RFP FEDERAL LOBBYING SERVICES
Purpose:
The City of Philadelphia (“City”), Division of Aviation (“Aviation”) seeks qualified Applicants (“Applicant(s)”) to provide federal lobbying services under the direction of the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and the Chief Administrative Officer (“CAO”) at Philadelphia International Airport (“PHL”, “Airport” or “Aviation”) and Northeast Philadelphia Airport (“PNE”). The objectives of the lobbying services are to advance Aviation’s public policy initiatives, and legislative and federal funding priorities, with the United States Congress (“Congress”), the Executive Office of the President, and departments and agencies of the federal government, in addition to fostering positive working relationships with members of Congress and their staff.
The City of Philadelphia, Department of Commerce, Division of Aviation seeks qualified Applicants to provide federal lobbying services to advance Aviation’s public policy initiatives, and legislative and federal funding priorities, with the United States Congress, the Executive Office of the President, and departments and agencies of the federal government, in addition to fostering positive working relationships with members of Congress and their staff.
Background:
The City administers the day-to-day operations of the Airport through Aviation, under the direction of its CEO. The CEO, CAO, or their designee will manage the work performed by the Applicant. Aviation oversees and operates both PHL and PNE which combined employ nearly one thousand (1,000) City employees
Scope of Work:
1. Project Specific Background Background information surrounding specific projects is provided in Section II, Scope of Work. It is anticipated that some of the projects assigned will be timesensitive, and the successful Applicant may be asked to manage multiple projects at the same time. As a result, it is requested that the Applicant remain in frequent contact with either the CEO, CAO, or their designee(s).
2. Philadelphia Airport System PHL is the only major airport serving the 8th largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States. The Airport is classified by the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) as a large air traffic hub. A large hub is defined by the FAA as a community that enplanes 1.0% or more of the total passengers enplaned on certificated airlines in the United States. According to data reported by Airports Council International – North America, PHL was ranked the twentieth (20th) busiest airport in the United States based on passenger traffic and nineteenth (19th) busiest based on aircraft operations (takeoffs and landings), serving 31.7 million passengers in Calendar Year 2018. General information may be viewed at the Airport website www.phl.org. Monthly statistics detailing passenger traffic and aircraft operations may be viewed at the Airport’s Activity Reports http://www.phl.org/Pages/Business/ReportsPlans/activityReports.aspx. During July 2019, PHL’s peak season, an average of 26 airlines served the airport and provided over 515 daily nonstop departures to 140 destinations, including over 55 nonstop daily departures to 38 international destinations. The Airport serves residents and visitors from a broad geographic area that includes eleven (11) counties within four (4) states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The Airport is easily accessible by car and public transportation. The Airport is directly linked to ramps from Interstates 95 and 76 and the SEPTA Airport 5 Rail Line provides direct service to and from Center City Philadelphia, from stations located at all terminals. The Airport system consists of the following:
(a) Philadelphia International Airport
• Land: Approximately 2,584 acres located partly in the Southwestern section of the City and partly in the Northeastern section of Delaware County, about 7.2 miles from Center City Philadelphia.
• Runways: The Airport’s runway system consists of parallel Runways 9L27R and 9R-27L, crosswind Runway 17-35, commuter Runway 8-26, and interconnecting taxiways.
• Terminal Buildings: The Airport consists of approximately 3.3 million square feet between Terminals A-West, A-East, B, C, D, E and F. Terminal buildings principally include ticketing areas, passenger hold rooms, baggage claim areas and approximately 180 food, retail and service establishments.
• Other Buildings and Areas: The Airport has 449,761 square feet of cargo space, including six (6) active cargo facilities and two (2) American Airlines aircraft maintenance hangars.
• Outside Terminal Area: The Airport is host to a 15-story, 419-room hotel, seven (7) rental car facilities, a 150-vehicle cell-phone lot, two (2) employee parking lots containing 4,200 spaces, and five (5) parking garages and surface lots offering a total of 18,940 vehicle spaces, separately operated by the Philadelphia Parking Authority.
