Public Relations and Outreach Services

The Housing Authority of the City of Alameda is requesting proposals for professional public relations, marketing, community events, and outreach consulting services, with proposals due October 5, 2026 at 4:00 PM PST and a question deadline of September 25, 2026.

The scope includes message development, image management, and effective communications across multiple media formats; strategic communication management and scheduling; social media management and content creation; press and media relations with narrative development and press release generation; digital communications and website enhancement; collateral materials development including ADA-compliant documents, presentations, videos, and translations; and stakeholder engagement with diverse communities through community meetings and media preparation. The contractor will manage AHA's existing platforms: 8,000 monthly unique website visitors, 2,300+ LinkedIn followers, 1,700 Facebook followers, and a 50,000-email database. AHA assumes approximately 30 hours for initial startup and 10 hours per month for ongoing services in Year 1, with proposers required to submit itemized budgets, hourly rates, and cost assumptions for all five years of potential performance.

The contract term is three years with optional two-year extensions, not to exceed five years total, subject to HUD regulations. No contract value is specified in the solicitation; proposers must submit fixed annual fees for Year 1 covering all expenses, including sales tax, wages, benefits, overhead, profit, insurance, materials, supplies, and related costs. AHA reserves the right to negotiate fees with the top-rated proposer.

Evaluation criteria are weighted: Qualifications and Experience (30 points), Proposed Approach (20 points), Lowest Overall Price (20 points), References (10 points), Customer Service (10 points), and Cost Analysis and Budget (10 points). The contractor must demonstrate expertise with government and housing agencies in the Bay Area or California and comply with all federal requirements including HUD General Conditions, Build America Buy America, and federal labor standards.

Insurance requirements include Commercial General Liability and Professional Liability of $2 million per occurrence, Cyber Liability of $2 million per occurrence and aggregate if handling personally identifiable information, and Workers' Compensation at statutory limits. The Housing Authority of the City of Alameda, Alameda Affordable Housing Corporation, and Island City Development must be named as additional insureds. Funding sources include Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and Section 8 administration funds. Interviews are scheduled October 12–16, 2026, with anticipated award November 3, 2026. A bidders' conference was held September 16, 2026; responses to submitted questions are due September 29, 2026.