Coupon Distribution to Start April 2008, NTIA’s RFP Says
The vendor that NTIA picks to run the DTV coupon program must be ready to accept coupon requests Jan. 1, 2008, as required by law, but likely won’t start distributing coupons before April 1, 2008, or when systems are tested and certified as working. That was the message in NTIA’s request for proposals (RFP), released Wed. after months of delay.
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Bids are due April 30 for the cumbersome but potentially lucrative contract to run NTIA’s DTV coupon program. The deal is for “end-to-end implementation and administration” of the program, including a $5 million consumer education campaign, the RFP says. Under the contract, 22.25 million coupons will be distributed -- up to 2 to a household -- to consumers requesting them beginning Jan. 1, 2008, the RFP says. There’s an option for 11.25 million more coupons, reserved for households that rely exclusively on over-the-air TV, if the first round runs out.
The RFP, originally set for late Jan., was delayed to fit NTIA release of final coupon program rules, which finally came this week (CD March 13 p2). The contract will begin by Aug. 15 and run through Sept. 2009, the RFP says. There are options for extensions, but none beyond 2011, it says. The RFP doesn’t specify when the contract will be awarded. A bidder conference March 26 at NOAA hq in Silver Spring, Md., will field vendors’ questions.
The last coupons will go out by April 10, 2009, and financial processing will be done by July 31, 2009, the end of the operational phase, the RFP said. In a “closeout” period after that coupons will be redeemed, retailers reimbursed and financial reports finished, it said. The program ends and the contract lapses Sept. 30, 2009, unless extended.
Two sets of “non-price” criteria -- “value” and “level of confidence” factors -- will weigh equally in NTIA’s choosing a winning bidder, the RFP says. The overall nonprice factors will be “significantly more important” than price in picking a contractor, it said. Value criteria include a contractor’s technical prowess at fulfilling program goals and the worth of its “quality assurance surveillance” and management plans, it said. Performance risk and evaluation of previous performance will figure prominently in level of confidence factors used to pick a winner, it says.