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The Board of Water Commissioners for the City of Detroit, Water and Sewerage Department authorizes the Director to approve DWSD Contract 6003395 for public relations and communication services for DWSD with Mort Crim Communications, Inc. (Project No. CS-1946) for a total contract amount not-to-exceed $1,199,616 and a term of two years. This also authorizes the Director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
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Agenda of March 17, 2021
Item No. 21-0420
Proposed Contract No. 6003395 (CS-1946)
Contractor: Mort Crim Communications, Inc. (MCCI)
Address: 155 W Congress, Suite 501, Detroit, MI 48226
Contract Amount: $1,199,616
Contract Term: 4/1/21 - 3/31/23 (2 years)
TO: The Honorable
Board of Water Commissioners
City of Detroit, Michigan
FROM: Gary Brown, Director
Water and Sewerage Department
RE: Proposed DWSD Contract No. 6003395 / Project No. CS-1946
Public Relations & Communication Services
Mort Crim Communications, Inc. (MCCI)
MOTION
Upon recommendation of Mamata Burgi, Procurement Manager, the Board of Water Commissioners for the City of Detroit, Water and Sewerage Department authorizes the Director to approve DWSD Contract 6003395 for public relations and communication services for DWSD with Mort Crim Communications, Inc. (Project No. CS-1946) for a total contract amount not-to-exceed $1,199,616 and a term of two years. This also authorizes the Director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
BACKGROUND / JUSTIFICATION
DWSD Public Relations services provide customers and stakeholders with timely and accurate information, build public trust and confidence, and promotes DWSD’s good stewardship of revenues and assets. Over the last few years, DWSD Public Relations has focused on increasing public awareness and understanding of DWSD’s mission, vision and programs, and to promote DWSD’s strengths as a first class water and sewer utilities provider. DWSD believes that strengthening its public profile and increasing awareness and understanding of our mission, vision and offerings among strategic audiences is critical to its ongoing success. As the city of Detroit continues its growth while continuing to safely and economically adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial that key stakeholders are aware of the DWSD narrative and its responsibility for being a good steward of major assets.
DWSD issued a new Request for Proposals to solicit for a new public relations and communications contract to replace the contract that expired on January 31, 2021.
The new contract will focus on the key areas:
1. Communications & Public Relations:
• Media Relations and Internal/External Communications
• Crisis Management
• Internal Coaching & Training
2. Community Outreach (with special consideration for virtual meetings due to pandemic)
3. Creative & Production
The following key initiatives will also be a part of the proposed contract, but may change during the contract term based on the needs of DWSD:
1. Water Affordability
2. Customer Affordability Programs
3. Enhanced Customer Service Options (contactless)
4. Drainage Charge (Community Outreach & Education)
5. Water and Sewer Upgrades including Lead Service Line Replacement
Over the past three years, DWSD has coordinated and implemented a clear, positive, assertive, proactive and integrated marketing and communications program.
DWSD has successfully coordinated several marketing campaigns. The first campaign was solely targeted to customers needing financial assistance. During the second campaign, two taglines were developed - “Clean Water. Delivered” and “Working Hard For You.” It was during this campaign that DWSD employees, mostly Field Service Technicians and Customer Care Representatives, were used to showcase the important work DWSD is doing across the city and to humanize the department - to actually show the people who are working hard each and every day. The most recent campaigns focused on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Water Restart Plan and working together to rebuild the water and sewer systems.
The integrated marketing campaigns consisted of billboards, radio and TV spots, Gas Station TV segments, along with digital advertising on highly-trafficked websites and social media. We also advertised consistently in The Michigan Chronicle.
The Community Outreach team has attended and presented at more than 300 community meetings, neighborhood associations, etc. We have been very instrumentational in communicating DWSD’s generous and compassionate customer affordability programs including the Water Residential Assistance Program (WRAP) and the 10/30/50 Plan.
DWSD’s social media presence has also gained great momentum. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have steadily gained followers every month and have seen the engagement, including likes, clicks, shares and retweets, increase tremendously from where we started in February 2018.
