COUNTY OF LOUISA

Finance Department

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL # OT-27-01

ADDENDUM NUMBER 1

Date: October 27, 2026

Title: Tourism Advertising and Marketing Services

Question: Section III.A.2, Tab 1c. The RFP states, "The Offeror should have been in business for a minimum of five (5) years." Is this a hard requirement for the firm itself? Or will the County count the experience of the firm's principals?

Answer: In the event the Offeror has not been in business for a least five (5) years, the

Offeror will need to provide information on both the experience of its principals as well as documentation to prove financial stability.

Question: Section III.B, Proposal Submission. Offerors may submit a hard copy and an electronic copy, or submit through eVA. Must an offeror be registered in eVA before submitting? If so, how long does registration usually take?

Answer: A vendor needs to be registered through eVA when submitting electronically.

The County of Louisa is unsure about the registration time frame.

If submitting through eVA, no hard copy is required, but the required signatures do need to be included.

Question: This section gives 50 points for "specific knowledge of the County of Louisa."

How will the County score a firm that has not done prior work for the County?

Also, can the County share its tourism brand guidelines, its current marketing channels, and its expected yearly ad spend range?

Answer: The Offeror must show they have an understanding of Louisa’s assets which may require research if the Offeror is currently unfamiliar with the area.

The County’s tourism site is VisitLouisa.com and Visit Louisa has a

YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Instagram – all which should help a prospective Offeror understand the destination assets. Visit Louisa currently advertises through a number of platforms to include connected TV, print, in-app, social, etc. The current advertising budget is $130,000 for all tourism advertising in the fiscal year, and may be divided among multiple awarded

Offerors as campaigns are approved. The County does not have a brand guidelines document at this time.

Question: What fee format does the County want: hourly rates, a percent of media spend, or a fixed fee? Will media spend be billed through to the County?

Answer: Please use whatever is logical for the service(s) you offer. However the pricing is presented, it needs to be easy to understand and calculate the cost of placements.

Question: Appendix A, Sections 19.1(c) and 19.1(d). These sections require automobile liability coverage and tools and equipment coverage. Do these apply to a firm that works remotely and will have no vehicles on County property?

Answer: The Offeror needs to have appropriate insurance for their operations and the

County will not be held liable as a result of insufficient insurance coverage of the Offeror.

Question: Would an out-of-state company like ours need to register with the Virginia State

Corporation Commission before submitting a proposal, or would we be eligible to provide a statement explaining why registration is not required?

Answer: Proposing firms must be registered to do business in the state of Virginia. If there are legal justifications beyond SCC registration, the County would be willing to review them.

Question: Are the three customer references in III.B minimum responsiveness conditions for every specialist, or could the County evaluate a proposal that openly discloses those gaps and supplies owned-project work samples? We cannot currently provide three comparable tourism client references and would not present owned projects as client engagements.

Answer: The Offeror may provide references that are not tourism-related, but should identify why the references were selected including identifying similarities.

Question: For a narrowly scoped digital-creative and analytics proposal, would the County provide the approved audience priorities, existing campaign assets and aggregate reporting access, with media placement remaining under its existing arrangements?

Answer: The County will consider this.

Question: The RFP lists the period of contract as "From TBD Through TBD," with renewal for two successive one-year terms. What is the length of the initial term the

County expects?

Answer: The initial term will be for one year, with two optional one year periods.

Question: Is there an anticipated annual budget or expected volume of task orders under this contract, even as a range? Understanding the expected level of activity will help us propose a rate structure that fits how the County will actually use the pool.

Answer: The current advertising budget is $130,000 for all tourism advertising in the fiscal year, and may be divided among multiple awarded Offerors as campaigns are approved.

Question: When the County places advertising through the contractor (print, digital, broadcast, out-of-home), does the County expect media to be billed at net cost plus an agency fee or commission within the proposed rates, or at the contractor's proposed placement rates? Are there existing County media accounts or contracts the contractor would work through?

Answer: The proposed pricing needs to reflect the amount the County will actually be invoiced. The Offeror should propose a process/platform/contractor that reflects their proven experiences.

