DATE: December 12, 2023
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Paul Nerland, County Administrative Officer
SUBJECT: Media and Mass Communications Consultant Agreement
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute an Agreement with Two Q, Inc., through its JP Marketing division, for media and mass communication services, effective upon execution, not to exceed five years consecutively, which includes a three-year base contract and two optional one-year extensions, total not to exceed $10,925,000; and
2. Approve and authorize the County Administrative Officer, or his or her designee, to shift the approximate departmental budgeted amounts on Exhibit B of the Agreement, with no change to the Agreement’s annual compensation limit ($2,185,000), and to update the department points of contact designated on Exhibit E of the Agreement, as needed.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended actions will authorize an agreement with JP Marketing, a division of Two Q, Inc. (JP Marketing); JP Marketing was selected following a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, and if the recommended agreement is approved, will assist various County Departments with media and mass communication services, to increase outreach and education about departmental programs. The participating Departments include: Behavioral Health, County Administrative Office, District Attorney, Human Resources, Library, Probation, Public Defender, Public Health, Public Works and Planning, Sheriff, and Social Services (the Departments). JP Marketing will provide professional media marketing, advertising, and public relation services to programs throughout the County. The second recommended action will authorize the County Administrative Officer, or his designee, to shift annual budgeted amounts in the recommended agreement between the Departments, and to update the department points of contact designated on Exhibit E of the recommended agreement, as needed. This item is Countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may choose to not approve the recommended agreement, limiting the County’s ability to create cohesive, professional-quality advertisements and public service announcements. Your Board may choose not to authorize the County Administrative Officer to shift the amounts between Departments in the anticipated annual budget in the recommended agreement; in that event, if a Department did not need all of its budgeted funds and another Department needed more funds than anticipated, the Departments would need to bring an amendment to your Board to change the budgeted amounts on Exhibit B.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The maximum compensation for the total potential five-year term of the recommended agreement is $10,925,000. The Departments have sufficient appropriations included in their FY 2023-24 Adopted Budgets and will continue to do so for subsequent years during the term of the recommended agreement. The agreement maximum compensation is $2,185,000 per year, not to exceed a total amount of $10,925,000 for the potential five-year term of the recommended agreement. The costs paid by the Departments for these charges are based on each Department’s stated operational need.
DISCUSSION:
The County, on behalf of the Departments, issued RFP No. 23-036 on May 12, 2023, for qualified vendors to provide media and mass communications services to educate and engage target audiences, generate public interest in county-related topics, and influence positive behavior changes in Fresno County. It was anticipated that the selected vendor would form a partnership with the County and its participating Departments, including Behavioral Health, County Administrative Office, District Attorney, Human Resources, Library, Probation, Public Defender, Public Health, Public Works and Planning, Sheriff, and Social Services to create conditions that promote safe, healthy, and thriving communities. Five qualified proposals were submitted to Purchasing for consideration.
An Evaluation Team consisting of five members from the Departments convened to review the submitted bids and evaluate the competencies of each proposal. The Evaluation Team recommended acceptance of the proposal from JP Marketing, a division of Two Q, Inc.
JP Marketing's response to the RFP exceeded the County's needs and received the top ranking from the Evaluation Team. Beyond providing the one of the best budgets for the mock campaign, they also had knowledge of increasing ADA-compliance requirements, a strong understanding of and experience with the languages spoken in Fresno County and Fresno County’s demographics, and their language capabilities listed exceed the County's typical needs. The proposal's Integrated Agency Team, a partnership with Jeffrey Scott Agency, represents a merger of two of the biggest marketing agencies in Fresno, which will partner to meet the County's many departments and needs. JP Marketing’s mock plan exceeded other vendor responses by showing actual samples for the mock plan. All factors combined, as well as a great visual campaign for the mock communication plan, gave them an edge over the other proposers.
JP Marketing has previously provided media and mass marketing services to County departments pursuant to agreement A-20-027, for the Department of Public Works and Planning, which expired on January 6, 2023, and agreement A-23-335, for the Department of Public Health, which will expire on March 31, 2024, and agreement A-22-209, for the Department of Behavioral Health, which expired on June 30, 2023.
Exhibit B of the recommended agreement provides rates for all of JP Marketing’s staff, and provides that the rates of any subcontractors or consultants used by JP Marketing that bill on an hourly basis must not exceed these rates. Other outside vendors used for services (i.e., voiceover talents, actors, translation services not performed by JP Marketing) and hard cost expenses (i.e., stock licenses, printing/production, rentals, URL and domain costs) will be billed as pass-through expenses for direct reimbursement at actual cost. The recommended agreement provides that media buys shall be billed at actual cost plus 15% of net commission to JP Marketing.
All pass-through costs, as well as JP Marketing staff rates and hours, must be detailed on the Final Project Brief, which must be approved by the applicable Department Director in writing before work begins on the campaign. The recommended agreement contains a Project Brief form and an invoice form.
The anticipated annual budget amounts per Department are as follows:
Administrative Office - $50,000
Behavioral Health - $500,000
District Attorney - $50,000
Public Works and Planning - $270,000
Public Health - $1,000,000
Human Resources - $20,000
Library - $40,000
Probation - $25,000
Public Defender - $5,000
Sheriff’s Office - $100,000
Social Services - $125,000
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Agreement with Two Q, Inc.
CAO ANALYST:
Salvador Espino