Sources Sought Notice – To provide Operational Support for DHA Communication Division, Public Affairs, Customer Service, and Non Purchased Care Marketing.

Sources Sought Notice - To provide Operational Support for DHA Communication Division, Public Affairs, Customer Service, and Non Purchased Care Marketing.

Notice Type: Sources Sought Notice

Posted Date: 30-JAN-15

Office Address: Other Defense Agencies; Defense Health Agency; Contract Operations Division - Falls Church; 7700 Arlington Blvd.Suite 1M401 Falls Church VA 22042

Subject: To provide Operational Support for DHA Communication Division, Public Affairs, Customer Service, and Non Purchased Care Marketing.

Classification Code: D - Information technology services, including telecommunications services

Solicitation Number: HT0011-15

Contact: Darrell Goodwin, Sr. Contracts Analyst, Email [email protected] - Vonneta Davis, Sr. Contracts Analyst, Email [email protected]

Setaside: N/AN/A

Place of Performance (address): Defense Health Agency (DHA), Acquisition Management and Support (AM&S)7700 Arlington Blvd.Falls Church , VA

Place of Performance (zipcode): 22042

Place of Performance Country: US

Description: Other Defense Agencies

Defense Health Agency

Contract Operations Division - Falls Church

DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY (DHA) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) MARKETING AND EDUCATION SUPPORT SERVICES CONTRACT OPERATIONS DIVISION - FALLS CHURCH (COD-FC) 1.0 PURPOSE This Request for Information (RFI) is being issued by the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Directorate of Procurement (DOP) Activity, Acquisition Management and Support (AM&S), Contract Operations Division - Falls Church (COD-FC) to conduct market research on the industry's capabilities to perform services for Communications.

The contractor shall provide services for program management and administrative support of the five branches within the Communications Division. There are also optional tasks associated with support of the Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs (HA) and Military Health System (MHS) Strategic Communications. To include, but not limited to the following tasks:

Specific Tasks Headings: Administrative Customer Communications Congressional Communications Beneficiary Communications Staff Development and Training Public Affairs and External Relations Marketing Research and Analysis Web & Creative Service MHS Strategic Communications Support

2.0 BACKGROUND

Department of Defense beneficiaries, military and civilian providers and support staff working for the Department must be knowledgeable of available TRICARE benefits, business practices, and advantages of participating in the Defense Health Program. The communication to TRICARE beneficiaries, Military Health Stakeholders, and Military Health System (MHS) staff will be accomplished through a collaborative effort between the DHA Communications Division, the military medical services, the TRICARE Regional Offices, the Managed Care Support (MCS) contractors, other TRICARE contractors and other supporters of the Communications Division. The DHA Communications Division is responsible for furnishing all marketing and educational media related to the TRICARE benefit to the MCSC, the Military Treatment Facilities and/or other TRICARE contractors for distribution. This centralized national body of TRICARE marketing, communications and education media provides accurate, timely, and helpful information designed to increase beneficiary awareness, understanding, acceptance, and use of the TRICARE benefit.

3.0 SCOPE

The marketing, communications and education program serves the worldwide TRICARE population of approximately 9.5 million beneficiaries, other interested stakeholders, as well as MHS customer service staff. All communications products produced under this program will present a uniform Military Health System and TRICARE message, ensure accuracy and consistency in the presentation of Military Health and TRICARE program information and provide a positive Military Health System and TRICARE image. The contractor shall develop and provide an overarching Military Health System and TRICARE Marketing, Communications and Education Integrated Communications Plans that shall assist the Communications Division and DHA contractors in accomplishing their marketing, communications and education goals, through full service execution of media planning in coordination with the organization initiatives for timely communication and customer service. The contractor shall provide a comprehensive national suite of marketing, communications and educational products used to inform and educate Military Health System Stakeholders and TRICARE beneficiaries worldwide regarding all aspects of the TRICARE benefit, policies, and programs and related military health system topics. Services may range from the design and development of marketing and education integrated communications and media plans to support an entire campaign with a full spectrum of products and services related to marketing and education activities to the production of a single integrated communications and educational product and/or message. Communications shall not be limited to traditional media. The Contractor shall develop strategies and tactics that provide the maximum use of Internet capabilities, social media, video (podcast, streaming video, web casting, video conferencing, etc.), and other web capabilities and activities. The Contractor must be able to provide a full suite of customer service support assistance ranging from call centers to email responses to other communications means.

4.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY.

i. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a solicitation nor does it restrict the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach.

ii. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

iii. Any contract that might be awarded based on information received or derived from this market research will be the outcome of a competitive process.

iv. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI.

v. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested vendor's expense.

vi. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future Request for Proposal (RFP), if any is issued.

a) North American Industrial Classification (NAICS): 541512.

b) The Page limit for responses is 20 pages or less. (Page count shall include cover page, title pages, and table of contents).

c) RFI will be posted for a period of (10 days).

d) Primary location will be Vendor location - Communications Division, Defense Health Agency (DHA) in Falls Church, VA with business hours established as EDT.

