INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR ELECTORAL SYSTEMS (IFES) Request for Proposals for Customer Relationship Management Software RFP/15/082 February 6, 2015
Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION... 3 1.1 Purpose... 3 1.2 Coverage & Participation... 3 2 GENERAL INFORMATION... 3 2.1 The Organization... 3 2.2 Schedule of Events... 3 3 PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS... 3 3.1 Service Provider s Understanding of the Inquiry... 3 3.2 Good Faith Statement... 4 3.3 Communication... 4 3.4 Proposal Submission... 5 3.5 Criteria for Selection... 5 3.6 Selection and Notification... 5 4 SCOPE OF WORK/SPECIFICATIONS... 5 5 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS... 9 5.1 Timeline... 9 6 QUALIFICATIONS & REFERENCES... 9 7 BUDGET & ESTIMATED PRICING... 10 8 ADDITIONAL TERMS & CONDITIONS... 11 8.1 Non Disclosure Agreement... 11 8.2 Costs... 11 8.3 Intellectual Property... 11 8.4 Service Provider s/vendor Responses... 11 8.5 Partial Awarding... 11 8.6 No Liability... 11 8.7 Entire RFP... 11 9 SERVICE PROVIDER CERTIFICATION... 12
1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose The purpose of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to invite prospective service providers to submit a proposal for Financial Services. The RFP provides service providers with the relevant operational and performance requirements. 1.2 Coverage & Participation IFES reserves the right not to enter into any contract, to add and/or delete elements, or to change any element of the coverage and participation prior to the award without prior notification at any time without any liability or obligation of any kind or amount. 2 GENERAL INFORMATION 2.1 The Organization The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an independent, nongovernmental organization providing professional support to electoral democracy. IFES promotes democratic stability by providing technical assistance and applying field based research to the electoral cycle worldwide to enhance citizen participation and strengthen civil societies, governance and transparency. 2.2 Schedule of Events The following tentative schedule will apply to this RFP, but it may change in accordance with the IFES needs or unforeseen circumstances. Changes will be communicated by e mail to all firms submitted complete Notice of Intention (Schedule A ). Issuance of RFP on February 6, 2015 Technical Questions/Inquiries Due by February 12, 2015, 11:59 p.m. EST Answers/Addenda from IFES on February 17, 2015 RFP Closes on February 20, 2015, 11:59 p.m. EST IFES will then score the proposals and contact finalists. Finalists are encouraged to allow IFES to access the proposed solution for a one (1) week test period. 3 PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS 3.1 Service Provider s Understanding of the Inquiry In responding to this RFP, the service provider accepts full responsibility to understand the RFP in its entirety, and in detail, including making any inquiries to IFES as necessary to gain
such understanding. IFES reserves the right to disqualify any service provider/vendor who demonstrates less than such understanding. Furthermore, IFES reserves the right to determine, at its sole discretion, whether the service provider/vendor has demonstrated such understanding. Such disqualification shall be at no fault, cost, or liability whatsoever to IFES. 3.2 Good Faith Statement All information provided by IFES in this RFP is offered in good faith. Individual items are subject to change at any time before the award. IFES makes no certification that any item is without error. IFES is not responsible or liable for any use of the information or for any claims asserted there from. 3.3 Communication Verbal communication shall not be effective unless formally confirmed in writing by a specified procurement officer in charge of managing this RFP process. In no case shall verbal communication govern over written communication. 3.3.1 Notice of Intention: Service providers interested in bidding to this RFP are encouraged to notify IFES of their interest as soon as possible by filling and sending to the contact below the Notice of Intention herewith attached as Schedule A. However, the Notice of Intention is not mandatory and is does not legally bind the interested service providers. Attention: Josh Hayes Fax: 202 350 6701 E mail: jmhayes@ifes.org 3.3.2 Service Providers Inquiries. Applicable terms and conditions herein shall govern communications and inquiries between IFES and service providers as they relate to this RFP. Inquiries, questions, and requests for clarification related to this RFP are to be directed in writing to: Attention: Daniela Colaiacovo and Josh Hayes Fax: 202 350 6701 E mail: dcolaiacovo@ifes.org; jmhayes@ifes.org 3.3.3 Formal Communications shall include, but are not limited to: Questions concerning this RFP must be submitted in writing. Errors and omissions in this RFP and enhancements. Service providers shall recommend to IFES any discrepancies, errors, or omissions that may exist within this RFP. With respect to this RFP, service providers shall recommend to IFES any enhancements, which might be in IFES best interests.
