Website Redesign Final Addendum January 12, 2015 1) Page 6/15 mentions: Secure Access for Online ordering of services (i.e. AV, Electrical, Internet, etc ). Does this refer to payment processing as a part of the new system? Or to be handled outside the system with information being collected by the system We use a program call EBMS developed by USI www.ungerboeck.com, our Online ordering is handled through a module of their program hosted on internal servers. 2) Is the contractor or client responsible for the content? The new site will need copy, contact information, many photos and other relevant content. Should we include this in our proposal or will your organization be responsible for providing all content to make this site dynamic? Website content and 3rd party apps can significantly change the project scope and budget. The client is responsible for the content. 3) How many copies of the proposal should we submit? Please clarify. Please submit ONE (1) printed copy of your proposal and FOUR (4) copies on either DVD Media or USB jump drive. 4) Training your staff to maintain the site is manageable, however we would need to know your employee s skill set and software currently in your possession. Depending on skills and available software will determine how we approach the overall technology and or plug ins. The general staff responsible for the day to day maintenance of the website are competent in Microsoft Office products. The IT Staff has experience in SQL Server, HTML coding 5) Do you have a budget in mind to develop and produce the website, tools and functionalities as listed in the rfp? This will also determine how we approach the rfp and how we best approach the project. Proposers should submit their best price, notwithstanding the project budget 6) What is the timeframe in which you would like to launch the new site? We would like to launch the new website asap, therefore proposers are asked to submit a timeline showing their approach from day 0 up to and including the standard development time. 7) How many references should we include? Proposers should include minimum THREE (3) references. 8) Do you want a list of references with contact information, or letters of reference? Please submit the following: Brief description of the project URL of the project Contact information for the lead client and/or letter of recommendation with contact information. 9) How many people at PCCA will be involved in the site development and in site administration? The development team will consist of 2 or 3 people who will report to the Senior Executive team. 10) Are financial statements required with the proposal? Yes
11) Could you provide a copy of the RFP cover sheet and the non-collusion certification referenced in the RFP? These documents have been posted to the website. 12) What is your current web hosting architecture? What security and performance measures do you currently utilize? Current web hosting architecture is using Sharepoint. The sharepoint server rests in a DMZ separated from the rest of the network. There are paths setup to communicate with a SQL Server to pull information including the online ordering information. 13) Can you provide any statistics on current site usage? There are no statistics on the current website. 14) How many users will be accessing and updating the CMS? 2-5 users. 15) Please describe your expectations for hosting and support. Are you open to cloud hosting or do you have another preference? 16) Are you opened to a packaged CMS solution? 17) Can you clarify the necessary components that will need to interface with the facilities database. The Event Calendar will need to pull information from our SQL Database 18) Audio & Video: What kind of audio and video files are to be included in this site? Sizes? File types? Does adaptive bitrate streaming need to be included, dependent on the users given bandwidth? 19) Advertising & Sponsorship: Assuming ads will be produced by another vendor and any analytics will be consumed by third party vendor, or will this be a responsibility of the awarded given vendor? This would depend on the vendor if proposers have a solution that can incorporate this, they should describe the pros and cons of the solution. 20) Secure Access for Online ordering of services: Will this be a redirect to another external website to order services or expected (internal) functionality of the redesigned website? If internal What payment gateways will be supported? Also, if a third party can provide this functionality, could it be pursued to preserve budget? Our Online ordering will be implemented through EBMS from USI (www.ungerboeck.com) 21) Social Networks: Will this be a redirect to an external website/app or housed in the redesigned website environment?
