M0026424Q0058 Amendment 0001 Question Answer Doc.docx

RFQ M0026424Q0058: Marine Corps 250th Birthday Program Support Services Question and Answer Question deadline: August 16, 2024, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time

Question: What are the expected ceremonies/performances to be completed at various events next year? Are there military ceremonies that require military personnel on site to complete? [Silent Drill Team, Marine Corps Band as examples] Each Marine Week will feature unique attributes related to that city. However, the basic boilerplate template includes wreath laying ceremonies, color guard presentations, commemoration events, band performances, and performances by specific Marine Corps units, teams or ensembles. The Marine Corps plans to send military units to support each of the campaign events, including the Silent Drill Platoon, the Drum and Bugle Corps, Fleet Bands, and equipment for static displays.

The USMC will identify events, the contractor will help coordinate, advise on best practices, and conduct logistical and event production for each (as determined by USMC).

i.2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans, LA (February 2025)

ii. Navy and Marine Corps Week, Philadelphia, PA (October 2025)

iii. Coca Cola 600, Charlotte, NC (May 2025)

iv. NY Fleet Week, New York, NY (May 2025)

v. FL Fleet Week, Miami, FL (May 2025)”

Question: Has anything been coordinated with the NFL already or a venue secured for New Orleans? Similar question to other events spaces in 2025.

The Marine Corps has been assigned the lead this year for SuperBowl. Coordination with NFL will be conducted through OSD and the military fellow assigned to NFL HQ. USMC has identified venues for support (Convention Center, SuperDome, and WWII Museum), however, pending approval from NFL.

Venues have been tentatively selected for:

Austin – Rodeo site Los Angeles – TBD Nashville – Nashville SuperSpeedway, Broadway Chicago – Navy Pier, Riverwalk Boston – Boston Commons Atlanta – TBD Philadelphia - TBD

(page 5)

4.2.5.1. Support to the six Marine Weeks and Navy Marine Corps Week in Philadelphia “d) Marine Air Ground Task Force Demonstration

i. Sound ii.Pyrotechnics” Question: What does the scheduling and coordination for these joint-task force operations for flyovers cover? Is there a main POC available with MAGTF for various marine weeks or local unit support for military displays? What venue has been secured for the Philadelphia Marine Week as a convention center may not allow for various pyrotechnics.

DoD employees will coordinate flyover support with military units. The supporting units for each Marine Week include a designated lead coordinator working with Communication Directorate and the contractor. Contractor will be asked to support with an airshow announcer/show boss.

CD’s personnel are in contact with local POCs for advance coordination. Location has not been set for Philadelphia event but will likely occur outdoors.

ii - “Ensure content is tailored to various target audiences, including the general public, veterans, prospective recruits, and other stakeholders, as determined by CD”

Question: Need some more clarification on stakeholders – is this to mean other potential partners, marketing partners, sponsorships and the like or other stakeholders. If so, what is the release schedule on who these stakeholders are for marketing content creation purposes?

Stakeholders include all of the above (general public, veterans, prospective recruits, and others to be determined) and will be predetermined by the service. This term is meant to convey deeper relationships than mere audiences but still conveys the need of clearly communicating and connecting with key local demographic and psychographic segments of the population.

“iv. Coordinate with CD, the USMC History Division, and other personnel designated by CD to ensure accuracy and relevance of proposed content.”

Question: What is the revision process on proposed content? What proper channels need to be used and a potential timeline on getting approvals?

Approval shall be coordinated directly through Marine Corps CD. USMC retains all release authority for all content. Content will be developed, staffed to History Division subject matter experts, most likely via email, necessary edits will be made, and the product will be sent to CD for final approval. Timelines are case-by-case by generally within hours to days on average. Video content requires greater re-work timelines than print content or infographics.