Inquiries about technical interpretations must be submitted in writing. Addenda to this RFP. 3.3.4 Addenda: IFES will make a good faith effort to provide a written response to the questions or request for clarification that requires addenda per the Schedule of Events in 2.2. 3.4 Proposal Submission It is mandatory for bidders to send proposals in electronic copy via e mail to both Daniela Colaiacovo at dcolaiacovo@ifes.org and Josh Hayes at jmhayes@ifes.org on or prior to the closing date and time shown in the Schedule of Events in 2.2. 3.5 Criteria for Selection The evaluation of each response to this RFP will be based on its demonstrated competence, compliance, format, and organization. The purpose of this RFP is to identify those suppliers that have the interest, capability, and financial strength to supply IFES with the product and service identified in the Scope of Work and/or Specs. Evaluation Criteria: 1. Proposal Scope and Quality 30% 2. Pricing 20% 3. Timeline 30% 4. Past Performance 20% Evaluation Criteria Grading for Each Criterion: Exceed Expectations 10 Points Meets Expectations 5 Points Did Not Meet Expectations 0 Point 3.6 Selection and Notification Service providers determined by IFES who possess the capacity to compete for this contract will be selected to move into the negotiation phase of this process. Written notification will be sent to these service providers via mail. Those service providers not selected for the negotiation phase will not be notified. 4 SCOPE OF WORK/SPECIFICATIONS Background: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a consolidated platform that enables organizations to create and manage targeted email communications, social sharing, advocacy, online fundraising, events and sign up forms. The software also serves as a single online repository of constituents contact information. The contact information is segmented
according to customized fields that capture constituents interests and interactions with the organization. Functionality: The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) seeks a user friendly allinclusive CRM software with modules that allow administrative users to manage data and generate reports with metrics. The CRM must include the following functionalities: (1) store constituents personal records (contact information), programmatic and/or regional preferences, and activity (responses to calls to action, such as event attendance, donations, receipt of annual report mailing, etc.); (2) send mass emails to segmented lists (email campaign management); (3) sign up forms with customizable fields (for online donations, event registration, etc.); (4) reporting capacity (generate reports based on constituents actions, measure conversions, etc.) and (5) ability to create and download contacts or records into a clean list format by running queries based on segmentation and/or fields. The software will serve to accommodate the various and diverse connections maintained between IFES and people, companies, relationships, experience and expertise. Integration of information and data between www.ifes.org, a Drupal based website, and the CRM must be seamless. A Drupal vendor, Taoti Creative, has already been retained and is working with IFES staff to redesign our website and migrate content. Therefore, the CRM provider or developer will most likely collaborate with Taoti Creative to implement the email subscription form, donation form and other functionalities on IFES.org. Objectives (what we want the software to do): CRM Requirements Number of contact records 30,000 to 40,000 Number of administrative users 6 8 Number of end users Unlimited General requirements: The software must be tailored to the needs of the organization. Email Campaigns Must Have Sign up for emails online Segment lists by interests Include indication of preferences/interests Ability to send out mass emails Custom HTML templates Robust reporting metrics (i.e., open bounces, conversions, etc.) Responsive emails
Surveys Ease of use for the non technical user and automated functionalities (de duping, etc.) Ability to support multiple languages both in content authoring and publishing with a long term vision to produce content for IFES.org in Arabic, Spanish and French and generate e blasts/emailcampaigns in those respective languages. The platform should also provide for right to left display with appropriate characters, key symbols, etc. Personalized subject line and body of the email for each recipient, Ability to add and update personal user information (e.g. e mail address, name, etc.) Donations Must Have Customizable online donation forms Low fees (standard credit card transaction fees) and capacity to handle foreign currencies Like to Have Donation forms directly on website (not link away to themed pages) or mimic website branding for seamless user experience Advocacy Must Have Must include accommodation for potential future use for generating letter(s) to the editor campaigns, petition signing and social media/viral campaigns Metrics & Tracking Requirements Actions per engagement: Measurement of outreach to determine patterns of average response to social media, unsubscribes from newsletter, blocks or failure to respond. Conversion rate: How successful was our outreach effort, donation, subscription, etc. How often should outreach be targeted so that efforts result in a measureable action to know if they are effective to determine targeting and other factors? Funnel drop off rate: How often do people unsubscribe from our newsletter? How many read the emails, click on the links or actually end up as consistent followers? Knowing when and how often our target list contacts abandon our site is crucial for evaluating technical and content issues. Analytics: Who is opening IFES generated communications: mobile; previews; unsubscribes per e blast; source codes; unsubscribe from different lists. Ability to record and analyze all visitor behavior on site for successful content targeting and cross promotion.
