Q&A Media Campaign and Communications Opp#21260804132947- 09.02.2026.pdf

Opportunity # 21260804132947 RFP Media Campaign and Communications Questions and Answers

Question Answer

Given that specific projects will be assigned after award through individual Scopes of Work, how should applicants structure the required fixed-price cost proposal at this stage? Should applicants provide fixed unit/project pricing for representative services and deliverables, with final pricing established for each future Scope of Work?

The final budget will be determined upon awarding the project to the contracted agency.

The budget submitted in the proposal should be inclusive of the necessary fees to complete the work. Please submit a budget that will be reflective of the work that your agency would view as necessary to complete the campaign.

When a new Scope of Work is issued, how will PDPH select among the contracted vendors capable of performing the required services? Will vendors be asked to submit project-specific approaches and pricing, or will assignments be made based on the qualifications and pricing established through this RFP?

Assignments will be made based on the qualifications and pricing established through this

RFP.

Does PDPH anticipate qualifying vendors specifically by the service categories identified in Section 3.1, such that a vendor may be awarded based on demonstrated strength in only a subset of the eight services without being disadvantaged for not proposing all eight?

Yes. Demonstrating the ability to deliver a high quality of work in each service area for which an applicant applies is preferred over the number of services offered.

Should applicants assume that paid media expenditures are included within the $750,000 annual contract maximum and within the fixed-price cost proposal, or will media budgets be established separately within individual project Scopes of Work?

The budget stated in the RFP is inclusive of the net media budget and covers all elements of the project.

Section 2.5 (Award Terms) states that cost proposals must be "fixed price," with a line-item breakdown of costs for the specific services and work products proposed. However, Section 3.1 also indicates that PDPH/SUPHR will assign specific projects to selected Applicants over the contract term through individual Scopes of Work, rather than defining the full scope of work up front. Given that structure, could you clarify which of the following the Department intends for the cost proposal: (a) A fixed unit-price schedule — e.g., day rates for production roles, hourly or per-deliverable rates for design/planning/website services — that would apply to whatever mix of work each future Scope of Work assigns, up to the $750,000 annual not-to-exceed; or (b) A single all-in fixed annual price covering an illustrative first-year work plan (similar to a fixed annual retainer), against which future Scopes of Work would draw down?

Applicants must provide a detailed cost proposal, with a line-item breakdown of the costs for specific services and work products proposed. Cost proposals must be “fixed price” proposals. The proposed price must include all costs that will be charged to the City for the services and tangible work products the Applicant proposes to perform and deliver to complete the project and including, but not limited to, costs for the following, if the Department is to pay for them: employee compensation and fringe benefits; communication;

printing; administrative expenses; bonding; acquisition of real estate; rent, utilities, maintenance and security related to real estate; travel (reimbursable only at rates approved by the Department and in accordance with current City policies, which can be obtained from the Department); project management; development; testing; implementation; maintenance;

training; and all other work proposed. Any contract resulting from this RFP will provide for a not-to-exceed amount in the compensation section of the contract.

Would an accountable prime/project lead be permitted to submit with a named specialist PR/communications firm as part of the delivery team, with the specialist's relevant Philadelphia media, nonprofit/public-interest communications and campaign experience included in the proposal? If so, can the specialist partner's qualifications and past performance be considered alongside the prime's when evaluating the team?

Applicants should submit subcontractors in response to this proposal if they anticipate using subcontractors to provide the service.

The RFP identifies annual compensation of up to $750,000 inclusive of fees and expenses. Is this amount anticipated to represent the total funding available across all selected vendors?

The total award amount is up to $750,000 shared across all successful applicants.

Applicants should develop the cost proposal based on their proposed project activities.

There is no budget assigned to specific activities.

Does the Department have an anticipated range for annual paid media investment, or should applicants propose representative media-buying costs/rates without assuming a specific annual media budget?

The total award amount is up to $750,000 shared across all successful applicants.

Applicants should develop the cost proposal based on their proposed project activities.

There is no budget assigned to specific activities.

