City Communications Support Services

Bid/RFP Status:

Open - accepting bids and proposals

Bid/RFP Due Date:

Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 5:00pm

Back to New Bid Opportunities

Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

Communications Support Services

Submission Deadline: January 15, 2026

Summary

As a contractor for the Communications Department, you will help support communications and marketing activities for the City by helping to write, edit, and design newsletters, Cityscape quarterly magazine, website content, social media posts, and take photos and videos of the City’s staff, projects, events, and programs. Reporting to the Director of Communications & Marketing, you will lend support on a variety of activities within the department and assist with a broad array of communications and community engagement strategies.

As a communications contractor you should possess good writing/editing skills, have a dedicated attention to detail, be comfortable using technology, have an openness to learning new things and an interest in supporting content creation across all owned media platforms (website, social media, newsletters, etc.). Operating in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment, you should be flexible in your hours and approach to the work, comfortable collaborating with members of other teams and be able to professionally interact with a variety of City-staff, volunteers, businesses, City partners, other City contractors, and community members.

The Communications Department is a collaborative, team-oriented department that works closely with all City departments to provide outstanding service and communications support to the City’s 100+ staff, 5,500 Utility customers, and 10,500+ households inside and outside City limits. This is a fantastic opportunity to utilize and build skills in communications and marketing while making a difference in the community through increasing an understanding of municipal work and building trust in local government.

Scope of Work and Deliverables

The City of Port Townsend seeks to enter into a one-year service agreement with a qualified communications contractor who will support our Communications Department with communications and graphic design services. The desired scope of work covers but is not limited to newsletters, website updates, print communications, and social media:

Assist the Director of Communications & Marketing in:
- Drafting and updating social media posts and website content, including capturing photos and videos, editing, and uploading to the website and social media.
- Drafting content for use in press releases, emails, newsletters, event promotion, project communications, and more.
- Reviewing content and copyediting materials for grammar and punctuation.
Engage and collaborate with departments across the City and partners to understand their communications needs, gather relevant content, confirm facts and data, and help with project details and timelines.
- Five hours per week of this position are dedicated to the Public Works Department, which has the largest number of staff, projects, and budget at the City.
Compile analytics across all channels monthly and review with the Director of Communications & Marketing, to guide communications strategy and activities.
Organize and maintain asset resources and image/video library.

Assist in maintaining email lists for campaigns.
Work collaboratively in a team environment.
Complete assigned tasks by scheduled deadlines.
Assist with other projects assigned to support communications goals.

Qualifications

Portfolio of work in marketing, communications, design, and/or journalism.

Ability to work collaboratively within a team, with a learning mindset.
Strong computer skills, especially in Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel).
Experience with social media management, especially Facebook and YouTube.
Experience with web-based technology platforms for communication and presentation purposes, like Canva, Miro, and Mailchimp.
Strong attention to detail.
Strong writing, copyediting, and photography skills.
Good time management and organizational skills with the ability to plan ahead and meet deadlines.
Able to handle a variety of tasks simultaneously while placing a high value on quality over quantity.
Effective written and oral communication skills – appropriate for both internal and external communications.
Openness to understanding, interpreting, and writing about complex topics.
Respectfully takes direction and feedback on projects.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

One to two years minimum of experience in communications, marketing, graphic design, or other related areas.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Experience with Adobe Creative Suite, video editing software, or other content creation tools.
Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, and/or design.
Experience working in municipal government.

Compensation

Selected contractor must be willing to work on multiple projects simultaneously based on the fixed hourly rate of $35 per hour, billed monthly to the nearest 15-minute interval with no minimum time per task. Contract not to exceed $28,000 for all services rendered. Work is expected to average around 15 hours of work per week, but will fluctuate based on seasonal projects, City capacity needs, and contractor scheduling.

Work can be performed remotely with in-person meetings at Port Townsend City Hall. There will be no reimbursement for equipment or travel time. Computer and phone will need to be supplied by the contractor. The term of service will be for a one-year period of time with the option to extend the agreement for additional one-year periods based on need, performance, and funding availability.

Timeline

RFQ Posted: December 31, 2025

Deadline for submission: January 15, 2026, 5:00PM PST

Proposed selection, notification, and potential interviews: January 20, 2026 Firm start date of contract: January 26, 2026

Submission

The following materials should be submitted online to sleavens@cityofpt.us no later than 5 p.m. on January 15, 2026.

Cover letter including description of relevant experience and desire to work in municipal communications. Confirmation of availability starting January 26.
Name and contact information (email, phone number)
Resume
Five to ten samples of work (links or attachments)
Three references (for prior work of a similar nature)

Questions?

Contact Shelly Leavens, Director of Communications & Marketing at sleavens@cityofpt.us.

Public Disclosure and Waiver of Claims

Each individual submitting a response to the Request for Qualifications understands that all documents, emails, and other types of communications are subject to public disclosure. You are also waiving any claims for damage by reason of selection of another proposal and/or rejection of your proposal. The RFQ does not obligate the City to pay any cost incurred by respondents in the preparation and submission of a response. Additionally, the RFQ does not obligate the City to accept or contract for any expressed or implied services. The City of Port Townsend reserves the right to reject any and all submittals, and to re-advertise the RFQ.

Contract Award

The City reserves the right to make an award without further discussion of the proposal submitted. Therefore, the proposal should be initially submitted on the most favorable terms. The City shall not be bound or in any way obligated until both parties have executed a Professional Services Agreement and the consultant has met all City requirements for vendor establishment. All consultants who submitted statements of qualifications will be notified in writing of the final contract award decision.

If the City and the selected consultant are unable to reach final agreement, the City may terminate negotiations with the vendor and begin negotiations with another vendor or may make no award and terminate all negotiations. A final professional services contract must be executed prior to initiating any work.

A City business license is required.

Title VI and ADA Compliance

https://cityofpt.us/cco/page/title-vi-and-americans-disabilities-act

Title VI Policy

It is the policy of the City of Port Townsend that no person shall on the grounds of race, color, and national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in any operation of the City of Port Townsend as provided by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related statutes. This policy applies to all operations of the City of Port Townsend, including its contractors and anyone who acts on behalf of the City of Port Townsend. This policy also applies to the operations of any department or agency to which the City of Port Townsend extends federal financial assistance. Federal financial assistance includes grants, training, equipment usage, donations of surplus property, and other assistance.

Title VI Complaints

1. Any person or group who believes they were discriminated against based on race, color, or national origin in programs, services, or activities where there is federal assistance may file a Title VI complaint.

2. A complaint must be filed no later than 180 days after the date of the last instance of alleged discrimination, unless the time for filing is extended by the processing agency.

3. Complaints should be in writing, signed, and filed by mail, fax, in person, or e-mail to Alyssa Rodrigues, City Clerk, arodrigues@cityofpt.us. If a complainant phones a subrecipient with the allegations, subrecipients shall transcribe the allegations of the complaint as provided by phone and then send a written complaint to the complainant for correction and signature.

Notice under the Americans with Disabilities Act

In accordance with the requirements of title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), the City of Port Townsend (City) will not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs, or activities.

Employment: The City does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its hiring or employment practices and complies with all regulations promulgated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under title I of the ADA.

Effective Communication: The City will generally, upon request, provide appropriate aids and services leading to effective communication or qualified persons with disabilities so they can participate equally in the City’s programs, services, and activities, including qualified sign language interpreters, documents in Braille, and other ways of making information and communications accessible to people who have speech, hearing, or vision impairments.