Question: The proposal must include a certificate of insurance endorsing the County as an additional insured. If any endorsement paperwork would be finalized at award, will the County accept a certificate at submission showing current coverages and limits, with the additional-insured endorsement issued upon selection?

Answer: That is acceptable.

Question: Work will be performed for Louisa County on a task-order basis. Does the County expect any regular on-site presence (for example, meetings with County tourism staff or visitor center support), or is remote delivery with periodic visits the expected model?

Answer: Remote delivery is acceptable for most. If creative production is proposed and includes photography or filming, then a representative needs to be in the

County.

Question: If a narrow-scope response is not suitable, would the County allow a small firm to participate as a subcontractor to a full-service agency?

Answer: Yes. The firms will need to determine partnerships without the County’s involvement in the process.

Question: How many contracts will the County award for this RFP?

Answer: There is no set number.

Question: Will awarded contractors be responsible for placing and billing paid media on the

County's behalf, or will the County continue to place media directly with outlets?

Answer: This will be determined by the proposals received and the subsequent awards as to what is logical and in the best interest of the County. The County reserves the right to places ads directly.

Question: Is there currently a contracted agency supporting Visit Louisa advertising?

Answer: We are not under contract with an agency currently.

Question: Section II says Offerors "shall submit a Proposal for the Scope of Services listed below as relevant," and Tab 2a refers to "the advertising area(s) for which the

Offeror indicates an expression of interest." May a firm propose on only some of the listed services, for example II.1.b Digital Advertising (video, banner, social, search engine marketing), II.2 Creative Services and II.3 Analytics, without proposing print, broadcast, direct mail or out-of-home? If so, how should we indicate those areas, and will such proposals be scored on the same 100 point scale in Section V?

Answer: The Offeror should focus on the services relevant to their operations and therefore does not need to respond to each type of advertising. They will be scored on what they are proposing rather than what they are not.

Question: Section I refers to "advertising and/or full-service marketing," and Section II invites responses that "inform new approaches to the County's advertising."

Section II does not list website or landing page design, website maintenance, or search engine optimization. Will the County consider these services under this contract, and if so, should they be priced as a separate line in Tab 6?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What has the County spent on paid media in each of the last two to three years, by channel?

Answer: The County’s tourism advertising budget for recent years has been approximately $130,000. The channels have included some print, some social, keyword, and OTT.

Question: What is the expected start date?

Answer: The start date is unknown at this time.

Question: Is any minimum amount of work guaranteed?

Answer: No.

Question: Should creative pricing be a separate section within Tab 6 or a separate document?

Question: What reporting frequency does the County expect (for example monthly reports and a live dashboard), and which KPIs matter most (visitor center traffic, website visits, lodging or tax data, campaign conversions)? Which analytics and ad platforms does the County use today, and will the contractor be given access to existing accounts?

Answer: Live dashboards are preferred, but otherwise monthly reporting is acceptable. KPIs will be different for different platforms. We do not sell/book through our site, but while these conversions are not possible, we look to various pieces of analytics to make logical conclusions. Contractors may be granted view access if logical to accounts like Google Analytics.

Question: Since no rebrand is requested, will the County provide its brand guidelines, logo files, photo and video library, and existing b-roll to awarded firms?

Question: Who will evaluate the RFP and make the final selection?

Answer: The County has a selection panel to include procurement and tourism staff.

Question: Are you open to strategies beyond the stated scope, including digital alternatives to traditional print, traditional radio, cable TV, and other media?

Question: Does the reference to local print placements for in-network visitors include visitor guide advertising?

Question: The RFP document that we can submit through the eVA portal digitally, however, in the portal it says paper submissions only. Can you please clarify?

Answer: That would need to be clarified with eVA customer support. I can confirm that ‘paper submissions only’ has not been selected.

Question: What is the biggest challenge you face?

Answer: Limited staff time

Question: What is your #1 goal with this new advertising work?

Answer: This will allow us to plan campaigns to run over the course of a year, whereas we haven’t been able to have longer-term plans/contracts in place previously.

Question: What are you excited about with this new work?