Customer service: Vendors are required to provide the following information and/or services: (1) customization of data fields; (2) data scrubbing; (3) automated data migration; (4) maintenance; (5) customer service availability for services; (6) assistance with email campaign or reporting functionalities and (7) The vendor is expected to resolve any technical bugs and errors discovered after the implementation of the software without extra charge. The vendor is also expected to provide support and maintenance of the system for at least one (1) year after the hard launch of the solution. Customization of data fields Requirements Support creation of multiple data fields Ability to easily read, create, edit, delete, activate (publish) and deactivate (un publish) outdated fields Ability to code/tag fields by name, priority or other search features Ability for various classes of fields which will be displayed on content authoring templates Fields/templates can be created and fully modified using standard template authoring tools Ability to replace existing fields/templates (e.g. in the case of template redesign; or availability of an enhanced presentation for a particular content type) Capability to create custom forms and present them to users; collect, input and store/transmit data to external/internal repositories Data migration & testing Requirements The vendor must support automated migration of records and ensure data is accurately transferred. To ensure the integrity of data, the vendor must suggest mechanisms to evaluate the transferred data against the existing database and produce reports showing the success rate of the transfer Ability to transfer all key data for use on CRM software Ability to transfer IFES.org taxonomy (i.e. categorization or classification, of things based on a predetermined set of requirements from IFES). Provide the method for how the vendor organizes data into categories and subcategories Ability to move data or input data without compromising security or loss of data Ability to convert existing content if necessary Ability to import all existing file system based content CRM vendor will provide a description of its data migration process, tools and capabilities Security of entire CRM implementation will be tested before rollout to ensure system integrity
CRM vendor to describe performance testing procedures CRM vendor will test all software functionality to ensure compliance with detailed functional requirements Customer service maintenance and support Requirements Help/support options: Help desk, hotline, and hours available: what method(s); phone, email, online form, other, all? Software support response time to IFES inquiries Frequency at which new versions of the software are released Release date of the first version of the software Release date for the current version of the software Release date for the next version (expected) Implications of modification on upgrade, maintaining modification and potential costs Training Requirements Vendor should provide methods i.e. tutorials or trainings for new and existing customers. If so what are the options? Vendor should also include training, possibly tailored for IFES administrative users. 5 FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS 5.1 Timeline The service provider must submit timeline in the proposal showing the time required to conclude the service. IFES expects the data migration to be completed by March 20, 2015. The system should be fully functional by April 6, 2015. 6 QUALIFICATIONS & REFERENCES The service provider must provide the following information in order for their proposal to be considered: 1. A brief outline of the company and services offered, including: Full legal name and address of the company Full legal name of company s President and / or Chief Executive Officer Registration Documents
