Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Services

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is soliciting proposals under solicitation number 54-SS-3260077 for full-service marketing, advertising, and public relations services. The selected vendor will provide account management, creative services, and media buy management to support various outreach and education programs, including the NC By Train, Click It or Ticket, and NC Booze It and Lose It campaigns. While NCDOT maintains internal creative teams, the vendor will primarily focus on identifying and facilitating the optimum use of paid advertising media for large-scale projects. Because funding is subject to annual fluctuations in state and federal allocations, vendors must propose scalable media plans that can be adjusted across low, medium, and high funding scenarios. The state will utilize a Best Value procurement method, ranking proposals based on case studies of prior work, vendor experience and staff organization, customer references, and cost. Proposals must be submitted electronically via the electronic Vendor Portal by October 27, 2026. Awardees are required to register with the North Carolina Secretary of State within ten business days of notification and must certify their financial stability. The contract mandates that no work be subcontracted without prior written consent and requires the vendor to maintain a designated customer service point of contact. Performance will be evaluated using industry standard metrics and is subject to approval by the NCDOT Contract Manager before invoices are paid.