Does SUPHR currently have mechanisms or community partners in place for engaging people with lived experience in campaign development and message testing, or would the selected vendor be expected to recruit and compensate participants for this work?

The SUPHR team includes a street-based outreach and community engagement program that regularly interacts with people who use drugs. Campaign development, message testing, and evaluation are traditionally conducted by the communications team in collaboration with that program; however, some campaigns target people who use drugs outside of the outreach

Is the Department currently working with one or more communications, media, research, production, or creative firms on SUPHR initiatives? If so, should selected vendors anticipate transitioning any existing campaigns or working alongside incumbent partners?

There is no incumbent for the contract. The Department has however worked with various agencies on mass media campaigns and marketing projects in the past.

Is the $750,000 annual not-to-exceed amount available to each selected contractor, or is it the total annual funding pool to be divided among all selected contractors?

The total award amount is up to $750,000 shared across all successful applicants.

Applicants should develop the cost proposal based on their proposed project activities.

There is no budget assigned to specific activities.

Does selection for the resulting contract indicate any minimum volume or value of work? If not, what annual volume of assignments does PDPH reasonably anticipate?

There is no minimum volume or value of work guaranteed from this solicitation. The total contract amount will not exceed $750,000 shared across all successful respondents.

How many vendors does PDPH expect to select, and how will individual scopes be allocated among contracted vendors—direct assignment, rotational assignment, qualifications matching or additional competitive quotations? Successful applicants will be assigned projects based on their proposals and expertise.

Approximately how much did PDPH spend on comparable media and communications services during each of the previous two years, excluding paid media where possible? FY 26 - $300,000 FY 25 $170,754

Can PDPH provide examples of likely projects, typical project budgets, anticipated turnaround times and the approximate mix between agency services, production, community engagement and paid media?

The Department provides and promotes services as need to ensure the health of Philadelphians. Past media campaigns have included stimulant and alcohol use.

Given that individual scopes have not yet been defined, will PDPH accept a fixed rate card or menu of unit prices rather than fixed total project prices?

The final budget will be determined upon awarding the project to the contracted agency.

The budget submitted in this proposal should be inclusive of the necessary fees to complete the work.

Should paid media, printing, talent, translation and other pass-through expenses be included within the $750,000 ceiling? Are agency commissions or administrative markups on these expenses permitted?

The total award amount is up to $750,000 shared across all successful applicants.

Applicants should develop the cost proposal based on their proposed project activities, including the activities of proposed subcontractors.

Will PDPH advance or promptly reimburse approved media and production costs before the contractor is required to pay third-party vendors? What is the City’s typical payment time after receipt of a complete invoice?

The RFP is for a fixed contract. The selected vendors will invoice the Health Department for work based on the deliverables noted in the Scope of Work. Payments will be made once the Health Department approves the invoices.

What weighting or practical significance will be given to Local Business Entity status and local impact? Can a nonlocal prime applicant satisfy this consideration through Philadelphia-based subcontractors, hiring and community partnerships?

Applicants should submit subcontractors in response to the proposal if they anticipate using subcontractors to provide the service. The City seeks to broaden participation in City contracts, so local applicants are encouraged to apply.

Does PDPH expect the selected agency to recruit and compensate people with lived and living experience for research, message testing and creative development, or will the Department provide access to participants and community partners?

The PDPH team includes a street-based outreach and community engagement program that regularly interacts with people who use drugs. Campaign development, message testing, and evaluation are traditionally conducted by the communications team in collaboration with that program; however, some campaigns target people who use drugs outside of the outreach team’s purview. In those cases, the vendor may be asked to conduct digital-based testing, which may include A/B testing and compensated digital surveys. If available, the Department may provide access to relevant individuals or provide leads or connections for engagement.

Are the performance benchmarks in Section 3.2 illustrative only, or will vendors be contractually expected to achieve them for various audiences, channels, campaign objectives and media budgets?

The final reporting deliverables will be discussed and agreed upon among the project team that includes the PDPH staff and the media partner.