U.S. companies must indicate if they are a registered Small Business (Woman owned, veteran owned, Minority owned, Disabled, Service Disabled Veteranowned) 2. Evidence of successful completion of a project of a similar size and complexity. 3. References: Contact information for no less than three references from projects similar in size, application, and scope and a brief description of their implementation (including location and year) 7 BUDGET & ESTIMATED PRICING The service provider must fill out the following cost breakdown for the implementation of their service for IFES s project as described in this RFP. The service provider/vendor must agree to keep these prices valid for minimum 90 calendar days. Pricing must be in US Dollars (USD). Unit prices are required and in the case of discrepancies between unit price and total price, the unit price will be taken as reference basis in the evaluation. Technical Specifications must be shown per each item. No. Item Description QTY Unit 1. Licensing Fees (if any) 1 service 1 lot Unit Price USD Total Price USD Total 2. Fixed Price for Must Haves and Requirements 3. Fixed Price for Like to Haves 4. Fixed Price for requested Training (customers and IFES staff) 5. Fixed Price for One (1) Year Support and Maintenance 1 service 1 lot 1 service 1 lot 1 service 1 lot 1 service 1 year Taxes (IFES is tax exempt) n/a Grand Total
8 ADDITIONAL TERMS & CONDITIONS 8.1 Non Disclosure Agreement IFES reserves the right to require the service provider/vendor to enter into a non disclosure agreement. 8.2 Costs The RFP does not obligate IFES to pay for any costs, of any kind whatsoever, which may be incurred by a service provider/vendor or third parties, in connection with the Response. All responses and supporting documentation shall become the property of IFES, subject to claims of confidentiality in respect of the response and supporting documentation. 8.3 Intellectual Property The respondent should not use any intellectual property of IFES including, but not limited to, all logos, registered trademarks, or trade names of IFES, at any time without the prior written approval of IFES, as appropriate. 8.4 Service Provider s/vendor Responses All accepted responses shall become the property of IFES and will not be returned. 8.5 Partial Awarding IFES reserves the right to accept all or part of the quotation when awarding the purchase order. 8.6 No Liability IFES reserve the right to accept or reject any quotation or stop the procurement process at any time before the award, without assigning any reason or liability. IFES shall not be liable to any service provider/vendor, person, or entity for any losses, expenses, costs, claims, or damages of any kind: Arising out of, by reason of, or attributable to, the service provider/vendor responding to this RFP; or As a result of the use of any information, error, or omission contained in this RFP document or provided during the RFP process. 8.7 Entire RFP This RFP, any addenda to it, and any attached schedules, constitute the entire RFP.
9 Service Provider Certification This certification attests to the service provider s/vendor s awareness and agreement to the content of this RFP and all accompanying calendar schedules and provisions contained herein. The service provider/vendor must ensure that the following certificate is duly completed and correctly executed by an authorized officer of your company. This proposal is submitted in response to RFP/15/082 issued by IFES. The undersigned is a duly authorized officer, hereby certifies that: (Service Provider/Vendor Name) agrees to be bound by the content of this proposal and agrees to comply with the terms, conditions, and provisions of the referenced RFP and any addenda thereto in the event of an award. Exceptions are to be noted as stated in the RFP. The proposal shall remain in effect for a period of 90 calendar days. The undersigned further certify that their firm (check one): IS IS NOT currently debarred, suspended, or proposed for debarment by any federal entity. The undersigned agree to notify IFES of any change in this status, should one occur, until such time as an award has been made under this procurement action. Person[s] authorized to negotiate on behalf of this firm for purposes of this RFP are: Name: Signature: Name: Signature: Title: Date: Title: Date: Signature of Authorized Officer: Name: Signature: Title: Date:
Schedule A Notice of Intention RFP/15/082 From: Name: Contact: Phone: Fax: Email: [INSERT COMPANY NAME] [INSERT NAME OF AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE] [INSERT TELEPHONE NO.] [INSERT FAX NO.] [INSERT E MAIL] Please state your intention with regard to the subject Request for Proposals by selecting one of the following: [ ] Intends to respond to IFES Request for Proposal/Quotation [ ] Does not intend to respond to IFES Request for Proposal/Quotation TO: International Foundation for Electoral Systems Attention: Josh Hayes Fax: 202 350 6701 E mail: jmhayes@ifes.org