City of Cleveland Department of Public Safety – Request for Proposal for Police Officer Recruitment Marketing Consultant

Services for the Division of Police, Department of Public Safety

Proposal Submission Deadline: December 11,2024 5:00PM EST

Separate marketing and fee proposals should be sent via email by 5:00 PM December 11, 2024.

Fee proposals shall be submitted in a separate electronic file that is clearly labeled.

Contact

Should you have any questions regarding this Request for Proposal, please contact Michael Gehlmann,

Department of Public Safety, by email at mgehlmann@clevelandohio.gov  or by telephone at 216-664-3740.

Introduction and Background

The City of Cleveland (City), Department of Public Safety, through its Director of Public Safety, is soliciting

proposals to provide police officer recruitment marketing consulting services to enhance the Cleveland

Division of Police (CDP) recruitment efforts.

It is preferred that the consultant have previous experience providing similar services to other police

departments or to other similar law enforcement agencies.

This Request for Proposal (RFP) does not obligate the City to complete the selection and contract award

process. The City reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals or portions of them; to waive irregularities, informalities, and technicalities to re-issue or to proceed to obtain the service desired otherwise at any time or in any manner considered in the City’s best interest to request additional information from any or all consultants to assist the City in its evaluation process; and to amend or withdraw this RFP prior to the announcement of the selected consultant. In the event there is an amendment to the RFP, all Proposers will be provided with a copy of any such amendment(s) and be afforded the opportunity to revise their Proposals in response to the RFP amendment.

Scope of Services

The City is issuing this Request for Proposal soliciting proposals to provide consultation services

for police officer recruitment marketing to enhance the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP)

recruitment efforts. The proposal should include the planned creation of a marketing plan and the

execution of a two year advertising campaign in a total amount Not to exceed $260,000.00.

The following areas are essential for inclusion in the recruitment marketing services; however, this

is not a complete listing of all services that may be required or desired:

1. Manage advertising campaign for the Cleveland Division of Police for the purpose of increasing the number of applicants to CDP.
2. Highlight the human side of police officers.
3. Investigate and determine what makes a career in the Cleveland Division of Police attractive and use such findings to inform the advertising strategy.
4. Develop and execute an advertising plan to include, but is not limited to, web, video social media, and broadcast. All assets produced should be suitable for all platforms available.
   1. Identify and contract with local advertising agencies, executing the advertising plan.
5. Develop marketing and advertising assets using guidelines approved by the Division of Police.
6. Create a marketing strategy in collaboration with the Chief of Police and the Director of Public Safety.
7. Increase applications for the Cleveland Division of Police and provide a metric for evaluating

the effectiveness of the advertising plan. Identify gaps in the existing advertising strategy and

assist CDP with alternate strategies to achieve CDP hiring and retention goals.

8. Provide all required creative artwork design and native files for print and digital

communications to be used as recruitment tools. All artwork, copy, etc. created as part of the

performance under this proposed contract shall become the property of the City of Cleveland

and may be used by CDP and the City for any purpose without approval or payment to the

contractor. The contractor will make all proofs available for review and approval by the Chief of Police and the Director of Public Safety.

The term of service will be upon execution of the contract through December 31,2025.

I.                    Professional Services Requirements:

Listed below are the requirements the Proposer is expected to possess and address in their Proposal. The Proposal should provide information about your ability to address these areas or related areas as part of your engagement.

1. The organization or consultant shall provide information and certification(s), as applicable, describing their credentials and experience in providing similar marketing services to police departments or other law enforcement agencies.
2. Provide detailed information describing your prior experience and expertise in providing marketing services to police departments or other similar law enforcement agencies.
3. Provide professional references for similar marketing services.
4. Possess effective oral and written communication skills along with highly effective organizational and planning skills.

If requested, the Proposer will be prepared to present their proposal before a committee selected

by the Department of Public Safety. To effectively verify all proposals, the Department of Public

Safety reserves the right to conduct follow-up on references.

Rights to Materials (data)

All materials (data) generated under this RFP is work made for hire. The Proposer shall inform

the City in writing of any scheduled deletion of files and shall not delete files without prior written consent from the City.

II.                 Project Team

The following project team information is required:

1. Proposers shall provide the names of the project team and include the roles and responsibilities they will be assigned on this project.
2. Proposers shall provide resumes for each of the team members planned for this project.