Answer: To plan for an entire year and then execute accordingly

Question: We read you were in the process of rebranding “Live, Laugh, Love Louisa.” Has that been done or is that part of this assignment?

Answer: Live, Laugh, Love Louisa was a brand to promote local businesses to residents. It has since become Visit Louisa for Locals.

Question: What is the client team structure?

Answer: Tourism is a responsibility of the Community Engagement and Tourism

Manager.

Question: Who are the stakeholders and the key decision maker?

Answer: Tourism is a responsibility of the Community Engagement and Tourism

Manager. The Community Engagement and Tourism Manager reports to the

County Administrator, and the County Administrator reports to the Board of Supervisors.

Question: What strategy work have you done to date?

Answer: No formalized advertising strategy in a single document. The Tourism

Strategic Plan may be helpful as it provides high-level planning:

https://visitlouisa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Louisa-County-Strategic-

Tourism-Plan-Adopted-Aug-3-2026.pdf

Question: Who has been handling your media planning and buying?

Answer: The County’s Community Engagement and Tourism Manager

Question: What do you like about your current marketing work? Where does it fall short?

Answer: We aim to reach people where they are, which requires leveraging multiple platforms. The shortcoming is currently the inability for long-term planning.

Question: What has been your favorite creative work you’ve done in the last 5 years?

Answer: We have a number of videos showing assets in Louisa.

Question: Which audience and geographic market is the highest priority?

Answer: We can provide more information on audience and geographic markets.

Northern Virginia is the top performing feeder market, and we typically target 35+.

Question: Do you have defined target audience profiles?

Answer: We have profile information but have yet to develop specific campaigns for each.

Question: Do you have any recent audience research or surveys that we can access?

Question: Who do you consider your top 5 competitors?

Answer: We can compare ourselves to other rural Virginia localities, particularly those with water. It may be better to instead look at our neighboring

“Piedmont” localities and determine how to develop complimentary messaging to encourage visitors to experience the larger region.

Question: How do you believe you differentiate against the competition?

Answer: This is a larger conversation that may be addressed in a discovery call with awarded Offerors.

Question: What campaign in the tourism category (competitor or not) do you most admire and why?

Question: What campaign in general (any category) do you most admire and why?

Question: What’s the most important qualification you’re looking for in a new agency partner?

Answer: Qualifications will vary based on the service(s) being proposed.

Question: What is the #1 thing you value in an agency-client relationship?

Answer: A transparent relationship that reflects good financial stewardship

Question: What would make the selected partner successful in the first 90 days?

Answer: This will vary based on the service(s) being proposed.

Question: Does the County anticipate commissioning original photography, video production, and campaign creative through this contract, or will advertising primarily utilize existing County-owned creative assets? This would help us determine the appropriate level of production capabilities and pricing to include.

Answer: Proposals may include these creative services, but creative services are not required by all.

Question: Given that the County anticipates making multiple contract awards, will selected firms be engaged according to their particular areas of expertise, or does the

County anticipate assigning comprehensive advertising and marketing responsibilities to each awarded firm?

Answer: Firms will be engaged according to their particular areas of expertise.

Question: Does the County anticipate ongoing organic social media content creation, scheduling, page management, and community engagement, or primarily creative development and paid advertising management?

Answer: The County will continue organic social media content creation, scheduling, page management, and community engagement. The County may use paid creative development if logical.

Question: Does the County have existing publication commitments or preferred publications? Is the County interested in electric cooperative magazine placements reaching prospective visitors in Virginia and neighboring markets?

Answer: No long-term commitments currently. The County is open to new publications and welcomes proposals.

Question: Could an overseas remote specialist be relevant for this limited digital component within your contractor pool, or as a subcontractor to a qualified lead firm? We would assess the full procurement requirements before making any formal submission.

Answer: An overseas remote specialist may be included in proposals.

Question: Will the County accept IRS Form W-8BEN-E from a foreign corporation (with a

US EIN) in place of a W-9 for vendor setup and payment under Appendix A

§15.2?

Answer: Yes, Form W-8BEN-E is an appropriate substitute form for a W-9, as long as the offeror has a US EIN.

