RFP RESPONSES DUE BY June 3, 2024 – 4:30 PM (EST)
AWARD NOTIFICATIONS June 10, 2024
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT ALL NOTIFICATIONS, RELEASES, AND ADDENDUMS ASSOCIATED
WITH THIS RFP WILL BE POSTED AT:
Department of Buildings and General Services Agency of Administration
Office of Purchasing & Contracting
133 State Street, 5th Floor | Montpelier VT 05633-8000
802-828-2211 phone |802-828-2222 fax
http://bgs.vermont.gov/purchasing
SEALED BID
OVERVIEW:
SCOPE AND BACKGROUND: Through this Request for Proposal (RFP) the Vermont Agency of
Human Services, Department of Health (hereinafter the “State”) is seeking to establish contracts with one or more companies that can provide Family and Child Health Marketing, Communications, and Media to promote the health of families in Vermont (the Work) from qualified vendors.
1.1. CONTRACT PERIOD: Contracts arising from this RFP will be for a period of five (5) years. The State anticipates the start date for such contract(s) will be August 1, 2024. The anticipated period for the resulting agreement will be approximately August 1, 2024 through June 30, 2029.
1.2. SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT: All communications concerning this RFP are to be addressed inwriting to the State Contact listed on the front page of this RFP. Actual or attempted contact with any other individual from the State concerning this RFP is strictly prohibited and may result in disqualification.
1.3. QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD: Any bidder requiring clarification of any section of this RFP or wishing to comment on any requirement of the RFP must submit specific questions in writing no later than the deadline for question indicated on the first page of this RFP. Questions may be e-mailed to the point of contact on the front page of this RFP. Questions or comments not raised in writing on or before the last day of the question period are thereafter waived. At the close of the question period a copy of all questions or comments and the State’s responses will be posted on the State’s web site https://www.vermontbusinessregistry.com. Every effort will be made to post this information as soon as possible after the question period ends, contingent on the number and complexity of the questions.
2. DETAILED REQUIREMENTS/DESIRED OUTCOMES:
The desired outcomeof this RFPis to establishafive-yearagreementwith avendor to use behavior change marketing, communications best practices, and public health education to develop, enhance and implement new strategies and tactics that support the goals of the Family and Child Health division at the Vermont Department of Health.
The goal of this project is to bring together the disciplines of public health, the science of behavior change, and marketing best practices to support the core goals and priorities of the Family and Child Health Division.
The Division of Family and Child Health works across the life course to encourage optimal health and positive outcomes for all Vermonters. We support programs that provide direct services to pregnant people, children and families and build healthy communities. We provide leadership and guidance to professionals who work with children and families in a variety of settings including health care, early care and learning,
schools, and human service organizations. We respond to the needs of Vermont families by helping them connect to resources, improving access to quality health care and services, and ensuring that policies and systems are developed to allow all Vermont residents to achieve optimal health.
Collaboration with local, state, and national partners encourages a collective impact resulting in long-term positive outcomes.
The Contractor’s approach will be guided by the principles of the Division of Family and Child Health:
• We believe in a strength-based approach that promotes protective factors and recognizes that
families have many strengths and the capacity to learn, grow and change.
• We believe in a two-generation framework that creates opportunities for, and addresses the needs
of, both children and adults in their lives.
• We believe there is a fundamental need to partner with state agencies, health care providers, human service organizations, and families to succeed at our vision.
• We believe in health equity and incorporate it into all aspects of our work to reach the people and
communities most in need of our support.
• We believe that family and community engagement is fundamental to the success of our programs.
The following are topics/activities that are currently part of VDH’s portfolio of family and child health work:
Priority Populations
• Women’s and Maternal health
• Perinatal and Infant health
• Early childhood
• School-aged children
• Adolescent health
• Children with Special Health Needs
• Providers (health care, childcare/education, and community health) working with children and families.
Programs/Topics
• Strong Families Vermont Home Visiting
• Support Delivered/PMADs
• Help Me Grow
• One More Conversation – perinatal substance use
• Child injury and violence
• Injury prevention
• Inter-personal and sexual violence prevention
• Other topics in family and child health
The Department is open to two models to complete the scope of work:
• A sole agency to cover the entire scope of work.
Revised: January 29, 2024
• A lead agency working with partners/subcontractors to cover the entire scope of work.
The estimated contract maximum for the five (5) year contract period is currently $490,000.
The maximum payable from 8/1/24 through 6/30/25 is $90,000 and $100,000 from July through June eachyear throughout the remainder of the contract effective period.
2.1.The State of Vermont is interested in obtaining bids to meet the following business need(s):
• Increase public awareness and understanding of the issues impacting the health of Vermont’s
families, the programs and services that are available, and how this affects overall health in the state.
