Graphic Design Services

The purpose of this solicitation is to establish contracts with qualified and experienced vendors to provide high-quality graphic design services for West-MEC. Services may include, but are not limited to, creative concept development, branding and visual identity support, and the layout and design of marketing, communications, and instructional materials.

West-MEC seeks vendors who demonstrate strong design capabilities, attention to detail, and the ability to deliver consistent, professional results that align with the organization’s branding standards. Vendors should be capable of managing projects from initial concept through final design, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness. The resulting contracts will support a variety of district needs, including promotional materials, educational publications, signage, and other visual communication assets.

Background

Western Maricopa Education Center No. 402 (West-MEC) is a public-school district that provides innovative Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. West-MEC affirms that each student houses unique potential, and our innovative programs aim to bring that to the surface. West-MEC prepares students across more than 30 unique CTE programs for a bright future through hands-on learning with industry-standard equipment, experienced instructors, and leadership opportunities.

West-MEC serves more than 45,000 students from 130 high schools in the northern and western cities of the Phoenix Metropolitan area are enrolled in West-MEC funded programs. The West-MEC boundary spans 3,876 square miles, serving students at multiple locations listed below, with new campuses to be added.

Corporate South:         5405 N. 99^th Ave., Glendale, AZ 85305

Corporate Main:          5487 N. 99^th Ave., Glendale, AZ 85305

Central Campus:         6997 N. Glen Harbor Blvd., Glendale, AZ 85307

Southwest Campus:    500 N. Verrado Way, Buckeye, AZ 85326

Northeast Campus:     1617 W. Williams Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85027

Northwest Campus:    13201 W. Grand Ave, Surprise, AZ 85374

Career Academy @ Agua Fria: 920 N. Dysart Rd, Avondale, AZ 85323

West-MEC Future Growth:

Southeast Campus

North Peoria Campus

South Peoria Campus

Project Details

• Reference ID: 26-05-31
• Department: Communications
• Department Head: Chris Cook (PR Administrator)

Important Dates

• Questions Due: 2026-05-07T17:00:00.000Z

Meetings & Milestones

Evaluation Criteria

• Price (400 pts) —

  The price or cost of the Proposal. Price or cost is a significant factor but not the most important factor.

• Ability (175 pts) —

  The Offeror’s ability and readiness to fully perform according to the scope of work and other requirements of the Solicitation, taking into consideration any additional services, specialized services or expertise offered that would meet or exceed the requirements of the Solicitation.

• Responsiveness (300 pts) —

  The responsiveness of the Proposal to the requirements of the RFP, including an understanding of the scope of work and how it can be achieved most efficiently and effectively.

• Qualifications (125 pts) —

  The Offeror’s experience in performing comparable projects with appropriate staffing and timely completion of goals.

• Qualifications and Relevant Experience (200 pts) —

  Evaluation of the respondent’s overall qualifications and demonstrated experience in providing graphic design services similar in scope and complexity to those outlined in this solicitation. Consideration will be given to the firm’s experience with educational institutions or public sector entities, the qualifications of key personnel, and the respondent’s ability to successfully manage and deliver multiple projects.

• Portfolio of Work (Quality of Work) (250 pts) —

  Evaluation of the respondent’s submitted portfolio, including the quality, creativity, and professionalism of design work. Consideration will be given to relevance of samples to the Scope of Work, consistency with branding standards, and the respondent’s demonstrated ability to produce a variety of design materials.

• Responsiveness to the Solicitation (150 pts) —

  Evaluation of the completeness, clarity, and organization of the proposal, including the respondent’s ability to follow instructions and provide all required information. Consideration will be given to how well the proposal addresses the requirements of the RFP.

• Performance Evaluations (100 pts) —

  Evaluation of references provided, including feedback regarding the respondent’s ability to deliver graphic design services similar in scope to this solicitation. Consideration will be given to the firm’s performance in the following areas: quality of services, professionalism, communication, timeliness, problem resolution, customer service, and overall client satisfaction.

• Cost (300 pts) —

  Proposed pricing will be a significant factor in the selection process; however, West-MEC intends to award contract(s) based on overall best value rather than solely on the lowest price.

  Evaluation will consider pricing in conjunction with the respondent’s qualifications, experience, quality of work, and ability to provide reliable and consistent graphic design services. The District reserves the right to award to the respondent whose proposal represents the best overall value, taking into account both cost and non-cost factors.

  Pricing will be evaluated separately by the Procurement Office in accordance with the evaluation process.

Submission Requirements

• Response Submittal "Embedded Attachments or Documents"* (required) —

  Does your firm acknowledge and agree that it will not embed URLs, links, or digital binders, and that any content referencing outside sources will not be evaluated?

• Qualifications & Experience of Firm —

  Respondents shall provide information demonstrating their qualifications and experience in providing graphic design services. 

  Responses should be concise and directly address the information requested. Marketing materials and overly broad narratives are discouraged

• Company Overview (required) —

  Provide a brief history of the firm, including years in business and experience providing graphic design services similar in the scope of the situation. 