22) Interactive Directions Map Expectations: Is to be built custom/ground up or can a third party be used to preserve budget? We are open to any solution proposers should propose their best ideas and describe the pros and cons 23) What is your mobile strategy and how does that fit into the website redesign? As the percentage of our customers doing business on handheld devices increases, the Pennsylvania Convention Center is working to serve this increasingly mobile clientele. Our goal is to provide proactive, real-time customer support to convention exhibitors and attendees whenever possible and in the platforms and formats that they prefer.the user experience from the smart phone and the tablet is different than the user experience at a computer. As the Pennsylvania Convention Center improves its communication resources, we want to ensure that our desktop website for paconvention.com can be responsive to smartphone and tablet users.our competitive goal will be to create and integrate platforms that are both useful and valuable. More importantly, we want our website redesign project to be functional for our desktop and mobile customers, easing their experience in planning, attending and exhibiting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. 24) Are you amenable to the use of offshore development resources to preserve budget? We are open to any solution proposers should put their best idea forward and describe the pros and cons of any solution. 25) What s the overall budget and timeframe for delivery Proposers should submit their best price, nothwithstanding the project budget. Please see question SIX (6). 26) How many references should be included? Please see question EIGHT (8) 27) How many banner ads to anticipate having on the website? No specific decision has been made on this. 28) What email marketing service do you use? We are currently using Constant Contact 29) Will you need logins for vendors? Not at this time but this is an option (secure logins) that would be interesting. 30) Will the website be hosting audio/video or will it be coming from a third party source? See Question EIGHTEEN (18) 31) Can you provide a breakdown or map of the facility to assist with proposing mapping options for inside the center? Current floorplans can be found at http://www.paconvention.com/the-center/floor- Plans/Pages/default.aspx 32) Credit Card Processing. Will the new site use an existing credit card gateway account, or does that need to be set-up? Please see question ONE (1)
33) Advertisement Displays. Will the ads be hosted on the PA Convention Center's webserver, or will the ads be draw from an Ad Network to which PA Convention Center belongs or will belong? 34) Facility Database. What is the purpose of this database and what type of database is it (e.g., Access, MySQL, SQL server)? Does it reside with the current hosting company? EBMS uses a SQL Database we are currently running SQL 2008 and are looking to upgrade to SQL 2014 35) Website Metrics. What does the site currently use to track usage statistics (e.g., Google Analytics, Webtrends)? Please see question THIRTEEN (13) 36) Technical Platform. Does the current team have experience (good or bad) with any platforms (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Expression Engine) for managing websites? Sharepoint is what is currently used the proposal is for a new solution. 37) Technical Training. What level of technical experience working with a content management system (CMS) does the internal PCC team member have? This varies from entry level to experienced. 38) Content Development. Does the PA Convention Center team need copywriting and content development services, or will it provide a manuscript for the website? SMG/PCCA team will provide all content. 39) Tools & Functionalities. Will we be doing a photo shoot of the staff for website bios or are current photos going to be used? 40) Page 3 indicates that 10 separately bound copies of the proposal be delivered. Page 7 indicates that "the proposer shall complete and submit one original hard copy, three additional hard copies, and one electronic copy of its proposal. Could you please clarify these requirements? Please see Question THREE (3) 41) There is reference made to sections 2(G) and 2(H) but no such sections are found in the RFP document. Please advise as to where these can be found. These documents have been posted to the website. 42) Is there a requirement to extend the PCCA website using the existing technologies on which it is built? Otherwise, would the PCCA be open to moving to a web/cms platform such as WordPress? There is no requirement to extend the website 43) Would it be acceptable to host videos on a PCCA YouTube Channel, then to expose those videos on the website?