• Develop and implement tailored messaging to reach identified/priority populations.
• Employ comprehensive approaches to improve health outcomes.
• Build awareness, promote prevention strategies, and address health equity issues/impacts in
collaboration with statewide networks of partners and providers, including childcare and
schools, community organizations, grantees, medical and health care systems.
2.2.The State of Vermont seeks to achieve the following Business Value(s)
2.2.1. Cost Savings:
• By investing in people, partnerships, communities, and policies the State can improve the
wellbeing of Vermont’s most vulnerable families and achieve health cost savings in the medical,
mental health, and childcare/school settings.
• Using a full-service marketing vendor will increase financial efficiencies through streamlined
coordination of the campaign development and implementation process within one agency
including: formative research, concept and development testing, creative development, media
buying, implementation, monitoring and response, evaluation, and reporting.
• This procurement will allow the State to reduce message development costs by streamlining
messages/campaigns that prioritize similar audiences and are developed by a vendor at a lower
cost rather than creating new messaging from scratch for each project.
2.2.2. Customer Service Improvement:
• The communications strategies are intended to support, supplement, and augment other
evidence- based public health programs currently underway throughout the Department of Health.
• Projects related to this procurement will enhancethe Department’s capacity to communicate key
health messaging with intended audiences through the recipients preferred format(s) including
traditional and online media channels.
2.2.3. Risk Reduction:
• By supporting safe and healthy communities, increasing capacity for screening, early
detection, and referrals to services, and strengthening partnerships among organizations with
similar family and child health goals, the State will be protecting the most vulnerable
Vermonters.
2.3 Scope of Work:
The selected vendor will provide services relating to health promotion and behavior change marketing, communication, media, and public education in support of the Vermont Department of Health’s objectives.
The goal of this contract is to support specific programming that addresses family and child health.
Revised: January 29, 2024
Bidders should demonstrate the following:
• Ability to provide services consistent with a full-service agency: expertise in marketing, strategy
development, advertising, public relations, marketing research and formativeresearch, creative
development and production, graphic design, and media planning and buying.
• Experience with a variety of traditional (TV, radio, print) and non-traditional (streaming, digital,
social) media to reach different target audiences.
• Evidence of measurable campaign impact.
• Knowledge of behavior change theories, marketing principles, health communication principles,
and existing best practices.
• Ability to negotiate with Vermont media outlets for economical pricing.
To achieve maximum results within the constraints of the budget, it may be necessary to select and
use pre-existing media materials (including ones previously developed by the Health Department,
or available through federal sources or other campaigns), as well as to create new media and
promotional materials. While the scale of communications strategies will be dependent on the
budget allocated by federal grants and the State Legislature, thegeneral scope of work will include:
• Working with the Family and Child Health Division’s information director and program staff to
develop, implement and measure strategic, program-level marketing and communications
plans with defined priority audiences.
• Identifying opportunities for strategic alignment between programs and divisions, when
appropriate, to amplify program efforts, messaging, and media placement whenever possible.
Required Services, Tasks & Activities
Program Work Plans
The Contractor will develop program-specific work plans with budgets and timelines reflecting
communication, media, and public education strategies to address the areas of focus with
identified audience segments. The Contractor will rely on behavior change theories and health
communications best practices to ensure that marketing strategies aim to move the intended
audience through the continuum of behavior change over time.
Working with the division information director and program staff, the Contractor will create and
submit project work plans in a format approved by the State. Work plans will highlight overall
goals and objectives, how they will be achieved for each specific work area, and an
accompanying budget and timeline. Work plans will specify all activities and efforts that will be
performed to develop, implement, and assess the campaigns and projects. Work plans should
also include anticipated additional evaluation that may be required.
The Contractor will implement the work plan, working collaboratively with program staff
members. When possible, each work plan will serve as the overview of all work anticipated for
the campaign or program during a fiscal year/funding cycle. The State and Contractor will look
for opportunities to align goals of multiple programs and divisions to streamline and amplify
efforts and messaging whenever possible.
Based on funding, environmental factors or other circumstances, the State may direct the
Contractor to include new tasks, projects, or campaigns, or to adjust/remove existing
components from the work plan, and to submit a revised document.
Marketing and Communication Plans
One of the communication goals for programs is to build longer-term, strategic marketing and
communication plans. When budget supported and agreed to by the State, the Contractor will
work with the division information director and program staff to develop a high-level plan for
implementing programmatic projects and campaigns, including associated budgets and
timelines, across multiple years. The Contractor and the State will look for alignment between
Revised: January 29, 2024
programs and divisions to amplify program efforts and messaging whenever possible.