Request for Proposal for the Engagement of Public Relation Agency Document Version: 3/17/2015 Version 1.0 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 BACKGROUND AND CURRENT STATUS ...........................................................................................2 2 SCOPE OF WORK .....................................................................................................................................3 2.1 PROJECT OVERVIEW ..............................................................................................................................3 2.2 STAKEHOLDER EXPECTATIONS ..............................................................................................................4 2.3 QUALIFICATION CRITERIA FOR AGENCIES .....................................................................................4 2.4 RFP SCHEDULE ......................................................................................................................................5 2.5 RFP RELATED QUESTIONS / CLARIFICATIONS / SUBMISSION ...............................................................6 2.6 RFP TERMS & CONDITIONS ....................................................................................................................6 2.6.1 Liabilities of Electropreneur Park ....................................................................................................6 2.6.2 Proposal Process Management ........................................................................................................6 2.6.3 Bid Expiration Date ..........................................................................................................................6 2.6.4 Confidentiality & RFP Ownership ...................................................................................................7 2.6.5 Security – Non Disclosure Agreement ..............................................................................................7 2.6.6 Contract Negotiations .......................................................................................................................7 2.6.7 Solution / Service Acceptance Testing ..............................................................................................7 2.6.8 Project Management.........................................................................................................................7 3 RESPONSE FORMAT (PROPOSAL FORMAT) ....................................................................................8 3.1 PROPOSAL CONTENT / FORMAT............................................................................................................... 8 3.1.1 Completing the Requirement Specification .......................................................................................8 3.2 TECHNICAL PROPOSAL ..........................................................................................................................8 3.3 FINANCIAL PROPOSAL ............................................................................................................................ 9 4 AGENCIESPROFILE & REFERENCE – (APPENDIX – II) ............................................................... 10 4.1 4.2 AGENCIES DETAILS .............................................................................................................................. 10 STAFF DETAILS .................................................................................................................................... 10 5 CUSTOMER DETAILS – (APPENDIX – III) ........................................................................................ 11 6 COMMERCIAL BID – (APPENDIX – IV) ............................................................................................. 12 LIST OF TABLES Table Table Table Table Table Table 1 2 3 4 5 6 – Timeframe guidelines............................................................................... 5 - Requirements Response Criteria ................................................................ 8 – Agencies Details .................................................................................... 10 - Staff Details .......................................................................................... 10 - Customer Reference Details .......................... Error! Bookmark not defined. – Commercial Details ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Request for Proposal for PR Agency 1 1 BACKGROUND AND CURRENT STATUS Funded by Department of Electronics & IT (DeitY), Government of India, the Electropreneur Park is the first of its kind Incubation Centre in India under PPP mode in the Electronic Systems Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector. It is managed by Software Technology Park of India (STPI); other stakeholders include Delhi University as the Academic Partner and India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) being the Implementation Agency. IESA has engaged Cybermedia India Limited (CMIL) to support it in execution of the project. The Electropreneur Park will develop, promote, recruit, incubate, mentor and create breakthrough innovations in the ESDM sector. It will be equipped with state-of-art facilities to promote ESDM innovation, R&D and create Indian IPs. The Electropreneur Park is currently looking for a PR Agency for its outreach programmes. Request for Proposal for PR Agency 2 2 SCOPE OF WORK The Scope of Work for the PR Agency shall be as follows:      Develop content for the DeitY newsletter, to be published every month Should also develop content for at least 2 stories each month – to be published in leading news dailies and B2B publications and social media Should be able to work with advertisement and creative agencies along with management/representatives of Electropreneur Park. Should implement media plan strictly in accordance with the guidelines laid down by management of Electropreneur Park The agency should be also able to reach out to Media that caters to DeiTY, IT department of allstate governments(if required), premier academic institutions in India, Organizations in the Electronic Sector having Research and Development Facility within short timelines Should work with Electropreneur Park tocreate media awareness about the business plan competitionsto facilitate recruitment of incubateesby ensuring sufficient number of applications via extensive media outreach Including social media. 