Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 5.B
Meeting Date: August 12, 2026
From: Ryan Hunt, Director of Communications & Engagement Title: Consultant Selection for the Citywide Integrated Strategic Communications Plan
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that City Council:
Approve JPW Communications as the selected consultant for the Citywide Integrated Strategic Communications Plan based on the evaluation panel's scoring and recommendation; and
Approve an Agreement for Services with JPW Communications and authorize the City Manager to execute the agreement for an amount not to exceed $78,575.
BACKGROUND:
At its most recent Strategic Planning Workshop, the City Council prioritized the development of an integrated communications strategic plan serving all City departments. That direction was informed by resident survey research conducted by FM3, which identified opportunities to strengthen community awareness of City services, programs, and initiatives.
Cathedral City communicates today through a wide range of channels — the Discover Digest newsletter, El Informador, Cathedral City Television (CCTV), FlashVote surveys, social media, and the City's websites. These efforts, however, have developed independently across departments over time. The Integrated Strategic Communications Plan is intended to unify them under a single strategy: a multi-year roadmap that aligns, prioritizes, and elevates communications citywide; closes the knowledge gaps documented in resident survey research; and ensures equitable, multilingual engagement with Cathedral City's residents, businesses, and visitors.
The City issued a Request for Proposals on May 20, 2026, seeking qualified strategic communications consultants or firms. The RFP was posted to the City's website and distributed to qualified public sector communications firms. The RFP schedule included the following key dates:
• RFP issued: May 20, 2026
• Deadline to receive unique questions from submitters: June 3, 2026 • City posted answers to unique questions: June 10, 2026 • Proposal submission deadline: June 24, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. • Consultant interviews: July 6, 2026
• Evaluation and scoring completed: July 2026
SCOPE OF PROJECT:
The RFP established a project budget not to exceed $100,000, with an anticipated range of $50,000 to $100,000, and a delivery timeline of approximately six (6) months from contract execution. The selected consultant will partner with the Director of Communications & Engagement and a cross-departmental staff team across three phases:
Phase 1 — Discovery, Research & Assessment (approximately 6–8 weeks) A communications audit of all City departments covering current strategies, channels, content, brand standards, and staff capacity; review and synthesis of existing City research including the FM3 community survey, FlashVote surveys, the Five-Year Strategic Plan, and departmental work plans; stakeholder interviews with the City Manager, Department Heads, the Director of Communications & Engagement, all five Councilmembers, and key external partners; focus groups and community listening sessions with priority audience segments including Spanish-speaking residents, LGBTQ+ residents, business owners, seniors, and youth; and benchmarking against comparable Coachella Valley and California cities.
Phase 2 — Strategy Development (approximately 6–8 weeks) A citywide communications vision, mission, brand voice, and guiding principles; identification of priority audiences, including underserved and historically underrepresented communities, with tailored engagement strategies for each; key message frameworks and narrative architecture for the City overall and each major department; a channel strategy spanning earned, owned, paid, and social media — including Spanish-language and LGBTQ+- targeted media partnerships; a crisis communications framework building on existing City practices; and recommendations for the organizational and staffing model, technology stack, and recurring budget framework necessary to execute the Plan.
Phase 3 — Implementation Roadmap & Final Plan (approximately 6–8 weeks) A multi-year implementation roadmap with prioritized initiatives, timelines, owners, and success metrics; a KPI dashboard framework with baseline data and target performance indicators tied to the FM3 survey; a measurement and evaluation plan including recommendations for a follow-up community survey to assess plan impact; and the final Plan document with a Spanish-language executive summary, all source materials, and an executive presentation suitable for City Council, the Executive Team, and the public.