Question: Please confirm that; (a) Title 54.1 Ch. 11 contractor licensing does not apply to these services.

Answer: Confirmed.

Question: Is there a page limit for the proposal or for the Tab 5 work examples? For eVA submissions, is an electronic signature on the Title Page and Appendix A acceptable within the single PDF, and may video work examples be provided as links within that PDF?

Answer: No set page limit. Video work my be provided as links.

Question: Would s firm be able to submit a proposal specifically for direct mail-related services?

Question: Which advertising, creative, and analytics functions does the Department of

Parks, Recreation and Tourism intend to keep in house, and which does it intend to outsource under this contract?

Answer: Through this process, the County will determine which processes may be outsourced. The work will be managed by the Community Engagement and

Tourism Manager in the Administration Department.

Question: Appendix A Section 13 provides that the County owns materials produced under the agreement. Please confirm that this does not extend to a contractor's pre-existing tools and templates or to third-party licensed assets such as stock photography, music, and fonts, which would be licensed to the County for its use.

We are not asking to change the terms.

Answer: Correct. Using non-transferrable assets should be discussed prior to any content creation.

Question: We also note the Bids page is shown as both louisacounty.com and louisacounty.gov in the RFP; please confirm the correct address for addenda.

Answer: Addenda will be posted on eVA, the county website at https://www.louisacounty.gov/Bids.aspx and sent directly to interested vendors.

Question: Will presentations be scheduled?

Answer: Yes, mutually with selected vendors. They may be in-person or virtual.

https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flouisacounty.com%2F&data=05%7C02%7Csmassie%40louisacounty.gov%7Cb91f68c97e7d4cb82f6908df2efd6a8c%7Cfae16286ebce44ca9cd5488c3c2e3acc%7C0%7C0%7C639281338167061069%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C4000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3TRx%2FOu5oNsBpKl4Mg%2BFRrSk0%2FlSh%2BvWcssgPHmFeXg%3D&reserved=0 https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flouisacounty.gov%2F&data=05%7C02%7Csmassie%40louisacounty.gov%7Cb91f68c97e7d4cb82f6908df2efd6a8c%7Cfae16286ebce44ca9cd5488c3c2e3acc%7C0%7C0%7C639281338167098821%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C4000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=FlPCz49kFsNo3a%2FhN%2F2%2Fol1wG2kzEh4HTdhv2Eb%2BQhE%3D&reserved=0 https://www.louisacounty.gov/Bids.aspx

Question: What is the total anticipated contract value, including the base term and both renewal years?

Answer: Unknown.

Question: What is the anticipated contract start date?

Answer: The start date will begin shortly after the Offeror(s) are awarded.

Question: Is the County's recently adopted strategic tourism plan available for offerors to review?

Answer: Yes. See https://visitlouisa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Louisa-County-

Strategic-Tourism-Plan-Adopted-Aug-3-2026.pdf.

Question: Section II.2 asks that Creative Services be priced separately, with native design files and b-roll included in pricing. Does the County consider photography and video production part of Creative Services for pricing purposes?

Question: Section III.B describes placing the Bid Form in a sealed, opaque envelope. Can the County confirm its preference for the proposal being supplied as one complete document, or should pricing be provided separately?

Answer: One document is preferred, either by hard copy or electronically.

Question: Can the County provide a copy of the Bid Form if required, as it is not included with the RFP?

Answer: There is no Bid Form beyond the submission requirements in Section III.

Question: Does the County have preferred or previously identified influencers or creator partners, or influencer-selection criteria that contractors should consider?

Answer: This is a larger conversation that may be addressed in a discovery call with awarded Offerors. In general, influencers should have a following in target feeder markets like Northern Virginia and/or be regarded as travel influencers known for visiting assets similar in industries/interests to our offerings.

Question: Can the County share its current tourism marketing priorities, seasonal priorities, or key messages that proposers should address? What tactics are most important to include (CTV, Social, Email Marketing, Display, Pre-Roll/Mid-Roll, Broadcast

Ads)?

