Township of Lower Merion

Transcription

1 Township of Lower Merion REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS LOWERMERION.ORG WEBSITE REDESIGN SEALED PROPOSALS WILL BE ACCEPTED IN THE OFFICE OF THE TOWNSHIP MANAGER, 75 E. LANCASTER AVENUE, ARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA UNTIL 2:00 PM on Friday, JULY 3, 2015 FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE REDESIGN OF THE TOWNSHIP OF LOWER MERION WEBSITE

2 2 SECTION I: GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS Scope of Services and Proposals The scope of services and proposals are to reflect all costs including redesign planning, migration of domain, domain name management, actual re design work, staff training and annual service contract. The proposal will include an executive summary specifying the full price for the service and the full price for the annual service contact (first year included). Additional service contracts relating to additional years shall be estimated to allow for budgeting expectation by the Township. A bid bond in the amount of $500 in the form of cash or certified check shall be attached to the proposal. Lower Merion Township reserves the right to fully investigate the qualifications of any firm submitting a proposal and to give appropriate weight to these qualifications in determining the lowest responsible bidder. Each proposal must include at least five (5) references, including actual live websites for the Township to evaluate. (References should include at least but not limited to two (2) municipal based sites. Initially proposals will be evaluated on their (1) completeness and clarity of their response, and (2) the proposer s understanding regarding Lower Merion Township s website needs. Lower Merion Township may interview all or some of the proposers to obtain additional information or clarify information in submitted material, such as printed material or referenced live websites. After these considerations, proposals will then be evaluated based on cost. Please note that Lower Merion Township may or may not award the firm submitting the lowest cost proposal. Award will be based on the proposal that is deemed to be in the best interest of the Township of Lower Merion. The Township s Board of Commissioners reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals or portions thereof, and to waive any minor informality in the proposal process. Web re design planning and work shall begin within 15 days of execution of an agreement to perform work. Four (4) copies of the proposal must be provided with an additional electronic copy provided via CD, DVD or thumbdrive. 2

3 3 Payment Terms One third of the contract price shall be paid upon execution of the contract, one third payment shall be paid after redesign planning has been completed and accepted by the Township, and the final third shall be paid after redesign work has been completed, domain migrated and training of staff has been completed and the newly re designed website is live. All bid quotations shall be valid for ninety (90) days after the due date of this RFP. Scope and Classification The following specifications are intended to establish the minimum requirements for the redesign and management of the Township website. Lower Merion Township may consider exceptions or variances from the specifications where equal performance is obtained. Clarification requests may be made directly to the Chief Technology Officer, James Weiman, at his office ( ) or by at or to the Public Information Officer, Thomas Walsh, at his office ( ) or by at 3

4 4 SECTION II: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Specifications for the Re Designed Township of Lower Merion Website The following is a list of minimum requirements for the re designed Township of Lower Merion website: The contractor will be responsible for providing any software necessary for the completion of the re designed website. The contractor will be responsible for providing any software to the Township of Lower Merion required for the daily management of the website, post set up. The contractor will be responsible to provide the required licensing (if any) to the identified Township staff that will be tasked with the daily management of the website. The contractor will be responsible to update and work with the Chief Technology Officer, the Public Information Officer and any other Township staff member tasked with the planning and approving of the re designed website throughout the development phase. The current Township of Lower Merion website ( shall at no time be out of service as a result of the re design process. The current Township of Lower Merion domain ( shall be maintained with the new website. Existing content from the existing website shall be integrated into the re designed website. Browser agnostic, i.e. seamless interaction with Internet Explorer (version 7 and higher), Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Provide 128 bit encryption over SSL (secure socket layer) for information transmitted to and from the website. Allow creation of functional grouping of web pages or portion of web pages from multiple departments in order to facilitate public access to information that cross departmental lines. Historical track of changes made by login Ability to have integrated standard templates for web page layout and form creation. Content and profanity filter on any outside interaction/submission. Multiple layer security through permission based logins with multi level groups. Provide options for live and/or on demand video streaming whether directly or indirectly through link, using video produced by Lower Merion Township or by a third party vendor (which may include advertising or sponsorship links or additional short videos). 4

5 5 Specifications for the Re Designed Township of Lower Merion Website (continued) Although the actual re design and integration of existing content will be completed (after Township approval) by the contractor, the Township shall have the ability to complete future template and website design work on in its own, although the contractor will also have this ability. The website will include the ability for individual user accounts to have access to specific areas of the website for the purpose of making updates. The website will be managed by super users who have access to all website management applications from any location. These super users will also manage the user database. Any website changes will be required to have approval by these specified super users who will then publish the drafted webpage updates after review by the appropriate staff members. When users make (drafted) updates to their specified website areas, automatic notifications shall be generated and sent to these super users in order to effectively manage and approve submitted updates. Users shall have the ability to generate web traffic reports as well as other customized website reports. Users shall have the ability to integrate social media platforms into the website. Approximately 50 total users shall have access to the website with various levels of permissions, based on their department and position. Service and Maintenance The website shall be backed up daily by the hosting company. The website shall be live at least 99% of the time. Downtime for maintenance shall be scheduled with the Township of Lower Merion. The contractor will make available a service contract for the next three (3) years providing website maintenance, user support, backup and web traffic reporting. 5

