Digital Culture Transformation Program

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Request for Proposals	258.56 KB

FAQ Topic:

General

FAQ:

Are the PMEs that CPB supports who would be eligible for to participate in this program entirely composed of TV and radio stations, or are there other types of PME organizations such as public content producers that could also participate?

Public media entities participating in this program will be public media stations (Radio, TV, and/or Joint Licensees) and content production organizations.

Although the document does not specify whether the successful provider must be a US registered business or expert, we would first like to clarify whether this is indeed the case and that [company name redacted] is a Spain-based legal entity. For information, [company name redacted] has a US bank account and it includes US citizens amongst its consultants.

CPB will evaluate proposals based on the selection criteria in Section 5 of the RFP.

What are the three strategies you believe are most challenged by the shift to digital?

In general, the biggest challenges for public media stations are organizational culture and structure, resources, and business and operational strategies.

What are a few recent initiatives you’ve taken to accommodate the digital shift, and what were the outcomes?

CPB has executed programs with a similar scope that yielded positive results. However, this will be the first digital culture transformation program for the selected entities.

At the individual media entity level, what do you foresee as the three biggest obstacles to successful culture transformation?

In general, the biggest challenges for public media stations are organizational culture and structure, resources, and business and operational strategies.

What are CPB’s most critical priorities and operating requirements that need to be addressed by the culture transformation Program?

It is one of CPB’s priorities to assist the entities in improving their digital maturity and accelerating their digital transformation. We anticipate the Expert(s) will propose methods and KPIs to allow us to see that growth and measurable success for the participants.

The document refers to a range of 75 to 100 public media entities to be selected for the proposed digital culture transformation project. Is there an expectation from CPB’s part in terms of an ideal mix of participating entities based on the size of their operations and/or the markets where they operate?

Cohort groups may be based on several factors (geography, size, digital maturity). These should be suggested by Expert(s) in their proposal.

Given that public media entities will be selected after the project contractor is selected, what level of flexibility, if any, will there be to how resources are used depending on the profile and needs of each public media entity selected?

This will be a fixed fee engagement.

Timing: Award Date? Kickoff date?

Please see anticipated timeline on page 7 of the RFP.

Funding: Is the program funded for the full 15 months by CPB? Will that funding be accessible to the stations or will they need to provide their own implementation funding?

While CPB will cover the cost of the Expert(s), entities must contribute their staff time.

Competition: Has CPB executed a digital strategy engagement that created this program? If so, can those deliverables be shared? e.g KPI definitions, business goals etc.

Once contracted, CPB may share metrics of prior digital culture programs with the selected Expert(s). However, the scope of the earlier programs is different and may have limited applications to this one.

IT: Does CPB have any Corporate/Centralized systems that are accessed by all stations? (to assess difficulty of provisioning a shared collaboration platform for the project) e.g. Teams etc.

No, the Expert(s) should propose an online learning platform.

Risks: Has CPB executed programs of similar scope (affected multiple stations) before? Who owns the success of this program?

CPB has funded programs with a similar scope. Their success is driven by all involved stakeholders (Consultant, CPB, participating entities).

We note that the scope and scale of this effort is extensive, requiring engagement with 75 to 100 Public Media Entities over a 15-month period. Such an effort will require dedication of internal CPB resources to support the consultant. Has the CPB considered its internal resourcing for such an extensive effort, and if so, can you specify the resourcing plan?

CPB will work closely with the Expert(s), and the main point of contact will be the Project Manager and Vice President of the Digital Strategy and Innovation department.

Please advise the sources of budget CPB will marshal for this effort. Is this project funded out of CPB's operating budget alone or will Public Media Entities share in the funding of this effort?

While CPB will cover the cost of the Expert(s), entities must contribute their staff time.

Please advise if there are any incumbent contractors supporting the CPB on this or similar issues.

No, there are no other contractors supporting CPB or this program.

What is the approximate range of the number of employees at the target public media entities?

Until the entities are selected, we will not know their size/number of employees.

How many reps do you foresee going through the experience from each station?

We anticipate the Expert(s) will primarily work with the entity’s CEOs and possibly a small team of senior staff.

For the 75-100 stations that will be participating – do you have a sense of whether there are major differences in terms of digital maturity, or are they generally similar?

The majority will be in the early stages.

Do you have any current dashboards or business intelligence tools? What about learning platforms or virtual work tools?

No, the Expert(s) should propose an online learning platform.

How many employees (range) do the stations have?

Stations will be selected during the pre-launch period and will vary in size/number of employees.

For the pricing Excel file, are there particular details you need to be included? We saw that it said “detailed cost proposal” but wanted to see if there are any “must haves” for you on there to make sure we provide adequate details.

For the Cost Proposal, please refer to Section B on page 6 of the RFP.

Because this is the second phase of digital cultural transformation, is there an expectation of alignment with the first DCA in terms of content/curriculum?

To clarify, this is not the second phase of the DCA program but a project with a different focus.

Do you anticipate an award to the incumbent?

No, the Expert(s) will be selected based on the criteria in the RFP.

How do you anticipate that public media stations will be selected?

During the pre-launch period, the Expert(s) will work closely with CPB to select the participants.

In the first digital culture accelerator, approximately how much time per month did public media teams work directly with the consultant?

The focus of this project is different than those previously funded digital programs. And we ask the Expert(s) to recommend the time requirements.