2.1 PROJECT OVERVIEW A snapshot of the project is provided in the diagram enclosed herein. With STPI providing funding and management of the incubation centre, (hereinafter named as “Electropreneur Park) and Delhi University providing infrastructure, knowledge experts and incubatees. IESA and Cybermedia India Limited shall provide Industry Connect, Mentoring, Technical Know how, Promotion and Outreach in addition to VC networking for the selected incubatees. Request for Proposal for PR Agency 3 The selection of the incubatees shall be based on the decision of Project Evaluation Team, which would encompass industry stalwarts. 2.2 STAKEHOLDER EXPECTATIONS The project is for a period of 5 years. Each year 10 Incubatees shall be selected and will be provided infrastructure for a period of 12 months in which they would be asked to graduate. This would call for a continuous engagement for a period of 5 years from the selected PR Agency. Following would be the expectations from the agency       Implement media outreach programme in accordance with the guidelines of the EP team Reach out to media that caters to various possible stakeholders for EP viz., community of students, decision makers, funding agencies etc. through regular outreach programmes. Implements steps so that Electropreneur Park remains “top of the mind” recall amongst policy makers, business and student community. Carry out media outreach for business plan competitions to induct new set of incubatees. Social media outreach should be an integral part of the engagement. Consistently demonstrate cost and thought leadership. Other details clarified in Point 4.3. 2.3 QUALIFICATION CRITERIA FOR AGENCIES The project shall entail the following requirements from the PR Agency:       A national agency of repute, with at least 3 years of annual turnover of above 50 Lakhs from PR related activity The agency should be having offices in at least 2 major metros of the country – one mandatorily in Delhi and a strong network of associates across the country The agency should have worked with at least one of the following sectors Government/ Trade Association/ Business houses of repute (At least 1 assignment in last 3 years) The agency should have prior experience of working with a client in the field of electronics (At least 1 assignment in last 3 years). Should be highly networked with the TV, Print and Online media and Advertising/ creative agencies, event management organizations Should have demonstrated excellence in both cost as well as thought leadership Request for Proposal for PR Agency 4 2.4 RFP SCHEDULE Sample of RFP key dates timeframe as a guideline are the following: Table 1 – Timeframe guidelines 17th March 2015 19th March 2015 till 17:00 hrs 21st March 2015 25th March 2015 till 17:00 hrs 31st March 2015 Request for Proposal for PR Agency RFP made available to the bidders Deadline for addressing questions Response to all questions Deadline for receiving bid (all material) Bids to be evaluated. Financial Offers to be opened in presence of every bidder. Successful bidder to be intimated. 5 2.5 RFP RELATED QUESTIONS / CLARIFICATIONS / SUBMISSION All questions related to this RFP should be directed to: Rajiv Wadhwa General Manager – Marketing and Sales Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association rajivw@iesaonline.org Saikat Mookherjee AVP – Research & Consulting Cybermedia India Limited smookherjee@cmrindia.com Agencies must ensure that the proposal is delivered and received at the above email address before the bid closing date 25th March 2015, till 17.00 hrs. Every e-mail needs to mention the subject line Tender for PR Agency for Electropreneur Park . Any queries with respect to this RFP should also be mailed to the above contact and address. 2.6 RFP TERMS & CONDITIONS Details of RFP Terms and conditions are as enclosed below:- 2.6.1 Liabilities of Electropreneur Park This RFP is only an invitation for proposal and no contractual obligation on behalf of Electropreneur Park whatsoever shall arise from the RFP process unless and until a formal contract is signed between Electropreneur Park and the Agency. This RFP does not commit Electropreneur Park to pay any cost incurred in the preparation or submission of any proposal or to procure or contract for any services. 2.6.2 Proposal Process Management Electropreneur Park reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals, to revise the RFP, to request one or more re-submissions or clarification from one or more agencies, or to cancel the process in part or whole. No agency is obligated to respond to or to continue to respond to the RFP after the submission and closing date. Electropreneur Park will, at its discretion, award the contract to the responsible vendor submitting the best proposal that complies with the RFP. Electropreneur Park may, at its sole discretion, reject any or all proposals received or waive minor defects, irregularities, or informalities therein. 2.6.3 Bid Expiration Date The bids need to remain valid for at least 3 months from the date of submission indicated above Request for Proposal for PR Agency 6 2.6.4 Confidentiality & RFP Ownership This RFP is both confidential and proprietary to Electropreneur Park, and Electropreneur Park reserves the right to recall the RFP in its entirety or in part. Agencies cannot and agree that they will not duplicate, distribute or otherwise disseminate or make available this document or the information contained in it without the express written consent of Electropreneur Park. Agencies shall not include or reference this RFP in any publicity without prior written approval from the client, which, if granted, shall be granted by the individual named above. Agencies must accept all of the foregoing terms and condition s without exception. All responses to the RFP will become the property of Electropreneur Park and will not be returned. 