Request for Proposal: Website Platform/Content Management System

Transcription

1 1400 K Street, Suite 400 Sacramento, California Phone: Fax: Request for Proposal: Website Platform/Content Management System Goal Build a website platform to enhance and streamline the League s news and information distribution system. The new website will integrate social media platforms and preserve the membership services contained in the current website. It also will improve the League s ability to effectively and efficiently share resources and communicate with our members, local government advocacy groups, the press and the public. The current website, will serve as a starting point for the project. The existing content management system for this site is antiquated and hinders our ability to effectively serve our audience. The League requires a modern approach to disseminate information and resources. Specific Goals Are: Improved ability to quickly disseminate news on multiple channels, including: A newsletter/weblog and press release e mail distribution Social media news feed integration Integrated advertising space to generate revenues New content management system; and Improved organization and usability. Information requested in the proposal Interested vendors should submit a thorough and concise package of information responding to the Request for Proposal (RFP) including: 1. A title page containing your vendor s name, address, telephone number, principal contact, fax number, and e mail address. 2. A total cost of the project, as well as a detailed line item breakdown of costs. Additionally specifying: a. Not to exceed fees (for actual cost of time and materials needed to complete the project); b. A not to exceed fee (for any reimbursable expense anticipated during the course of this project); c. An hourly rate schedule for services; and d. Clearly defined additional costs/charges (such as traveling expenses). 3. The necessary software and hardware, and any additional communication integration needs and potential costs to maintain the website (i.e. hardware, software, installation, licensing, training, upgrades etc.). 4. An all encompassing package, with a single vendor identified as the responsible lead vendor. Please include any subcontractor(s) that will be required to meet the needs of the proposal or clearly indicate what portion of the services are not included as part of your proposal. 5. Years of experience related to website design. 6. Resumes of all principals and their roles and responsibilities involved in the project.

2 7. A section on relevant website development experience and information on the extent of your vendor s abilities to meet the needs of this project. 8. An estimated summary timeline for completion of this project. 9. A list of comparable websites, including membership associations and local governments designed by your vendor. Include the website address, company/agency contact, address, telephone number, and hard copies of the Home Pages. These companies/agencies may be contacted for references. 10. Any other information deemed appropriate for this project. Selection process The League website team (League staff) will review the proposals received. Based on experience, scope of work, cost and other relevant issues, the most qualified vendors representing the best overall value for the services requested will be invited to conduct a formal presentation for League staff. The presentation and interview shall take place at the League of California Cities office in Sacramento. League staff will make a final determination regarding the selection of a vendor and a contract once the interview process is complete. 1. Proposal Evaluation and Review As indicated, staff will select proposals for further consideration based on, but not limited to: a. The completeness and inclusion of requested information; b. Ability and effectiveness of the vendor to meet the League s needs; c. Qualifications and experience of the vendor and assigned project staff; d. Past performance of the vendor on completed projects; e. Similar projects completed by the vendor; f. Professional standing and financial stability of the vendor; g. Availability of the vendor to meet deadlines, responsiveness to changes, and staying within projected budgets; h. Ability to present materials that can be understood by technical and non technical staff; i. Feasibility of the proposal(s) based upon the proposed scope of service; and j. Ability to provide technical support throughout the length of the contract. 2. Presentation and Interview Areas to be considered for the presentation and interview include: a. A demonstration of qualifications and the ability to fulfill the needs of the project as outlined in the RFP; and b. A demonstration of services provided to other companies, associations, or municipalities. 3. Final Selection Following the review of the proposals, presentation, and interviews, the League may further invite vendors(s) to formally meet with League staff prior to making a final determination Website RFP 2

3 Due Date Proposals should be submitted no later than May 27, Include five references with your proposal. Submit proposals by mail or e mail to Adrienne Sprenger. Proposals can be e mailed to: asprenger@cacities.org (e mail size limit for this account may not exceed 4 MB) or leagueofcacities@gmail.com. Or mailed to: Adrienne Sprenger League of California Cities 1400 K Street, Suite 400 Sacramento, CA Timeline Deadline to submit proposals to the League May 27 League reviews proposals First week of June Final candidate interviews scheduled Second and third weeks of June Final vendor selection end of June New website goal to go live January 1, 2012 Inquiries Questions or clarifications regarding this proposal should be directed to Adrienne Sprenger, communications specialist at asprenger@cacities.org or (916) Website RFP 3

