The Virginia Department of Health, Division of Disease Prevention (hereafter referred to as VDH DDP) is soliciting bids for the placement of advertisements to promote HIV and hepatitis C testing in Virginia. Advertising shall include two components: in-home HIV test kits and HIV and hepatitis C testing at select Walgreens stores in Virginia. Ad design may be required.
Background:
The Mission of the Virginia Department of Health is to protect the health and promote the well-being of all people in Virginia. The agency’s vision statement is “Become the healthiest state in the nation.
| GOAL 1 | Maintain a competent and valued workforce Recruit and retain the best employees. Ensure that VDH staff are properly developed and coached. Plan for knowledge transfer and future succession. Demonstrate that VDH employees are valued. |
| GOAL 2 | Foster healthy, connected, and resilient communities Implement population health strategies in Virginia. Foster community collaboration. Share timely, reliable, actionable, sub-county level data. |
| GOAL 3 | Be a trusted source of public health information and services Deliver public health information accurately and timely in the format and delivery method in which it is most effective. Create systems, policies, and practices that improve health for all people in Virginia. Make our services more clear and visible to the public user. Reinforce the role and mission of public health to federal, state and to local communities. |
| GOAL 4 | Assure the conditions that improve health opportunity Build partnerships at the state and local level to increase community capacity to focus on determinants of health. Enact “health in all policy” approaches at the state and local level. Strengthen organizational infrastructure to support health equity. |
| GOAL 5 | Provide internal systems that deliver consistent and responsive support Create a culture of continuous quality and process improvement at VDH. Establish an internal culture of customer service excellence. |
Scope of Work:
Media Plan:
All Offerors must include a media plan for review as part of their response to the bid of solicitation. This plan must include the types and formats of advertisements that will be placed, all proposed platforms (by name), demographic and location targeting, projected/promised impressions and reach by platform, projected spend by platform, and timeline for project. Other relevant analytics such as video views or social engagements can be substituted where appropriate for impressions or reach. The media plan must address each component of the project separately to ensure that both are accurately covered.
A list of staff members working on the project must also be included in the media plan with a brief description of project responsibilities. Full resumes are not required and inclusion of resumes does not meet this requirement.
Modifications and final approval of the media plan is at the discretion of the VDH DDP.
Budget:
A detailed budget must be included for review as part of the bid for solicitation. Offerors should break down their bid amount by line items such as personnel, supplies, contractual (advertising buy), etc. Each line item should include a description of the items or services included. Offerors should clearly outline media buy markups and other similar fees in their budget if they wish for these fees to be approved and reimbursed.
Ad Creative:
In-Home HIV Test Kits: the selected offeror is responsible for the entirety of the ad design process for in-home HIV test advertisements. If the offeror has created advertisements for this purpose previously they may be approved for use for this project with modifications. Multiple designs may be required depending on the proposed and approved platform(s). Once designs are completed or approved they must be turned into the VDH DDP for approval. The selected offeror will be required to make any adjustments that the VDH DDP deems appropriate and necessary.
Walgreens: there is currently a 45-second digital video file that is available to use for Walgreens advertisements. The file will be shared with the selected offeror. The selected offeror may opt to include other placements as well. Any additional placements must be designed by the selected offeror.
The VDH DDP is not liable for any stock image or video agreements that the selected offeror enters into for this project, or if the offeror uses images or video without the proper permissions.
Upon reaching a final-approved product, the selected offeror shall give a copy of the final ad design files to the VDH DDP for future use.
Platforms:
All formats for this solicitation must be digital. The final site(s) they will point to will be finalized once an offeror is selected. Specific digital platforms will not be required in this solicitation—they may include digital radio (Spotify, Pandora), digital television (Hulu, local station apps), social media (Facebook, YouTube), webbanners, mobile app ads, dating app ads, etc. At least one dating app used by men who have sex with men (MSM) must be included for in-home test kit advertising. The VDH DDP can only give advertiser access to their Facebook account. Offerors should consider this when suggesting social media platforms. Multiple types of platforms must be included.
Walgreens: must be statewide to include all participating Walgreens locations throughout the state. The list of all locations is at http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/disease-prevention/walgreens-test-sites/.
Advertisements for both efforts must be specific to men, MSM, and/or transgender women. Advertisements cannot be served to anyone under 18 years old. Offerors may propose other groups that are at risk for contracting HIV. For more information on HIV risk by group, visit https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/index.html.
Solicitation Information:
A maximum of $95,000 is available for this solicitation. This budget amount is all-inclusive.
Due Date:
December 31st, 2019
Address:
Danielle Blackwell at danielle.blackwell@vdh.virginia.gov.
Relevant agencies include Hunter PR and Makovsky PR.