Request for Proposal - Paid Family Leave Marketing Plan and Outreach Campaign

The California Employment Development Department (EDD) has issued Request for Proposal #72779 for a comprehensive Paid Family Leave (PFL) Marketing Plan and Outreach Campaign. The procurement seeks a vendor to develop and implement a statewide public education and media campaign designed to inform Californians about PFL benefits when workers need time off to care for loved ones or bond with new children. Key deliverables include a detailed work implementation plan, a marketing strategy responsive to PFL market research, and a post-campaign results report. The campaign must target California's diverse population across multiple ethnic, cultural, and language groups, requiring services in English, Spanish, Armenian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Punjabi. Proposals will be evaluated using a 1,000-point scoring system, with points allocated across narrative scope (350 points), company references (150 points), staff qualifications (100 points), oral interview (100 points), and deliverable/cost matrix (300 points). Proposals are due by 2:00 PM PST on April 19, 2016, with oral interviews tentatively scheduled for the week of May 2, 2016. The contract term is from May 10, 2016 (or final approval) through June 30, 2017.

The EDD has waived the Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) participation requirement and incentive for this RFP. The contract does not specify restrictions on business size or type, though the RFP suggests an openness to various vendor configurations. The maximum contract amount is initially set at $2.5 million, with potential for an additional $3 million pending formal budgetary approval, bringing the total possible funding to $5.5 million through June 30, 2017. The contractor must maintain general liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence and workers' compensation coverage. Contractors will be required to provide three work samples from the prime contractor, with optional additional samples from subcontractors. The EDD will conduct pre- and post-campaign surveys to measure awareness, and the selected vendor must establish additional success metrics. Payment terms have been revised to allow invoicing for individual media advertisements as they are purchased, subject to EDD's prior content approval.