ESBD_File_345497_RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Magazine Service.pdf

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 1

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) #24-18

Direct Mail Magazine Service

PROPOSED SOLICITATION SCHEDULE

This schedule may be modified or changed at the sole discretion of SJCCD.

DATE ACTION

December 15, 2023 RFP issued.

January 4, 2024

Questions and/or Clarifications Deadline

Requests for questions and clarifications regarding RFP documents shall be submitted through the Questions tab in IonWave by 5:00 p.m. Central Time to be considered.

January 8, 2024 Issuance of final addendum, if necessary.

January 12, 2024

Proposal Submission Deadline

All proposal documents shall be submitted before 2:00 p.m. Central Time in IonWave.

Proposals will be digitally opened immediately following time due.

January 15, 2024 Hardcopy samples shall be submitted to the SJCCD Contracts and Purchasing Services office, 4620 Fairmont Parkway, Suite A2.208, Pasadena, TX 77504, before 5:00 p.m.

Feb/March Recommendation of award and approval to enter into contract.

Award will be announced after approval received.

IonWave:

https://sanjac.ionwave.net

PROCUREMENT CONTACT

Melissa Fuqua, Buyer

281-998-6378 Melissa.fuqua@sjcd.edu https://sanjac.ionwave.net/ mailto:Melissa.fuqua@sjcd.edu

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 2

SCOPE OF WORK

1. General

San Jacinto Community College District (“SJCCD” or “College”) is soliciting sealed proposals from qualified firms to provide Direct Mail Marketing Campaign Services for a targeted audience of senior citizens (age 60+) to the SJCCD taxing district.

All work performed must be in compliance with existing federal, state and local codes, statutes and requirements.

SJCCD is a public community college district organized under Chapter 130 of the Texas Education Code and is tax exempt in the State of Texas.

2. Scope of Work

This scope of work covers the requirements to provide SJCCD with direct mail marketing services, which shall include, but is not limited to the following:

a. Print Publication

• Targeted to senior citizens (60+) who reside within the College taxing district

• Complete turnkey design services with provided content

• Provide online service to upload / submit content

• Full color publication (12 pages total, including covers)

• Size: 8 3/8” x 10 7/8”

• Paper stock and paper weight shall be 80# or 100#

• Offset print – no web press

• Furnish three editions per year – January, May, October

• Complete design layout (content provided), mail preparation and execution

To senior citizens (age 60+) that live within the SSJCCD plus additional list(s) provided by the College

Additional 100 copies for delivery to the SJCCD office

• Contractor shall provide mailing list based on the specifications of the target age range and zip codes.

b. Online edition for each issue

• Responsive for PC, tablet, mobile and social media

• Vendor to host the publication and provide a specific URL for SJCCD

• Supply Website Page Analytics, including but not limited to: visitors, unique visitors, page visits, click through rates

• Supply data capture from unique visitors, including name, address, and email

• Provide analytics report on web traffic at the end of published month; either heatmap for clickable web content or figures for PDF/flipbook views

• Provide breakdown of traffic across platforms

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 3

3. Shipping

a. All items shall be shipped FOB destination as stated in SJCCD’s standard terms and conditions.

b. Contractor shall provide mailing list based on the specifications of the target age range and zip codes.

c. Firm shall ship 100 copies of the completed direct mail marketing campaign magazine directly to the SJCCD External Relations, 4524 Fairmont Parkway, Suite A205, Pasadena, TX 77504.

4. Supplier Diversity Reporting

SJCCD does not give preference to historically underutilized or small business in the awarding of contracts. However, if the awarded contractor utilizes a subcontractor(s) to fulfill the proposed requirements, the contractor may be required to track and report the amount paid to each subcontractor along with the subcontractor’s supplier diversity classification. This information will only be used for the purpose of statistical tracking. The reportable classifications include:

• African American

• Asian Pacific American

• Caucasian

• Hispanic American

• Native American

• Small Business

• Veteran Owned

• Minority Owned

• Woman Owned

• LGBTQ

• Other / Non-disclosed

5. Contact Person

The firm shall appoint a representative who will be the single point of contact for all College services.

6. Contract Term

The contract term from this solicitation will be two (2) years with renewal options of three

(3) one-year time periods subject to the termination provisions as further described in the sample contract terms and conditions on the Attachments tab section of this solicitation.

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 4

EVALUATION CRITERIA

An Evaluation Committee will review all proposals according to the criteria stated herein. The committee’s evaluations will be based on all available information, including qualification statements, subsequent interviews/presentations, reports, discussions, reference checks, and other appropriate review.

Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:

Factor Points

Section 1: Qualifications and Experience of Firm and Personnel 10

Section 2: Scope Understanding and Management 30

Section 3: Quality of Product 15

Section 4: References 10

Section 5: Exceptions to Terms and Conditions 5

Section 6: Price Proposal* 30

Total 100

* The price proposal for each firm will be evaluated in comparison with the other firms’ price proposals;

however, the number of points possible may be evaluated in proportion to each respondent’s evaluation score received for Section 2: Scope Understanding and Management.

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 5

PROPOSAL RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS

All proposal response requirements must be submitted through IonWave. The system does not allow a proposal submission unless all requirements have been met, including Attributes and Response Attachments. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the following:

Written Proposal:

Written Proposal shall be submitted as a Response Attachment in IonWave and shall include responses to Section 1 – 3. Written Proposals shall be a single PDF document with a maximum of twenty (20) pages (numbered 1-20). Sections must be in order and clearly labeled as outlined below.