2.6.5 Security – Non Disclosure Agreement The Agencies as part of the proposal should sign the non-disclosure agreement to safeguard the confidentiality of Electropreneur Park’s business information and data. 2.6.6 Contract Negotiations At the completion of the selection process, Electropreneur Park will enter into negotiations with the selected agencies. Agencies should also be aware that the following documents would be included as attachments to the final contract:      This Request for Proposal. The agencies’s proposal in response – both technical and commercial Any modifications to the proposal. A Serve Level Agreement (SLA). An implementation Plan identifying the tasks to be completed with milestones, the assigned responsibilities, and the scheduled completion dates. 2.6.7 Solution / Service Acceptance Testing Prior to going live, Electropreneur Park will require a period of time to conduct a thorough User Acceptance Testing (UAT) of the service. This period should be sufficient to verify the service operations and effectiveness. The UAT will not commence until the agencies has implemented the service. 2.6.8 Project Management The agencies will provide at least the following information to Electropreneur Park in the proposal as well as the Implementation strategy: o The description of the different phases of the project o The methodology and approach o Specific list of the deliverables by phase the agencies intends to provide along the project. o Key performance indicators proposed for service delivery. Request for Proposal for PR Agency 7 3 RESPONSE FORMAT (PROPOSAL FORMAT) The proposal needs to be submitted in soft copy under a 2 Bid system. Technical proposal may be submitted in MS Word/PowerPoint/PDF format, while financial proposal may be submitted in password protected MS Excel format. After evaluation of the technical bids, the financial bids shall be opened in presence of all the shortlisted agencies. Password of MS Excel file containing financial bids will be required only from the shortlisted agencies. A hardcopy of the complete proposal should also be sent to the following address in a Main sealed envelope comprising of 2 separate sealed envelopes for Technical bid & Commercial Bid clearly superscribed accordingly. The Main sealed envelope should be superscribed as ‘Tender for PR Agency for Electropreneur Park’. The envelope with the commercial bid will be opened in presence of shortlisted agencies. 3.1 PROPOSAL CONTENT / FORMAT The proposal content has been specified in the following sections 3.1.1 Completing the Qualification Criteria The Qualification Criteria contains a list of requirements on the desired aspects of the partnership and project. The same has been highlighted in point 2.3. The agencies should respond as follows in the level of compliance column: Response Compliant Non Compliant Partially Comply Meaning Agencies fully complies with the specifications/requirement Agencies does not comply with the specifications/requirement (*) Agencies meets part of the specifications/requirement Table 2 - Requirements Response Criteria The response should be given by stating the response that applies to the requirement from the table above. Please provide explanation whatever be the response. Provide the explanation in the COMMENTS column or on a separate page, if necessary, with reference to the requirement number. (*) If the proposed system / service offer an alternative to this requirement, please provide a supporting written explanation when using this response. Please clearly specify the question number reference where appropriate. 3.2 TECHNICAL PROPOSAL The Agency is required to submit the proposal in the prescribed format Appendix II & III under Point Nos 4 & 5. It is desired that the following contents be a part of the proposal submitted. No financial information should be a part of the Technical proposal:     Supportive documents indicating Turnover Other Agency Details in accordance with the qualification criteria List of Experiences with various agencies in the format enclosed Key Contacts Approach and Methodology Request for Proposal for PR Agency 8 3.3 FINANCIAL PROPOSAL The Agency is required to quote in the prescribed format Appendix IV under Point No. 6. Agencies are required to quote for the scope of work mentioned above on a year wise basis for the period of 5 years. OPE’s and time costs are to be mentioned separately. Request for Proposal for PR Agency 9 4 AGENCIESPROFILE & REFERENCE – (APPENDIX – II) This has been mentioned in the ensuing sections. 4.1 AGENCIES DETAILS General Company Name Holding Company or Parent Company (if any) Company local address Phone Please provide details of ownership: private/public; ultimate parent; major shareholders. Any significant changes in ownership in the last two years? Account Representative Phone Years in business Certifications Please provide details of any quality process certifications Any other certifications, please specify Table 3 – Agencies Details 4.2 STAFF DETAILS Staff Total number of employees Please provide a break-up of the number of employees by function, e.g. Sales/Marketing Administrative Staff Research & Development Implementation Staff Technical Support Staff Other Table 4 - Staff Details Request for Proposal for PR Agency 10 5 CUSTOMER REFERENCES (MINIMUM 3) – (APPENDIX – III) It would be preferred that at least one reference working with the Govt. /Private Sector & rest from the industry/ industry associations. Customer Details Government Segment Industry Association Private Sector Others Sponsor Name Sponsor Address Telephone Number Fax Number Contact Name Title What is or was the contact’s role on the implementation? State the duration of the implementation. Details of consultancy service provided Table 5 – Customer Reference Details Request for Proposal for PR Agency 11 6 COMMERCIAL BID – (APPENDIX – IV) Cost Item Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Out of Pocket Expenses Professional Fees TOTAL COST Table 6 – Commercial Details Request for Proposal for PR Agency 12