How to Write an RFP for an Environmental Outreach Campaign

Rethink Runoff, the stormwater outreach campaign that twelve permittees in Chittenden County, Vermont now share, has run since 2003, and its sponsors have surveyed residents in repeated waves to see whether it works. Their April 2026 RFP budgets more each year for media than for the firm that runs it. That ratio is a useful test of any outreach scope.

An environmental outreach campaign is a planned set of messages and channels meant to change what an audience knows or does about an environmental or energy issue. You need one when a permit or program goal depends on residents or businesses acting. The RFP succeeds when it names one measurable behavior per audience and funds baseline research before creative.

What this work should deliver

The outcome is a measured change in awareness, behavior or program participation among named audiences. Peninsula Clean Energy’s 2025 RFP shows the form: raise brand awareness from 40% to above 60% of about 300,000 residential accounts over five years, and generate program leads along the way. A campaign that cannot state its target that plainly is buying activity instead of results.

Decide early which of three things you are buying, because each carries a different scope and metric:

• Awareness, measured by survey against a baseline.
• A specific behavior, such as picking up pet waste or scheduling a quote for a heat pump under an electrification program, measured by survey or observation.
• Program enrollment, such as energy efficiency rebates, measured by applications or sign-ups.

Montgomery County, Maryland makes the same distinction in its 2025 Clean Water Montgomery grants, capping knowledge-building projects at $40,000 and behavior-change projects at $60,000.

Who this is for: MS4 stormwater permittees, water and energy utilities, community choice aggregators, state energy offices, green banks and environmental nonprofits running public programs. It is the wrong tool for gathering input on a project decision, which needs a stakeholder engagement plan, and for policy advocacy, which federal grant rules restrict.

Rules and standards to cite

Stormwater permits. Under 40 CFR 122.34(b)(1), small MS4 permits must require a public education program on the impacts of stormwater discharges and the steps the public can take to reduce pollutants. The same section requires permit terms in "clear, specific, and measurable terms" and an evaluation of progress on the measurable requirements. Permittees may share a campaign under 40 CFR 122.35, but each remains responsible if the shared program fails, which is why EPA encourages a binding agreement.

Method. EPA’s Getting in Step (third edition, November 2010) sets six steps: objectives, audience analysis, message, packaging, distribution and evaluation. It warns that teams often start in the middle and skip measurable objectives, and it tells them to pretest messages with members of the audience. It also splits indicators into social measures, such as knowledge and behavior, and environmental measures of water quality.

Federal funds. 2 CFR 200.421 allows advertising for program outreach and public communication about award activities. It makes promotional items and memorabilia unallowable, along with advertising designed solely to promote the recipient. Keep federally funded work clear of ballot measures and legislation: 2 CFR 200.450 bars charging lobbying costs to federal awards, and for nonprofits that includes publicity aimed at referendums or pending legislation.

Environmental claims. If the campaign markets products or services, such as green power or efficiency upgrades, the FTC’s Green Guides, last revised in 2012, apply. 16 CFR 260.4 tells marketers to avoid unqualified general environmental benefit claims. Our glossary entry on greenwashing covers the wider risk.

Accessibility. 28 CFR 35.200 covers web content an agency provides directly or through contractors. Among the exceptions in 35.201, social posts made before the compliance date are exempt, and third-party content is exempt only when no contract or other arrangement with the agency lies behind it. A Department of Justice interim final rule set those dates at April 26, 2027 for governments of 50,000 or more people and April 26, 2028 for smaller ones and special districts. Captions, alt text and accessible PDFs belong in the scope, not in a later fix.

For language access after the 2025-2026 federal changes, see the rules section of our stakeholder engagement plan RFP guide.

Scoping decisions that set the budget

Research first. Without a baseline survey you cannot show change later, and our impact measurement hub covers the methods. Rethink Runoff has repeated its resident survey since 2003, most recently in 2023, with the next wave planned for 2028, so each new firm inherits a trend line.

Separate fees, production and media. Chittenden County pays its media invoices directly, and Peninsula Clean Energy required bidders to show labor, production and media or event costs separately, plus, for bids covering several task areas, a sample allocation at a $500,000 budget. Ask for net media costs and any commission as its own line.

Own the accounts. The 2026 Rethink Runoff RFP had to carve out digital ads the outgoing firm had already bought, to be managed under a separate contract after July 1. Register ad accounts, domains, analytics and social channels to the agency from day one.

Plan for languages as audiences. Peninsula Clean Energy’s RFP notes that 45% of San Mateo County residents speak a language other than English at home, and it named Spanish, Tagalog and Chinese as priority languages. Budget in-language writers and community review, since word-for-word translation rarely carries a behavior message.

Sample scope of work

Task 1. Discovery and baseline. Measure before you message.

The Consultant shall review existing materials, program data and prior research, and shall design and field a baseline survey of the priority audiences measuring awareness, knowledge, attitudes and the target behaviors. Survey questions shall be written so they can be repeated without change in follow-up waves, and the Agency shall own the instrument and data.

Task 2. Audience and behavior strategy. Narrow the ask.

The Consultant shall recommend no more than [three] priority audiences and one target behavior or action for each, supported by the baseline findings on barriers and motivators. The strategy shall state a measurable objective, a baseline and a target date for each behavior.

