RFP0416 Q & A Final.pdf

RFP0416 Dairy Promotion or Research Program 2027

Question & Answer Document

1.)Can you please detail how grant funds will be disbursed? I understand this is on reimbursement basis, but what would the expected turnaround time be?

Answer: The Dairy Promotion Order funds will be disbursed by monthly reimbursement, and typically the claims review process takes 30 days as long as there are no issues with the claim.

2.) Of the $16,901,250 available through this RFP, does the Advisory Board anticipate a target allocation or a typical award range for research projects under Program Goals 9 and 10? Is there a minimum or maximum award size for an individual project?

Answer: There is no target allocation or typical award range for research projects under Program Goals 9 and 10. There is no minimum or maximum award size for an individual project.

3.) For Program Goal 10, does the Board expect the awardee to both conduct the research study and develop and execute the targeted educational content or promotional campaign?

Alternatively, may a proposal scope the research and the development of educational content, with distribution carried out through the Board’s existing promotion partners?

Answer: This is at the discretion of the applicant.

4.) Will organizations that submit proposals be scheduled for presentation slots at the October 14-16 Advisory Board meeting in Syracuse? If so, how much time is allotted per organization, and how should a presentation slot be requested?

Answer: All organizations that submit an eligible application are highly encouraged to present in-person to the Advisory Board at their meeting in October. Each organization will be given a time slot based on the amount requested and the number of RFPs received. The amount of allotted time will be determined after receipt of all of the proposals.

5.) For research projects, where impact on consumption may materialize beyond the one-year contract term, what types of performance measures does the Board consider appropriate for the Work Plan (for example, research deliverables and milestones, dissemination of findings, and engagement with resulting educational content) as compared to direct sales-lift metrics?

Answer: Each contract is for the 2027 calendar year, the applicants are responsible for including metrics in their work plan that they feel are quantifiable based on their application.

6.) Is there a minimum or maximum amount that one applicant may request?

Answer: No.

7.) May one applicant request a large portion of the total available funding if the proposed project and budget justify it?

Answer: Yes, the request can be made. The Dairy Promotion Order Board will decide who will be funded and how much funding will be awarded.

8.) May a for-profit private business apply directly, or are there any additional restrictions for for-profit applicants?

Answer: Yes, a for-profit private business may apply directly. There are no additional restrictions.

9.) Can a for-profit applicant include reasonable compensation for the owner, project director, management staff, and administrative staff in the proposed budget?

Answer: Yes.

10.) May a for-profit applicant include an administrative fee, indirect costs, management fee, or reasonable profit margin, or is reimbursement limited strictly to documented actual project expenses?

Answer: Reimbursement is limited to documented actual expenses.

11.) Are there limits on salaries, hourly rates, administrative expenses, or indirect costs?

12.) Are payments made entirely on a reimbursement basis after expenses are incurred, or are advances or periodic payments available during the project?

Answers: Payments are made entirely on a reimbursement basis.

13.) How frequently may an awarded organization submit for reimbursement—for example, monthly or quarterly?

Answer: Monthly and quarterly are both acceptable. Quarterly may be preferred depending on the size of the contract.

14.) May one applicant propose multiple separate projects or initiatives under one application?

15.) Would community-based dairy promotion programs, including nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, tastings, recipes, and outreach to underserved populations, qualify?

16.) May an approved project purchase and distribute New York dairy products to participants as part of the promotional or educational activities?

Answer: Yes, but you cannot promote a specific brand.

17.) Would programs specifically serving individuals with disabilities and their families be eligible, provided the primary purpose is to increase awareness, demand, and consumption of New York-produced dairy products?

18.) Are partnerships with community organizations, schools, healthcare providers, disability service organizations, retailers, or food-distribution organizations encouraged or required?

Answer: Yes, they are encouraged. No, they are not required.

19.) Is there a required minimum number of people that a project must reach?

Answer: No. However, a goal should be outlined in your application.

20.) What performance measures would the Department consider strongest for demonstrating increased demand or consumption of New York dairy products?

Answer: The department cannot provide guidance on which specific performance measures would be considered strongest. Applicants should determine the performance measures that are most appropriate to their proposed approach and demonstrate how they would measure success.

21.) Does the applicant need to identify specific New York dairy producers or suppliers in the proposal?

22.) Can funds be used for advertising, social media campaigns, printed materials, events, staffing, transportation, equipment, rental space, and program supplies?

23.) Are there any expenses that are specifically prohibited?

Answer: Yes, any expenses not related to the program goals described in the RFP are prohibited.

24.)Is prior experience in dairy promotion required, or can an organization demonstrate capacity through experience operating other community programs?

Answer: Prior experience is not required.

25.) Are there any additional documents or qualifications you recommend that a first-time applicant prepare before submitting?

Answer: Nothing additional before submitting an application, however applicants must be registered and potentially prequalified in SFS prior to creating a contract and receiving an award.

Workers’ Compensation and Disability insurance proofs are also required prior to entering into a contract.

