Many units across campus use outside vendors for creative services. Thus, it was deemed important to have a reasonably large selection to ensure timely service and appropriate attention to each unit. We also wanted to provide a range of vendors, from individual freelancers to full-service creative agencies—with expertise in a variety of areas—allowing each unit to find the best fit for their particular projects.
You should fill out a request for quote form that is sent to the selected vendors and follow all applicable procurement guidelines and policies. This includes competitive bidding requirements to ensure price reasonableness. Once the project is awarded, you will begin by filling out a short creative brief. This will help the vendor understand your creative needs as well as the timing. The vendor will then schedule a kickoff meeting to review the brief with you and/or your team.
Please review the vendor information page, which outlines their specialties, as well as presentations and websites to view more of their work.
No. Each unit is responsible for following all applicable procurement guidelines and policies. This includes competitive bidding requirements to ensure price reasonableness. Your creative services vendor may recommend print or production vendors to include in the bidding process. Contact Procurement if you have questions regarding working with print or production vendors.
Yes, you will need to work with a prequalified vendor for all creative/design service projects. The exception would be for editorial services. You are not required to use these vendors for editorial services, including proofreading, but can inquire for a quote. We have every confidence that these prequalified vendors will provide exceptional service to your unit.
The form is helpful when requesting estimates from the chosen vendors, but you are not required to use it.
There is no penalty to a vendor for declining to bid on a project, regardless of the reason. They are not required to provide further information.
In the unlikely scenario that none of the prequalified vendors are able to complete your project, please contact University Communications and Procurement Services to discuss your options.
Vendors may ask questions to the unit representative who filled out the original RFQ via phone or email. If the question and answer are significant enough to change their quote, the question and answer should be remitted to vendors you previously reached out to via email.
The unit should notify selected vendors about the correction via email and may provide more time to submit a response, depending on the scope of the error.
Vendor responses are due by 11:59 p.m. on the date requested in the RFQ.
The unit representative must notify chosen vendors of the job cancellation via email.
The unit representative may select either option.
The unit representative must notify the awarded vendor and any others who submitted.
Regardless of the project's funding source, a creative brief provides a clear outline of the project’s scope and helps the vendor understand all aspects of the project: the objective, target audience, voice and tone of the creative, along with deliverables and timeline. It puts everyone on the same page and makes the ensuing discussions more efficient and effective.
If copy is supplied directly by the UB unit, the vendor is not liable for any text errors. Proofreading is incumbent on the unit to facilitate. Should you require additional editorial services such as copywriting and/or proofreading, the selected vendor may provide them at an additional fee. However, there is no requirement to do so.
If a vendor does not have the brand typefaces they should contact the senior communicator of the unit they are contracting with. Each unit’s senior communicator has a set a of licenses they can temporarily assign to a vendor for the duration of the project. At the project's completion, the vendor must certify in writing that they have removed the typeface from their equipment.
Please reach out to University Communications with any further questions.