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RFP for Public Relations Released for Ridership Programming

Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) is undertaking a two-year education campaign, which will include the launch of new programming, partnership collaboration, and rider/community engagement.   CMT is seeking a firm to assist with these efforts in planning, executing, and promoting these events and messaging items.   The programs will include Social Media marketing; email outreach; promotional events; transit advertising, website promotions, and community engagement events that will all be used to connect with St. Louis residents and employers. The goal would be to reach the target market at least three to six times over the time period – moving them into action.

Work products will include press releases, website updates, execution of events, and outreach programs on the following topics related to transit:

  • Moving MetroBus Ridership through Placemaking
  • Fare Research and Education
  • Employer Transit Benefit Programming
  • Community Education and Outreach

The consultant will also be responsible for tracking all media hits/clippings and will provide quarterly and annual media reports including earned media amounts, reach, and frequency.

This proposal should include any information which might help in the selection process, such as the persons or team assigned to each project, the backgrounds of those individuals, your budget, and other projects your company has recently completed or are now active.  Proposals must be received by 4 pm, April 29, 2022 at Citizens for Modern Transit, 911 Washington, Ste. 200, St. Louis, MO 63101 and at kcella@cmt-stl.org.

Complete RFP available here: RFPforprservices2022

QUESTIONS REGARDING RFP:

  1.  Are you looking for a lump sum or hourly rate?   CMT is looking for one price for the two-year program. This can be shown based on hourly rates if preferred.  
  2. Is there an incumbent? If so, who?  There is no incumbent.  All proposals will be submitted to a committee to review based on the criteria below.   
  3. Estimated number of press releases, website updates and events?  There will be approximately 6-8 campaigns each year along with 4-5 press releases per month.  Website updates will be determined by number of campaigns.  
  4. Is CMT open to partnering with an out-of-market agency, assuming the selection criteria are met? Yes
  5. Are there general budget parameters/guardrails CMT is looking to stay within for this initiative? No, just one price for a two-year program.  
  6. Is CMT responsible for communicating to media and other audiences in transit-related crisis situations, and if so, should crisis PR support be reflected in the proposal? 
  7. Other than COVID, what issues/reasons does CMT see contributing to the drop in St. Louis region transit ridership in the past 5 years? Is it anticipated that the PR initiative can/will address those issues, or remain focused exclusively on awareness and education tied to the 4 bulleted topics noted in the RFP?  Security perceptions, this may be woven into the four tasks.
  8. Should PR efforts focus on media outlets beyond the St. Louis metro markets? (e.g., statewide media outlets that may be read/viewed/listened to by St. Louis residents) Not usually.
  9. Regarding web updates, can you provide insight re: the nature of these updates? Is this a matter of updating existing pages with new press releases and media hits (e.g., on your “CMT In the News” page)?  Or would web updates include the development of new pages and creation of new content? both
All proposals submitted in response to a CMT request for proposal (RFP) will initially be evaluated using the following criteria (each weighted equally):
  1. Qualifications of person/firm conducting the work
  2. Proposal Quality
  3. Product samples – samples provided and/or on firm website need to be relevant to work being asked to be completed.
Once the proposals are narrowed down to the top candidates using these criteria, the final selection will be determined with consideration to price and the above criteria. The proposal providing the best value to the project will be selected.  CMT will award the work to the responsible firm whose proposal is most advantageous to the project, with price and other factors considered.  CMT reserves the right to reject any proposals deemed non-responsive to the RFP. CMT reserves the right to reject all proposals if the competitive process is not met and may reissue the RFP with or without changes.

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