Question: What is the process for approval on potential new landing pages or back end meta tagging to track engagement? Will there need to be clearances for tracking user data from various campaigns? [Meta Tag for example] 4.2.6.1.b “iv. Content Management” “in order to administer the official campaign website, which will be hosted on the Marines.mil web domain”:

CD’s Public Web Team will maintain overall cognizance and control over the Marines.mil domain. Requests for new landing pages or features will be done in coordination with the Public Web administrators via phone or email and approvals will be based on already established branding and policies. The Public Web team currently tracks visit traffic and behavior, consistent with federal guidelines. Contracted support personnel will have appropriate visibility on these metrics. USMC will obtain approval authority on all landing pages for meta tagging.

Question: What is the process for support personnel or administrators' approval for USMC.Mil Content? If content needs to be approved by CD, administrators, or other MC personnel - will influencers needs specific contracts and guidelines for on-site posting?

Content will be developed, submitted most likely via email to CD leadership and the Public Web team, edits made, then final release authority granted. USMC retains release authority for all content. While social media influencers may be incorporated as an outreach tactic in this campaign, the use of “influencers” here refers to teachers, coaches, parents, and other role model figures that may play a role in a young person’s decision to explore becoming a Marine. To the extent that social media influencers are involved in this campaign, that decision will be in coordination with and approved by CD and will follow established service agreements and guidelines.

Question: What is the availability of various campaign initiatives to use 3rd party software for tracking purposes and content scheduling? Will the CD be posting after review?

Third party software requests may be considered on a case-by-case basis, but CD is beholden to established federal policies on web traffic and analytics. Any restricted data rights, information, software, materials and/or other items, including the Contractor’s or a third-party’s proprietary data, information, software, materials and/or items shall not be used under this contract without the specific written approval by the COR prior to the start of any work that includes the use of any such works. The Public Web team and CD’s social media team currently use Sprinklr for social media metrics and media monitoring and Google Analytics 4 for web analytics, under a program managed by the General Services Administration.

Question: Need some clarification on target audience demographics: is the goal for in-person event traffic, Marines.Mil web traffic, recruitment efforts or a mixture of all of the above?

A mixture of all of the above. Ideally, in-person event traffic is highly desired, but not all key target demographics may be available to attend events, particularly during the school year. Earned Marines.mil traffic will support the desired campaign end states of strengthening public engagement with and support from key publics, honoring Marine Corps heritage and legacy, strengthened service recruiting and retention, stronger relationships with service leaders, and improved public understanding of the Marine Corps’ contributions to national security.

Question: Sync rights are usually limited to a time period. If they need perpetuity we will create the music??

All music for videos will come from pre-established licensing agreements that USMC currently has. Any additional requests for music would be for short stints during a performance (e.g., if there is an airshow during a Marine Week and the contractor is asked to provide an Airshow Announcer, the music that is included as a part of the show would be licensed appropriately for the show).

Affordability: The Government is limited to $5M, for the base period of this contract, to include all travel. Additional funding is not available, therefore, quotes that exceed the $5M budget limit for the base period will not be evaluated and not considered for award.

Question: $5M Budget cap: How does USMC equip and personnel relate to our quotes?

It is not clear what is being asked here; however, we will attempt to clarify the budget restriction specified in the solicitation. The CMC CD only has $5M of fiscal year 2024 funds to obligate and spend for this requirement for the base period (12 months). No additional funds will be obtained as they’re not available; therefore, the total cost for the 12-month base period shall NOT exceed $5M. It is up to the offerors to determine the level of services outlined in the PWS, to include supplies and equipment, that can be provided within this budget. This budget is only applicable to the services (to include supplies and equipment) outlined for the period of performance within the 12-month base period. Quoters shall determine the labor category mix and supplies that can be provided for this period of performance, within the $5M budget. *To further clarify, the contractor is not expected to fund per diem, travel, and lodging / storage for Marine Corps personnel and government provided equipment supporting each of the campaign events.

$5M budget cap applies to support to the programs, not to movement to/from of Marines nor tactical aircraft/equipment. The $5M budget cap refers to event production, strategic engagement, and marketing/PR services.

The contractor is expected to develop and implement marketing plans, communication plans, and advertising plans for all campaign events. In addition to generating campaign content for public engagement, these are the critical deliverables. The contractor will be expected to generate quarterly progress reports, quality control plans, project request forms, assessments and other summary products. Pre- and post-event surveys are seen as an important input for campaign assessments.