(b) Northeast Philadelphia Airport
• PNE is located on approximately 1,150 acres situated within City limits, ten (10) miles Northeast of Center City Philadelphia. PNE serves as a reliever airport for PHL and provides for general aviation, air taxi, corporate, and occasional military use. The airport currently has no scheduled commercial service. There are presently 85 T-hangars, nine (9) corporate hangars and six (6) open hangars for general aviation activities. There are approximately 190 general aviation aircraft based at PNE.
D. Request for Proposals Aviation is seeking services of a qualified firm to provide aviation and/or transportation-focused lobbying services in order to advance Aviation’s priorities at the federal level with the U.S. Congress, the Executive Office of the President, and departments and agencies of the federal government, in addition to fostering positive working relationships with members of the Congress and their staff. Aviation welcomes responses to this RFP from any national or regional firm that excels at lobbying on transportation-related policy issues and has a successful record securing federal funding for their clients. Applicants shall have a proven track record lobbying on aviation and/or transportation related issues with both the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government. Applicants should have experience securing federal funding for a transportation-related entity. Applicants 6 shall demonstrate experience serving a local government, and/or an airport. All Applicants must be registered with the federal government and shall be eligible to provide federal lobbying services. Aviation reserves the right to select multiple Applicants with which to contract.
A. Project Details Aviation’s objectives for this project include the following:
1. Advance Aviation’s public policy initiatives and federal funding priorities, with Congress, the Executive Office of the President, and departments and agencies of the federal government.
2. Foster positive working relationships with regional and national members of the Congress, Congressional staff, departments and agencies of the federal government, and the Executive Office of the President.
The Applicant’s proposed scope of work should address each objective specifically and describe in detail how the Applicant will achieve the objective, or how the Applicant will enable Aviation to achieve the objective.
Aviation seeks a qualified firm to:
1. Develop, in coordination with the CEO, CAO, or their designee(s), a federal strategy to assist Aviation in developing priority relationships with federal stakeholders, achieve key policy objectives, and secure federal funding for the Airport and PNE.
2. Prepare an annual overview of federal funding opportunities for Aviation.
3. Assist Aviation in developing, monitoring, advocating for, and securing, federal funding for ongoing or upcoming projects through appropriations, grant opportunities, or other means.
4. Assist Aviation in developing relationships with the following priority stakeholders:
(a) Regional Congressional Members
(b) Key Members of the following targeted Congressional Committees:
• House Transportation and Infrastructure
• Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• House Homeland Security
• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• House Committee on Ways and Means
• Senate Finance
• House Appropriations
• Senate Appropriations
(c) Other Members of Congress as noted by Aviation
(d) Key policy makers within departments and agencies of the federal government including, but not limited to:
• Department of Transportation o Federal Aviation Administration
• Department of Homeland Security
o Transportation Security Administration o Customs and Border Protection
• Environmental Protection Agency
(e) The Executive Office of the President
5. Engage the legislative branch on Aviation’s behalf, and assist Aviation in engaging the legislative branch, to advocate for legislation and other priorities that would benefit Aviation.
6. Provide Aviation with assistance related to developing new international air service.
7. Share Congressional, or departmental/agency, staff contact information with Aviation as requested.
8. Provide a monthly legislative report to the CEO, CAO, or their designee(s) outlining potential legislation of interest to Aviation.
9. Participate in regularly scheduled check-in calls with the CEO, CAO, or their designee(s).
10. Participate, at Aviation’s offices, in one strategy session and one check-in meeting annually.
This Section II, Scope of Work states requirements for the project, including the services and the tangible work products to be delivered, and the tasks Aviation has identified as necessary to meet those requirements. Aviation reserves the right, however, to modify specific requirements, based on changed circumstances (such as a change in business or technical environments), the proposal selection process, and contract negotiations with the Applicant(s) selected for negotiations, and to do so with or without issuing a revised RFP. The Applicant must provide in its proposal a detailed proposed scope of work showing how it will meet the project requirements stated in this Section II.
B. Services and Tangible Work Products
Aviation requires at least the services and tangible work products listed below, including the specific tasks and work activities described. Applicant’s proposed scope of work should state in detail how it will carry out each task, including the personnel/job titles (as identified in Section G, Organizational and Personnel Requirements) responsible for completing the task. For each service specified, the Applicant should propose criteria to determine when the tasks comprising the service are satisfactorily completed. Applicants may propose additional or revised tasks and activities, but should explain why each is necessary to achieve the project objectives.