Deliverables
1. Project work plan and kickoff materials
2. Communications audit report and benchmarking analysis
3. Stakeholder interview and community engagement summary
4. Draft Integrated Strategic Communications Plan for staff and Council review
5. Final Integrated Strategic Communications Plan (English) with Spanish executive summary
6. Multi-year implementation roadmap and KPI dashboard framework
7. Executive presentation to the City Council and Executive Team DISCUSSION:
The City received ten (10) proposals by the submission deadline. Proposals were submitted by:
1. Tripepi Smith
2. Axiom of Purpose
3. Caplan Communications LLC
4. Strategos Consulting
5. JPW Communications
6. LOMA
7. Raftelis
8. Civi Social
9. Voz Strategies
10. ZO Agency
An evaluation panel consisting of the following members conducted a thorough review of all proposals:
• Ryan Hunt, Director of Communications & Engagement, City of Cathedral City (lead) • Andrew Firestine, City Manager, City of Cathedral City • Mark Muenzer, Director of Community & Economic Development, City of Cathedral City
• Risseth Lora, Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer, Office of Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez
• Kate Anderson, Director of Public Relations, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Proposals were evaluated on a 100-point scale consisting of a technical score (85 points) reflecting qualifications, approach, and experience, and a cost score (15 points) allocated proportionally based on proposed price.
Evaluation Results
Rank Firm Technical Cost Total Proposed Price
1 JPW Communications 74.40 10.19 84.59 $73,575
2 Raftelis 68.80 8.72 77.52 $86,000
3 Tripepi Smith 65.80 7.52 73.32 $99,770
4 Voz Strategies 61.20 10.53 71.73 $71,250
5 Axiom of Purpose 60.00 8.93 68.93 $84,000
6 Civi Social 53.40 15.00 68.40 $50,000
7 ZO Agency 59.00 7.86 66.86 $95,440
8 LOMA 52.21 9.38 61.58 $80,000
9 Caplan Communications
LLC
40.00 8.47 48.47 $88,500
10 Strategos Consulting 26.80 7.61 34.41 $98,500
JPW Communications received the highest average score of 84.59 points, finishing 7.07 points ahead of the next-highest proposer. The firm scored highest of all proposers on the technical evaluation (74.40) and was the only proposer to receive consistently strong marks from every panelist, with individual total scores ranging narrowly from 80.19 to 87.19 — the tightest score band among all ten submittals.
The panel found that JPW Communications demonstrated superior qualifications in the following areas:
• Strategic communications planning experience with comparable public agencies • Research and community engagement methodology
• Capacity for equitable, multilingual, and underserved-community outreach • Project team, phased implementation approach, and measurement framework JPW Communications also proposed the third-lowest price of the ten submittals at $73,575, delivering the strongest combination of technical merit and value. Of the two lower-priced proposals, neither scored competitively on the technical evaluation.
Negotiated Scope Enhancement
Following selection, staff negotiated one addition to the base proposal. In response to the community's demographic profile and the Plan's emphasis on equitable engagement, JPW Communications will collaborate with Novoa Communications to provide enhanced multicultural outreach and engagement support services at an additional cost of $5,000. This addition strengthens the Plan's capacity to reach Spanish-speaking and historically underrepresented residents during the Phase 1 listening sessions and the Phase 2 channel strategy. The enhancement brings the total agreement amount to $78,575.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The proposed Agreement for Services with JPW Communications is in an amount not to exceed $78,575, consisting of the firm's base proposal of $73,575 and $5,000 for enhanced multicultural outreach and engagement support services. The total is $21,425 below the $100,000 project budget established in the RFP and within the $50,000–$100,000 anticipated range.
The Contractor will invoice the City at the completion of each phase:
Phase Amount
Phase 1 — Discovery, Research & Assessment $35,375
Phase 2 — Strategy Development $18,490
Phase 3 — Implementation Roadmap & Final Plan $19,710
Enhanced multicultural outreach (Novoa Communications) $5,000 Total $78,575
Funding is available within the adopted budget, and no budget amendment is required. Of the total, $63,817.50 will be provided from Councilmember Gordon's district funds, with the remaining $14,757.50 funded from the previously approved general marketing budget in Communications & Events.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
This action supports Goal F-6: Develop and implement a comprehensive, integrated communications plan and responds directly to City Council direction provided at the Strategic Planning Workshop.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Agreement for Services — City of Cathedral City and JPW Communications
2. Proposal Scoring Summary
3. Request for Proposals — Citywide Integrated Strategic Communications Plan
4. JPW Communications Proposal