U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Program Contract Service Center (3803R), 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460-0001

R -- COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING SERVICES SOL RFQ-DC-98-00165 DUE 083198 POC Valoree S. Lilley, lilley.valoree@epamail.epa.gov WEB: click on the above to access a complete copy of the, http://www.epa.gov/oamhpod1/oppts_grp/dc9800165/index.htm. E-MAIL: click here to contact the contract specialist, lilley.valoree@epamail.epa.gov. The U.S. EPA is seeking a contractor to provide marketing and communication services under FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This is a small business set-aside. The SIC code for this requirement is 8742. The EPA is FACNET certified. You may e-mail the contract specialist at: lilley.valoree@epamail.epa.gov. Please include the following: Company name, address, phone number, and business class. NO PHONE CALLS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Two copies of the proposal must be submitted by the due date. U.S. MAIL ADDRESS IS -- USEPA, 401 M Street, SW, Mail Code 3803R, Washington, D.C. 20460, ATTN: Valoree S. Lilley. HAND CARRIED PROPOSALS should be submitted to the Ronald Reagan Building, 6th Floor, Room 61107, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20460. Proposals are due NLT 2:00 p.m., August 31, 1998. The USEPA Office of Communications is seeking support services in the areas of market and audience research, communications strategy development, and communications product development including workspecifically related to computer and Internet public communications. TASK 1 The contractor shall prepare and furnish a study which enumerates audiences, messages, media and formats of moderate to major significance to EPA, in narrative and matrix format from the most-to-least effective mix of those elements. The study shall explain the rationale for its conclusions. The contractor will conduct a briefing about the study at EPA headquarters (specific location and schedule to be arranged by EPA Project Officer) for EPA staff. The study should be based upon information gathered from: 1. Interviews with selected EPA staff about their communications activities. 2. An analysis of existing market and media research that indicates audience/message/media matrixes that are/may be effective for delivering messages about issues that are currently or potentially of concern to EPA. 3. An analysis of existing market and media research that indicates relative effectiveness of various combinations of media and message elements for communicating with the demographic subsets that characterize audiences for various EPA messages, including the sub-set that can be identified as the general public. The study is not required to be exhaustive and the results should be published mainly in summary form, with reference sources noted for those who want more detailed information. TASK 2 The contractor shall prepare and furnish a study which explicates methods and techniques which can be used broadly to identify potential audiences for specific issues and, equally, to identify audiences that represent continuing constituencies for a broad range of issues related to EPA and the environment. The purpose of the study will be to permit the Agency to approach audience targeting from a theoretical standpoint of applying principles that will help to identify potential audiences, based upon demographic or other categorical characteristics, when the existence of a potentially interested audience or group is not known in advance. The study should be based upon information gathered from: 1. Interviews with selected EPA staff regarding their knowledge of and current methods for audience identification techniques. 2. Existing information about market research techniques that would be helpful in identifying audiences for messages about environmental topics. 3. Known case-studies of public and private organizations that created and implemented communications strategies for new or unprecedented ideas, issues or products, when audiences, markets and relevant media and approaches had not been identified previously. TASK 3 The contractor shall furnish consultation and advisory services for market and audience research activities for the purpose of identifying, locating, and reaching audiences for EPA communications. Research will be primarily directed towards information about population and demographic data, knowledge and information bases of audiences; behavior patterns of demographic groups relative to environmental factor, opinion and preference surveys and mayinclude the following: a. Qualitative research including design and conduct of focus groups; research of existing market research data and other material, compiling, summarizing and reporting of such material b. Quantitative research including design and conduct of surveys; assisting in preparation of Information Collection Requests per Federal Government requirements related to conduct of surveys. c. Assistance in interpreting research data. d. Guidance in/use of techniques to identify and segment audiences, markets and demographic groups for purposes of research and media targeting.e. Extrapolation, integration and cross-referencing of data for application to related or overlapping audiences. f. Developing information about communications media and the utility of various media for specific communications objectives. g. Identifying audiences and groups, and skews and permutations thereof, which are unknown or poorly known to EPA and inadequately served by current EPA communications, but who should be betterknown and served. h. Development of methods and tools to assess impact and effectiveness of communications efforts prior to, during and after dissemination. TASK 4 The contractor shall provide communication strategies which shall address broad issues or overall approaches to audiences involving broad or multiple issues, and media which are not principally oriented to news or new events. Communications strategy work will not involve those strategies whose purpose or key element is a news announcement or single event. As directed, the contractor shall meet with EPA staff to explain, discuss and provide rationale for the elements of the analysis as well as providing advice and counsel on developing strategy in greater detail. Communications strategy development activities will include: a. Interpreting market research to provide a foundation for the development of strategies. b. Provide support to EPA staff in developing and sharpening focus on audience, message, media and format. c. Provide support to EPA staffto inter-relate audiences, message, medium and format most effectively. d. Provide support to EPA staff in development of distribution and dissemination strategies . e. Advising staff in planning lead-times and creating work-flow plans .f. Provide support to EPA staff to identify and target (potentially overlooked) audiences. TASK 5 The contractor shall provide product development activities. For communications product development tasks, the contractor shall furnish creative concepts, draft materials and finished drafts for a variety of communications products consisting of publications, such as brochures, pamphlets and fact sheets; graphic materials, presentation materials, posters and displays; and audiovisual materials, such as slide shows and videotapes to the Project Officer for approval. As directed, the contractor shall meet with the Project Officer and relevant program office staff to discuss potential need for communications products. Upon agreeing on development of product or products, the contractor shall furnish, as directed, the following: as warranted on case-by-case basis):creative concept paper, indicating approach and rationale based upon the substantive message to be conveyed, audience, medium and format; sketch or design; draft manuscript (for audiovisual materials, texts will require both narrative and visual scripting); finished artwork or design (generally in camera-ready form); finished manuscript; recommended production specifications; and rough estimates of production costs and expected schedules. Contractor will not necessarily begin and end an entire project. The contractor may occasionally be asked to provide only early-stage or only-late stage product development work, for start or completion by EPA staff. Product development activities will include: a. Interpretation of market research data so as to bear directly on effective product development. b. Creative conceptualization of written, visual and other messages. c. Creative and narrative writing of draft and finished text materials. d. Design, layout, art direction, art production. e. Advice about most effective and efficient production techniques. f. Information and advice about Federal requirements for print, audiovisual, graphics and other production. g. Logistical support in arranging conferences and public meetings including preparation of invitations and advertising, preparation of presentation materials, advice on presentation techniques. Posted 08/04/98 (W-SN232590). (0216)

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