Over the past 40 years, the City’s Communications & Marketing Division has designed a two-color newsletter in-house, printed externally, and distributed to every residential and business address in town, with the overruns available at City Hall and other public facilities. The current quantity printed is approximately 20,000 issues, six times per year. The Brea Line newsletter communicates important public information about City Council actions, development projects, public safety information, programs, upcoming special events and meetings, and City services. Additionally, the newsletter serves as the Community Services Department’s recreation guide, promoting classes, programs and sports, realizing revenue offsets. Brea Line continues to be one of the top ways Brea residents obtain information about the city, according to the last scientific community satisfaction survey conducted during the Brea Envisions outreach in 2017. It is also the only consistent, informative publication currently mailed directly to Brea homes and businesses.
With the recent addition of a Public Information digital newsletter, Brea On-line, City staff recommends that the frequency of producing the printed Brea Line newsletter be reduced from six times per year to four times per year. This change would also better accommodate the Community Services Department’s recreation programs scheduled seasonally. With the savings realized by reducing two issues annually (the cost of postage and printing), staff proposes to modernize the look and improve the effectiveness of Brea Line by printing in full color, as opposed to the two-color printing utilized for more than four decades. Aside from being the industry standard, four-color printing is also attention-grabbing, allows for better use of photos, and is digital-ready for other outreach purposes conducted by staff.
The Communications and Marketing Division developed the specifications and the scope of work, while the Purchasing Division solicited competitive proposals from qualified companies. Three companies submitted responses by May 21, 2019 deadline and staff began the evaluations immediately thereafter. Based on qualifications and a competitive price, staff selected Deluxe Branded Marketing that offered the best-value proposal.
| Score |
Company Name |
First-Year Price* |
| 96.98 |
Deluxe Branded Marketing, Pomona, CA |
$41,600 |
| 92.98 |
Dual Graphics, Brea, CA |
$47,600 |
| 0 |
California Senior Guide Inc., Riverside, CA |
Non-responsive** |
*Based on four (4) 28-page issues.
**Unfortunately, California Senior Guide did not provide any of the required documents, samples, and information; therefore, their response was deemed non-responsive and not eligible for further evaluation or award consideration.
The Agreement for this new printing contract has a one-year base period and up to four one-year renewal terms for a four-color version of Brea Line. Since the prices are fixed for each year of the contract, staff requests that City Council authorize the City Manager to exercise the renewal terms as long as the contractor’s performance continues to meet Brea’s requirements. Due to content and layout, the amount of pages per issue of the Brea Line newsletter tends to vary between 24 and 28 pages. Moving to four issues per year, we anticipate publishing more 28-page issues annually, and therefore recommend that the contract price be based off of that amount. Staff is also requesting to add a 10% contingency to cover fluctuations in print quantities. Currently, a quantity of 20,000 Brea Lines are printed for each issue. With anticipated population growth, we expect that quantity to increase within the next five years and would use the contingency to increase print quantities. The table below shows the not-to-exceed amount for the next five years based on printing 28-page issues, four times a year.
Deluxe Branded Marketing Not-to-Exceed Pricing for Years 1 – 5
| Year |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| Contract Amount |
$41,600 |
$44,000 |
$45,600 |
$48,000 |
$50,400 |
| 10% Contingency |
$4,160 |
$4,400 |
$4,560 |
$4,800 |
$5,040 |
| Total |
$45,760 |
$48,400 |
$50,160 |
$52,800 |
$55,440 |
|