6 6 Quality Assurance The contractor shall be an established web design and hosting company that has maintained and operated the business for at least five (5) years. The contractor shall show satisfactory evidence, upon request, that it maintains a fully equipped web design and hosting company. Switchover to New Website There shall be no time during the planning and designing phase of the website re design in which the website is out of service. Any downtime associated with the actual switch from the existing website server and new website server shall be minimum, planned, and scheduled for a time period that is acceptable to the Township of Lower Merion. Training The vendor shall provide on site training to all staff members assigned by the Township as users of the website system. Training shall include the time necessary to familiarize the assigned users with the ability to make changes and complete updates to the Township website. The vendor shall provide specified training to any assigned super users of the Township website in order to demonstrate skills necessary for managing the website in detail. Skills such as adding/deleting/changing users to the website system, running reports etc. shall be provided to these super users. 6

7 7 SECTION III: GENERAL DESIGN PRACTICES The vendor shall provide new design concepts to the Township of Lower Merion. Design concepts will be based on design meetings between vendor and Township staff. Design elements such as menu layout and site navigation shall be considered and must be acceptable to the Township of Lower Merion. Once agreement has been reached regarding general design concepts the vendor shall begin the design process. Regular meetings, which may be conducted by phone or webinars or onsite, shall be held regularly throughout the graphic design process of the website. General features of the website must include (but are not limited to): Graphic designs that allow visitors to focus on site content. Layout and menu navigations which will minimize the amount of clicks. A site specific Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) in order to maintain uniform text display throughout the site pages. Simple text editor in order to allow content updates to pages by Township staff which shall include working with different types of files. Simple photo uploading and editing ability in order to allow addition and replacement of many photographs by Township staff. Unique design and layout for the Parks and Recreation area, as well as capability to post large, graphic heavy files for the Building and Planning Department. Search engine functionality for site visitors by key word or phrase Credit card payment facility for certain departments. Calendaring for adding and updating events and meetings. Ability to host several calendars throughout the Township website. Each department requires at least one calendar that can be accessed and printed from site visitors. Calendars shall have the ability to include detailed information for specified days as well as the ability to link directly to documents and images (such as meeting agendas and displays) which may be accessed by site visitors. Ability to link articles to social media sites. (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) Ability to incorporate blogging & social media services into webpages. Ability to link directly to the online Lower Merion Township Code. Optional features such as a mobile app for citizen reporting. 7

8 8 SECTION IV: ADDENDUM Questions posed from respondents, with answers: Q: Is the inclusion of at least two (2) references from municipal based sites mandatory? Can at least 2 references from other sites be provided (such as non profit organizations) and still receive full consideration, or will these be rejected outright? A: Not mandatory, just a preference. Q: Can you provide any additional information about the relationship with the current vendor? A: Supportive Q: Will they be submitting a bid? A: Unknown Q: Can you provide any additional information about what the precipitating factors were, that prompted the search? A: Existing site is slow and out of date. Refresh required. Q: Can you confirm that the $500 Bid Bond will be returned and share any other details around the timing of this? A: The bid bond fee is refunded if your firm is not selected. You need only provide $500 in cash or certified check to satisfy this requirement. The bond is subject to forfeiture if the winning contractor fails to execute the contract, or whatever other requirements are part of the contract with the Township. It provides the municipality with assurance that the bidder has the financial means to accept the job for the price quoted in the bid. If you do win the proposal, the $500 would be returned to you after a contract has been executed. 8

9 9 FORM OF PROPOSAL LOWERMERION.ORG WEBSITE REDESIGN FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF LOWER MERION PROPOSAL OF: ADDRESS: TELEPHONE: FAX: IN WITNESS WHEROF, the undersigned having examined the bidding documents, in their entirety, has caused this proposal to be executed for the total sum of: Dollars ($ ) Signature: Printed Name: Title: Date: Bid Bond of $500 enclosed: Certified Check Redesign planning; migration of domain, domain name management, re design work and staff training shall be completed within 90 days after contract award and execution. TOWNSHIP OF LOWER MERION 75 E. LANCASTER AVENUE, 2ND FLOOR ARDMORE, PA Township Manager & Public Information Offices ( ) Chief information Officer s Office ( ) 9