4 Scope of Project Project Description Background The League is a nonprofit membership organization that serves California cities by providing services in three main areas: legislative advocacy, legal advocacy and education. The organization focuses on several major legislative issue areas and municipal organizational departments, as well as educational training conferences for members. Our Audience The League s website serves its members consisting of California management and administrative city staff and elected city officials. It also serves the League s local government advocacy partners, working on lobbying and grass roots political activism, as well as the larger public and members of the news media. Existing Web Information League main website: Websites connected to the League website: and The League also links to a site that contains a database of members. Further information can be provided upon request. Artwork: Files would need to be designed. League Logo colors: Pantone 445 grey and Pantone 7459 blue Website Features Navigation: Intuitive website navigation; Display Pages: Attractive, flexible and functional display pages. Each display page will use attractive fonts; prominent yet elegant headers; and be capable of displaying a variety of layouts. A section on each display page will be reserved for customizable quick links for League events, campaigns or other advocacy efforts. Standardized page templates to keep format and style consistent when updating pages. Multimedia display: The ability to upload onto any display page an image, video clip or audio file. Main pages should be able to display galleries for video, audio and photos; Search: A powerful, fast, pre indexed, website search function on every page, including the ability to search MS Office and Adobe Acrobat documents and other similar resources; Electronic File Repository: A file repository for Acrobat, Word, Excel, and image files. The files would then be linkable to any display page and also be searchable; Social Media: Integrated social media feeds on any display page we chose; Electronic Newsletter/WebLog Features: An article archive feature; Serve as a platform to sell/host advertising Functionality to publish news simultaneously on multiple platforms i.e direct newsletter/weblog and social media platforms. Detailed Website Analytics: The ability to view page hits and clicks down to individual subscriber on every page of the website; Notifications: A subscription function for those interested in receiving news updates by topic/event; An RSS feed; Polling and Voting: Ability to conduct a brief survey and calculate results; 2011 Website RFP 4

5 Blogging: Ability to create a blog with e mail subscription function, capable to publishing one or multiple stories at the same time. E commerce: PCI compliant payment gateways for a variety of events or products; Conference and Meeting Support: The ability to host conference agendas, handouts, speaker biographies, and short audio/visual clips in a concise, easy to navigate sub section of the website ( Also include images for each conference, things to do at that conference city, weather, parking, venue, maps and restaurant information; Conference Expo Support: Pages specifically designed to incorporate autocad to manage exhibit hall logistics like, booth sales for future events. Seamless Integration: This website will be the primary portal for other web enabled functionality supplied by other vendors. Newsroom: press contacts, news releases, City Advocate Weekly articles, etc. Data collection: City Attorneys Papers and Opinions Database ( A master organizational event calendar, displayed on the home page; Secure section: While most of the website is public, a small section of the website will be password protected. This section will be used for our internal staff calendars and other secure items. Database driven data collection The new website platform must have the ability for end users to enter data into online forms and have that data stored in a database. The League would need to access this data easily and quickly, or utilize pre formatted reports based on the data collected. The ability to access reports and download them into various formats, such as an excel spreadsheet, would be preferred. An example of this is the League s amicus request form ( or the League s education department s call for session proposals for conferences. The amicus request form is exportable to a FileMaker Pro database. The session proposals should be exportable to excel or into an Access database. Website Content Management Tools The League must have a website that utilizes a powerful and flexible content management system. The content management tools will: Be user friendly. Any office worker with experience using common desktop applications like MS Word should be able to use the content manager without the need for extensive training; Perform well, without error codes or lag time; Behave in a consistent and predictable manner; Automatically resize pictures and graphics upon upload; Include a spotlighted section on the home page for hot/current items; Include master event calendar, displayed on the home page; Create e mail distribution for marketing/newsletter/press release/campaign updates, which may include a Blog section. Provide standardized page templates to keep format and style consistent when updating webpages; Be able to upload documents up to 10MB in size; Track resources, showing the page and story they are linked to; Show the full name of any person who creates or updates a resource, story and page; Send automated e mails to the owner and administrator of resources, stories and images that have been inactive for a period of time. Have an option to automatically delete these items after 30 days; Have a setting available for users who only need access to calendars; and Create an end time for shortcut links if they are not permanent Website RFP 5

