the crisis. The content manager will work closely with CPB in carrying out these activities. Below is a list of specific tasks the content manager may be required to perform, at CPB s request: Maintain and update the website using the content management system (CMS) including: adding, deleting, building and modifying pages, photos, text and videos. Serve as a site administrator and work with the web developer to ensure functionality of all content materials within the infrastructure of the site, identify requirements, assist with troubleshooting technical issues that inhibit the content manager s ability to build content pages or improve user experience. Work with the web developer to provide a monthly usage report including but not limited to information about navigation, traffic, page views, and other digital metrics on americangraduate.org and social media platforms to inform recommendations for site improvement. Develop an editorial calendar in collaboration with American Graduate team to align site content with public media station events, program launches, premieres, key initiative milestones, themed months (e.g. Bullying Awareness Month, National Mentoring Month), seasons (e.g. back to school, graduation), national events, and breaking news with the goal of increasing traffic by 20% around featured events. Develop innovative ways and new tools to curate, package, present and promote existing content from public media stations and producers, including but not limited to curating playlists, integrating stock or other photography, infographics, widgets, and other media related to specific themes (e.g. mentoring, youth media, career exploration), within the existing site layout and design. Coordinate with participating American Graduate public media television and radio stations to promote their content and feature packages on americangraduate.org and social media channels. Provide American Graduate public media stations with up-to-date web and social media content; work with the web developer to update templates for public media stations. Work with CPB partners to ensure that current and relevant reports, statistics, maps, etc. about the dropout epidemic are maintained on americangraduate.org and made available to local public media stations for use on their local sites. 3

4 Work with PBS, NPR, and other national producers in order to integrate several of their players and content into americangraduate.org. Build and maintain popular social media channels (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that will engage new and existing audiences and drive traffic to americangraduate.org. Stay abreast of current and emerging trends in digital communications and social media to inform, create and integrate low-cost elements (e.g. social plug-ins, twibbons, branches, storify boards, Paper.li, thunderclap, etc.) across channels to increase engagement and promote website content. Assist with organizing and maintaining an American Graduate resource page of initiative collateral materials received from multiple contributors including but not limited to logos, promotional scripts, PSAs, and other tools on the American Graduate resources site for public media station access. Ensure consistent branding identity across all posted content. Advise and support any redesign of americangraduate.org as part of an American Graduate re-launch (planned for the winter of 2013), working with CPB and the web developer. Compose, edit, and proof written material for americangraduate.org and social media channels. As needed, perform minor editing of existing video clips/footage, audio and text to prepare content for posting to the web, using industry best practices for video and audio post- production and editing. IV. PROPOSAL COMPONENTS Proposals should include the following components. Background and Experience a statement of the background and experience of the project lead and organization. Editorial Content Manager Sample Work Product not more than three examples of applicant s experience acting as an editorial manager and publisher of a multimedia website using a content management system (CMS) during the past two years. Online Audience Engagement Sample Case Studies not more than three case studies demonstrating applicant s success increasing target audience traffic to a website for which applicant acted as the content manager, during the past two years. 4

5 Issue Awareness a narrative paragraph that demonstrates applicant s understanding of the high school dropout crisis and the role that public media is playing to mobilize communities to address this issue. Budget a budget detailing the number of hours and hourly rate for the personnel assigned to the project by year; the cost of travel to CPB s office twice a month; identify all subcontractors, the work they will perform and their costs for each year. V. EVALUATION CRITERIA Proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria with the associated weight: 1.) Editorial Content Manager Sample Work Product (40%) How well the three examples demonstrate applicant s experience integrating text, copy, still photos, audio/video embedding, directories of external resources, mapping solutions, social media tools, from multiple sources, within an existing infrastructure and design in a manner that results in a well designed, visually compelling and user-friendly site. Whether the examples demonstrate applicant s ability to integrate a variety of social media tools including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. into the website. How well the examples reflect applicant s experience over the past two years acting as an editorial manager of a multimedia website. 2.) Online Audience Engagement Sample Work Product (25%) How well the case studies establish applicant s ability to significantly increase target audience traffic to a website for which the applicant acted as the content manager during the past two years. 3.) Issue Awareness (10%) Applicant s understanding of the high school dropout crisis and the role that public media is playing to mobilize communities to address the issue. 4.) Cost (25%) Reasonableness of the budget: please show a breakdown of the information set forth in Section IV above, for each year, assuming a fixed fee contract with the option of renewing annually for two additional years. VI. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS Proposals are due no later than May 24, 2013 at 5 p.m. EST. Applicants must submit separate technical and cost proposals, submitting their technical proposal and sample work product by to Kimberly Bowser, Project Manager, Public Media Engagement, [email protected]. Cost proposals must be provided by (as attachments in PDF format) to Jackie Livesay, Vice President, Procurement, [email protected]. CPB will acknowledge by receipt of each 5

