OFFICE OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS/COMMUNICATIONS
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
FOR THE PROVISION OF MEDIA AND MARKET RESEARCH SERVICES
FOR PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGNS
Name: Teyana Reed
Mailing Address: Office of the Agency Chief Contracting Officer
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
42-09 28th Street, CN-30A
Long Island City, NY 11101
Email Address: RFP@health.nyc.gov
Proposal Due Date and Time and Location:
• Date: TBD
• Time: 2:00 P.M., ET
SECTION III- SCOPE OF SERVICES AND M/WBE REQUIREMENTS
A. Agency Goals and Objectives
The Agency’s goal and objectives for this RFP are to:
1. Have the capacity to assess the impact of public health media campaigns;
2. Utilize the results of market research services from the contracted vendor(s) in
order to improve the effectiveness of future public health media campaigns.
B. Agency Assumptions Regarding Contractor’s Approach
The Agency’s assumptions regarding which approach would best achieve the goals and
objectives set out above are as follows:
1. Experience
The Contractor would:
a. Have at least three (3) years of successful relevant experience within the
past five (5) years conducting quantitative and qualitative evaluations of
large- and small-scale public health media campaigns using standard
evaluation procedures and methodologies, including conducting literature
reviews; developing evaluation questions; selecting indicators/outcomes;
developing instruments; and collecting, processing, managing, and
analyzing data. Greater consideration would be given to proposers with
more than three years of successful relevant experience.
b. Have at least three (3) years of successful relevant experience within the
past five (5) years conducting research in the field of public health and/or
media that are culturally sensitive or culturally appropriate for populations
that are both English speaking and predominantly non-English speaking.
Greater consideration would be given to proposers who demonstrate more
than three years of successful relevant experience.
c. Have at least three (3) years of successful relevant experience within the
past five (5) years preparing reports and presenting complex technical
information to municipal and governmental agencies and community
stakeholders. Greater consideration would be given to proposers who
demonstrate more than three years of successful relevant experience.
d. Have a minimum of two (2) years of successful relevant experience within
the past five (5) years developing and using social media evaluation tools
to monitor and evaluate process indicators and program outcomes;
implementing online registration and data collection and developing
online applications to allow on demand tracking of project enrollment and
status of process indicators; and experience in evaluating the impact of
social media and web-based strategies. Greater consideration would be
given to proposers who demonstrate more than two years of successful
relevant experience.
2. Organizational Capability
The Contractor would:
a. Have the capability to identify appropriate subcontractors, secure the
Agency’s prior approval, and effectively manage the approved
subcontractors for the performance of work required under the resulting
contract.
b. Have the capability and flexibility to provide market research services on
an as needed basis to the Agency.
c. Have the capability to simultaneously manage multiple projects (i.e. the
organization’s other accounts and projects would not interfere with the
ability to perform the assignment of Market Research Projects required by
the Agency).
d. Have key staff, or employ or retain, key staff, with the following
credentials and capabilities:
i. a high degree of understanding of the principles of advertising,
market research, writing and graphic design.
ii. proficiency in the application of advanced statistics for the analysis
of quantitative data, and who are proficient in the analysis of qualitative data. Expected skills in these areas include:
1) Quantitative skills that would include, but not be limited to:
• Complex sampling techniques
• Designing and implementing multi-site evaluations
• Merging and analyzing large data sets
• Multivariate analysis, including logistic regression
and discriminate modeling
• Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis
• Data visualization using data visualization software
• Questionnaire design and validation
• Scaling techniques
2) Qualitative skills that would include, but not be limited to:
• Facilitating focus groups and transcribing data
• Structured, semi-structured, and unstructured
interviewing
• Field observation
• Environmental scans
• Analysis of qualitative data using computer assisted
qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) such
as Atlas.ti, NUD*IST, and others
• Analysis of audio files and visual data such as
videos and images
e. Have the capability to conduct surveys in multiple languages. Contractor
would have demonstrated the capacity to serve populations that speak
Executive Order 120 languages (Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, French,
Haitian Creole, Italian, Korean, Russian, Polish, Arabic, Bengali, Urdu
and Yiddish), as well as other common or esoteric languages spoken by
communities in New York City.
f. Have the capability to designate a dedicated Project Manager for the
contract to function in the role of primary contact person. The contact
person would handle issues, problems, or questions arising from the
performance of services.