• Business Locations (required) —

  Identify the firm’s primary office location and any additional locations that may support the services outlined in this solicitation. 

• Key Personnel (required) —

  Identify key personnel who will be assigned to this contract, including their roles, qualifications, and relevant experience. Resumes or summaries of experience shall be included.

• Account Management (required) —

  Indicate whether a dedicated account representative will be assigned. If so, provide the individual’s name, title, and contact information, and describe their role in supporting West-MEC.

• Relevant Experience (required) —

  Describe the firm’s experience working with educational institutions or public sector entities. Include examples of similar projects, scope of work, and outcomes.

• Customer Service and Issue Resolution (required) —

  Describe the firm’s approach to customer service, including procedures for addressing concerns, resolving issues, and managing revisions or corrections when problems arise with services or deliverables.

• Capacity & Workload Management (required) —

  Describe the firm’s ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet deadlines, including any tools or processes used to track and manage workload.

• Additional Information (required) —

  Provide any additional information that demonstrates the firm’s qualifications, capabilities, and overall ability to successfully perform the required services.

• Pricing Explanations & Demonstration of Experience
• Portfolio of Work (required) —

  Respondents shall provide a portfolio of work in a single PDF document. The portfolio shall include representative samples demonstrating experience with projects similar in scope and complexity to those listed in the Scope of Work.

  All portfolio content must be contained within the PDF submission. External links, URLs, or references to outside websites or shared drives are not permitted.

  Visual examples shall be clearly labeled and may include brief descriptions of the project, scope, and the respondent’s role. For projects involving digital or dynamic elements, respondents may include screenshots or static representations within the PDF.

  Optional: Embedded media (e.g., video clips) may be included within the PDF file, provided no external links are required to access the content.

• Services Generating Cost to the District (required) —

  Provide a listing and description of any services or items not included in the proposed pricing that may result in additional costs to the District. Include an explanation of how such costs will be calculated and billed.

• Pricing Assumptions and Inclusions (required) —

  Respondents shall describe all assumptions used in developing their pricing. Include details such as the number of initial concepts, revisions, deliverables, file formats, and any limitations or conditions associated with the proposed pricing. Clearly identify what is included in the pricing and any exclusions.

  Per-design and hourly rates shall be provided in the pricing table. This section is intended to provide clarification or explanation of those rates, as needed.

• Performance Evaluation Survey (required) —

  The objective of this process is to identify the past performance of a firm and key personnel assigned to perform the specified services.  This is accomplished by sending survey forms to past and/or present clients.  The clients will return the forms directly to the District, and the ratings will be averaged together to obtain a firm’s past performance rating. 

  Upload a list of past and/or present clients for which you have provided similar services, and to whom you have sent the Performance Evaluation Survey Form. The form can be downloaded in the attachments of the RFP. References are due by 05/14/2026 by 4:00pm to be included in the evaluation. Late responses will not be accepted. 

  List format: 

  Company Name:

  First & Last Name:

  Email Address:

  Phone number:

• Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms and Conditions of the Solicitation
• Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms and Conditions of the Solicitation (required) —

  The purpose of this question is to confirm the Bidder’s or Offeror’s acknowledgement and acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Solicitation, subject to any exceptions or modifications to terms or conditions that are expressly requested or that have been requested and approved prior to submission of the Offer. All exceptions or modifications to the Solicitation, regardless of whether West-MEC (also referred to as the District) approved such items prior to submission of the Offer, must be clearly set forth in this question.

  Does the Offeror acknowledge and accept all terms and conditions of the Solicitation—including all instructions, specifications, certifications, and addendums—subject only to the express exceptions or modifications noted in the space below or in attached documentation?

• Exception Requested (required) —

  If you requested an exception under the Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms and Conditions of the Solicitation, please clearly explain the requested exception/deviation. Reference the specific language that you are taking exceptions/deviations to. Unacceptable exceptions shall remove your proposal from consideration for award. Western Maricopa Educational Center No. 402 shall be the sole judge on the acceptance of exceptions/deviations and their decision shall be final.)

  Enter N/A if this does not apply

• Request for Confidentiality of Proprietary Information —

  Explanatory Note: The purpose of this question is to request that West-MEC treat as confidential specific information in the Offer that the Offeror or Bidder believes is a trade secret or other proprietary information. All information that is the subject of the request for confidentiality must be designated on the question below reflecting the page number and paragraph of the Offer in which it appears. An explanatory statement for the request must be clearly set forth in this question. The District Representative shall review the statement and provide the determination in writing whether the information shall be protected. If the District Representative determines that the information shall be protected from disclosure, the District Representative shall inform the Bidder or Offeror in writing of such determination. Requests to protect pricing information or the entire Offer from disclosure will be denied.

