Clean Air. Healthy Communities. Engagement Campaign

Houston-Galveston Area Council — Transportation has issued request for proposal, solicitation RFP-TRN26-13.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) is soliciting proposals from qualified marketing and communications firms to design and implement a comprehensive regional engagement campaign in support of the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP). The selected Contractor will expand and operationalize the existing Clean Air, Healthy Communities brand to deliver a coordinated, data-driven engagement effort across the region. The campaign will be designed to improve public understanding of air quality challenges and promote actions that contribute to measurable emissions reductions and improved public health outcomes. Ultimately, this effort will strengthen regional capacity to support cleaner air, healthier communities, and sustained environmental progress. The CAAP (see Attachment B) serves as a regional roadmap outlining coordinated strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollutants, improve public health outcomes, advance environmental equity, and support long-term economic vitality across H-GAC’s service area. The plan reflects extensive regional collaboration and establishes practical, implementable measures to address air quality challenges affecting residents, businesses, and local governments. Air pollution remains one of the most significant environmental and public health challenges in the Houston-Galveston region. Elevated ozone levels and fine particulate matter can contribute to asthma, cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, missed school and workdays, and increased healthcare costs. Vulnerable populations—including children, older adults, outdoor workers, and communities disproportionately impacted by pollution—face heightened risks. Reducing emissions and improving air quality provides measurable benefits, including improved health outcomes, enhanced quality of life, workforce productivity, and economic resilience. H-GAC has established the Clean Air, Healthy Communities regional campaign brand to support implementation of the CAAP: Clean Air, Healthy Communities. This project builds on that foundation. While earlier efforts focused on plan development and strategy identification, this phase prioritizes implementation support through public awareness, capacity building, education, and voluntary behavior change.

H-GAC is the region-wide voluntary association of 133 local governments and local elected officials in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning region of Texas. Local elected officials organized H-GAC in 1966 after authorization by State enabling legislation. Its service area is 12,500 square miles and includes more than 7-million residents. H-GAC is governed by a 36-member Board of Directors composed of local elected officials, who serve on the governing bodies of member local governments. All H-GAC programs are carried out under the policy direction of its Board of Directors. H-GAC’s mission is to serve as the instrument of local government cooperation, promoting the region’s orderly development and the safety and welfare of its residents. H-GAC is the regional organization through which local governments consider issues and cooperate in solving area-wide problems. Agency programs emphasize local government concerns, such as transportation, air and water quality, criminal justice, demographic analysis, mapping programs, and intergovernmental purchasing. H-GAC also serves its citizens through workforce development programs, services to the aging and elderly, and small business finance programs. Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO): Designated by the State of Texas as the MPO for the eight-county Houston-Galveston region, the H-GAC Transportation Department is responsible for transportation planning and policymaking, ensuring that expenditures for transportation projects and programs are based on a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive planning process. Solicitations regarding plans/studies issued by the H-GAC MPO do not seek engineering design services and the associated scopes of work do not intend to seek design services to implement the construction of specific roadways. The plans/studies which H-GAC currently undertakes are the first steps in a process, and do not replace any steps in the engineering design process that will lead to actual construction. H-GAC’s plans/studies are not relied upon for any element of engineering design. For more details please visit: About Thoroughfare Planning | Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC)

Responses are due September 24, 2026 at 12:00 PM CDT.

Questions must be submitted by August 27, 2026 at 12:00 PM CDT.

Commodity categories: Communications Marketing Services; Communications: Public Relations Consulting; Marketing Consulting.

3 documents are attached to the notice: H-GAC Sample Contract Standard General Provisions; Clean-Air-Action-Plan_Full-Report_Final Draft_032426; H-GAC_Branding_Standards.

The full solicitation document, addenda and the question-and-answer thread are on the agency's OpenGov portal at https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/h-gac/projects/282822. Responses are submitted electronically there, and a free vendor account is required before you can upload one.