USPS posted a notice on the Federal Business Opportunities website seeking contractor for ‘Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services.’ The following are Questions and Answers in response to the posting:

1). What information can USPS provide about the existing portfolio of billboards? Number of signs, size, location, are they leases or licenses, what percentage have interstate frontage, and when do they expire? How many billboards are already up on USPS properties? Is there a list of current locations? – A relatively small number. About 23 – albeit locations that are likely to be considered some of our most valuable. Seven are in NYC – three in Miami and the rest are literally scattered around the country – 1 here, 1 there – etc. A specific list will not be provided at this time and we would hope the absence of this list isn’t what determines a decision to respond to this RFP.

2). If an outdoor company bid and won this contract, would they be prohibited them from executing the build out and ad selling of billboards on USPS properties themselves? The winning Respondent / Outdoor Company (Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services provider) would not be prohibited from executing the construction of any structures, etc. However, these costs, if not competitively bid out to subcontractors would somehow need to be validated as the costs being appropriate and reasonable. The winning Respondent / Outdoor Company (Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services provider) also needs to solicit for the advertisers. The license agreements the advertisers will execute (with the USPS) will be our standard license agreement we have used with our existing advertisers. The only prohibition test is to ensure that 1) the winning Respondent / Outdoor Company does not have a conflict of interest with the advertisers. In other words there is no financial or legal relationship between you and the Advertiser. – Example – CBS has an outdoor advertising company. They win the bid – they would be prohibited from having CBS or its affiliates as advertisers and 2) the Advertiser is NOT getting preferred / non competitive treatment and 3) we get highest revenue possible (which is traditionally proven via competitive offers)

3) Will the USPS use their federal exemption on all new billboards during this contract? No

4) If not, will the awarded vendor(s) be required to obtain all state and local permits and follow all state and local regulations? – Yes – Or variances without using federal status as leverage

•5) The pricing structure on the Offer and Award sheet appears to be geared towards the management of the existing portfolio. When performing work for new sites (e.g. managing the entitlement process, overseeing the construction), how will the cost of these services be paid? Is the contractor reimbursed. Does USPS pay these costs directly? What happens if costs are incurred on a potential new site, but the billboard doesn’t get put into operation? As done for the existing portfolio, there is to be no USPS out-of-pocket cost for any of the above. These risks were all borne by the current Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services Provider and / or the Advertisers that they found and we signed license agreements with. We intend to follow the same criteria for this RFP. This is typical in the industry with costs recouped via the term of the license that is signed. There are, however, exceptions and they will be addressed on a case by case basis.

•6) In the Scope of Work section, #2 on Page 1 of 3, the last sentence lists the responsibilities of the Contractor. These responsibilities include the solicitation for and evaluation of advertisers, among other things. Given that the RFP is no longer limited to a “management” company, please confirm that the Contractor is permitted to develop the properties on its own and is not obligated to issue proposals for each potential site. The Contractor (Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services provider) needs to solicit for advertisers – somehow. The goal / is to ensure that 1) the Contractor does not have a conflict of interest with the advertiser (Advertiser gets preferred / non competitive treatment) and 2) we get highest revenue possible (which is traditionally proven via competitive offers) So if you can demonstrate your ability to meet and satisfy those 2 criteria I can evaluate the process and documentation you intend to propose.

•7) Along the same lines as the question above, in the Scope of Work section, #9 on Page 2 of 3, among the services outlined in section C are to “Develop and manage advertising solicitation process”, “Evaluate offers/proposals” and “Administer and mange the license agreement…”. Please confirm that these and other services typically performed by a billboard management company would not be required as part of this RFP as the nature of the Contractor has been expanded. These scope items will be required. The USPS does not want to manage the agreements / billing / etc for hundreds of individual locations.

•8) In the How to Complete the RFP section, on Page 3 of 27, point B.3. states that the contract duration will be for a base period of five (5) years with two (2) – three (3) year renewal options. Please confirm that this relates to the “development phase” of the contract and that there will be a separate contracted term for each site that is developed. Not sure what the questioner defines as “the Development Phase” The USPS definition of a Development Phase duration for this Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services contract will de defined by the Respondent’s completion of the schedule questions in Part IV (page 14 of 27) – The USPS assumption is that the duration is (potentially) different for each of the 17 “Areas of Interest”- if not each State, County, City, etc. In other words the Development Phase starts once the Contractor says he/she wants to place an advertising structure (free standing, roof, wall, or otherwise) on a USPS property and the USPS says “Yes” – and ends when the USPS receives its first revenue check. The 5 years + 2 years + 2 years +2 years refers to the contract you will have with the USPS as the Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services Provider. The license agreements would be between the USPS and the advertiser so that could or could not transcend the 5 + 2 + 2 +2 time frame. If any did, the license(s) would be re-assigned to the new Commercial Outdoor Advertising Management Services Provider.

•9) Also in the How to Complete the RFP section, on Page 3 of 27, point C requires that the Contractor be a “Commercial Outdoor Advertising Services Management entity with comparable experience providing significant and numerous services for national clients and/or Federal government entities during the past five (5) years”. Please confirm that this section is no longer relevant as the definition of Contractor has been modified.

Still relevant.

•7) Provisions and Clauses Section (pg. 1 -50) – We noticed there are several instances throughout this section where there are items to be filled out (for example Provision 4-3 on pg. 7). Are we to complete those sections and include them along with our response?

Some of these questions are in the “HOW TO COMPLETE THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL STATEMENT”. Only answer what’s in the HOW TO COMPLETE THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL STATEMENT. In other words, do not complete and then send in the provision pages where there are blanks.

•8) Offer and Award, Contractor’s Release and Part I – Cover Sheet and Schedule – Are these forms to be submitted along with our completed response? If so, is there a specific order you would like for them to be placed in? On the Cover Sheet and Schedule, please clarify under Remittance Address what Block 16, PS Form 8203 is. Only submit the Offer and Award page and page 3 of 5 – “Cover Sheet and Schedule” page (filled out). The reference to Block 16, PS Form 8203 can be ignored so long as your remittance address is not different than your address entered in Part 1 “Background Information – If remittance address is different then enter the remittance address

•9) Part IV – CSA Market Areas of Interest and Relevant Experience – When you ask for “total number of structures managed…” in the 2nd line of the form, do you mean individual sign faces? Also, are you interested in bulletins, wallscapes and spectaculars, etc. only or should we also include street furniture, bus wraps, sports signage, etc.? A structure, no matter how many sign face, should be counted as a single. Count bulletins,, etc. as long as each is generating revenue and is on a separate structure, wall, bench, etc. (i.e.: 4 signs on the same wall or bench or bus would be counted as 1)

•10) Part VI – Price Proposal – Is there a specific form that should be filled out for this portion of the response? If not, what format would you like for this portion of our response to be in? Filling out the Offer and Award page constitutes your price proposal. You are free to elaborate, expand or provide more specificity by attaching an additional page if you would like.

•11) Can the USPS provide a sample License Agreement

A sample license agreement will be provided in a follow up Addendum. If not provided by June 3, 2011 the date for your response to the RFP will be extended so as to give each Respondent at least 5 business days to review the sample license agreement and ask questions.

source: Federal Business Opportunities