The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (“CPB”) seeks an entity or individual (“Strategic Advisor”) to assist CPB and the public media system in their efforts to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in public media’s children’s content, with a focus on DEI in creative and production teams. The Strategic Advisor will assist CPB in the development of a position statement on DEI in children’s content, that will position DEI as an essential pillar for public media’s children’s content service and will provide a framework for communicating about CPB’s actions to support DEI in children’s content. The Strategic Advisor will also assist CPB in the development of a strategy to broaden and support the talent pool for public media’s children’s content, which may include new ideas for engaging diverse emerging content creators, writers, and producers, ideas for partnerships or new initiatives to support DEI in CPB-funded children’s content productions, and introductions to key industry talent. The Strategic Advisor will also assist CPB in developing metrics to evaluate the success of CPB’s actions to support DEI in public media’s children’s content service, and will advise CPB on how best to communicate the impact of this work to partners and stakeholders. Upon request, the Strategic Advisor will also assist CPB in evaluating specific projects for funding and/or assessing the DEI efforts of individual children’s content projects.
My company has experience in creating diverse animated shows for children. The Public Media Strategic Advisor RFP is very intriguing to me because I know I could provide tremendous insight on the issue. I noticed on your website an opportunity to apply for a Content and Production Grant. Therefore, would the Content and Production Grant be more applicable for my situation?
This RFP and CPB’s Content and Production grants are different opportunities, and CPB cannot advise you on which opportunity would be more applicable to your situation. This RFP is not for production of content; as described in the overview section of the RFP, it is to provide strategic advice and information to CPB to advance its efforts to support diversity in producers of children’s content. We will note, however, that the Strategic Advisor would not be eligible to apply for or receive CPB funding for any content or other production grant programs that are directly related to the scope of this project.
From the RFP: "As requested, continue to assist in other related tasks, which may include evaluating proposals for funding or assessing DEI plans in specific productions or proposals being considered by CPB." Can you provide any details on what they anticipate for the period of engagement so that we can provide fees accordingly?
We are not able to provide additional detail at this time; however, this work will fall within the total anticipated number of project hours described in the RFP.
From the RFP: "Three examples of the assigned staff’s experience within the past five years of advising organizations on DEI in children’s content production and related fields. Such examples must include a detailed description of the project’s objectives and results, and a reference for each including a telephone number and email address." Will you consider references from experts that do not specifically pertain to advising on DEI for children's content?
Per the RFP, examples of previous experience may include advising organizations on DEI in children’s content production, and fields that are related to children’s content production. As described in section 5 of the RFP, CPB will consider the quality and relevance of these examples.
Re: costs - our approach would be to build a team that brings a range of perspectives to such a project. The RFP states 20% of the RFP is cost proposal - do you have a budget in mind already that one should / could be aware of? Or would you recommend approaching this on a project basis (based on the hours outlined in the RFP)
To ensure competitive pricing, CPB will not disclose the amount budgeted for this project. Refer to Section 4 of the RFP for guidance on structuring your cost proposal.
Regarding the cost proposal, if we want to propose, for example, that one potential solution is assembling a group of diverse children's content experts to speak to CPB or the stations or a writer and director's lab, those projects will have their own separate budgets that will be developed later, correct? Are there any additional guidelines for budgets?
Refer to Section 4 of the RFP for guidance on structuring your cost proposal. If additional projects grow out of this work, those projects would be budgeted separately from the activities described in this RFP.
The RFP states: "In 2016, CPB engaged a Strategic Advisor for Diversity in Children’s Content Production, to conduct an analysis of the current children’s media production landscape as it pertains to diversity and produce a series of recommendations. The reports that resulted from this Strategic Advisor’s work will be provided to the successful applicant. Since the time of the previous advisor’s work, CPB has provided funding to individual series in support of DEI, and now wants to build on these efforts in a broader, more systemic way." Are you able to share whether that was a research organization, an individual, or a different kind of entity? I am curious whether our background would be a good fit and what your reasoning is to bid this out again at this time.
The previous Strategic Advisor was an individual. This RFP is open to both entities and individuals. Refer to the RFP for CPB’s reasons for this new scope of work.
When will a decision be made after the March 15th deadline has elapsed regarding the [project]?
We plan to make a decision within a few weeks of March 15.
Is there a standard format or template for the proposal?
Refer to Section 4 of the RFP for guidance on structuring your proposal.
Can we submit the proposals via email?
Proposals must be submitted through CPB’s electronic grants management system (GMS). Refer to Section 6 of the RFP.
Will the strategic advisor need to travel to CPB’s offices in Washington, DC for meetings?
We expect that meetings for this project will take place via phone/virtually. If safe travel becomes an option during the initial or optional terms, it would be at CPB’s discretion and consistent with the travel policy in Exhibit A of the RFP.
Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (like, from India or Canada)
CPB will evaluate proposals based on the selection criteria in Section 5 of the RFP. Applicants will be evaluated based on their ability to perform and complete the tasks described in the RFP.
Can companies from outside the US apply to this RFP? (like, from India or Canada)
CPB will evaluate proposals based on the selection criteria in Section 5 of the RFP.