6 proposal. CPB reserves the right to disqualify applicants including cost information in their technical proposal. All questions must be submitted in writing and submitted to Ms. Bowser at the address above. The questions and CPB s responses will be posted on CPB s website without attribution. CPB may request offerors with the top scores to meet with and present their proposal to senior management at CPB s offices in Washington, D.C. If so, CPB will notify applicants of the time and date. Below is the anticipated timeline for vendor selection and contracting. Timeline Event Date Proposal Submissions May 24, 2013 Proposal Evaluation May 24-27, 2013 Proposal Selection May 27-28, 2013 Contract Negotiation May 28 31, 2013 Project Start June 11, 2013 VII. CPB TERMS Quotes submitted in response to this RFP by an applicant ( Offeror ) shall be valid for at least 90 days following the closing date of this RFP. Proposals must provide a straightforward, concise description of the Offeror's proposals to meet the requirements of this RFP. Neither multiple nor alternate proposals will be accepted. An Offeror should give specific attention to the clear identification of those portions of its proposal that it considers confidential, proprietary commercial information or trade secrets. The selected Offeror shall be responsible for all services required by this RFP. Subcontractors must be identified and a complete description of their role relative to the proposals must be included in the Offeror s proposals. By submitting an offer in response to this RFP, an Offeror, if selected for award, shall be deemed to have accepted the terms of this RFP. Any exceptions to this RFP must be clearly identified in the proposal. A proposal that takes exception to these terms may be rejected. As part of the RFP review process, CPB may share materials, data, other information and analyses (collectively, Information ) with Offerors. As a condition of receiving such Information, Offerors responding to this RFP shall be deemed to agreed to protect, preserve and maintain all such Information on a strictly confidential basis, and to promptly return to CPB upon its request all tangible copies of such Information in your possession. 6

7 CPB is not responsible for loss or damage to material submitted with or in support of this RFP. Any submission to CPB shall become the property of CPB (not including any intellectual property rights contained in such submission), and CPB is not required to return any submitted materials to any Offeror. CPB is not responsible for any violation of copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other rights that may result from disclosure made by response to this RFQ. Solicitation by CPB of proposals does not constitute an agreement by CPB to extend funding to any party for the project under consideration. CPB may, in its sole discretion, elect not to pursue this project in any manner. By submitting a proposal, each Offeror grants to CPB the right to duplicate, use, disclose, and distribute all of the materials submitted for purposes of evaluation, review, and research. In addition, each Offeror guarantees that the Offeror has full and complete rights to all of the information and materials included in the proposal. Each Offeror also guarantees that all such materials are not defamatory and do not infringe upon or violate the privacy rights, copyrights, or other proprietary rights of any third party. VIII. CONDITIONS OF AGREEMENT If a quote in response to this RFP is selected for funding, Offerors will be required to sign a binding agreement. Until both parties have signed an agreement, no express or implied commitment has been made to provide financial support. Offerors are not authorized to commence work until the agreement is fully executed. If Offerors opt to commence work, they do so at their own risk. No oral or written statement other than the signed, written agreement will govern or modify the relationship. As a condition of agreement, Offerors must guarantee that, among other things, any work they undertake on behalf of CPB is not defamatory and will not violate or infringe upon the privacy rights, copyrights, or other proprietary rights of any third party. Offerors must also agree to indemnify CPB against any loss resulting from breach of any of the guarantees contained in the agreement. Those receiving funds from CPB must be able to comply with a number of requirements that will be included in the operative agreement. These requirements include but are not limited to: A demonstration of adequate financial support to complete the work for which they have been contracted and to deliver reports and/or other intellectual property created pursuant to the Agreement; Maintenance, for 3 years following receipt of relevant funds, of all financial records to the project, which records shall be accessible to CPB, and to the U.S. Comptroller General or 7

8 other representatives for examination and audit purposes. (Offerors will additionally ensure that any subcontractors or advisors under the agreement shall also maintain such records for the period specified and under the same terms); Maintenance, for 3 years after approval of a final financial report, of a complete file of all subcontracts and other agreements, licenses, clearances, and other documents related to the work undertaken, copies of which shall be made available to CPB on request; Submission to CPB of a copy of any U.S. Comptroller General final audit report in connection with the project; Compliance with equal employment opportunity and nondiscrimination laws and policies; Offerors will be required to provide documentation as to actual costs, and provide supporting detail demonstrating that all costs are reasonable, necessary and allocable to the requirements and objectives of the work undertaken; and All research and materials created, developed, compiled or produced pursuant to or as a result of this project (including but not limited to all reports) will be considered ordered and commissioned by CPB as works made for hire under the copyright laws, and made in the course of services rendered. If, for any reason, the proposed research and materials to be provided are not considered works made for hire under the copyright laws, then the Offeror will be required to assign all right, title and interest in and to such research and materials to CPB. Offerors further agree that neither they, nor any of their subcontractors, will have any copyrights or other intellectual property rights whatsoever in any research and/or materials created, developed, compiled or produced by them or by any subcontractor, or by any third party participating in the preparation of research or materials for this project. The agreement will be governed by construed in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Other material terms and provisions will be set forth in the documents provided to the Offeror that successfully completes the selection process. CPB will have complete rights to the reports created as deliverables for this project. CPB will not be responsible for any costs incurred by an Offeror in preparing and submitting a proposal, or in performing any other activities relative to this solicitation. 8