Editor's Note: This story has been updated since it was initially reported to note NCUA has announced a delay in a branding initiative.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.–NCUA is paying nearly a half-million dollars to the communications firm Edelman to provide it with branding and strategic communications services.
Separately, the agency also paid a recruiting firm $75,000 to help fill its general counsel’s position, which remains filled on an interim basis.
The contract for $490,122.66 for communications services from Edelman was signed by the agency in December of 2019 and was obtained by CUToday.info following a Freedom of Information Act request. Portions of the contract describing the specific issues around which NCUA is seeking communications/branding guidance have been redacted in the documents provided. NCUA and Edelman have also signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Edelman, which notes on its website it has worked with a multitude of organizations, including HSBC, ASICS and Taco Bell, said it is a “global communications firm that partners with businesses and organizations to evolve, promote and protect their brands and reputations. Our 6,000 people in more than 60 offices deliver communications strategies that give our clients the confidence to lead, act with certainty and earn the lasting trust of their stakeholders. We develop powerful ideas and tell magnetic stories that move at the speed of news, make an immediate impact, transform culture and spark movements.”
Delay in Updating Signage
On Thursday, NCUA announced it is temporarily postponing plans for modernizing the share insurance signage and agency branding "in order to focus resources on the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic." The agency did not state whether this is the initiative for which Edelman has been retained. NCUA said it continues to recognize the importance of the project and plans to resume the work at a later date.
The Deliverables
According to the contract reviewed by CUToday.info, Edelman is to deliver to NCUA a number of deliverables, including an agency brand strategy and brand identity assessment and evaluation; an agency brand strategy and brand identity assessment and evaluation comparison to other federal financial regulators and similar public and private sector entities, and a new brand strategy and brand identity.
“Strategic communications (are) to include the following: the contractor shall provide in real time or in the most expedited manner possible strategic communication support services concerning how best to respond to stakeholders verbally or in writing through television, newspapers, magazines, radio, the Internet and social media, both proactively and in response to inquiries,” the contract reads. “The contractor shall provide in real time suggested tactical communications content, or the review of content prepared by the National Credit Union Administration, regarding key messaging on topics critical to the NCUA and key stakeholders verbally or in writing through television, newspapers, magazines, radio, the Internet and social media, both proactively and in response to inquiries.”
Media Training Services
The contract further calls for Edelman to provide training to agency principles and staff in “order for them to respond to media interviews and deliver testimony before Congress on matters of vital importance," according to the CUToday.info review.
Additional deliverables in the contact include a branding book and a brand strategy and brand identity implementation plan, with an option to also provide qualitative research a “task to message framework.”
In the portion of the contract labeled “Statement of Work,” text reads, “…However, NCUA faces significant challenges that are common for government agencies and financial services agencies in particular. Specifically, it is challenged with…” The remaining copy is redacted, with the agency citing content that “protects trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential” in its response to the CUToday.info FOIA request.
Four ‘Distinct Phases,’ But…
The contact goes on to read, “To meet the challenges head-on (copy redacted) the agency brand must also enable its audiences to recognize who the agency is and what it ultimately stands for (copy redacted). The brand strategy and implementation plan Edelman provides will (copy redacted). Wording that isn’t redacted indicates that during its oral presentation Edelman said it had outlined four “distinct phases” that include deliverables from its RFP, but what those specific phases are are also redacted.
The contract is scheduled to expire on June 20, 2020.
CUToday.info will continue to provide coverage as it becomes available.
Korn Ferry Retained for Search
Separately, in response to a different FOIA request from CUToday.info, NCUA has contracted with Korn Ferry to pay it $74,973.00 to perform an executive search to fill its general counsel position. The funds are being paid in three installments of $24,991.
That contract, which is with SENSA Solutions, a McLean, Va.-based management consulting firm that was acquired by Korn Ferry in 2010, was submitted in July of 2019.
According to the contract, NCUA was to have in place a new general counsel by no later than Nov. 25, 2019. But Frank Kressman remains the acting general counsel for the agency, after being elevated from deputy general counsel. Kressman, who has been with NCUA since 1998, replaced Mike McKenna, who retired prior to release of an NCUA Office of Inspector General report that alleged he had engaged in drinking, the use of recreational drugs and trips to strip clubs during working hours. McKenna also was NCUA’s chief ethics officer, and as CUToday.info reported the agency has just announced it is creating a new Office of Ethics Counsel.
Job Duties
According to the Korn Ferry contract reviewed by CUToday.info, the duties NCUA is seeking in a general counsel include overseeing recruiting and retaining highly qualified staff throughout the Office of General Counsel; serving as the chief legal advisor to the NCAA board and executive director; exercising strong influence on the formation and development of enforcement actions, regulations, legal opinions, and other legal matters; directing the preparation of pleadings, briefs, drafts, memoranda, and legal documentation and correspondence for significant cases involving complex and difficult legal or factual issues and or Involving large sums of money; overseeing the review and preparation of proposed and final regulations for agency comment.