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This is NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT. This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE (SSN) to determine the availability and capability of firms to provide comprehensive campaign services for the planning, develo... This is NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT. This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE (SSN) to determine the availability and capability of firms to provide comprehensive campaign services for the planning, development, production, and delivery of consumer-based communication programs, strategies, and materials for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products’ (CTP) multiple, multichannel public health education campaigns targeting both national and niche audiences with unique combinations of geographic, demographic, psychographic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors. CTP is conducting market research to identify full-service advertising agencies capable of providing comprehensive campaign services for multiple public education campaigns targeting audiences as small as 400,000 people to as large as 25 million people, to include, but not limited to, financing and placing media buys up to $100 million. The purpose of this SSN is to assist FDA in identifying the capabilities of companies in the industry. In addition, this SSN will help identify any small businesses (i.e., Small Businesses, SBA Certified 8(a) Small Businesses, Woman-owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Businesses, and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB)) that are capable of providing the full range of services described in this SSN. FDA does not anticipate setting aside this requirement for small businesses; however, FDA may make small business participation a significant evaluation factor. The Government anticipates a single-award IDIQ contract with a period or performance of 5 years for this requirement. The anticipated NAICS Code for this requirement is 541810 – Advertising Agencies and the associated size standard is $16.5 million as measured by total revenues, but excluding funds received in trust for an unaffiliated third party, such as bookings or sales subject to commissions. The commissions received are included as revenue. BACKGROUND: To protect the public’s health, the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the U.S., resulting in more than 480,000 deaths each year. Nearly 90% of adult daily smokers smoked their first cigarette by age 18, and although youth cigarette use has declined recently, the surge in youth e-cigarette use threatens that public health progress. In fact, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than 5 million U.S. middle and high school students have used e-cigarettes in the last 30 days making e-cigarettes the most commonly used tobacco product by middle and high school students. To reduce the public health burden of all tobacco use in the U.S. and educate the public—especially young people—about the dangers of tobacco use, CTP is developing and implementing a number of public education campaigns that directly support CTP’s mission. Evidence from controlled field experiments and population studies show that mass media campaigns designed to discourage tobacco use can change attitudes about tobacco use and reduce smoking prevalence. As a whole, FDA’s tobacco public health education campaign program seeks to achieve the following objectives: • Awareness of and receptivity to campaign messages • Increased knowledge of health risks associated with tobacco product use • Increased perceived risks of tobacco product use • Decreased appeal of tobacco products • Reduced susceptibility to tobacco initiation • Pro-health changes in normative beliefs about tobacco product use • Self-efficacy to quit smoking • Increased intention to quit • Decreased intention to initiate From 2014 through 2018, FDA launched multiple campaign initiatives targeted to at-risk populations (See list, below). FDA is also in the process of developing additional tobacco prevention campaigns targeting other audiences, including American Indian/Alaska Native youth. Campaigns launched by CTP: 2014-2018 The Real Cost – Cigarettes, launched February 2014 and targets youth ages 12-17 at-risk for cigarette use Fresh Empire, launched May 2015 and targets multicultural youth ages 12-17 at-risk for tobacco use The Real Cost – Smokeless, launched April 2016 and targets rural males ages 12-17 at-risk for smokeless tobacco use This Free Life, launched May 2016 and targets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young adults ages 18-24 at-risk for occasional smoking to prevent escalation to regular smoking Every Try Counts, launched January 2018 and targets adult smokers who have attempted to quit smoking in the last year but were unsuccessful The Real Cost – E-cigarettes, launched September 2018 and targets youth ages 12-17 at -risk for e-cigarette use FDA plans to optimize current campaign efforts and may expand or add new initiatives in the coming years based on market conditions and new or emerging tobacco products. FDA seeks to obtain communications services from advertising agencies with extensive and successful experience in providing a full-range of activities associated with researching, developing, planning and executing public health behavior change communications strategy, producing, delivering, and evaluating health and program-related materials for national public health campaigns and initiatives that must be coordinated with both internal and external stakeholders at a national, regional, state, and local level. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE: The Government will not review general capability statements. Please ensure capability statement submissions are tailored to this requirement and contains all information requested below. The page limit for submissions is 5 pages, single-spaced, 11-point Arial font (or equivalent), with 1-inch margins. The cover page is not included in the page limit. Agencies are encouraged to provide concise responses specifically responding to the capability questions below. Responses shall be submitted in PDF or MS Word format. All pages shall be numbered appropriately. The cover page shall include the following information: Agency Name: Mailing Address: Point of Contact (POC): Title: POC Phone: POC E-mail: DUNS: CAGE Code: Business Size under NAICS Code 541810 (Small or Large): Business Socio-economic Status (i.e. 8(a), SDB, SDVOSB, HUBZone, and/or WOSB): Statement certifying Company’s www.beta.sam.gov registration (including representations and certifications) is current to date To achieve a thorough understanding of your agency’s capability and capacity to perform this work, please provide a short but detailed explanation for each of the questions below. Can your agency finance media buys up to $100M for 3-6 months? (Yes/No) (NOTE: In this context, “finance” refers to the agency’s ability to pay for media up-front while awaiting documentation that verifies what media ran in market and then invoicing the government after receiving that documentation.) Describe your agency’s capabilities to develop media strategies as well as plan and implement media for national and geo-targeted/niche media campaigns to specific populations that meets reach and frequency targets to achieve behavior change goals. Please provide a list of clients you currently provide this service for, along with your total 2019 billings (across all clients) for each of the following media: broadcast (linear, streaming and OTT), digital advertising, social media, cable TV, spot market TV, national and spot market radio, magazines, newspapers, and out of home. Indicate your agency’s ability to target small, underserved, at-risk populations, including populations with fewer than 500,000 individuals. Provide examples of past success in achieving behavior change among these niche target populations. The Government anticipates making small business participation a requirement. Please provide your perspective on a minimum small business subcontracting goal. Describe what tasks are/work is appropriate and suitable to be subcontracted to small businesses. Provide at least one example or case study where your agency has allowed a small business to partner on strategy development and implementation and the results of that collaboration. Further, explain in detail, how your firm could meet the proposed goal and include information on the specific services that your firm would subcontract to small businesses. Please offer any suggestions of how FDA can best structure contract requirements to facilitate competition by and among small business concerns. The Government encourages small business teams or joint ventures to submit responses to this Sources Sought Notice. Capable offerors shall submit responses or inquiries regarding this SSN to Robin Goon, Contract Specialist via email at robin.goon@fda.hhs.gov. The subject of the email must include your company’s legal name, state the nature of your email and include the SSN# (FDA-20-SSN-CTP-Campaigns-Program). Please forward all responses to this SSN by the Response Date of this notice. Responses received after the due date may not be considered. Disclaimer This information is being sought for in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 10, Market Research and is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as an Invitation for Bids, a Request for Proposals, Request for Quotes, or an indication the Government will contract for the items or services herein. This notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this notice. The Government does not reimburse respondents for any cost associated with the submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred by interested parties for responses to this SSN. Responses received will not be used as a proposal. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the market research review. No solicitation currently exists in connection to this SSN. If in the future an official solicitation is released, there is no guarantee that sources responding to this notice will be included on the source list. It is the responsibility of potential offerors to monitor www.beta.sam.gov for additional information, including future information pertaining to this requirement. Incumbent Information: HHSF223201750007A – True North Communications, Inc. - $624,973,444.00