• ASBESTOS AND HAZARDOUS MATERIAL STATEMENT —

  ATTENTION: Architects, Engineers, Consultants, Contractors, Sub- contractors, Craftsmen and Vendors. The following information is extremely important and must be adhered to without exception:

  Asbestos Contained Building Materials (ACBM) will not be used on any project within the Mesa Unified School District #4. ACBM is defined as any building material having an asbestos content of 1% or more. Typical examples of materials that may contain asbestos and therefore would be considered ACBM are: vinyl asbestos tile, certain forms of adhesive used to hold vinyl tile, certain forms of adhesive used to hold cove base molding, some thermal insulation, and transite paneling. The above list is not complete but merely represents some of the material more commonly found on job sites that are ACBM. As per EPA guidelines, some roofing material used on the exterior of the buildings may be considered ACBM. Address any questions concerning asbestos to Matthew Heath (623)278-9102.

  Solder and paint with any amount of lead is no longer authorized, and will not be used in any District projects.

  HOLD HARMLESS: Interface of work under this contract with work containing asbestos shall be executed by the contractor at risk and discretion with full knowledge of the currently accepted standards, hazards, risks and liabilities associated with asbestos work and asbestos containing products. By execution of this contract, the contractor acknowledges the above and agrees to hold harmless the owner, employees and agents and assigns for all asbestos liability which may be associated with respect to the above-mentioned standards, hazards, risks and liabilities.

  I have read the above information and will comply.

• Asbestos and Hazardous Material Statement (required) —

  Does offeror comply with the Asbestos and Hazardous Material Statement

• Request for Confidentiality of Proprietary Information (required) —

  The Offeror, by the undersigned representative, requests that the specific information, described below and identified on the page or pages of the Offer in which it appears, be treated as confidential information and protected from disclosure to the public.

   

  1. Description of specific information that is the subject of the request.

   

  2. The reason or reasons why the information should be treated as confidential.

   

  Enter N/A if this does not apply

• List of Subcontractors —

  The Contractor must list below the Trade, Company name, license and classification numbers of all qualified subcontractors and/or suppliers they will employ for the various portions of the work indicated. Failure on the part of the Contractor to complete this list properly may constitute sufficient grounds to reject the bid. If no subcontractors will be listed please indicate with a N/A

  Example: Trade, Company Name, ROC License #, ROC License Classification

• List of Subcontractors (required) —

  The Contractor must list below the Trade, Company name, license and classification numbers of all qualified subcontractors and/or suppliers they will employ for the various portions of the work indicated. Failure on the part of the Contractor to complete this list properly may constitute sufficient grounds to reject the bid. If no subcontractors will be listed please indicate with a N/A

  Example: Trade, Company Name, ROC License #, ROC License Classification

• Non-Collusion Affidavit
• Non-Collusion Affidavit (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• Offer and Acceptance
• Offer and Acceptance (required) —

  Please download the below documents, complete, and upload.

• Requested Forms —

  Please upload complete forms in their respective questions.

• Certificate of Insurance (COI) (required) —

  Please upload your complete COI here

• Additional or separate contract —

  The form of contract for any award made as a result of this proposal will be a district purchase order, referencing this bid, which shall be considered a part of the contract. The amount will be based upon the fees shown in the bid, and will take into consideration previous and anticipated expenses for the forthcoming year. If your firm will require West-MEC to sign an additional or separate contract, a copy of the proposal contract must be included with the proposal.

• Pricing Proposal (required) —

  Please upload your complete PRICING PROPOSAL here. Please make sure that this information is NOT included in the RFP Response Area.

• Vendor Registration & W9 (required) —

  Please upload your completed Vendor Registration and W-9 here

• Data Verification Questions —

  These questions will be utilized to confirm information you provide

• System Award Management Verification (required) —

  Please enter your company's Legal Name and/or dba Name:

• Arizona Corporation Commission (required) —

  Please enter your company's Legal Name and/or dba Name:

• Is this a GPPCS Solicitation (required)
• Is this a S.A.V.E solicitation (required)
• Electronic Pricing Table (required) —

  Do you need an Electronic Pricing Table for this solicitation?

• Pricing Proposal Upload (required) —

  Would you like to add an area for the vendor to upload a pricing document?

• Is this project going to be federally funded? (required)
• Special Terms and Conditions Verbiage (required) —

  Please check all you will require in Special Terms and Conditions

• Do you need the Asbestos and Hazardous Materials Statement (required) —

  If you click yes this document will be added to attachments

• Do you need a subcontractors? (required) —

  If you click yes, Subcontractors verbiage will be added to Special Requirements and the subcontractors list will be added to attachments.

• Is there a potential for software? (required) —

  If you click yes, additional verbiage will be added to special requirements tab

• Insurance Requirements (required) —

  Please choose which insurance requirements you will need for this project

• Partial Bids (required) —

  Yes = Acceptable

  No = Unacceptable

   

   

• Expected Award Timeframe (required) —

  Please choose how many days you would like to have the vendor hold pricing for:

Questions & Answers