Website Design & Development RFP

Transcription

1 INTRODUCTION Website Design & Development RFP Fairfield County Council is requesting proposals in order to identify a professional consultant qualified to plan, execute, and deliver a new design for Fairfield County Economic Development s website ( The consultant must have demonstrated experience in relevant project management and expertise with the best practices (including development and deployment) regarding successful website design. Qualified consultants will have successfully demonstrated relevant experience in working with economic development organizations. Consultants should be familiar with Fairfield County s assets regarding economic development and offer messaging suggestions. ABOUT FAIRFIELD COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Office of Economic Development is the primary organization responsible for retaining and growing business and industry in Fairfield County. Our mission is to serve the people of Fairfield County by helping to create and support a business friendly environment that welcomes new corporations and helps existing companies to grow and succeed. Our services include: Relocation assistance to prospective new companies; Tax and incentives information and offerings; Maintaining and developing an inventory of available buildings and sites; Demographic and market research; Assistance with utility information requests; Workforce development assistance; Familiarization tours and community visits; Existing industry retention and expansion services; and Coordinating local, state and private economic development efforts. PROJECT GOALS The goal of this website design and development project is to establish a strong market presence by offering a value-added web experience for all stakeholders that will increase visibility, value, and brand recognition to ultimately yield jobs and capital gains within Fairfield County. The new website should attract decision makers by easily delivering quality, up-to-date information and become the primary source for site selection consultants, investors, and businesses executives (regionally, nationally and internationally) considering relocating or expanding facilities in the Midlands. FCED would like to avoid constraining the creative and interactive processes of those intending to respond to this Request for Proposal by allowing responders to interpret the needs of Fairfield County Economic Development's website and online presence and propose website features and components accordingly. The following sections (Considerations, Website Components, Style, Expected Elements, Other Elements of Potential Interest, as well as Scope of Work) are included to illustrate FCED's expectations; they are NOT meant RFP 1416 Website Design

2 to be constraints on responder's proposal. FCED is seeking a qualified professional consultant that will develop a proposal based on the needs of FCED's website and not the parameters of the previously mentioned sections. CONSIDERATIONS An exploratory phase is necessary to define current perceptions of Fairfield County. We desire guidance for messaging to our target audiences. We must reach and engage stakeholders both within and outside local governments that contribute to economic development success for their input regarding the website's message. WEBSITE COMPONENTS The end-user experience should be one that delivers easy-to-use, current information, as well as clearly defines Fairfield County Economic Development s organizational role. It should position Fairfield County as an appealing place to do business and provide an interactive, positive experience that brings the user back to the site. It is crucial that the navigation be intuitive in nature. Fairfield County Economic Development website should: Attract site selection consultants, business executives (regional, national, international) corporate real estate executives and other decision makers; Turn site selection consultants into regular users; Be a resource for team allies and leadership; Provide links to all allies including but not limited to: county administration, regional economic development alliances, school districts, universities, technical schools, local tourism sites, and other related links; Focus on Target Industries; Focus on Existing Industries/Businesses and video testimonials; Deliver the highest quality information available on Fairfield County economic development opportunities; Display demographics and workforce information; and Feature a property search tool - easy to search building and sites and prepare property flyers (see required elements section for detail). Data presented on the website should include, but is not limited to: Labor market and demographic statistics; Education and workforce information; State and local incentives; Leading industries; Sites and buildings information; Competitive-edge and value proposition; Maps; Media links; News stories; Fairfield County Economic Development stories; Quality of life; and Contacts. STYLE The website design for FCED should reflect the organization s capability, pride in our county (region and state), and focus on Fairfield County s business friendly location. The website design should heavily utilize photos and infographics in order to make supporting data, demographics, workforce, etc. easy to retain. FCED will use the RFP 1416 Website Design 2

