SAN DIEGO ISSUES PUBLIC RELATIONS RFP

September 3, 2025

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Scope: The Contractor shall provide media planning and ad placement services for County campaigns across the following media channels:

* Television (TV)
* Radio
* Newspaper
* Magazine
* Transit (e.g., bus exteriors/interiors)
* Billboards
* Social Media Platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, YouTube)
* Email Distribution Services

Services shall be requested on an as-needed basis throughout the contract period for public relations and media purchasing for newspaper, television, digital and physical ads, radio, and internet to support County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services (OES) projects and campaigns. County OES or its designated creative services vendor will provide all final, approved ad content and creative materials for placement. The Contractor is not responsible for content development or design services under this contract.

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The mission of OES is to coordinate all-hazard planning, mitigation, response, and recovery to foster strong, resilient, and prepared communities. The overarching goal of an outreach campaign would be to increase knowledge and awareness of resources and tools available related to emergency preparedness, evacuation information, situational awareness tools, and personal/family readiness.

OES utilizes a range of media and outreach strategies to reach San Diego County’s diverse population. To educate and provide resources to San Diego County residents, OES maintains and hosts several websites and produces advertising campaigns in all formats and platforms, including but not limited to print, digital, web, social media, radio, and television. AlertSanDiego.org is OES’s primary public-facing website. OES has a need for an array of media buys and public relations services to enhance engagement and raise awareness on existing and emerging community issues, programs, and resources available. The primary goal is to communicate effectively with the diverse population of San Diego County residents on tools available to them to help increase their readiness before an incident and situational awareness during an active incident.

2. GOALS AND OUTCOMES

2.1.At the request of the County, Contractor shall provide the services described herein to accomplish the following goals:

2.1.1.Identify, evaluate, and secure viable and trusted physical and virtual media outlets, including but not limited to print, digital, web, social media, radio, and television to promote evacuation tips, home hardening, defensible space emergency preparedness, and tools for situational awareness.

2.1.2.Promote the Genasys Protect application, AlertSanDiego brand, and AlertSanDiego registration with virtual and print media platforms.

2.1.3.Promote the Hi-Lo evacuations audible warning with virtual and print media platforms.

2.1.4.Identify opportunities to increase print and virtual media engagement throughout the County of San Diego including ethnic and diverse communities, rural communities, as well as the general population.

2.1.5.Promote and enable whole community disaster preparedness.

3. FOCUS POPULATION AND GEOGRAPHIC AREA

3.1.San Diego County residents shall be the primary audience of print, media, web, and digital projects created.

4. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

4.1.Contractor shall schedule a kickoff meeting with the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) within five (5) calendar days of contract execution.

4.2.Contractor shall designate a project manager to act as the primary point of contact for this project. Contractor’s project manager shall work closely and communicate effectively with County OES through the process of completing the project.

4.3.Contractor’s work activities shall be performed at their own work location.

4.4.County OES and Contractor shall meet regularly, or as-needed, as required by the COR. Meetings may be conducted in-person, via phone, or virtually. The frequency of these meetings shall be discussed with the COR during the kickoff meeting.

4.4.1.Contractor shall take notes of the meeting discussions and any resulting action items.

4.4.2.Within one (1) week after the meeting, Contractor shall disseminate meeting notes to COR or County designee.

4.4.3.County OES reserves the right to request weekly meetings.

4.5.Contractor shall provide public relations services, per County OES request. Public relations service requests shall primarily be public-facing sites and print media outlets tailored to the focus population.

4.5.1.Contractor shall utilize a public relations strategy that is culturally competent, comprehensive, engaging to visitors, and easy to update for internal users with non-technical backgrounds.

4.5.2.County OES shall provide content for sites.

4.5.3.Contractor shall utilize a mature and trusted programming language, leveraging structured and secure methodologies to develop and program modules according to best practices and deliver a complete and finished product as requested and approved by the COR or County designee and County Communications Office (CCO).

4.5.4.Contractor shall be responsible for hosting sites, including all modules, with a reputable and good standing service provider, with an up-time equal to or exceeding 99.9%.

4.5.5.All public relations products under this contract shall be the sole property of County OES.

4.6.Contractor shall identify media outlets that serve the diverse populations and communities within San Diego County. This includes identifying points of contact for each news/media outlet and obtaining price quotes for print/ad materials, as well as airtime for radio, television, digital outlets, billboards, buses and bus stop advertisements, and other formats. All efforts shall support the goals outlined in this Statement of Work and be carried out in a timely and cost-effective manner, as requested and approved by County OES and CCO.