We assume the requirement that all talent be represented by an actors’ guild or union would not apply to every photographed or filmed participant, including community members, subject-matter experts and people sharing lived experience, correct?

Correct, it is likely that participants will not be represented talent. The Department will work with the vendor to establish an appropriate compensation scale in line with Department recommendations and grant requirements.

What annual independent audit documentation may be required? Would reviewed financial statements, internally prepared financial statements or an accountant’s statement of financial condition be acceptable? Financial statements prepared by an external auditor or accountant.

Will the City provide its current General Provisions, insurance requirements, cybersecurity requirements, HIPAA/BAA terms and intellectual-property provisions before proposals are due? The Health Department General Provisions are listed under this opportunity

It is our understanding the awarded contract will be fixed price. On p 11 of the solicitation, it states: “Through this RFP, the Department seeks communications and media firms that can conduct some or all of the following activities as part of media campaigns and/or communications projects. Each project assigned through a Scope of Work to a Successful Applicant may include some or all of the services described below. PDPH does not expect each Applicant to provide all services but rather asks each Applicant to describe which among the following eight services it is able to provide.” Please advise on how to provide a fixed price proposal when specific services, quantities, timelines, deliverables, audiences, media types, evaluation processes and metrics, numbers and quantities of videos/photos and corresponding actors, website specs, etc., are not yet clearly defined. Can applicants submit hourly rates only?

Applicants must provide a detailed cost proposal, with a line-item breakdown of the costs for specific services and work products proposed. Cost proposals must be “fixed price” proposals. The proposed price must include all costs that will be charged to the City for the services and tangible work products the Applicant proposes to perform and deliver to complete the project and including, but not limited to, costs for the following, if the Department is to pay for them: employee compensation and fringe benefits; communication;

printing; administrative expenses; bonding; acquisition of real estate; rent, utilities, maintenance and security related to real estate; travel (reimbursable only at rates approved by the Department and in accordance with current City policies, which can be obtained from the Department); project management; development; testing; implementation; maintenance;

training; and all other work proposed. Any contract resulting from this RFP will provide for a not-to-exceed amount in the compensation section of the contract.

It is our understanding the awarded contract will be fixed price. Typically, fixed price contracts do not require hourly rate delineation in invoicing. Will the City consider removing hourly rates and hour allocation requirements from invoices, rather include deliverable-based invoicing?

Not at this time.

On p 16 of the SOW, within the list of personnel requirements, bullets 2 and 6 are the same. Is this the intent of the City? No, the duplicate was listed in error

On p 20 of the SOW, within the Proposed Scope of Work section (bullet 4), it states applicants must “include a proposed budget or cost proposal, and a schedule for when the services and materials will be provided.” Please advise on how to include a budget and schedule when no specifics for approach are indicated. Can a schedule and budget be eliminated from submission?

Respondents should propose an approach allocation of resources that they believe will best achieve the objectives outlined in this solicitation.

On p 25 of the SOW, within the Evaluation Criteria section, there is mention of an incumbent. Will the City identify the incumbent(s), its/their budget by year of the previous contract and if it/they are eligible to bid again?

There is no incumbent for the contract. The Department has however worked with various agencies on mass media campaigns and marketing projects in the past.

Is eligibility to respond to this RFP limited to firms located within Philadelphia or Pennsylvania, or is local presence solely a scored/preference factor as described in Section 5, “How We Choose”?

Eligibility is not limited to Philadelphia based firms. However, The City is committed to leveraging its buying power to uplift and grow our local economy, which will result in more jobs for Philadelphians for this reason, the City will consider local impact as a significant factor in our proposal evaluation.

Media Buying and Pass Through Costs: For Media Placement and Guerrilla Marketing services, should proposed pricing distinguish the contractor’s strategy, planning, placement, and management fees from media expenditures? How should applicants account for media buying costs that cannot be determined until a project specific Scope of Work is issued?

Yes, to adhere to grant funding, all proposed pricing must distinguish the contractor’s strategy, planning, placement, and management fees from media expenditures. Applicants may provide examples featuring different campaign scales of recent (<6 months) media buying costs.