6 Browser Compatibility The new website and associated content manager will be fully viewable and functional in the current version of all major web browsers, including; Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome Website RFP 6

7 Vendor Requirements Experience Qualified candidates will have no fewer than 50 current or recent website customers, and the company will be no less than five years old. Candidates will demonstrate they have sufficient permanent staffing to support the project from planning through implementation. The over use of outsourced contractors in key positions is discouraged. Candidates will demonstrate that they are well versed in current and emerging website design and functionality. Project Management The successful vendor will be able to demonstrate their project management experience, tools, procedures, and policies. The successful vendor will assign an internal project manager to our website building team. The project manager will have 10 years of experience in website creation and deployment. The project manager will remain on the team until project launch, and have direct authority over all human and technical resources assigned to the project. Website Creation Process The successful vendor will demonstrate their established process for the creation of a new website. The documented process will include all major steps need to create a website from start to launch. Website Graphic Design Assistance The successful candidate will have an experienced internal graphic design team that will assist with layout, color, navigation, fonts, styles, and overall organization and usability. This team will work seamlessly with League staff to achieve the final product. The League will have a single point of contact for all design issues and decisions. Graphic design services will be included in the pricing model. Customer and Technical Support The successful candidate will demonstrate an established customer and technical support team. Support for billing, training, graphic design, and bug fixes. Also, support for changes and modifications for our constantly evolving website is required. Hosting The League seeks a vendor (or a vendor with a data center partner) that is able to host the website in a secure state of the art data center. The data center will have: redundancy, data back up, burstable bandwidth, established OS patching and application update procedures, anti virus, intrusion prevention and detection, 24 hour support, and significant file storage capabilities. Attachment A League s current website map We will use the League s current website structure as a starting point for creating the new website. Most of the navigational structure and display page locations may be re used on the new site Website RFP 7

8 Attachment A - League Website RFP Site Map Breakdown Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL About the League History Mission Bylaws Strategic Plan Board Staff Awards League Awards Helen Putnam Jobs at the League Learn More Contact Us Advocacy Bill Search Legislative Legislative Staff Issue Areas Admininstrative Services Climate Change Community Services Conferences Employee Relations Environmental Quality Federal Priorities Housing and Community Development Legal

9 Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL Public Safety Revenue and Taxation Transportations, Communications, and Public Works Water e=locc&section=advo&sub_sec=advo_leg_issues_water&tert=&story= Public Affairs & Campaigns Regional Divisions Ballot Measures Fundraising Legal Advocacy Program Request Amicus Submittal Form Amicus Guide Policy Development Policy Committees Admininstrative Services Community Services Employee Relations Environmental Quality Housing, Community & Econ Public Safety Revenue and Taxation Transportations, Communications, and Public Works

10 Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL Guiding Principles Conferences & Events Calendar Exhibitor Opportunities Annual Conference and Expo Communication s Headlines News by Topic City Advocate Weekly Press Releases Western City magazine About Cities Member Resources Regional Divisions Central Valley Channel Counties Desert Mountain East Bay Imperial County Inland Empire Los Angeles County Monterey Bay North Bay Orange County Peninsula Redwood Empire Riverside County Sacramento Valley San Diego County South San Joaquin Valley

11 Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL Professional Departments City Attorneys City Clerks City Managers Fire Chiefs Fiscal Officers Mayors & Council Members Personnel & Employee Relations Planning & Community Development Police Chiefs Caucuses Library Event Handouts Search for League Members CityBooks Listservs Programs for Cities Public Works Officers Community Services African American Asian Pacific Islander Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Local Officials Latino Puchasing and Financing Programs Enhanced Local Government Airfare Program

12 Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL MuniLink Affiliates Partners Partners Program About Program Partner Benefits Become a Partner Current Partners Platinum Partners What's New Events & Opportunites CCLI Helen Putnam Awards