26.) The template does not have a section for the summary of company, just project summary, should the company summary be included in that same section? And if that is the case, each individual project should have the same company summary?

Answer: Yes, the company summary should be included in the Project summary section. One company summary should be included in each application. If an application contains multiple projects, one company summary will suffice.

27.) For Those of us who typically submit multiple proposals, should each one have a separate SOW or would you prefer us to submit one large proposal with each project as separate objectives?

Answer: One large proposal with each project as separate objectives is acceptable. If awarded, the SOW would be modified to include only the funded project(s).

28.) Is the 200 word limit inclusive of the “project summary” box and the Objectives/Tasks/Performance Measures, or just the project summary box?

Answer: Just the project summary box.

29.) Can work begin before the fully executed contract is in place even though reimbursement requests must be made after a fully executed contract is in place?

Answer: Any work undertaken before a contract is fully executed is done at the risk of the contractor.

30.) Can expenses that occur before we have a fully executed contract in place (but after 1/1/27), be reimbursed/counted towards the contract?

Answer: Yes, however any work undertaken before a contract is fully executed is done at the risk of the contractor.

31.) Can you provide additional details on who will be conducting the screening and what factors will be used during this initial screening?

Answer: Screening will be conducted by the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets to ensure programs meet state and federal promotion/research guidelines. Links aon those guidelines are found below:

https://govt.westlaw.com/nycrr/Browse/Home/NewYork/UnofficialNewYorkCodesRulesandRegulations?guid=I 4f1a7610ab3a11ddbd79a18800159157&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=Default&contextDa ta=(sc.Default) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/subtitle-B/chapter-X/part-1150

32.)Can you confirm that a proposal may contain multiple projects where each project is described on a separate SOW form? If so, does Total Amount of funding requested refer to the amount of funding for each individual Project?

Answer: Yes, a proposal may contain multiple projects. Each project should contain a budget with the amount of funding requested. A summary of the total amount requested should also be included on a budget template.

33.) If a proposal has multiple Projects, should we include a Summary of Company on each Project's SOW form?

One company summary should be included in each application. If an application contains multiple projects, one company summary will suffice.

34.) If we expect most of our personnel to work on multiple projects, do we need to include personnel on every project summary, along with the summary of our company?

Answer: Yes, relevant personnel should be included in each project summary. Titles may be used instead of names.

https://govt.westlaw.com/nycrr/Browse/Home/NewYork/UnofficialNewYorkCodesRulesandRegulations?guid=I4f1a7610ab3a11ddbd79a18800159157&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default) https://govt.westlaw.com/nycrr/Browse/Home/NewYork/UnofficialNewYorkCodesRulesandRegulations?guid=I4f1a7610ab3a11ddbd79a18800159157&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default) https://govt.westlaw.com/nycrr/Browse/Home/NewYork/UnofficialNewYorkCodesRulesandRegulations?guid=I4f1a7610ab3a11ddbd79a18800159157&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/subtitle-B/chapter-X/part-1150

35.)The RFP notes that the project summary should be 200 words or less and include quite a bit of information, including: how each goal will be measured to determine accomplishment, including a list of key performance indicators that will be used to measure the success of the project, as well as how the project will benefit NYS dairy producers or the NYS dairy industry.

Are we limited to 200 words or less for all of the above information?

Answer: We will not word-count. Please be as concise as possible.

36.) Can some of the information that is duplicative, such as Company Summary and Key Personnel be included only once in the proposal, perhaps in an upfront section.

Answer: Yes, please use your best judgement to make that clear to the reviewers and the advisory board.

37.) The RFP notes that all eligible proposals received by the deadline will be competitively rated by the Dairy Promotion Order Advisory Board during the October meeting. Proposals will be scored on the following: project description, work plan, reasonableness of cost, project impact and performance measures, and organizational capacity and personnel. Can you share more details about the evaluation criteria and how the competitive ranking is used in making funding decisions? Will the board use rubric?

Answer: The department can only share the above statement found in the RFP that you referred to before your question.

38.) The RFP states that upon execution of the contract by the awardee and the Department, it may be submitted for approval to the Attorney General of the State of New York and the Comptroller of the State of New York. Can you provide estimated timing for these approvals?

Answer: An estimate would be approximately 1-2 weeks for the Attorney General review/approval. The Office of State Comptroller review/approval process is highly variable and can take between 1-8 weeks depending on numerous review factors. These are estimates and strict timelines cannot be established.

39.)Can you confirm that the Workers’ Compensation and Disability Insurance is not required at proposal submission but that it will be part of the contracting process if an award is made?

Answer: Confirmed.

40.) Section 5.C states that for-profit entities must be registered but do not need to be prequalified in SFS, while Section 4.B.2 references prequalification for all applicants. Can the Department confirm the Section 5.C treatment applies to for-profit respondents?

Answer: Confirmed, for-profit entities must be registered, but do not need to be prequalified in

SFS.

41.) Goal 4's descriptor references how messaging is influenced by emerging technologies. Do programs that measure and improve how AI assistants and AI-generated search results present dairy information to consumers fall within the scope of Goals 3 and 4?

