Media Agency Solicitation

The California Department of Public Health, Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch (CDPH-SAPB), has solicited bids via a Request for Proposals (RFP) from media agencies in order to award a contract to develop a statewide Opioid Overdose Prevention and Education Media Campaign.

Minimum Qualifications

The solicitation is open to any California-based agency who meets the minimum qualifications:

1. Currently operating, full-service, advertising and/or public relations agency with minimum annual gross billings of $25 million, which may include media placement billings for agency clients completed by an external media buying service, in at least two (2) of the past three (3) years.
2. California-based, full-service office(s) with a minimum of 20 employees.
3. No conflict of interest with the tobacco, e-cigarette, cannabis, or pharmaceutical opioid companies and/or disclose whether the agency or any affiliated agencies are working closely with the industries.

Contract Award

The agency with the winning bid will secure up to $40,000,000 million (forty million dollars) for the contract period, March 1, 2023–June 30, 2025. The contract term may change if CDPH-SAPB makes an award earlier than expected or if CDPH-SAPB experiences unforeseen delays in executing the agreement.

Goals and Objectives

CDPH-SAPB seeks a dynamic advertising and/or public relations agency with full-service advertising capabilities,  strategic planning abilities, creative breadth, specialized services capacity, cost efficiency, and the ability to target relevant populations and communities through a strategic and effective multicultural and multilingual media campaign. The media campaign must be multi-platform and integrated to maximize effectiveness and be responsive to changes in the media marketplace and consumer behavior.

The selected agency will develop and implement a statewide media campaign to reach:

1. Youth ages 16–21 on opioid misuse prevention, education, and awareness.
2. Adults ages 20–34 focusing on fentanyl education, awareness, and harm reduction strategies for preventing overdose.
3. General public to raise awareness about the dangers of fentanyl, preventing opioid misuse, changing social norms and public health strategies for addressing the opioid epidemic. 

CDPH-SAPB may identify additional target groups as needed.

Desirable Qualifications

The agency must have strong project management skills, the ability to manage a team of subcontractors (if subcontractors are necessary to cover all components of the Scope of Work (SOW)), extensive knowledge of the diverse California media market, capability to provide specialty advertising services, public relations services, and the ability to manage advertising development, testing, production, and placement to address CDPH-SAPB's priorities. The selected agency will also be required to create, develop, and promote CDPH-SAPB's integrated digital assets, owned properties, social media efforts, overall branding, as well as incorporate existing campaigns, from CDPH-SAPB and other state and national opioid overdose prevention programs, into ongoing/forthcoming public awareness and education campaigns. 

Timeline

*CDPH-SAPB reserves the right to amend dates at any time during the Solicitation (RFP) process.

If you have any questions, please email OPEMediaRFP@cdph.ca.gov.​