Include a coversheet that includes your firm’s name, representative, and contact information.

Coversheet does not count towards the 20-page limit.

1. Qualifications and Experience of Firm and Personnel

a. Include a description of the firm including firm’s history and size. Provide information regarding how long the proposer has provided the services requested in this RFP. Include a description of the firm’s past and current contracts/assignments which are related to the type of services required by this solicitation.

b. Include a project-staffing plan and organizational chart for all proposed key staff members who will be assigned to this project, as well as a detailed management plan with defined lines of authority and responsibility. Identify their respective responsibilities for this project. If personnel substitutions are contemplated on a contingency basis, they should also be identified.

c. Describe any previous experience with SJCCD and other higher education institutions, specifically community college, for which your firm provided similar services/products.

• Did your firm perform satisfactorily to the terms and conditions of the last award given to your firm?

• Were there any discrepancies, issues, or complaints reported concerning your firm’s performance?

2. Scope Understanding and Management

a. Describe how your product/services meets the scope and specifications listed in this RFP.

Address any variances between your proposal and the scope/specifications.

b. Explain how your firm determines priorities among clients when working on multiple deadlines for clients.

c. How does your firm receive artwork files?

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 6

d. How does your firm handle the revision process? Is there a limit to the number of revisions? What happens if the limit is exceeded due to SJCCD requesting additional changes or due to the firm’s not making all requested revisions?

e. Describe your firm’s mail marketing preparation process. Include in the process timeline the estimated days for your firm to create the magazine and complete the mail out.

f. Provide details on how the magazine is shipped and delivered, and how your firm handles damaged or late deliveries.

3. Quality of Product

a. Provide information about how the product was designed and developed. Include how long it took to complete the milestones from start (beginning of the magazine design) to finish (magazine mail out). Milestones should include, but are not limited to story budget, content deadline, first draft, revision, second draft, third draft, final approval, and expected turnaround time for each draft and from the final approval to in-home dates.

b. Provide at least one (1) finished sample magazine and at least one (1) magazine design idea for how proposer would design SJCCD’s specific publication, submitted in the following formats:

• Electronic copies shall be uploaded as a Response Attachment document in IonWave.

• Hardcopy samples shall be submitted to the SJCCD Contracts and Purchasing Services Office, 4620 Fairmont Parkway, Suite A2.208, Pasadena, TX 77504.

Attention: Melissa Fuqua. Samples must be received by January 15, 2024 by 5:00 p.m.

4. References

Include references in the Attributes tab in IonWave for the following:

a. The proposer shall provide at least five (5) references on recent projects for which the proposer's company is currently providing or has provided the same type and level of service required in this RFP within the past three years. Include the name, telephone number, and valid email address of a reference person who may be contacted for further information. It is highly preferable that these references are other colleges or public sector accounts comparable in size or larger.

b. All references will be contacted by email. Evaluations will be based on responses received from references. It is advisable to notify your references ahead of time that a reference will be requested by email.

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 7

5. Exceptions to Terms and Conditions

An exception includes any addition, deletion, or other modification. Submit exceptions to terms and conditions as an attachment in the Response Attachment tab in IonWave as follows:

a. If you select Yes to “EXCEPTIONS TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS” under the Attributes tab, you must submit a written summary of each exception to this RFP, including the scope, specifications, and/or sample contract, as applicable. The summary shall include supporting justification that clearly identifies the specific reference, page, section, and sub-section of the change, relevance of the change, the vendor’s rationale for the change, and benefit to the College for accepting the change for the submitted exceptions to be considered in the evaluation.

b. The College’s evaluation of submitted exceptions will address the quantity of exceptions, type of exceptions, and justification(s) for exceptions. Fewer exceptions and/or exceptions with a lower risk to the College, if accepted, will equate to a higher score.

c. Any exceptions not explicitly stated may not be considered during contract negotiations, if any. The submittal of exceptions to terms and conditions does not guarantee the College’s acceptance of exceptions. The College reserves the right to accept or reject any exceptions as necessary to negotiate a mutually beneficial contract.

6. Price Proposal

Include pricing on the Line Items tab in IonWave for the following:

1. Line Item 1: Cost to design per issue. If you do not charge, please put $0.

2. Line Item 2: Print cost per issue for a quantity of 75,000

3. Line Item 3: Postage per issue for saturation for a quantity of 75,000

4. Line Item 4: Online editions, total cost per edition

5. Line Item 5: Shipping for 100 copies to the SJCCD District Office address

6. Line Item 6: Cost for creation of online publication and/or social campaign. If you do not charge, put $0.

*Note: The quantity provided in this table is an estimate. This number may change with each issue based on the carrier routes and number of homes delivered to.

Upload a Response Attachment document, if needed, to provide details of any costs not listed in the Line Items section. Any costs not explicitly stated in a proposal response shall not be charged to the College.

RFP 24-18 Direct Mail Marketing Services 8

List of Response Attachments:

Include the following documents in the Response Attachments tab in IonWave.

All forms are available to download under the Attachments tab in IonWave. Except when listed as Optional, all Response Attachment documents are required and failure to provide a required document may deem the proposer non-responsive and disqualify the response from consideration for award.

1. Written Proposal

2. Quality of Product (2) Samples (Magazine & Design Idea)

3. Conflict of Interest form

4. Proof of Insurance Requirements

5. Exceptions to Terms and Conditions (optional)

6. Additional Costs Not Included in Pricing (optional)