RFP Questions & Answers Housing Authority of the City of Austin - Website Design and Development

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1 RFP Questions & Answers Housing Authority of the City of Austin - Website Design and Development 1. Who is the primary audience for the website? Who are secondary audiences? The primary audience for the HACA website includes current HACA residents, Housing Choice Voucher participants, landlords, and people who are in need of housing assistance and other programs offered by HACA (including selfsufficiency programs). Secondary audiences include the general public, community partners, the media, HACA employees/board members, other public housing associations and elected officials. 2. What are the major tasks that you expect the audiences to complete? How do these align with the goals of HACA? HACA s mission is to cultivate sustainable affordable housing communities and partnerships that inspire self reliance, growth and optimism. In order for the agency to meet this goal, our website must allow and encourage people to learn about the affordable housing options available in Austin through HACA and to also learn about other programs that promote self-sufficiency. Our website must allow visitors to perform tasks including: Easily locate and download necessary forms and other important housing information (both for residents and landlords) Check their section 8 or public housing waitlist status Contact essential HACA staff Learn about public housing properties and available section 8 units Learn about job openings and business opportunities with HACA Learn about upcoming classes/events hosted by HACA and/or its partners Learn about the positive impact HACA is making on the community (through photos, stories, news clips, etc.) Connect with HACA on social media 3. Is the use of the WordPress CMS a requirement? If so, why was WordPress chosen as the best CMS for this project? No. We are looking to use a free, opensource CMS platform to manage our website. This doesn t necessarily mean we have to use WordPress. WordPress is one example of a free, open-source CMS. We are open to suggestions about the best CMS for this project based on features and cost. However, whatever tool is used, the content should be organized in a way that facilitates the training that goes along with implementation of the site. 4. What level of search engine optimization are you expecting for the new site? Are you expecting all pages to include basic search engine optimization elements, or are you expecting a consultative approach including keyword research, competitive analysis and content optimization? We are expecting a consultative approach when it comes to SEO, including keyword research, competitive

2 analysis and content optimization for the HACA website. It may not be necessary for each page to include basic elements of SEO. 5. Are there specific browser versions that the site must be 100% compatible with? For example, should the site be 100% compatible with IE 6? Or is 100% compatibility with only the latest version required? No. 6. What level of accessibility is required? WCAG level A, AA, or AAA? The HACA website must follow current ADA website compliance best practices, such as the ones listed here: 7. Can you explain this requirement in more detail: interfaces, if any, are not dependent on a specific client.? If interfaces are included in the redesign of the HACA website, the interface should work with several clients, like Outlook or Gmail, not just with one specific client. For example, someone who uses Yahoo mail shouldn t be discouraged from sending an from the site because the interface only works for people who have Gmail accounts. 8. Where will the data that will populate the maps integration come from? Will this data exist within the CMS database or will this data be integrated from some third-party system or software? We envision this data coming from a third-party source like Google Maps. 9. The RFP states Website should have the capacity to interface/link with HACA s subsidiaries websites. What level of integration/interfacing are you expecting with regard to subsidiary websites? The HACA website just needs to link back to HACA s subsidiary websites and vise versa. 10. The RFP states Ability to accommodate bilingual needs, like a toggle to switch to Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, etc. Do you imagine human translated content for all of these languages, or will an machine translation tool, like Google Translate, suffice? a. If human translation is required, will the chosen partner provide the translated content? b. If human translation is required, will 100% of English pages be translated into various languages? Or will only a subset of the English pages need to be translated? Please provide additional guidance if this is required. A machine translation tool like Google Translate will suffice in most instances, but there may be a subset of pages the website that we decide to translate into Spanish to meet the needs of our primary audience. In this case, HACA will outsource the translation services and provide the content to the chosen Web design partner.

