I. Introduction and Background

The Downtown Community Benefit District (DCBD) of San Francisco, is a pending non-profit 501(c)(3) Community Benefit District (CBD) that is requesting proposals for a creative agency to handle the district's brand identity development and website design.

The DCBD's primary function is to administer the Downtown Community Benefit District which was approved by an overwhelming vote of the property owners in July 2019. The DCBD has a contract with the City of San Francisco to administer the revenues for this assessment district. The Fiscal Year 2019-20 revenues for the CBD are anticipated to not exceed $ 3,900,000. This will be the first year of operation of the District.

The special benefit services funded by this CBD include maintaining security, cleanliness and order in the public rights of way, improving district identity, running the web site, serving the corporations' administrative needs and advocating on behalf of the areas property owners, business owners and residents. The function of the CBD is also one of an organization that seeks to improve the overall appearance, building, office, retail and related residential mix and public space improvements within the district.

The selected contractor shall work with and attend all monthly District Identity and Streetscape Improvement Committee meetings and work closely with the Chair of that Committee.

II. DESCRIPTION OF CONTRACTOR SOUGHT:

1. Brand Identity Development

The chosen creative agency will work with the District Identity Committee to propose a cohesive brand strategy to the Board of Directors, which shall include:

a. An underpinning argument for the identity and nomenclature.

b. A short selection of potential wordmarks/logos for the district.

c. A color palate drawn from the logo/wordmark that supports the brand

d. Sample articulations of the brand across various relevant media (digital, stationery, apparel, signage, social media, etc.)

2. Website Development:

Upon acceptance of the proposed brand identity and associated creative assets (fonts, colors, etc.), the chosen creative agency will oversee the production of the District's primary website. Key functional elements follow:

a. Mobile responsive design

b. Open-source CMS such as WordPress, Drupal or similar.

c. SEO should be a fundamental element of the architecture

d. Flexible templates should allow for simple expansion

e. Performance should be a feature, not an afterthought.

1. Staff will provide an initial creative/functionality brief

2. Contractor will provide three potential creative directions in the form of wireframes and Photoshop mockups.

3. The developer will provide a BETA website, before going live, for DCBD Board and staff to review, edit and approve.

III. BUDGET

a. The budget range is not to exceed $ 60,000 and

1. The DCBD Board has given staff and its District Identity Committee the ability to negotiate on contract price based on the experience and scope of work proposed by the firm selected.

b. The DCBD Board has given the Committee authorization to move forward with this project immediately after the firm is selected by the Board.

IV. TERMS AND CONDITIONS

a. DCBD must own, have full access to and have the right to customize site code.

b. Terms of proposal:

1. Proposals should be addressed to Marco Li Mandri, Interim Executive Director of the DCBD.

2. Proposals must be submitted in a PDF to chris@newcityamerica.com by Friday, February 28^th, 2020, no later than 3:00 pm;

3. All proposals must include a statement of authorization to bid by a principal of the responding firm.

4. Bidder status: bidder must disclose any relevant conflicts of interest and/or pending lawsuits.

5. Proposal must include items listed under “Proposal to Include” (below); and

6. No proposal, with attachments, shall be over 15 pages in length.

V. PREFERENCE FOR LOCAL COMPANIES

The DCBD Board prefers, however does not require local companies (including the Peninsula and East Bay) to bid on this proposal. However, the Board will consider any and all applications.

VI. PROPOSAL TO INCLUDE

a. Executive summary:

1. Qualifications and experience: relevant case histories with screen shots and links to design and formatting examples.

b. Project timeline.

c. Break-down of cost by production hours, tools, functionalities and potential additional annual/maintenance fees.

d. Biographies of all who will work on the account.

e. Professional references; and

f. If relevant, monthly maintenance services charges.

VII. Submittal of Proposals

All bids should be submitted in in PDF format to marco@newcityamerica.com - No later than 3:00pm on February 28^th, 2020. Please ensure that all bids are addressed to:

The Downtown San Francisco Community Benefit District
c/o Marco Li Mandri, Interim Executive Director
Downtown Community Benefit District (San Francisco)
333 Bush Street, Ste 2010, San Francisco, XXXXX,

VIII. Contractor's Representations:

The Contractor(s), by submitting a bid, represents that:

a. The Contractor(s) has/have read and understands the contents of the RFP information pack and the bid is made herewith.

IX. Award of Contract

The award date of the contract is anticipated to be sometime in April 2020.

The DCBD Staff or Board reserves the right to accept, amend, reject or completely alter the use of a private contractor in this RFP process.