44) Is there an existing back end system to support the secure access for online ordering of services? See Question ONE (1) 45) With regard to the mention of organic search engine placement and analytics, IQ follows the current Google SEO Guidelines and implements Google Analytics as part of our website redesign projects. Are there any additional considerations or expectations with regard to SEO or Analytics (perhaps non-google related) that you would like to see addressed in the proposal? Not at this time 46) Do you need 10 hardcopies of the proposal delivered to the PCCA or 3 copies? See Question THREE (3) 47) Should the electronic version be on a Flash drive or emailed? If Flash drive, do you want the affirmative action portion and cost portion on the same flash drive as the technical portion? Yes all portions may be on the same media 48) In the Tools & Functionalities portion of the scope of work, you mention a Calendar of Events. Do you want the calendar to just show current/future events or also archived events that have already passed? The Calendar will need to be viewable for a certain amount of past events, possibly 30 to 60 days but we will not have to have a full archive available. 49) Does PCCA use You Tube or Vimeo for their videos or do the videos actually need to be hosted on the website? We do currently have a YouTube channel but we are open to any solution proposers should propose their best ideas and describe the pros and cons 50) Please describe how the Access for Online Ordering of Services works. Is this third-party functionality or should our scope of work include the design and building of an online ordering system. (If it's the latter, can we see what services can be ordered online and what information PCCA requires of users in order to place their orders?) Please see Question ONE (1) 51) Please describe how the new site and the PCCA database must interact with one another. The EBMS database provides information in a SQL Database that we would like to use to for things like an Event Calendar. 52) Is there a budget or budget range for this project? Proposers should submit their best price, nothwithstanding the project budget 53) Why is the PA Convention Center looking for a new website and what are the business goals? We want to redesign our current website to enhance its profile and create a more user-friendly model for visitors and prospective customers, such as meeting planners and trade show organizers, as well as exhibitors. We look forward to the development of a site map that meets the needs of our customers and visitors. Once that site map is developed, we will work with the winning bidder and we will provide the text content for those pages, which will be coordinated with the overall flow of the site, as well as design elements and layout. A key to our redesign is better site navigation and presentation of our information when compared to our competitors.
54) Will the new partner team need to work with any existing 3rd party vendors or outside agencies in the scope of this project? No. 55) Does the PA Convention Center have a Brand Guide and Style Guide? Yes the Branding and Style Guide will be released to the contracted vendor. 56) What is the expected budget range? Proposers should submit their best price, nothwithstanding the project budget 57) What is the expected launch date? Please see question SIX (6). 58) Can data and analytics be shared with the new partner outlining the distinct needs of each audience? Please see question THIRTEEN (13) 59) Is a content audit required? SMG/PCCA will supply the new content 60) What is the expected size of the site (# pages, area sections, etc.)? Unknown at this time 61) Is the PA Convention Center planning to enhance or update existing content? Adding video, graphics, etc.? Or will the new partner be responsible for producing this new content? Yes we are planning on new content, No the new partner is not responsible as part of this RFP to provide that content. 62) Will the PA Convention Center write all the new copy? Or is the new partner responsible? SMG/PCCA will supply the new content. 63) Will the PA Convention Center team load the new content into the new Content Management System (CMS)? Or is the new partner responsible? The first load of all content will be the responsibility of the new partner (it may be used as part of training on the new CMS). 64) Can we engage some of your visitors in testing/prototyping? Yes 65) Does the scope of this project also need to include hardware, software, or other components? Hosting solution would need to include these components. 66) What is the typical review period necessary for PA Convention Center review and approval of deliverables? Final approval of the website design will be made as soon as possible. 67) Who needs to be involved in reviews Stakeholder, Legal, etc.? The 2-3 person design team will make recommendations to the Executive team for final approval. 68) Who at the PA Convention Center typically owns getting on-time approvals? The 2-3 person design team will make recommendations to the Executive team for final approval.
69) Are all the project stakeholders located in PA? And who are the stakeholders? Yes they are all located at the PCC. No No 70) Does this project need to adhere to existing PA Convention Center corporate technology standards (coding standards, supported browsers, platforms, and screen sizes, where applicable)? Do these standards currently exist for existing websites? If so, please provide a link to these standards. 71) Is there an existing internal tool that would be required to use for version control to manage assets, code, etc.? 72) Will an existing CMS be used or is a new CMS envisioned? If a new CMS is envisioned, does the PA Convention Center have a tool in mind? Are open source vs. commercial CMS tools preferred? 73) Will the vendor be responsible for any CMS license costs, or will these be paid directly by the PA Convention Center? SMG/PCC will be responsible for any CMS license costs; therefore please describe any such costs fully.