Notice and Request for Proposal Internet/Intranet Consultant Request for Proposal #511-09 The deadline for submission of proposals is 3:00 P.M. on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 Five (5) hard copies and an electronic copy on CD-ROM of the proposal must be submitted to City of Garland Purchasing Office 200 North Fifth Street, Garland, Texas 75040 1
Table of Contents Body of RFP Overview of the RFP Instructions to Proposers Selection and Award Response Instructions Exhibit 1 General Terms and Conditions Exhibit 2 Scope of Services 2
Exhibit 1 General Terms and Conditions Project Name Internet/Intranet Consultant RFP Submission Deadline 3:00 p.m., Thursday Oct. 1,2009 Date and Location for Submittal of Sealed Proposals: Sealed proposals will be received at the City of Garland, City Purchasing Office, 200 North Fifth Street, Garland, Texas 75040 until 3:00 p.m., Oct 12009, for Internet/intranet consulting services. Hard copy proposals must be submitted in a sealed package clearly marked on the outside with the proposal number and closing date. Five (5) hard copies and an electronic copy of the proposal are required. Any proposal received after the time specified will be returned unopened. It is the proposer s responsibility to assure proposals are received at the above location on or before the specified time. Responses to the proposal should be labeled and numbered by section as presented in this RFP. Service Summary: The City of Garland is seeking a proposal for professional services to assist with a reworking of the City s internet web site (http://www.ci.garland.tx.us), the development and implementation of a City intranet, and the acquisition and implementation of a content management system for both systems. Based on the proposal provided, companies may be selected for interviews and/or presentations. Upon completion of the interview/presentation phase, the City expects, but is not obligated, to proceed with negotiation of a contract with the selected proposer. Any proposer responding to this Request for Proposals must agree to the terms and conditions included in the proposed contract. Proposal Requirements: Each proposal will be prepared in accordance with the Instructions to Proposers outlined. Any proposal, which does not conform in all material respects to the Request for Proposals, may be considered non-responsive. Right to Reject Proposals: The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, waive any informality in a proposal or to withhold the award for any reason the City determines. Equal Opportunity: The City is an equal opportunity employer. Minority and women s business enterprises are encouraged to submit proposals on the Project. 3
Exhibit 1 General Terms and Conditions REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL # 511-09 Project Name: Internet/Intranet Consultant 1. Request for Proposal. The City of Garland is seeking a proposal for professional services to assist with a reworking of the City s internet web site (http://www.ci.garland.tx.us), the development and implementation of a City intranet, and the acquisition and implementation of a content management system for both systems. In this RFP process, one technology consultant will be selected to provide the services listed under Scope of Services listed under Exhibit 2. The chosen consultant firm MAY NOT be eligible to participate in any future bidding for the other technology components of the project. 2. Instructions to Proposers. Proposals will be accepted until 3:00 p.m., Oct.1,2009 Proposals received after that time will not be accepted. Proposals shall be clearly marked with the name and address of the proposer and the title of the project: Internet/Intranet Consultant RFP #XXXX. Proposal must be submitted to: City of Garland Purchasing Office 200 North Fifth Street, Garland, Texas 75040 The City reserves the right to request additional copies of the proposal at no charge during the review process. If requested, the proposer shall submit additional copies within 5 business days. Concise and well-organized proposals are recommended. This proposal should include responses to the requirements that follow as well as cost estimations based upon the information contained in the following document. The costs incurred in preparing the proposals or incurred in any other manner by the vendor in responding to this RFP may not be charged to the City of Garland organization. All questions or requests for information shall be submitted through the BidSync Q&A feature at www.bidsync.com. No contact will be permitted between proposers and any other City staff until after the proposal submission deadline. Proposers may submit more than one proposal to reflect alternative approaches; however, one and only one proposal must be identified as the offeror s Primary