During the last three years, DWSD Public Affairs has added staff with expertise to perform more in-house duties. When the first RFP was issued in 2017, DWSD Public Affairs had three staff. Now, it has six staff including a graphic designer, a public affairs professional focusing on internal communications, and a professional with some video production capabilities, in addition to the veteran public affairs staff already on board. Due to these in-house capabilities, DWD Public Affairs is only seeking approval of a new contractor at a significantly lower annual cost ($600,000 versus $1M).
This new contract would allow for continuity of DWSD’s Public Affairs communication and community outreach efforts throughout the next two years.
PROCUREMENT METHOD
This contract was procured through a Request for Proposals (RFP) per Requisition #483905, which was approved on 10/30/20. The RFP was advertised on the Michigan Inter-Governmental Trade Network (MITN) website for 30 calendar days (10/2/20 - 11/2/20). MITN published this opportunity to 183 companies matching the selected commodity codes and 63 firms downloaded the RFP package.
Five (5) Proposals received:
§ 2050 Partners, Inc.
§ Mort Crim Communications, Inc. (MCCI)
§ The Allen Lewis Agency
§ Truscott Rossman Group, LLC
§ Van Dyke Horn Public Relations Group
Proposals were evaluated on the following criteria:
• Experience & Qualifications
• Project Approach & Methodology
• Use of Local Firms
• Cost of Services
The Evaluation Committee was comprised of the following members:
• DWSD Public Affairs Director
• DWSD Customer Service Manager
• DWSD Field Services Manager
• Mayor’s Office, Deputy Director of Media Relations
• Mayor’s Office, Workforce Development Communications
The Proposals were first reviewed by Procurement for responsiveness. The firm 2050 Partners Inc. was deemed nonresponsive and removed from evaluation for failure to provide a complete proposal including costs with their submission.
The remaining four Technical Proposals (minus cost) were then distributed to the Evaluation Committee, who independently reviewed and scored the four proposals in accordance with the DWSD Procurement Policy. After receiving all scores from the Committee, the responses were then scored on their Costs Proposals. Presentations/interviews were not part of the evaluation process.
Final weighted scores were calculated and the ranking is as follows:
|
Rank |
Proposer |
Score |
Cost |
Equalization Applied |
|
1 |
Mort Crim Communications, Inc. |
4,473 |
$1,199,616 |
N/A |
|
2 |
The Lewis Allen Agency |
3,895 |
$521,400 |
N/A |
|
3 |
Van Dyke Horn Public Relations |
3,553 |
$3,410,675 |
DBB - 1% |
|
4 |
Truscott Rossman Group, LLC |
3,425 |
$3,009,720 |
N/A |
The highest ranked Proposer, MCCI was selected to negotiate the final terms, conditions and pricing. Negotiations were successfully conducted on 2/16/21.
Based on the information above, it is recommended that the contract be awarded to the highest ranked responsive and responsible Proposer, Mort Crim Communications, Inc. for a term of two years and a total contract amount not-to-exceed $1,199,616. MCCI was the incumbent on the previous contract and their performance was deemed satisfactory by DWSD.
MCCI’s clearances have been submitted to the City of Detroit on 2/16/21 and they have signed the formal contract agreement. Since the clearances are in process, the BOWC’s approval will be contingent upon DWSD Procurement’s verification of receipt of all applicable documents such as, bonds, insurances, and verification of active status in the CoD’s supplier portal, prior to the contract being fully executed and purchase order being issued to the approved vendor.
SUMMARY
A. Contract No.: 6003395 (Project No. CS-1946)
B. Contractor: Mort Crim Communications, Inc.
C. Contract Term: 4/1/21 - 3/31/23 (2 years)
D. Contract NTE: $1,199,616
E. Anticipated Fiscal Year (FY) Breakdown:
FY 20-21: $174,952
FY 21-22: $599,808
FY 23-24: $424,856
F. Funding Source: O&M Funds
G. GL Strings: 5820-20179-493421-616100-000227-15805-0000-000000 - 100% Sewer
This proposed contract was presented to the DWSD Finance Committee on March 3, 2021. Per the DWSD procurement protocols, Post-FRC Mayoral review will also be obtained.