4.6.1.Contractor shall create a master list of media outlets, contacts, and quotes with County OES and CCO providing all text for collateral materials. All drafts shall require final approval by the COR and CCO.

4.6.2.Contractor shall deliver all materials to County OES and CCO within the required timeframe specified by the COR or County designee.

4.6.3.Contractor shall provide expedited turnaround when requested.

4.7.All final deliverables shall be provided in digital and/or print format to County OES and CCO.

4.8.Communications:

4.8.1.Contractor shall be available via email and/or phone Monday through Friday during normal business hours 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST.

4.8.2.Contractor shall provide Help Desk support during normal business hours utilizing phone and email. If the Contractor shall be unavailable, Contractor shall provide seventy-two (72) hours advance written notice and an alternative support contact.

4.8.3.Contractor shall respond to emails and phone calls within forty-eight (48) hours.

4.8.4.Contractor shall be available within twenty-four (24) hours’ notice for emergency needs.

4.8.5.Communication methods shall primarily be via email, web conferencing, and phone.

5. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

5.1.Media Planning and Strategy

Within fourteen (14) calendar days of kickoff meeting, Contractor shall provide a media placement plan to the COR. The media placement plan shall align with campaign goals and public relations strategies to disseminate high-level preparedness education and information in a creative, factual, and effective manner and shall be reviewed and approved by the COR. The media placement plan shall include, but is not limited to, the following:

5.1.1.1.Media channels – (TV, radio, print, digital media, billboards, transit, etc.)

5.1.1.2.Media mix strategy – rationale for choosing specific channels or platforms based on audience and campaign goals.

5.1.1.3.Timing and flighting – Start and end dates, phases of the campaign (e.g., launch, sustain, ramp- down), and frequency.

5.1.1.4.Placements & formats – Specific ad units (e.g., 30-sec TV spots, banner ads, Instagram Stories), sizes, and placements.

5.1.1.5.Budget allocation – Spend per channel, per platform, and per media outlet.

5.1.1.6.Vendors and Partners – Media agencies, ad networks, influencers, publishers, or platforms involved.

5.1.1.7.Key dates and milestones – Creative deadlines, launch dates, performance review checkpoints.

5.1.1.8.Performance Metrics & Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – How success will be measured (e.g., impressions, clicks, CTR, reach, conversions, brand lift).

5.1.1.9.Contingency plans.

5.1.2.Contractor shall secure media space and placements based on County-approved placement plan.

5.1.3.Contractor shall implement public relations materials and identify print media outlets in languages that can be translated to the eight (8) County recognized threshold languages, ensuring the content is culturally appropriate for the focus population as specified in each project request. Translations shall be provided by County OES.

5.1.3.1.Languages supported shall include at minimum Arabic, English, Tagalog (including Filipino), Chinese Mandarin, Spanish, Persian (Farsi, Dari), Korean, Somali, and Vietnamese.

5.2.Media Acquisition and Purchasing

5.2.1.Contractor shall work with the COR and CCO to provide media acquisition and purchasing services from concept to completion for County of San Diego OES programs, projects, and campaigns.

5.2.2.Contractor shall purchase all media and outreach materials required to complete each project.

5.2.3.Contractor shall place ads across approved media outlets and platforms.

5.2.4.Contractor shall ensure proper formatting and specifications of content provided for each media channel.

5.2.5.Contractor shall coordinate with COR and with media vendors and platforms to ensure timely delivery and execution.

5.3.Deliverable Schedule

5.3.1.Deliverables will be due per campaign and in accordance with media placement plan approved by the County. The Contractor shall be able to place ads with minimal lead time when necessary.

6. DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

6.1.Contractor shall provide reports on the 15th of each month. The reports shall be cumulative by the end of the contract term. Contractor shall furnish the COR with a report consisting of the following as applicable:

6.1.1.County PO number

6.1.2.Contract activities

6.1.3.Issues and programs

6.1.4.Staff changes

6.1.5.Staff training

6.1.6.Upcoming plans

6.1.7.Outcome objectives

6.1.8.Timeframe of each project

6.1.9.Budget

6.1.10.Ad performance, including reach (site traffic statistics), impressions, frequency, and engagement (if applicable)

6.1.11.Key performance indicators (KPIs)

6.1.12.Insights and recommendations for optimizations