Contractor shall conduct pre-event and post event evaluations to measure success, including gathering participant feedback, engagement metrics, and gauging overall impact. Surveys conducted in the host cities and other designated geographic areas will determine effectiveness of campaign communication and degree to which campaign and service goals were achieved. A minimum sample size of at least 400 residents is required for each survey.

Contractor shall conduct pre-event and post event evaluations to measure success, including gathering participant feedback, engagement metrics, and gauging overall impact. Surveys conducted in the host cities and other designated geographic areas will determine effectiveness of campaign communication and degree to which campaign and service goals were achieved. A minimum sample size of at least 400 residents is required for each survey.

The campaign’s goals are necessarily broad but include boosting recruiting and retention efforts and improving public understanding of the Marine Corps’ missions and support to national security. Other than reaching military-age recruiting populations, the campaign is broad enough that no one channel is likely prioritized over others.

The Contractor shall purchase and distribute all media and advertisements, according to the contract guidelines. Under this contract via effective channels to maintain the established reach and engagement goals and shall provide routine reports on key metrics for all executed media. Channels may include but are not limited to broadcast, digital (e.g., online advertising and software applications), audio, over-the-air radio, and printed environments to maintain the established reach and engagement goals. Examples media that have been previously utilized include paid searches, social media, scale audio and video, advertising research, paid talent, license fees, linear TV buys (includes network, cable, and radio), digital media buys (video, display, social, and streaming audio), print media buys (magazines and newspapers), and out-of-home advertising (theater, billboards, airport advertising and exhibition displays. The Contractor shall provide post-phase (following conclusion of activities in each host city) and monthly reports on key metrics for all executed media, such as audience reach, impressions, engagement, audience demographics and psychographics as available, and other metrics deemed valuable for future decision making by service leaders. No advertising content, public statements, or published content may be released on behalf of the Marine Corps without CD approval.

CD currently does not use paid media placements.

Paragraph 13 specifies that Contractor personnel will not be authorized to access classified information; however, may occasionally need to have knowledge of information that is sensitive in nature (i.e. CUI or PII). The Contractor shall ensure all personnel are aware of their responsibility to safeguard privileged information. Identify proofing and Tier I (T1) or equivalent investigation shall be completed for all Contractor personnel under this contract in accordance with Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12.

Additionally, this Amendment 001 hereby attaches the DD Form 1594 that identifies the required security clearance.

FAR clause 52.204-22 “Alternative Line Item Proposal” is incorporated in the solicitation which allows quoters to submit alternative line item structure within their quotes Quoters are invited to propose alternative line items for which quotes are requested in this solicitation to ensure that the resulting contract is economically and administratively advantageous to the Government and the Offeror.

The solicitation states that “The quoter must provide information on three (3) contracts within the last five (5) years (projects may be ongoing) that are relevant to the work described in the solicitation, using RFQ Attachment 2, “Past Performance Questionnaire”. The quoter must be the prime contractor on at least one (1) of those contracts.” It also states: “Past performance as the prime contractor will be considered more relevant than as a subcontractor.”

Out of the three past performance references to provide, quoters may submit past performance references for their subcontractors; however, as the solicitation specifies, “the quoter must be the prime on at least one (1) of those contracts”.

Out of the three past performance references to provide, quoters may submit past performance references for their subcontractors; however, as the solicitation specifies, “the quoter must be the prime on at least one (1) of those contracts”.

Attachment 2 “Past Performance Reference” is different than Attachment 3 “Assessor Past Performance Questionnaire”. Attachment 2 is to be completed by the quoter and submitted with Volume III of its quote package.

Attachment 3 is sent to the assessor (“Government personnel who had experience with the Quoter/Major Subcontractor on a relevant contract referenced”) in which the assessor will complete and submit to the email address identified in Attachment 3. The assessor is to submit Attachment 3 directly to our office (the email address identified in the document) to ensure the integrity of the form and ensure there is no doctoring of such form by anyone other than the assessor.