Seascape Newsletter Printer

The City of Santa Monica (the "City") is seeking bids for the printing and mailing of the spring and fall Seascape newsletter as required by the City Manager's Office.

The City has reinstated its print newsletter Seascape for two editions per year (fall and spring - roughly April and October), which is mailed to every address in Santa Monica, roughly 62,250 households. Additional copies are placed at various city facilities, and it’s also made available online. Prior to 2022, when Seascape went on hiatus, it was a quarterly newspaper. In its new biannual iteration, Seascape is formatted like a magazine and is about 16 pages.

Bid Description

FURNISH AND DELIVER PRINTING AND MAILING SEASCAPE NEWSLETTER.

The City will provide the design files for Seascape and will require the newsletter to be printed and delivered to USPS in a two-week timeframe. The first edition must be mailed in April 2027 and then will follow the April-October-April cadence each year, through the completion of the term of the agreement in October 2030.

The City requires that printing is done on 100% recycled paper.

The City will pay for postage directly to USPS, but the printer must procure the mailing list of all eleven (11) zip codes in Santa Monica, coordinate mailing with USPS, and drop off the newsletters to USPS.

Production requirements:

• A. Printing, collating/folding/assembling, affixing address labels, and delivering Seascape booklet newsletter to the Post Office to be mailed to every address in Santa Monica (~62,250).
• 1. Must include the cost of obtaining the address list as many times as would be needed across three (3) years
• 2. Newsletter is approximately 16 pages, to be printed on 8.5"x11", 28 lb uncoated 100% recycled paper with bleed.
• B. Printing, collating/folding/assembling, and delivering approximately 1,000 Seascape booklet newsletters in English and 500 in Spanish to City Hall.
• C. Creating a minimum WGAG 2.1 Level AA compliant PDF flipbook of Spanish and English versions of Seascape that the City can easily upload to offer a digital version of the Newsletter.

Minimum Qualifications

• A. Must be able to create ADA WCAG 2.1 Level AA online compliant flipbooks in English and Spanish
• B. Maximum two (2) week turn around time from receipt of final design from the City to complete production and mailing of the Newsletter.

CITY OF SANTA MONICA ONLY ACCEPTS ELECTRONIC BID SUBMITTALS. Submissions will only be accepted through the CITY'S ONLINE VENDOR PORTAL (OpenGov). They must be received by the specified date and bid opening time. Late bids will not be accepted.

Bids will be electronically opened by the Procurement Office at **3:00 pm (Pacific Time) on Wednesday, December 2, 2026**.

There will not be a job walk held for this project.

Questions must be submitted online in the “Q&A” tab. Responses to inquiries received will be posted online by Wednesday, November 18, 2026, 3:00 pm Pacific Time.

The award, if any, will be made to the best bidder(s). In evaluating whether a bidder(s) is (are) the best bidder(s) pursuant to the Santa Monica Municipal Code, City may utilize some or all of the following criteria:

• Price.
• The quality of the material or services offered.
• The ability, capacity, and skill of the bidder(s) to perform the contract or provide the materials or services.
• The capacity of the bidder(s) to perform the contract or provide the service promptly, within the time specified, and without delay or interference.
• The sufficiency of the bidder’s financial resources.
• The character, integrity, reputation, judgment, training, experience, and efficiency of the bidder.
• The ability of the bidder(s) to provide such future maintenance or service as may be needed.

Bids submitted may be withdrawn by written request received before the due date and time. After that time, no bidder may withdraw a bid for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of opening.

Contractor shall procure and maintain for the duration of the Agreement insurance, including Commercial General Liability of no less than $1,000,000 per occurrence, Automobile Liability of no less than $1,000,000 per accident, and Workers’ Compensation with Statutory Limits and Employers’ Liability of no less than $1,000,000 per accident.