Talent and Influencer Requirements: The RFP states that talent used in final collateral must be represented by an actor’s guild or union and compensated according to applicable guidelines. Does this requirement also apply to social media creators and influencers, community ambassadors, subject matter experts, or community members appearing in creator led digital content, or is it limited to traditional talent appearing in produced campaign collateral?

It is likely that many will not be traditional, represented talent. When appropriate, the Department will work with the vendor to establish an appropriate compensation scale in line with Department recommendations and grant requirements.

Evaluation and Message Testing: For applicants proposing Evaluation and Message Testing services, does PDPH anticipate contractors conducting formal outcome or program evaluation, or may this category include campaign focused evaluation such as focus groups, surveys, community message testing, A/B testing, exposure monitoring, digital performance analysis, and pre and post campaign feedback?

This may include campaign focused evaluation such as focus groups, surveys, community message testing, A/B testing, exposure monitoring, digital performance analysis, and pre and post campaign feedback.

Will the awardee(s) have access to SUPHR surveillance data, dashboards, or prior campaign performance data?

The Department maintains strict data protections that must be followed. Some data may be released to the vendor; however, it may be necessary for SUPHR staff to advise the vendor without sharing data and dashboards. Prior campaign performance data will be shared.

Should paid media expenditures be presented separately from agency fees (strategy, planning, buying, optimization, reporting, and project management), or should offerors provide a single fully loaded fixed-price amount that combines agency services and anticipated media expenditures? Any clarity on how to present the paid media in the pricing proposal would be appreciated.

The budget stated in the RFP is inclusive of the net media budget and covers all elements of the project. The budget submitted in the proposal should be inclusive of the necessary fees to complete the work. Please submit a budget that will be reflective of the work that your agency would view as necessary to complete the campaign.

The RFP states: "The Department expects the following with respect to the successful Applicant’s organizational structure and personnel: • Applicant must have at least one staff member assigned to each project who is experienced in using the graphic design software required, as identified in the Scope of Work. • One staff person to serve as the key strategic leader regarding campaign/message development. • One staff person for each project must act as the point of contact for coordinating programmatic, administrative, digital, and fiscal issues. • One staff member to have experience in the Adobe Creative Cloud. • Applicants must have one executive-level staff member available as needed to discuss high-level policy concerns. • One staff person to serve as the key strategic leader regarding campaign/message development." Can you clarify how many team members we need assigned to each project? There are no required staffing numbers. Vendors must have the required experienced;

however, individual staff may fulfill multiple requirements.

Do we need a reference letter from our references or will the company/entity, a contact person’s name, the contact person’s title, their address, their email address, and telephone number suffice?

Letter of reference is not required, respondents should provide 3 references preferably from projects that are similar to the work sought by this RFP.

Does the city team require a proposed creative vision for the campaign? Should we include creative briefs and/or a mock campaign breakdown?

In lieu of mock campaigns, vendors may submit breakdowns examples of relevant recently (<6 months) completed public health or social services campaigns.

We're partnering with a public health organization to deploy the campaign. Is there a preference for applicant? Would we be in a better position if the public health org or our media communication team were the primary applicant?

This solicitation is for media communication firms. Respondents should submit subcontractors in response to this proposal if they anticipate using subcontractors to provide the service.

Can the Department identify the current vendor(s) providing media and/or communications services to SUPHR under the existing contract, if applicable? SUPHR does not currently have a vendor contracted for this service.

Can the Department share examples of guerrilla marketing tactics or other grassroots engagement strategies that have been successful in previous SUPHR campaigns? No

Can the Department share examples of guerrilla marketing or grassroots engagement tactics that have not provided the results as anticipated, and any lessons learned from those efforts?

Not at this time.

What audience research, demographic data, behavioral insights, media research, or other existing data will the Department provide to selected vendors to inform campaign strategy, targeting, and message development?

epidemiology data may be released to the vendor; however, it may be necessary for SUPHR staff to advise the vendor without sharing data and dashboards. Campaign research conducted by outreach and communications team will likely be shared. Prior

Can the Department provide information about recent or current SUPHR campaigns, including creative assets, media plans, messaging research, and campaign evaluation results that may be made available to selected vendors?

