Request for Proposals Website Upgrade for Beakerhead Date: Created by: Response deadline: Response to: January 5, 2016 Beakerhead Creative Society January 30, 2016 at noon Mountain Time connect@beakerhead.com (Attn: Michelle Htun- Kay) Part One: Creative and Technical Brief BACKGROUND Beakerhead Creative Society, a registered Canadian charity, offers year- round programming that is interactive, experiential and entertaining, under the brand name Beakerhead. It brings together art, science and engineering from across the city, province, country and world to build and collaborate. It culminates in an annual weeklong happening each fall. The fourth Beakerhead will take place in Calgary on September 14 18, 2016. OBJECTIVE Beakerhead Creative Society is issuing a request for proposals for a website upgrade (not re- do) aimed to build on and improve the current site s visual appeal, interactivity, engagement, responsiveness and content management system. This will be a concept to completion production. The purpose of this RFP is to provide a fair evaluation for all candidates and to provide the candidates with the evaluation criteria against which they will be judged. KEY WEBSITE CONSIDERATION The existing Beakerhead website was originally designed and produced in 2011 and re- vamped in 2014, with slight modifications made in 2015. The site is maintained with in- house resources as well as agency technical and design support. The current Beakerhead website acts like a billboard providing visitors with information about Beakerhead events, announcements, background and programs. We have been told that visually the homepage is quite attractive until the lead- up to the September happening.
When we shift to event listing mode, the website becomes visually busy and visitors report that it is confusing to use. The event information can be hard to navigate (while non- event information appears absent). We would like to upgrade the current site so it functions as an interactive tool that provokes action - - whether that be to volunteer, attend, purchase tickets or sponsor and not just for the August / September months but year- round. The at times open and flexible and in other instances restrictive and controlled structure within WordPress is difficult to manage, time- consuming to correct/input, and doesn t fully safeguard a consistent look and feel. TARGET AUDIENCE Beakerhead appeals to a wide, all- inclusive audience. It has to function for local, regional and international visitors who will be active attendees of Beakerhead. It should appeal to art, science and engineering organizations, educational institutions, and individuals who want to build, compete, exhibit and learn year- around and during Beakerhead week. The website needs to appeal and cater to this diverse online visitor. EXAMPLE WEBSITES OF SIMILAR ORGANIZATIONS The following organizations operate year- round fundraising and/or educational/community programs and then an annual event of several days and several programs. Most are not operating in as many indoor and outdoor venues (and changeable venues year on year) as Beakerhead. We offer these as examples only and are not suggesting a direction. Luminato: http://luminatofestival.com World Science Festival: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com Saatchi Gallery: http://www.saatchigallery.com SCOPE Platform: WordPress (if there is better platform and a transition is straightforward, we would consider this) Size: Responsive site # of pages: approx. 10% increase from current website, specifically for better travelling participant experience (e.g., hotel and ticket package promotions, maps, how- to s) and better media and blog content presentation/navigation. For 2016 and beyond, the website needs to have a clearly framed and easily executable content management platform for these main elements, ordered by priority: 1. Online Program: Add up to 70 events with descriptions and details, including smart search capability and a plan for archiving annual events. 2. Attracting Donations: A more visible presentation on how and why to make a donation to Beakerhead that is found on every page. Donations are made via etapestry. 3. Sponsor Recognition: Beakerhead to add, place, and prioritize sponsor logos, rather than upload a.jpg image of the logos pre- set. WordPress allows for uploading individual
logos but adjusting size and proportions as well as ordering is cumbersome and doesn t create the needed result. 4. Visitor experience: Currently limited to one, long scrolling page of visitor deals and hotel offers, which need to be better presented and more enticing to click through. Visitor experience buttons should also be presented on every page throughout the site. 5. Programs: An upgrade to the categorization and presentation of the various programs offered at Beakerhead, in particular the School Programs, which has developed several ineffective layers rather than a simple, clear presentation of what school programs are available, to whom and how to apply. 6. Media Room: a more user- friendly, easily downloadable and manageable media site able to withstand high traffic and large files each September. Additionally, the Media Room needs to be able to archive media releases, press clippings, and uploaded photography and videos. The work should also include: Current backend site ownership Optimize server/domain configuration to be able to respond rapidly WordPress template will consider other options pending budget Maintain site responsiveness Graphics as required to complement Beakerhead photography Assist with branding the navigation menus and some sub- menus/calendars Full site testing on all major browsers and devices Optimal image sized and color/density adjusted for best viewing Images/videos optimized for quick downloads on media site Aligning the back- up.org domain to the.com Installation and account set- up of administrators and for tracking software and weekly reports Tactical plan to improve SERPs and SEO Website maintenance (post completion) to be included at approximately 1 hour per week from January to July to then increase to 2-3 hours per week in August and September months. BUDGET Beakerhead welcomes multiple cost proposals to accomplish the scope outlined above. The budget must encompass all design, production and software acquisitions necessary for development of the website. Hosting will be addressed separately and costs for hosting are not included in the budget for this project. Presently, Beakerhead.com is hosted on Media Temple. List pricing for: Phase I: Discovery, Requirements Planning and Site Definition Phase II: Site Development, Testing and Deployment on May 2 Beakerhead has allocated $25,000 for this project (Phase I and II). Separate monthly cost for website maintenance may be proposed.
