COUNTY OF ALAMEDA Communications and Public Information Consulting Services
Contact Person: Jacqueline Favela
Phone Number: (510) 208-9612
Email Address: Jacqueline.favela2@acgov.org
General Services Agency (GSA) – Procurement
RESPONSE DUE by 2:00 p.m. on April 30, 2024 through Alameda County, GSA-Procurement
EZSourcing Supplier Portal https://ezsourcing.acgov.org/
I. STATEMENT OF WORK
A. INTENT
It is the intent of these specifications, terms, and conditions to describe the communication and community engagement strategy, media campaign planning, and implementation services requested by the Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services Department (hereafter ACBH or County). The Contractor will assist ACBH in developing a comprehensive five-year educational/social marketing campaign to address opioid misuse and promote prevention and treatment in Alameda County.
The County intends to award a three-year contract (with the option to renew for an additional two years) to the Bidder selected as the most responsible Bidder(s) whose response conforms to the RFP and meets the County’s requirements.
B. SCOPE AND BACKGROUND
It is estimated that more than 564,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses involving any opioid (e.g., synthetic, heroin, semi-synthetic, methadone, etc.), including prescription and illicit opioids, between 1999-2020 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC, 2022). Opioids were involved in more than 68,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2020, which was 8.5 times the number of opioid-involved overdose deaths in 1999 (CDC, 2022). Consistent with the overall U.S. opioid data trend, California experienced 7,175 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2021 and the annual crude mortality rate for 2021 was 17.96 per 100,000 residents, an increase of 119% from 2019 (California Department of Public Health-CDPH, 2022). Alameda County experienced 203 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2021 and the annual crude mortality rate for 2021 was 12.09 per 100,000 residents, an increase of 98% from 2019 (CDPH, 2022). Synthetic opioid overdose deaths are on the rise and are largely related to fentanyl in California and Alameda County.
According to Alameda County data, opioid deaths are increasing as a proportion of overall overdoses with polydrug overdoses that include opioids and stimulants being the fastest growing segment. This rapid increase in overdoses in Alameda County started in 2017 and has unfortunately maintained an upwards trajectory with the highest mortality rate seen in men. However, the data also reveals that overdose deaths are impacting people of all ages between 15 – 74 years old with the highest overdose rates for those between 25 – 44 years old. The overdose deaths disproportionately impact African American residents (27.4%) with the second highest rates being for European Americans (11.3%), closely followed by Latino Americans (11.0%). Some of the most vulnerable users are among the houseless community which accounts for approximately 30% of all overdose deaths.
Alameda County is committed to reducing the number of deaths due to opioids in Alameda County. The goal of this educational campaign is to support the existing strategies for Opioid Overdose Intervention by focusing on developing a campaign that centers on:
• Reducing opioid exposure (opioid use prevention).
• Reducing opioid supply (opioid use prevention).
• Clarifying options for treatment.
• Reducing harm and clarifying how to navigate existing systems/resources.
• Providing (rescue) training and location of resources information.
Communication Strategy and Implementation
Strategic communications work will include the development of strategies, policies, and procedures, and supporting materials and collateral as needed to provide information to the public, key audiences, community partners, media outlets, and ACBH/Health Care Services Agency (HCSA) employees. This educational /social marketing campaign will take an evidence-based approach that utilizes a mix of marketing and advertising techniques that utilize community specific communication channels.
Community Engagement
An essential aspect of this communication strategy is field checking early and often the impact of the communication materials and educational campaign with key stakeholders. Therefore, this communication strategy will include working with coalition partners, staff, and community leaders to incorporate their feedback into the campaign distribution strategy and messaging as appropriate.
Media Campaign Planning
The multi-faceted media campaign will identify and implement various forms of media to disseminate educational messaging and resource information including but not limited to opioid prevention, opioid educational information, proper medicine disposal methods, and treatment and wrap-around service resources and other themes as needed. This multi-media campaign is likely to utilize print (e.g., bus boards, posters, flyers, etc.), videography, and online media tools (e.g., press releases, webpages, social media ads, videos, etc.
Key Deliverables
This campaign will take an evidence-informed approach by incorporating available and current data, identifying opportunities for intervention (which will include identifying those with the highest risk and developing communications and distribution strategies to reach them), creating a five-year educational / social marketing campaign and consistently tracking campaign impacts which includes fine-tuning campaigns as feedback is collected from community. The selected Bidder will develop marketing collateral and communication strategies while working collaboratively with the Behavioral Health Care Services department to promote and disseminate social marketing communications countywide.
Across the service categories outlined in this RFP, the goal will be to develop a five-year educational/social marketing campaign that is:
• Cohesive
• Builds the public’s trust
• Empathic and compassionate
• Empowers individuals and community
• Evidence based, and utilizes available and current date
• Accessible to residents with disabilities, provides content in multiple languages, and is understandable based upon primary language and reading level
• Sensitive and informed by cultural, ethnic, linguistic, demographic, and socio-economic factors.
Covered Populations
The opioid situation is far-reaching, so the goal of this campaign will include many touch points across the diverse community that makes up Alameda County, including county residents, health care providers, community partners, local government partners, county and hospital boards, and state and federal agencies.
The selected Bidder must ensure education, awareness, communication, and social marketing campaigns are focused on opioid prevention and treatment for the following individuals, which include but are not limited to:
• Target the public with information centering opioid use prevention, opioid misuse education, proper medicine disposal methods, and treatment options.
• Provide targeted information to those most at risk (African Americans, men and people experiencing houselessness) with prevention, treatment, and wrap-around service support information and resources.
• Provide education and training to first responders, early responders, hospitals, clinics, jails and recovery centers around opioid use prevention, screening, wrap-around services partners, methods to reduce opioid supply, and available treatment options.
• Help amplify treatment services, wrap-around partners, and referral methods to ACBH partner organizations.