1. Consult with Aviation officials to achieve, through understanding of Aviation policy, legislative and federal funding priorities and assist in the development and implementation of a lobbying strategy to assist Aviation in achieving its goals;
2. Serve as a liaison between Aviation and the United States Congress;
3. Serve as a liaison between Aviation and the Executive Office of the President, and also departments and agencies of the Federal Government;
4. Assess the political landscape to help guide Aviation’s lobbying strategy;
5. Provide research, monitoring, and lobbying services with respect to all aspects of pending, or new, legislation that impacts Aviation;
6. Assist in fostering positive working relationships with members of the United States Congress and their staffs; and
7. Provide regular legislative reports and routine updates on strategies planned and activities undertaken to Aviation.
8. Other projects as requested by Aviation.
C. Hours and Location of Work
Hours and location of work will depend heavily on the project at hand in addition to the time required to complete it.
D. Monitoring; Security
By submission of a proposal in response to this RFP, the Applicant agrees that it will comply and cooperate with all contract and compliance monitoring and evaluation activities undertaken by the City of Philadelphia, and with all security policies and requirements of the City and the Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”). Applicants are required to comply with Section 7 of the Airport Rules and Regulations regarding Airport Security. To review Section 7, contact Airport Security at 215-937-5452. The Applicant’s personnel may be required to display in full view a specific identification badge to be issued by Aviation. Background checks of personnel may be required. Background checks, fingerprinting ($32), and badging ($33) costs for each employee are the responsibility of the Applicant, if required. If the Applicant becomes privy to any Airport security information, the Applicant and all its personnel and subcontractors (if any) shall be subject to Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1520. Security will be maintained in accordance with TSA Regulations under the provisions of 49 CFR Part 1542. Failure to comply with the City’s and TSA’s rules and regulations shall be a material breach to the contract and, in addition to all other rights and remedies of the City under the contract, at law or in equity, the City shall be entitled to terminate the contract without liability to the City, and upon such termination, the Applicant shall be liable to the City for all outstanding fees and charges and all costs, including attorney costs, expenses and damages arising out of such termination.
E. Reporting Requirements
The successful Applicant shall report to the City of Philadelphia on a regular basis regarding the status of the project and its progress in providing the contracted services and/or products. At a minimum, the successful Applicant shall submit a monthly invoice detailing the services and/or products provided, the goals/tasks accomplished, and the associated costs. If hourly rates are charged, the invoice must also detail the number of hours, the hourly rate, and the individual who performed the service.
F. Cost Proposal
Applicants must provide a detailed cost proposal, with a line-item breakdown of the costs for specific services and work products proposed. Cost proposals must be “fixed price” proposals. The proposed price must include all costs that will be charged to the City for the services and tangible work products the Applicant proposes to perform and deliver to complete the project. Any contract resulting from this RFP will provide for a not-to-exceed amount in the compensation section of the contract.
At a minimum, the cost proposal must include the following:
1. Project cost summary: Applicants must propose a fixed fee price for the services to be provided, including a not-to-exceed cap on the cost of services for the entire project. There will be no additional reimbursable expenses funded outside of the fixed fee contract cap. 10
2. Project cost assumptions and details: assumptions used to develop project costs. Although the contract will proceed on a fixed-fee arrangement, please provide the details that were assumed to develop the proposed contract cost, including a list of project staff recommended to work on the project, their hourly rates, anticipated number of project hours by project phase and any other related expenses.
3. Proposed Payment Schedule (monthly, quarterly, etc.)
G. Organization and Personnel Requirements The proposal must identify all personnel who will perform work on the project, by job title. Resumes of all personnel so identified should be included in Applicant’s proposal. The Applicant will also be requested to appoint a Project Manager, who will be the point of contact for all Aviation assignments. The Project Manager should be readily available and capable of obtaining prompt responses from the various parts of the Applicant’s organization.
Due Date:
June 2, 2020 5:00 PM EST
Address:
Relevant agencies worth considering include APCO Worldwide and edelman PR.