TIMELINE January 30 February 5 w/c February 15 February 24 February 29 RFP submitted to connect@beakerhead.com Short- list contacted Additional information meetings with short- list Contract assigned Planning discussions start Suggested Execution Timeline This is a guide only. Site must be live on or before May 2. Detailed actions/deadlines will be confirmed with the contract. March 28 Site map and draft text/images provided for design samples April 1 Design concept approved April 9 Content and images supplied April 15 Upload content/images within approved design templates April 22 Final site approved April 25-27 Upload site to hosting and testing May 2 Site live May 16 All work completed and invoiced BEAKERHEAD TO SUPPLY All final text via email in Word document All imagery/video files/links LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS Other optional features not listed above to be quoted separately. During site development, two rounds of design upgrades, minor revisions to text and content will be accommodated in graphic elements. Major additional changes will be charged at an agreed upon hourly rate. WEB MAINTENANCE Post completion, approximately one hour per week web maintenance/support will be required from May to July, inclusive. This requirement will increase to 4-5 hours per week in August and 2-3 hours per week in September. Maintenance from October to May is on a case- by- case basis. Separate costing to be proposed for web maintenance Regular back ups will be the responsibility of Beakerhead Post completion, additional upgrades to WordPress and 3rd party components will be the responsibility of Beakerhead COPYRIGHT The site/coding/graphics/images will belong to Beakerhead upon invoices paid in full APPROVALS Marketing and Communications Director President
Part Three: Brand What is Beakerhead s personality? What culture is being fostered? The Beakerhead tone of voice sounds like this: Inclusive Playful Inventive Intelligent Speaking to international audience VOCABULARY There are a few words you ll see in Beakerhead website posts and some that we purposefully avoid. Yes Please: event / spectacle Join in Let s Everyone welcome! 2015 theme: Show Up! No Thank You: I, Me, We, Us, Ours Festival Showcase Innovative (when describing Beakerhead) Sponsor (better: supporter, partner) [too many adjectives] No political views Beakerhead is non- partisan AUDIENCE Imagine that you are in an international conversation with people in Austin, Halifax, New York, Berlin, London! Safe for school- age and above (PG- 13) Always link back to original content, if it comes from elsewhere EDITORIAL OBJECTIVES Offer substance news, an image, a video, how things work Encourage conversation comments, shares and idea submissions Feature art, engineering, science, technology, culture, design, ideas Delight and entertain (expose readers to new ideas and trends) Educate and encourage people to build/create Create an emotional connection. People are the Beakerhead backbone, include existing partners and new partners Welcome user- generated content! Grow the Beakerhead audience (visitors, fans, followers) SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS LINKED TO BEAKERHEAD.COM Twitter: https://twitter.com/beakerhead Instagram: https://instagram.com/beakerhead Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beakerhead Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/ucd2e_nolrnrrrestxs82zgg
Part Two: Proposal Guidelines and Requirements This is an open and competitive process. Proposals received after 12:00pm/noon MST, 30 January 2016, will not be considered. The proposal must contain the signature of a duly authorized officer or agent of the company submitting the proposal. If you wish to submit alternate solutions, please do so. The price you quote should be inclusive. If your price excludes certain fees or charges, you must provide a detailed list of excluded fees with a complete explanation of the nature of those fees. If the execution of work to be performed by your company requires the hiring of sub- contractors you must clearly state this in your proposal. Sub- contractors must be identified and the work they will perform must be defined. In your proposal please provide the name and address of the sub- contractor. Beakerhead will not refuse a proposal based upon the use of sub- contractors; however we retain the right to refuse the sub- contractors you have selected. Provisions of this RFP and the contents of the successful responses are considered available for inclusion in final contractual obligations. CONTRACT TERMS Beakerhead Creative Society will negotiate contract terms upon selection. All contracts are subject to review by Beakerhead s legal counsel, and a project will be awarded upon signing of an agreement or contract, which outlines terms, scope, budget and other necessary items. QUALIFICATIONS List the three websites your firm has produced that best reflect your work and relevancy to this project. Briefly list the role your firm played in each project. The URL should be submitted. Only sites that are live will qualify during evaluation. Describe your experience in producing sites for non- profit and/or community- focused projects. Provide current reference information for two former or current clients. Briefly describe your firm s organizational capacity to produce our website (e.g. staff, equipment, software, physical space, etc.). How many full- time staff does your firm employ? Provide a company profile, length of time in business and core competencies. What type of team will be assigned to this project? What will each person s role be? Please include a brief background summary for each key staff member assigned to this project. Briefly describe your firm s project management process. Please discuss any hardware/software vendor partnerships. Briefly describe your testing and support plan. Time frame for completion. A suggested time frame was provided. Please indicate major obstacles, if any, to meeting the May 2 deadline. Terms and conditions.
EVALUATION CRITERIA The following criteria will form the basis upon which Beakerhead will evaluate proposals. The mandatory criteria must be met and include: 1. Your proposal must be received no later than 12:00pm/noon MST, January 30, 2016. 2. Your proposal must include a cost proposal. Responses to be e- mailed to connect@beakerhead.com (Attn: Michelle Htun- Kay) Proposals that meet the mandatory requirements, as stated above, will be evaluated with the following criteria: Suitability of the Proposal the proposed solution meets the needs and criteria set forth in the RFP. Expertise in recommending and communicating appropriate technical and aesthetic solutions as evidenced by the proposal and references. Aesthetic Capabilities Prior work demonstrates artistic and imaginative, user friendly interfaces that engage communities and viewers. Candidate Experience Candidate has successfully completed similar projects and has the qualifications necessary to undertake this project. Value/Pricing Structure and Price Levels The price is commensurate with the value offered by the proposer. As a charity, Beakerhead Creative Society, is able to accept pro bono service and recognize the provider to the full extent allowed by the Canadian Revenue Agency, including naming the proposer within the website and other collateral as a Beakerhead supporter or sponsor. Depth and Breadth of Staff The candidate firm has appropriate staff to develop the site in the time frame needed. Proposal Presentation The information is presented in a clear, logical manner and is well organized.