5.0 HOW TO RESPOND

The formal closing date/time for RFI response submissions is Friday, February 6, 2015 at 11:00 AM ET. All responses should be submitted electronically using PDF, HTML, MS Word or PowerPoint formats with subject "Marketing and Education Support Services", Communications Division, DHA" to the following Email addresses: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].***

***Total e-mail file limit size is restricted to 5MB. Files exceeding this threshold must be submitted over multiple Email messages, and be identified as "Email #x of #y". The official contacts for this RFI to whom all requests and communications should be addressed are:

Contracting Officer:

Contracting Officer: Ms. Millie Mitchell Contracting Officer Email: [email protected]

Senior Procurement/Contract Analyst:

Contract Specialist: Mr. Darrell Goodwin Contract Specialist Email: [email protected]

Senior Procurement Analyst:

Contract Specialist: Vonetta Davis Contract Specialist Email: [email protected]

6.0 RESPONDENT INFORMATION

The response to this RFI should include the vendor's current capabilities and its potential solution. In the response, please specifically address the following requests/questions below:

Introduction

1. This requirement requires an organization to bring a corporate culture and successful team to accomplish the mission. This is not a contract that requires individuals to be hired that require the government to train every single employee. Define the corporate culture of your organization with the ability to meet the requirements specified and the breadth and depth of the organization in bringing experienced communications, customer service and support professionals to meet the needs of this contract.

Marketing and Education

2. Describe experience gathering and coordinating input from multiple, diverse internal and external stakeholders with different goals and objectives and how that input was adjudicated and leveraged to design and deliver products that can be used for cross-functional communications that integrate print products, video and podcast products, website content, social media tools, stakeholder outreach events, public speaking, media relations, and internal audience communication. 3. Describe experience creating, designing, and distributing information to explain health benefits, health insurance, or health services available. Please provide documentation to demonstrate products were created with a predetermined goal and validated impact. 4. Describe your experience and success creating weekly podcast, video broadcasts, and webinars and include examples of how the success and impact were measured. 5. Describe your experience in providing technical writing support for a health care/medical organization or university What types of products did you provide technical writing for 6. Describe your experience in writing journalistic articles on medical and health insurance topics What publications did the articles appear in Communication Campaigns 7. Describe experience developing and executing education, communication and marketing campaigns for major health care organizations with a diverse beneficiary or patient population. Please explain the scope, the population, and organization, details on the type of campaign, execution strategy, tactics used, and impact. 8. Describe experience developing and executing behavioral change campaigns for a diverse population. Describe the population, the behavioral change desired, impact, and how you validated your result. What challenges did you experience and how did you overcome them 9. Please provide a sample, integrated communications and marketing plan that clearly demonstrates knowledge of a specific mission and the results achieved for that client.

Internal Communications

10. Describe experience creating a successful workforce/internal communications program for a large, diverse, organization of at least 3,000 employees. How were strategies, tactics, and products determined and how did you validate success Customer Service and Outreach 11. Describe experience and timeliness in responding to, tracking, and reporting on customer service inquiries captured through a myriad of sources (email, phone, letter, web, etc.) and how the level, scope, and analysis of data contributed to organizational awareness of customer concerns, with recommendations for quality or outcome improvement within the organization. Please provide credible references to demonstrate success. Describe customer service relations approach and evaluation of customer service satisfaction, to include the level and scope of staff's customer service experience and skill sets. 12. Describe staff's experience and scope associated with developing and managing internal and external training initiatives (i.e. training sessions via telecon or virtual), seminars, etc., recognizing the need to create or update content based on policy research and understanding on an ongoing basis to ensure accuracy and timely delivery of benefit program information and adherence to Department of Defense online training requirements [e.g. Share Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), 508 compliant] while supporting administrative processes for course registration, tracking, and completion. The respondent should show its ability to create print ready copy and mobile content, and interactive online content (internal and public facing), as well as create and host online, webinar- and seminar-based training. 13. Describe experience in providing end-user support and education for organizational applications/tools, and the process by which concerns, functional changes, as well as user requests and issues are captured and tracked.

Web Services

14. Describe experience managing multiple types of web content for public-facing, enterprise websites covering a complex government health benefit, and how the respondent has integrated external web experience and content with other Internet-based capabilities (social media, extranets, intranets, mobile applications, etc.) 15. Describe experience reviewing and making internal and external communication products compliant with Federal law and Department of Defense policy, specifically work ensuring products are compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, Public Law 111-274, guidance for Internet Based Capabilities governed by DoD Instruction 8550.01, plain language requirements in DoD Instruction 5025.13, and executing the processes for review of information for public release governed by DoD Instruction 5230.29. 16. Describe experience in identifying business requirements for functional improvements to websites in the Department of Defense and working with Information Technology staffs to identify online tools that support strategic communication goals and objectives of a large, diverse government healthcare organization. Program Management 17. Does your organization currently possess all of the skills to successfully provide all of the services and products described in the previous questions and has that experience been demonstrated and executed in the last three years If you don't possess all of the skills and experience to perform the previously described tasks, do you have similar experience and if so, how would you justify that it is sufficient to successfully provide the contracted services 18. Please specify if you have the full capability to fulfill requirements of this RFI in its entirety. If not, specify the prime vendor responsibilities and what partner vendor responsibilities are planned. 19. Describe your experience interacting with senior levels of federal government What were the levels of the leaders you interacted with on a regular and ongoing basis 20. What schedules do you provide these services under, i.e., General Services Administration (GSA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), etc. Please specify the schedule period of performance, schedule number, schedule type, item number, item type, and any other information pertinent to identify these services in a schedule contract.

This notice is not an actual solicitation. In the event that DHA determines to proceed with and publish an actual solicitation will be predicated on the results of this market research.

Link/URL: https://www.fbo.gov/notices/5178df154887b6cc8c3ab3a841fd9be8