3. Approach
For each assigned Market Research Project, in consultation with the Agency, the
Contractor would:
a. Design and develop market research strategies to assess and provide
feedback on new public health media campaigns, using strategies such as
focus groups, small-scale street intercepts and large-scale longitudinal and
cross sectional surveys, in-depth interviews, usability sessions, media
audits as well as other market research services as appropriate to the media
campaign under evaluation. Research services and strategies would
include:
i. Designing and conducting evaluations
ii. Developing data collection procedures and tools
iii. Developing and using online assessment tools
iv. Evaluations of social media
v. Data cleaning and management of large datasets
vi. Sampling and weighting of data
vii. Multivariate analysis
viii. Economic modeling
ix. Forecasting modeling
x. Social science research methods
xi. Preparing topline and other summary reports
b. Design, develop, test and implement appropriate surveys (such as randomdigit dialed or online surveys) to evaluate the impact of the assigned
public health media campaign.
c. Develop appropriate guides for survey screeners and moderators to use in
the execution of all survey-related work.
d. Using the Agency’s selection criteria, recruit, select, and compensate
participants of the surveys; moderate survey sessions; provide all
necessary materials for survey sessions. The contractor would have an
approach that includes the recruitment of minority, low-income and other
hard to reach subjects (older adults, people with disabilities, LGBTQ
individuals, etc.).
e. Collect, analyze and interpret quantitative and qualitative data (including
the selection of appropriate statistical and demographic criteria) from
surveys, polls, focus groups and media audits, etc.
f. As requested by the Agency, conduct briefings or other consultative
meetings, either in person or via other communication method as agreed
upon by the Agency and the Contractor.
g. Prepare a draft report of findings for Agency review; provide revisions
and/or clarifications to draft reports as requested by the Agency at no
additional cost to the Agency.
h. In accordance with timeframes agreed to by the Agency and the
contractor, prepare a final report in a format approved by the Agency,
summarizing the data in a Top-line report or other appropriate summary
format, and detailing the findings and interpretation of the data.
i. Provide survey data (either raw or processed) to the Agency in SPSS,
ASCII, Excel or other formats requested by the Agency. Survey data
would become property of the Agency.
j. Assign staff who would be dedicated to specific Market Research Projects
as they arise. Staff assignments would be subject to Agency approval.
k. Maintain a database of New York City residents who have volunteered to
participate in Agency surveys in accordance with applicable federal and
New York State laws.
C. Project Assignment Protocol
Each time the Agency needs Market Research Services, a Project Request will be issued
to each vendor that has a registered contract as a result of this RFP. The Project Request
will invite these contractors to submit a Project Proposal. The Project Request will
include a preliminary scope of work and criteria for evaluating the Project Proposals. The
Contractors will have a minimum of five (5) business days to submit a short response;
more complex projects will include a longer response period.
The Project Proposal shall include, at a minimum:
• A description of the Contractor’s experience directly relevant to the Project
Request;
• A complete description of the work to be performed;
• The name and resume of the person who would be directing the work on the
project;
• The name, title or staff level to be assigned to the project;
• The Daily Blended Staff Rate for the project. This rate shall not exceed the rate
specified in the Contract resulting from this RFP, although contractors may
propose a lower Rate for a particular project;
• The number of days and/or hours, by individual and title, for completion of the
project;
• The total number of days and/or hours expected to be billed for completion of the
project;
• The total cost of the service/project;
• A project schedule including relevant deadlines for all proposed deliverables;
• Proposed subcontractors; and
• Any other information requested in the Project Request.
Proposals will be evaluated, and a contractor will be chosen based on the highest scoring
vendor, whose scores will be determined via the criteria stated in the Project Request,
which may include but are not limited to, consultant expertise and experience;
contractor’s organizational capability to perform the project; proposed approach, total
cost and timeline. As part of the evaluation, the Agency may request interviews or
presentations from one or more contractors. Once a project is assigned to a contractor, the
Department may choose to offer that Contractor all additional work related to the project
without soliciting proposals from other contractors.
The Agency does not make any guarantee that vendors receiving contracts will receive
any work or any particular level of work. The Agency reserves the right to reject any
proposal or cancel any projects solicited. The Agency further reserves the right to cancel
a contract if the vendor does not consistently respond to Project Requests.