Answer: Applicants must determine the program goal(s) that are most relevant to their proposal.

42.) Have any current or prior DPO-funded programs included measurement of how AI assistants or AI represent dairy? If so, under which goals were they funded

Answer: Previously funded projects are available in our annual reports. Please see use the link below to access our annual reports:

https://agriculture.ny.gov/dairy/dairy-promotion-order

All applicants must determine which goal is being addressed in their proposal.

43.) Are software, data, or measurement platform subscription costs incurred during the contract period reimbursable and under which budget category?

Answer: Yes those would be reimbursable. The budget category could be “other”.

44.) What is the format and time allocation for presentations at the October 14 to 16 Board meeting, and how are slots scheduled?

Answer: This is dependent on the final number of RFPs received and deemed eligible for funding.

A draft agenda will be shared once all applications are reviewed.

45.)Does the Board encourage statewide campaigns that unify messaging across multiple audiences (youth, caregivers, retail partners, socially diverse populations), or is there a preference for proposals to focus on a single priority audience for maximum impact?

Answer: Messaging across multiple audiences or targeting a specific audience are both impactful and encouraged by the Dairy Promotion Order Advisory Board.

46.) Is the agency's role limited to conception programs across goals, or does it extend into production and other responsibilities?

Answer: The applicant’s role is to address one or more of the DPO goals listed in the RFP. Our agency is providing a service to the Dairy Promotion Order by issuing the RFP and handling associated contract and claims processes.

47.) Is each program per goal expected to run as an individual program (individual concepting, creative, development, etc) or is an evergreen program meant to address each goal?

Answer: Each project can address one or more of the DPO goals listed in the RFP. An application may contain multiple projects.

48.) Please outline the expected deliverables for each goal in this engagement.

Answer: It is the applicant’s responsibility to outline the expected deliverables for the goal they are addressing in their application.

49.) Who are the key audiences?

Answer: Some goals target youth, others target the general public. It is the applicant's responsibility to determine which key audience they are targeting.

50.) What research is expected of this engagement? Has any research already been conducted that would be available for this project?

Answer: Previously awarded research is available at the bottom of our website. Link-

51.) Is media (strategy and buying) a component of this project? If so, is there a set budget for media?

Answer: Media strategy and buying may be a component of a proposal. There is no set budget for media.

52.) Each goal's descriptor references "measurable metrics" that the awardee is expected to track. Does the Board have specific KPI benchmarks or targets in mind (e.g., a target % increase in sales, reach, or engagement), or are applicants expected to propose their own metrics and targets?

Answer: Applicants are expected to propose their own metrics and targets.

53.) Is there an existing baseline (consumption, sales, or awareness data) the Department can share, against which "increase" will be measured — or is establishing baseline data part of the awardee's scope?

Answer: Establishing baseline data is part of the awardee’s scope.

54.) Who owns creative direction and brand guidelines for campaigns — the Department/Board, or the awardee?

Answer: Creative direction is determined by the applicant/awardee. Specific milk product brands are not to be promoted in these proposals/projects. Ownership would belong to the Dairy Promotion Order.

55.) Will awardees be expected to coordinate with other DPO-funded contractors or existing NY dairy promotion partners?

Answer: Awardees are encouraged to coordinate with other DPO-funded contractors and/or existing NY Dairy Promotion partners, but are not required to do so.

56.) If awarded, how quickly after the October board meeting is the contract typically executed, and can any preparatory work begin before the January 1, 2027, contract start date?

Answer: Contracts will likely be executed in the first quarter of 2027. However, this is dependent on several factors and a hard deadline cannot be established at this time. The awarded contracts are for the 2027 calendar year. Any preparatory work before January 1, 2027 would not be reimbursable.

57.) Is in-person attendance at the October 14–16 board meeting required, or is virtual presentation acceptable for applicants who can't travel?

Answer: The in-person presentation is highly encouraged, but not required. Virtual presentation is acceptable with adequate notice.

58.) Are quarterly progress reports written-only, or do they also require a quarterly presentation to the Board (versus just mid-year and year-end, as stated)?

Answer: Quarterly reports are written. The only in-person presentations are mid-year and year-end as stated.

59.) Must the work plan in the proposal address all goals or only those the bidding Agency can provide?

Answer: Only the goal(s) that are being addressed by the applicant.

60.) What work examples are required for this submission?

Answer: It is the applicant’s responsibility to determine work examples they would like to include in their proposal, if applicable. Previous work examples are not required as part of the proposal.

61.) What mandatory forms are needed to submit?

Answer: A work plan and budget are mandatory.

62.) What is the expected structure of the proposal content?

Please refer to RFP0416 Section 5. How to Apply. Please include any additional information requested in section 5.D. in the “Project Summary” portion of the scope of work if it does not have a specified section.

63.) Is the optional in-person presentation at the October board meeting factored into scoring, or purely informational/Q&A?

Answer: The in-person presentation is highly encouraged by the board. Proposals are not scored on that presentation, however it can provide valuable insight to board members when they are making their decisions.