Exhibit 1 General Terms and Conditions Proposal. To facilitate evaluation, Alternative Proposals must follow the same content format as the Primary Proposal. The City reserves the right to obtain clarification of any information in an offeror s proposal. Failure of a proposer to respond to such a request for additional information or clarification may result in rejection of the proposal. In the event that it becomes necessary to revise any part of this RFP due to issues raised during the proposal submission period, an addendum, supplement or amendment to this RFP will only be provided to proposers who requested a copy of the RFP from the Purchasing Department. The proposal must be signed by a person or persons legally authorized to bind the proposer. All material submitted in response to this RFP becomes the property of the City of Garland. The City of Garland reserves the right to use the ideas presented in any offerors proposal. Award of the contract to a different offeror does not eliminate this right. Blanket substitution of the proposer s standard contract for the City of Garland s proposed Professional Services Contract will not be permitted. Proposals will be received and publicly acknowledged at the location, date, and time stated. Vendors, their representatives and interested persons may be present. The proposals shall be received and acknowledged only so as to avoid disclosure of the contents to competing vendors and kept secret during negotiation. However, all proposals shall be open for public inspection after the contract is awarded. Trade secrets and confidential information contained in the proposal and identified by vendor as such will be treated as confidential by Garland to the extent allowable in the Open Records Act. No City of Garland employee nor the selected consultant shall have a direct or indirect financial interest in any contract with the City, or be directly or indirectly financially interested in the sale of materials, supplies or services to the City. 3. Selection and Award. The City reserves the sole right to evaluate the proposals submitted, waive any irregularity therein, select and/or reject any and all proposals. The City will employ the company submitting the most fitting proposal in its judgment unless there is a legal reason for not doing so. The content of the proposal of the successful bidder will be considered as contractual obligations. Failure to meet these obligations may result in cancellation of the contract.
Exhibit 1 General Terms and Conditions The City of Garland reserves the right to reject any and all proposals received in response to this request if some other manner of negotiation better serves the interests of the City. The City does not necessarily intend to award the contract solely on the basis of this request, or otherwise pay for the information solicited or obtained. However, unless announced otherwise, the winning proposal will be selected on the basis of the technical and functional conformance of the software package or service to the COG requirements and the total cost of the software package or service (including cost of supporting personnel and of conversion). An ad-hoc group comprised of a sub-committee of Information Systems professionals will review the proposals. The following criteria will be used for selection: Experience with helping organizations design and implement Internet and Intranet technology - 20 Points Fee Structure - 20 Points References (satisfied Customers) - 15 Points Qualifications of Proposed Key Personnel - 10 Points Knowledge and experience working with web page developers and implementers - 15 Points Use of industry Standard methodology for carrying out the proposed scope of work, for example, SDLC and PMI - 20 points After evaluating the selection criteria, the City anticipates negotiating a contract with the selected company or individual. If negotiations are unsuccessful, the City reserves the right to negotiate with the next highest-ranking company or individual. 4. Response Instructions The response shall include at a minimum: Qualifications and relevant experiences. References contact information, including name, phone number, and address. Length of time in business If your firm has done business with the City of Garland before, list the project(s). Background data on the proposed key personnel. Specific services your firm will provide and your firm s ability to provide the services in a timely manner. Fee structure including any expected travel or expenses Standard services agreement or statement of work
Exhibit 2 Scope of Services Scope of Services The consulting firm is responsible for providing or obtaining the services listed below. At the direction of the City Project Manager, the selected consultant will represent the City s technology interests by performing the following tasks: 1. Review existing internet and intranet business and technical requirements for thoroughness. 2. Assist with product and vendor selection including: Advising on an information architecture for both internet and intranet. Provide input for the RFP Propose evaluation criteria and processes Provide independent written feedback on products and vendors considered. 3. Review RFP responses to: Recommend products and vendors for both internet and intranet Provide an implementation roadmap (phasing) recommendations, and scrutinize vendor plans for implementation. 4. Track and manage the selected vendor s process and execution of the project to ensure that: The vendor s web design and information architecture of the City s internet website complies with the City s business and technical requirements. The consolidation of the City s various Intranet web sites and the information architecture redesign complies with the City s business and technical requirements. 5. Propose resources and skills needed for implementation and on-going support after product implementation including but not limited to infrastructure and governance. 6. The Consultant s term of service will begin on or about November 10, 2009 and. The successful consultant should have: A strong and demonstrable understanding of web and online technologies, the industry surrounding online technologies and the leaders in this industry, Experience with vendors which have developed systems for municipal government Worked on website projects of significant scope in the past with a presentable portfolio Solid and demonstrable project management as well as contracting experience Ability to begin work on the project within two (2) weeks once a contract is signed (expected start date on or about November 10, 2009) Project Background: 7