3 website as a tool to promote these resources to target audiences. Information should be both visual pleasing and easy to access, delivering directly to our main target audiences, stakeholders, allies and partners. EXPECTED ELEMENTS Available Building and Site Search A property search and mapping feature that utilizes web services data provided by the South Carolina Department of Commerce database LocateSC. This data feed provides the ability to prepare customized reports or property flyers with the FCED brand. Benchmark examples from other economic development organizations include: Central SC Alliance South Carolina I-77 Alliance OTHER ELEMENTS OF POTENTIAL INTEREST Social Media Integrate social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) as well as Request for Information processing (contact me page) Interactive Data Analysis The use of interactive data and mapping analysis features tools such as ESRI Business Analyst and GIS Online. The website component would allow end-users the ability to prepare custom maps and reports utilizing socioeconomic, demographic, labor force and unemployment data. Benchmark examples include: South Carolina Power Team SC Data Center Language Translation Ability to add a blog area/page TARGET AUDIENCES The target audiences for the site and their primary usage of the content are as follows: Site Selection consultants; C-level executives/decision makers (regional, national, international); Corporate real estate executives; Local alliances and partnerships; Economic development allies; Companies of all sizes; Target Industries (advanced materials; transportation equipment; chemicals; business/financial services (headquarters); energy; food products and manufacturing; Municipalities within the Fairfield County; and Fairfield County citizens. SCOPE OF WORK Fairfield County Economic Development seeks a professional consultant with a proven track record for creative excellence in website design, development and execution. A. Discovery process and overview of Fairfield County Economic Development and its partnerships. B. Interview our stakeholders and local allies. C. Develop website content for Fairfield County Economic Development. D. Develop and implement the website as the online marketing platform for the organization. E. Develop and implement performance measures to assess analytics and the effectiveness of the various marketing methods. F. Thorough beta testing of site. G. Training on backend/platform use for staff and built in hours for consulting for the first 12 months following launch. H. Develop a launch strategy to roll out website. RFP 1416 Website Design 3

4 PROJECT SCHEDULE Fairfield County Economic Development desires the rebranding initiative, website design and collateral creation to begin in February A rollout period, or specific phases, should include opportunities to build excitement for these activities. FCED desires a proposal schedule for this process as well as the preparation and implementation of tasks/activities proposed. ANTICIPATED RFP PROCESS SCHEDULE RFP Issued 11/15/2016 Letter of Intent and questions due 11/21/2016 Answers to questions given 12/06/2016 Proposal due 12/14/2016 Invitation to present issued 12/28/2016 Finalist Presentations 01/09-11/2017 (times TBD) Contract Negotiations 01/16-18/2017 Project Awarded 01/20/2017 Project Start 02/01/2017 PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS All letters of intent and questions should be received by 5:00 pm (EST) 11/25/2016. All proposals should be received 3:00 pm (EST) 12/14/2016. Respondents should submit four (4) bound paper copies and one (1) electronic copy to the address below: Sheila Pickett, CPPB Fairfield County Council Attn: Procurement Department 350 Columbia Rd, P.O. Drawer 60, Winnsboro, SC As part of your proposal, please address the following and attempt to follow the outline process below for ease of evaluation: A. A cover letter with name, address, phone number, and address of the contact person with a narrative that presents the services that the firm would provide detailing the approach, methodology, deliverables, and client meetings. B. History of the firm, including present size, in-house organizational structure, and primary business industries served. C. Background on the firm and its experience in preparing comprehensive and attractive websites, especially for economic development organizations. Knowledge of local and regional presence, Fairfield County s unique location, the Midlands and of South Carolina. D. A description of the firm s experience and ability to provide a solution for each item in the Scope of Work. E. A description of how the firm measures successful website design and development. F. A list of any sub-consultants utilized as part of the submitting firm s team and their percentage of time devoted to the project from start to completion. Please include a brief description of the firm, its role, and capabilities. RFP 1416 Website Design 4

5 G. Provide a timeline (with project plan and critical milestones) for the preparation and implementation of the tasks/activities proposed. Assume a project start date of 02/01/2017 and project completion date of 05/31/2017. H. Provide price estimates outlining specific activities, associated charges, and billing method. I. Provide creative samples from three websites, relevant to economic development, designed and developed by your company in the past four years. J. Provide the Company Names, primary contact, addresses, and telephone numbers for a minimum of three most relevant references for which your firm has performed marketing services in the past four years. K. Identify who will be involved on your project team; include their relevant experience and credentials. Please be sure to include the name and contact details of persons to be approached for clarifications of the proposal as needed. This will allow for clear communications and a Questions & Answers session between parties. A presentation meeting will be scheduled with consultants selected as finalists with Fairfield County Administration and Economic Development staff. PROPOSAL EVALUATIONS A team including Fairfield County Administration and Economic Development staff will evaluate proposals. These individuals will score proposals with particular interest in: 1. Firm experience: Firms with demonstrated capacity for development of effective website design and development for economic development organizations of similar size and circumstance will receive an advantage in scoring. 2. Approach: Proposals that include in innovative approach to designing and developing the new website in a cost-effective, creative manner, will receive an advantage in scoring. 3. Cost: The most cost-effective proposals will receive a scoring advantage. It is important to note that although budget is a concern, the selection of the consultant will not necessarily be awarded to the lowest cost provider. Fairfield County Economic Development has set a budget in place to assist the organization with this effort. Careful consideration and evaluation will be given to those firms that fall within this budget. A limited number of finalists will be asked to interview with Fairfield County Administration and Economic Development departments. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR CLARIFICATION Ty Davenport, , or Ty.Davenport@Fairfield.sc.gov RFP 1416 Website Design 5