3 11. If structured data, such as news stories or blog posts, need to be migrated from the existing site, will it be the responsibility of the chosen partner to provide this migration? We don t currently have any news stories or blog posts on the HACA website, so none of this information would need to be migrated. However, we do have several news releases and newsletters in PDF form. If those could be migrated into some kind of searchable archive, that would be ideal. However, if necessary, the HACA Communications Manager can input the old PDF news releases into the new CMS, if necessary. If there is other structured data in the existing HACA site, we will need the chosen Web development partner to provide this migration. 12. Can you describe the event calendar with registration requirement in more detail. How complex is the registration process? Should payments be accepted? Should one family member be able to register multiple family members? Any additional guidance you can provide on this requirement will be very helpful. No payments, we just want clients to be able to sign up for Family Self-Sufficiency webinars and give the option for the meeting request to be added to their calendar. 13. The RFP states Virtual tours of public housing units/properties. Can you provide more detail on this requirement? Where will content and images come from? Will the chosen partner have the responsibility of delivering photography or video for the virtual tours? The virtual tour idea for public housing properties on the HACA website is not required, but is a wish list item. This may be something that we have to reserve for a separate project at a later date. When/if we do implement virtual tours on the HACA website, we will need an outside firm to deliver the photography or video for the virtual tours. 14. Is the Landlord s portal a part of this project? If so, can you describe this function in detail? Yes. Here are the elements we re looking for in a Landlord Portal: Login/Forgotten Password Owner: Update Profile Information Owner: View Properties List Owner: Property Detail (associated documents, dates, addresses, rents, etc.) Admin: Add, edit and delete owners and properties 15. Including all of the features listed in the RFP will result in a very costly and time consuming project. Many times, these types of projects are addressed in phases. Should all of the features listed be considered critical for Phase 1 or can some be left for a later phase? If some can be left for later, can you clearly identify which features are required for Phase 1? Critical features for Phase 1 of the HACA website redesign are: Use of a free, open-source CMS/publishing system

4 Search engine optimization Integration of the current HACA logo and current color scheme of the existing site with an added palette of secondary colors. Incorporation of photo and video galleries on the site. Use of third-party publishing tools like YouTube and Flikr are permitted as long as photos and videos are displayed on the HACA site without requiring visitors to leave the site. Responsive design that will display effectively both on desktop/laptop computers and on devices running both IOS and Android. Social media integration General contact us form that allows for general inquiries. Agnostic Web interface Intuitive and consistent options for navigating the website. Pages and features compatible with limited bandwidth through public access Internet. Web interface options in accordance with the American with Disabilities Act. 128-bit encryption over Secure Socket Layer for displaying specific Web pages and for information transmitted to and from the website by HACA staff. Maps and transportation integration. Ability for Excel files to be uploaded to look up waitlist information and LIPH direct deposit information. Capability for easily searching the website for key words or phrases. A uniform means of managing Web documents whether posted as Web pages or downloadable files. Pages dedicated to Rental Assistance Demonstration information and internship opportunities at HACA Event calendar per property integrated for residents to view and enroll in classes through the website. Weather forecast Prominent emergency notification (for announcements about office closings due to inclement weather, etc.) A pop-up customer survey for contractors and landlords through two different access points- Doing Business with HACA and the Landlord s portal SHCC Owner Portal FTP site

5 Austin Affordable Housing Corporation stand-alone website Features that can be left for later phases include the virtual tour of public housing properties, and possibly the HACA news blog, depending on the layout of the redesigned website. If there is a redesigned front page where we can include several of the elements requested in the news blog section of the RFP (such as the option to publish scrolling feature stories/photos), and a redesigned press section where we can include features like media clips, searchable news releases (not PDFs) and brand/identity information, that may suffice until we can develop a separate news site at a later date. 16. Can you provide general budget guidelines for this project? Even a ballpark estimate or range would be very helpful. Is this closer to a $100K project, $500K project, or $1M project? We are not able to give a ballpark budget at this time; however, you may submit multiple proposals at different price points.