The City s internet platform is no longer an active product, and is not eligible for mainstream vendor support. Although extended support will be available until 2014 the product is essentially static until it is finally retired. As such the City of Garland is seeking to upgrade its internet technology platform, and at the same time rework its citizen-facing web presence with improved branding and usability. Internally, the City has a myriad of intranet sites, designed to meet specific departmental needs. Although these sites work well independently, the City would also like to take this opportunity to develop a city-wide intranet that will meet additional enterprise-wide needs. The City is open to a variety of intranet/internet solution options, including but not limited to: Application purchase with development and maintenance performed in-house Application purchase with consulting services to design, develop and implement a turn-key solution, with ongoing maintenance performed in-house A fully remotely-hosted solution, including design, development, implementation and ongoing maintenance. Internet Features Wanted An excellent internal search engine. A platform accessible via various web browsers, PDAs, smartphones, Palms, etc. The redesigned site must include appropriate ADA functionalities. Web reporting tools to track internal issues such as broken links, when a page was last updated, etc. Reporting tools to track customer usage of the website. Flexible, elegant Calendar Tool with ability to add calendar items like photos & attachments. Photo gallery RSS feeds listserve (just to compare with what we have); Agenda builder (optional only) for City Council and other agendas; City Directory that allows customers to intuitively find specific City contacts GIS-based search function to allow customers to see services and facilities in relation to a specific address. Similar features found on the City of Garland s internet site (www.ci.garland.tx.us). City staff should be able to maintain their content, a mixed approach to content management would be considered.
Internet Design Considerations: The design standards for fonts, colors and specific design elements that are the Garland Internet brand, with the ability to add various design elements for specific departments. The design should contain templates that allow for flexible placement of images and text boxes. Intranet Features Wanted: Maintain control logs Ability to run/view different status reports Survey for customer feedback Bulletin board/message posting/general communication Ability to control content development Common design format/standardization across all department pages Ability to register for training Ability to easily customize pages, headers, etc. Easy and infrequent upgrades/patches Benefit announcements Extension of intranet to retirees Extended search capabilities FAQ section In and out board Calendar (organizational/departmental) Links to different sites/applications Use of Active Directory Electronic forms (organizational/departmental) Directives/policies (organizational/departmental) Procedures (organizational/departmental) Departmental mission/value statements, division breakdowns, organizational charts, maps and directions, contact page Training materials (streaming audio/video, library of tapes/dvds, on-line training) Photo gallery Employee spotlight Welcome new staff introductions Ability to pay bills on-line Approval process workflow (form routing) Alerts of changes to information Hit counter Email alert notifications (training reminders) Translation of page capability City staff should be able to maintain their content, a mixed approach to content management would be considered.
Intranet Design Considerations: The design standards for fonts, colors and specific design elements that are the Garland intranet brand (may be different than the Internet brand), with the ability to add various design elements for specific departments. The design should contain templates that allow for flexible placement of images and text boxes. Technical requirements: Operating System: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 (minimum) Server Architecture: City purchased Intel platform for physical hardware no hardware keys (dongles, USB keys, etc.) or VMWare ESX architecture for virtual hardware. Database preference: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Report writer preference: Crystal Browser preference: IE v6 SP2 or greater Optional preferences: Active Directory 2003 (or higher) integration (for single sign-on authentication) Allow secure and authenticated access Web-based application or thin-client Performance-efficient over remote (T1 or VPN) connection