Is it more important that the teams’ mindsets change or that there are demonstrated outcomes? If it’s outcomes, what are the metrics that CPB is anticipating using? (ie. Development dollars, social media engagement, underwriting, agility with campaigns – or will the metrics vary per public media station)?

Both components are equally important. The Expert(s) must propose the appropriate demonstrable metrics.

For purpose of this RFP, how are you defining “digital”? Is there a common digital definition across public media stations?

For this RFP, “digital” is the digital culture transformation that as described in Section III of the RFP and measured by KPIs, benchmarks, and metrics to assess the program’s progress.
There is no common digital definition across public media stations.

Have you performed any benchmarking studies for digital maturity?

Not for the Entities that will be participating in this program.

Will data from the first cohort be made available for analysis?

Can you share the anticipated budget for this program?

Since this is a competitive solicitation, we cannot share the amount budgeted for the project.

What are the budget parameters for this RFP?

For the Cost Proposal, please refer Section B on page 6 of the RFP.

We have a proven program for digital transformation and performance-driven change that serves 20 organizations over 10 months. Would you consider parsing your RFP to allow [company name redacted] to serve your 75-100 public media organizations with that program over 2 years? (You would engage another partner for the other work you describe.)

We will consider all proposals with a reasonable approach to the project and evaluate them based on the defined criteria on the RFP.

Who are the 100 news organizations -- do you intend to serve a specific list of CPB members/partners or could any nonprofit news organization participate? We’re interested in the approximate staff size of these organizations so we can anticipate how our digital transformation program might be condensed (in time) to serve them.

Public media entities will be public media stations (Radio, TV, and/or Joint Licensees) and content production organizations, with varying in size/number of employees. However, the Expert(s) will work only with the selected entities' CEOs and/or their senior executive leadership teams. The entities will be selected with input from the Expert(s).

Do you have existing metrics for all public media entities that you want measured?

No, the Expert(s) should propose metrics based upon its recommended approach.

Do we need to send over an NDA prior to submitting our response or will you be sending one to us?

An NDA is not required.

“Develop the following at both an aggregate and public media entity-specific level: Programmatic KPIs, benchmarks, and metrics: Benchmarks and metrics should be well-defined, industry-standard, and codified for digital culture transformation and include relevant qualitative and quantitative criteria. Success measures should be established for benchmarking, measurement, trend analysis, and monitoring at various intervals during the program to determine and track progress and results in the level of digital culture transformation maturity or rate/degree of digital acceleration; dashboards or other Business Intelligence tools to assess progress.” Similar to #4, this activity can range broadly, depending on the starting point. What are the primary business goals for which the digital strategies should apply?

The primary business goals are to assist public media entities CEOs and/or their senior executive leadership teams in accelerating their digital culture transformation measured by KPIs, benchmarks, and metrics to assess the program’s progress in:
• Leadership and Decision-Making Processes; and
• Operational and Organizational Structure Changes.

“The majority of this curriculum should be implemented online and virtually via a flexible, engaging, interactive, and approachable learning management platform.” Is the licensing and extension / customization of this platform included in the scope you are asking the team to price?

Yes, the cost associated with the proposed platform should be included in the cost proposal.

“The Expert will also assist CEOs and/or their senior executive leadership teams in adapting their organization’s culture, strategies, and technology in order to be able to lead a more agile and data-informed organization during the COVID recovery period and beyond.” To do this well, we believe the nature of strategies and recommendations need to be very tailored to the specific organizations. Given 75-100 entities, the range of activity here could be quite broad and diverse. Are the entities in major clusters with similar needs?

We anticipate that the expert(s) will organize the participating entities into cohorts based on their digital maturity. There may be issues that the expert must address individually with entities that face unexpected challenges in implementing the program.

“The Expert will design, develop, advise, and guide selected public media entity leaders through a performance and outcomes-based digital culture transformation program as measured against defined success metrics and criteria.” Are these success metrics and criteria already defined, or to be defined by us in the scope of the pre-launch effort?

The expert(s) should propose metrics based upon its recommended approach. Once a vendor is selected, CPB will work with it to finalize the appropriate metrics.

“Help CEOs and/or their senior executive leadership teams develop a culture of innovation and an audience-first focus including the development, retention, and engagement of new and existing audiences.” In our experience, developing culture is a very hands-on process with the leadership teams at hand. Is the intention to work with each of the 75-100 teams individually?

There may be issues that the expert must address individually with entities that face unexpected challenges in implementing the program.

The nature of the CPB business model and relationship to the participating entities suggests that CPB can offer this kind of support but can’t compel the entities to participate or take action. Can you please share more on the level of interest, commitment and participation from the 75-100 CEOs, and the incentives for their thorough participation?

Although no incentives will be provided to the participating entities, entities are aware of the need for digital culture transformation in their daily work and the benefit of evolving their business through this program. Hence, we are confident that interest in the program is high.

The breadth of the request, serving both CPB and 75-100 participating entities, is both exciting and substantial. We have delivered these kinds of programs for multiple clients, but the costs can range enormously based on how much work is already performed, or will be performed, by the client team. Can you please share the approximate budget range CPB has in mind for this contract? Or, are you able to provide additional information to bound your intended scope?

To clarify, the expert will assist entities and CPB will work closely with the expert(s) and be available to assist it to ensure the program’s success.
Since this is a competitive solicitation, we cannot share the amount budgeted for the project.
Applicants may assume that most entities have not incorporated digital into their operating models.