Selected vendors will be presented with all recent SUPHR campaign research and performance data.

The campaigns featured on your current website represent a range of distinct messaging and objectives. For purposes of this RFP, is there a specific message or campaign you would like us to use as the basis for our examples and demonstrate how we would expand upon it?

Vendors are welcome to use adapt any of SUPHR’s pervious campaign messages, or submit other relevant examples from other projects.

The RFP references message testing, surveys, focus groups, market research, and engagement with people who use drugs.

Does the Department anticipate that selected vendors will be responsible for recruiting participants and conducting primary research and message testing, or will SUPHR and/or its community partners assist with participant recruitment and engagement?

The PDPH team includes a street-based outreach and community engagement program that regularly interacts with people who use drugs. Campaign development, message testing, and evaluation are traditionally conducted by the communications team in collaboration with that program; however, some campaigns target people who use drugs outside of the outreach team’s purview. In those cases, the vendor may be asked to conduct digital-based testing, which may include A/B testing and compensated digital surveys. If available, the Department may provide access to relevant individuals or provide leads or connections for engagement.

Does the Department currently maintain relationships with community-based organizations, service providers, harm reduction organizations, or other trusted messengers that selected vendors may engage through assigned Scopes of Work, or should applicants anticipate identifying and establishing these relationships independently?

The Department maintains these relationships and may provide access to relevant individuals or provide leads or connections for engagement. In cases outside of our traditional scope, the Department may ask the vendor to assist with identifying and establishing relationships.

Are their specific non-English languages or priority populations that the Department anticipates will require translation and/or cultural adaptation most frequently during the initial contract year?

p p p g g g g g g p p Generally, materials are translated into Haitian Creole, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Portuguese, French, Chinese, and Spanish, with the Hispanic community being the most frequent target of the non-English language populations.

In the EContract Philly portal, the amount for this proposal is listed as $1.00. Is that because it is dependent on a grant? Is there a projected date for when the grant may be awarded?

This contract will be grant funded. We expect to have funding in place and contract services to begin in November 2026.

The RFP requires a fixed-price proposal, but individual projects will be assigned later through separate Scopes of Work. What pricing format would be most useful to PDPH at this stage? Fixed prices for typical services/deliverables, sample project budgets, an hourly rate structure or another approach?

Does the $750,000 budget include paid media and other pass-through costs such as production, printing, talent, research incentives and translation?

Yes. The budget stated in the RFP is inclusive of the net media budget and covers all elements of the project. The budget submitted in the proposal should be inclusive of the necessary fees to complete the work.

Can PDPH provide a general sense of the number, size and types of projects it expects to assign during the first contract year?

The Department anticipates assigning at least two mass media campaigns during the first contract year.

If multiple vendors are selected, how will individual Scopes of Work be assigned among them?

As each Scope of Work is initiated, the Department will select from among contracted vendors capable of performing the activities required for each project based on the qualifications and pricing established through this RFP.

Are there particular audiences, neighborhoods, languages or types of assignments PDPH expects to prioritize during the first year that applicants should keep in mind when developing their approach?

SUPHR campaigns topics and audiences are identified through surveillance data and community outreach reports. Past campaigns includes heart health related to stimulant use in Non-Hispanic Black men; the rise in polysubstance drug overdoses, including fentanyl and stimulants; and the rise in street-based opioid use that can be treated with buprenorphine.

Will selected vendors have access to existing SUPHR campaign materials, brand guidelines, audience research, message-testing results, media performance data and other relevant background materials?

The Department maintains strict data protections that must be followed. Some epidemiology data may be released to the vendor; however, others may be limited. Selected vendors will be presented with all recent SUPHR campaign outreach-based research and testing, campaign development strategies, and performance data.

Are we able to implement tracking pixels on substanceusephilly.com to support campaign reporting? Department leadership will advise the use of tracking resources during campaign development.

Sheet1