Answer: Our Tourism Program Guide may largely help with these questions:

https://visitlouisa.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Tourism-Program-Guide-

June-2025-web_202506061254190537.pdf

Question: Are there existing campaigns, research, brand guidelines, approved messaging, or performance benchmarks that selected contractors should expect to use?

Answer: The County has existing work, but nothing set that the Offeror is expected to use.

Question: What outcomes or metrics does the County consider most important for tourism advertising, and are there existing reporting requirements or preferred analytics platforms such as Arrivalist?

Answer: The most important outcomes are increased transient occupancy and meals tax. Last year’s annual report may provide insight into several pieces of analytics: https://visitlouisa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Tourism-2025-

Annual-Report-.pdf

Question: For direct mail and collateral distribution, does the County have existing visitor-center or partner distribution networks that contractors should plan around?

Question: What performance measures, reporting frequency, formats, and dashboard capabilities are expected? Who will receive reports, and should reporting align with Board of Supervisors reporting deadlines or the Tourism Advisory

Committee’s budget planning cycle?

Answer: The first part of the question has been addressed in previous responses. The

Community Engagement and Tourism Manager should receive reports and will use the information in monthly reporting as logical to the Board of

Supervisors.

Question: If multiple contracts are awarded, will one firm consolidate performance reporting across contractors, or will each firm report only on its own task orders?

Answer: Each firm may report separately.

Question: Can conversion tracking be implemented on the Visit Louisa itinerary planner and mobile app, or should contractors assume measurement ends when visitors leave

VisitLouisa.com?

Answer: We can explore options but are unsure at this time how privacy laws may impact those measurement techniques.

Question: Are there restrictions on creating campaign landing pages, short URLs, redirects, or QR code destinations on VisitLouisa.com or other County domains? May contractors host campaign pages on a separate domain if needed?

Answer: No set restrictions at this time. All pages are preferred to be on

VisitLouisa.com.

Question: What County privacy policies or data-handling standards govern advertising pixels, retargeting audiences, and the use of email subscriber lists in paid media?

Answer: For the Visit Louisa website, we have this privacy policy:

https://visitlouisa.com/privacy-policy/. Outside the website, we defer to corresponding SaaS policies.

https://visitlouisa.com/privacy-policy/

Question: What ownership, licensing, and delivery requirements apply to native files, raw footage, stock assets, music, and influencer content, particularly where third-party licenses restrict transfer? Will permission to run advertising through creators’ accounts be required, and for what duration?

Answer: The County should own new content created. If restrictions apply due to stock photography, etc., the Offeror should communicate that prior to the creation process.

Question: Who will serve as the primary County contact and approve deliverables, including social and influencer content? What review times, on-site meeting frequency, and coordination among contractors should be anticipated?

Answer: The County will review material as timely as possible. Typically the review process is completed within a few days, however, staff is limited and sometimes is pulled into projects with urgent communication requirements.

The other questions have been addressed in other reponses.

Question: Does the County participate in, or plan to pursue, Virginia Tourism Corporation co-op programs or Marketing Leverage Program grants?

Answer: Co-op programs are of great interest. The County typically only pursues

DMO grants from VTC.

Question: Are any media channels or placements mandatory? How does the County define

“in-network visitors” in Section II.1.a’s reference to local print?

Answer: No. In-network visitors are visitors already in the area, and the placements are designed to help them explore more.

Question: Beyond paid advertising, does the scope include organic content creation, posting, and account management? If so, which accounts, posting frequency, and County-provided content should contractors plan around?

Answer: Offerors may propose this service. No notable content to plan around. This service would apply to Visit Louisa social platforms. The County posts at least twice a week.

Question: Does the scope include responding to comments and direct messages? If so, what message volume, response times, evening or weekend coverage, and sensitive-issue escalation procedures should contractors anticipate? May routine replies use preapproved guidance?

Answer: Offerors may propose this service.

Question: What audiences and goals should influencer partnerships support, and is there an expected number of partnerships or hosted visits? Should the contractor manage sourcing, contracts, content reviews, sponsorship disclosures, and delivery? What existing relationships or hosted-visit support will the County provide?

Answer: There are a lot of variables. The proposal should reflect a recommendation and the pricing should be easy to determine how to scale up or scale down.