Task 3. Messages and pretesting. Test before production.

The Consultant shall develop message concepts and pretest them with members of each priority audience in each campaign language before final production. Materials in languages other than English shall be written or adapted by fluent writers and reviewed by community reviewers.

Task 4. Creative production. Build assets the agency can reuse.

The Consultant shall produce the approved creative in formats suited to each channel and partner. All digital content shall conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, including captions and alternative text, and editable source files shall be delivered to the Agency.

Task 5. Media planning and buying. Make cost and results traceable.

The Consultant shall prepare a media plan by flight, channel and audience with projected reach, frequency and cost per result. Media shall be purchased at net cost [or billed to and paid directly by the Agency], any commission shall appear as a separate line, and placements shall be tracked and attributed wherever the channel allows.

Task 6. Partner distribution. Use trusted messengers.

The Consultant shall prepare toolkits for member jurisdictions and partner organizations, including ready-to-post content and print files, and shall track partner use of each asset.

Task 7. Measurement, reporting and transition. Close each year with evidence.

The Consultant shall report monthly on spending and performance, deliver an annual report suitable for [permit or program] reporting by [date], and field a follow-up survey using the baseline instrument. All accounts, domains and analytics properties shall be registered to the Agency, and at contract end the Consultant shall transfer all files, data and access within 30 days.

Deliverables to require

• Baseline survey instrument, dataset and findings memo.
• Audience and behavior strategy with a measurable objective per audience.
• Message testing report covering each campaign language.
• Creative assets with editable source files and an accessibility conformance check.
• Media plan and monthly media reports showing net cost, commission and cost per result.
• Partner toolkits and a record of partner use.
• Annual results report formatted for permit or program reporting. Rethink Runoff’s is due each March 1 and covers media purchases, earned media and web traffic.
• Follow-up survey results compared with the baseline.
• A transition package: account ownership confirmation, files and data.

Ask for modular assets. In our iMPAct Reports work for the Maryland Port Administration, each infographic was built so individual elements could be pulled into presentations, reports and outreach by other staff.

How to evaluate proposals

For a published comparison, Hawaii’s State Energy Office scored its 2021 outreach RFP out of 200 points: 95 for approach, 55 for background and staffing, 40 for timeline and budget, and 10 for sample work. Peninsula Clean Energy asked for three work samples showing the problem, solution, cost and results, which is the right standard.

Skip spec creative. Unpaid concepts reward firms with spare staff, and they are made without your research. Ask finalists to critique one of your existing ads and explain what they would test first.

With federal funds, 2 CFR 200.320 requires competitive proposals to list every evaluation factor with its relative importance and to weigh price. Chittenden County’s selection weighs qualifications, price and the ability to meet the MS4 permit requirement.

Timeline

Sources: the Chittenden County RFP, the Peninsula Clean Energy RFP and the Hawaii RFP.

Multi-year terms with annual reviews suit outreach, because the second and third flights are where tested messages pay off. Chittenden County can end its contract on 60 days’ notice from either side.

Budget and cost drivers

Chittenden County expects to pay $7,000 to $15,000 a year in professional fees, excluding media and subconsultants, against up to $26,000 a year in media: about $7,000 in fall, $2,400 in winter and $16,600 in spring. It adds about $9,000 for new creative in one or two of the five years. Hawaii capped its 2021 statewide clean energy outreach and engagement contract at $110,000, funded by U.S. Department of Energy State Energy Program formula grants.

Peninsula Clean Energy did not publish a cap, but it asked firms bidding on several task areas to show how they would split a $500,000 budget across strategy, campaigns, creative, media, public relations and events.

What moves cost:

• Media market and flight length. Broadcast in a large metro costs more than digital in a nine-town region.
• Research. Baseline and follow-up surveys, focus groups and message testing in each language.
• Languages. In-language writing and community review for each version.
• Production. Video, photography with real residents, and print for partners.
• Web work. A new campaign site costs more than maintaining one; Rethink Runoff’s scope is maintenance of an existing WordPress site.
• Approvals. Twelve permittees or several program owners mean more review rounds.
• Accessibility. Captioning, alt text and PDF remediation for every asset.

Red flags in proposals

• Impressions, reach and followers as the only measures of success.
• Creative concepts before any audience research, or no pretest.
• Media commissions left undisclosed, or ad accounts registered to the firm.
• Translation by the word with no in-language writer or community review.
• A brand refresh offered when the RFP asked for a behavior change.
• Spec creative from a team that will not staff the account.
• Promised virality or guaranteed earned media coverage.

For the planning side, see our guides to communicating sustainability to non-technical audiences and campaign evaluation tools, the stormwater management glossary entry, and our sustainability communications hub.

How we'd approach it

In our work as the Maryland Clean Energy Center’s on-demand communications partner, task orders with monthly budget reviews let effort move between programs such as USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program and the Maryland Energy Innovation Accelerator. For Chesapeake Watershed Restoration Professionals, the toolkit included a short FAQ that answered objections about heavy equipment and tree removal before they came up. We would start any campaign by asking which single behavior would change the outcome, then build the measurement around that behavior.