Request for Proposal RFP 0226 EDU. Website Development, Support, and Maintenance of NEON Website (

(1)

Request

for

Proposal

RFP

‐

0226

‐

EDU

Website

Development,

Support,

and

Maintenance

of

NEON

Website

(

www.neoninc.org

)

Proposals

Due:

5:00

PM

MT

on

Friday,

June

12

th

,

2015

AUTHORIZED CONTACT:

NEON Contact: The following individual is authorized to receive the submitted proposal and

be contacted for questions as designated below:

Lori Schmitt

Contracts Administrator II

NEON, Inc.

E‐Mail:

[email protected]

Phone:

720 ‐

330 ‐

1585

KEY DATES:

Item Date

RFP Issued May 28th, 2015

Intent to Submit a Proposal Due 5:00 PM MT, Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015 Offerors’ Questions Due 5:00 PM MT, Friday, June 5th, 2015 NEON’s Answers to Questions Sent By 5:00 PM MT, Tuesday, June 9th, 2015 Offerors’ Proposals Due 5:00 PM MT, Friday, June 12th, 2015

THIS REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING:



Invitation

and

Instructions

(pages

2 ‐

3)

(2)

1 Profile

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON, Inc.) is an independent 501(c)3 corporation funded exclusively by the National Science Foundation to manage large‐scale ecological observation systems and experiments on behalf of the scientific community.

NEON’s mission is to design, implement, and operate continental‐scale research infrastructure to open new horizons in ecological science and education, and to enable ecological analyses and forecasts for the benefit of society.

Information on NEON's mission can be found on NEON's website http:// www.neoninc.org.

2 RFP Purpose

The purpose of this RFP is to find a qualified contractor who can assist NEON with ongoing web development, support, and maintenance services for the NEON website (www.neoninc.org).

3 Intent to Submit a Proposal

After reviewing this RFP, if you intend to submit a proposal, please send an e‐mail to Lori Schmitt at [email protected] by 5:00 pm MT, Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015 stating that your company intends to submit a proposal. The proposals are due by 5:00 pm MT, Friday, June 12th, 2015.

4 Questions

Offerors are invited to submit questions pertaining to this RFP. All questions, whether technical or business in nature, must be submitted in writing to:

Lori Schmitt

Contracts Administrator II Phone: 720‐330‐1585

E‐Mail: [email protected]

The deadline for receiving written questions is 5:00 pm MT, Friday, June 5th, 2015. A written response to all of the questions submitted by all Offerors will be sent to each Offeror who acknowledged their intent to respond to this RFP.

5 Offeror’s Proposal

Offerors’ proposals need to include all items listed in Section 6 “Submission Requirements” below, and must be received by NEON before the deadline which is 5:00 pm MT, Friday, June 12th, 2015.

6 Submission Requirements

Offerors are to submit the following information as their response to this proposal:

A. Your company’s approach/strategy to providing Drupal‐based website support services, including a description of how you have serviced similar customers in the past.

B. A description of your staff capacity and availability, including staff bios whenever possible.

(3)

C. Timeline of how soon you could begin work on this project after the contract has been signed.

D. A description of your company’s level of experience/expertise with the technologies relevant to servicing this contract, e.g. Drupal, LAMP, etc.

E. A list of three business customer references with a similar scope to NEON’s project, including a contact name, email address, and phone number for each so that NEON can contact.

F. Pricing information as to your hourly billable rate, estimated travel time, and any other anticipated expenses you would expect to incur.

Please limit the proposal package to approximately 10 pages or less.

7 Evaluation

NEON may award this proposal without discussion. NEON reserves the right to conduct discussions if later determined to be necessary. NEON may reject any or all proposals, accept a proposal other than the lowest priced offer, and/or waive informalities and minor irregularities in proposals received. NEON intends to award to the responsible Offeror whose proposal conforms to this RFP and offers the best value to NEON.

With regard to best value, Offerors will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

 Demonstrated understanding of technologies used in the development, implementation, and hosting of websites – including hardware, software, application development and graphic design  Recommended approach and ability to deliver services

 Level of experience with the features, applications, evaluation, and implementation of websites for diverse entities

 Cost

 Availability of project resources  Input from customer references

8 Award

NEON intends to award this RFP by July 30th, 2015.

This RFP is being released electronically only, and this version is the only official version for this solicitation. No hard copy of this RFP will be issued. All applicable amendments will be sent

electronically. Offerors shall submit responses to this RFP to the following contact prior to the closing time and date of this solicitation.

Lori Schmitt

Contracts Administrator II Phone: 720‐330‐1585

E‐Mail: [email protected]

(4)

Exhibit

A

STATEMENT

OF

WORK

1 Summary

In the past, NEON has utilized a number of staffing strategies to meet the organization’s changing web development needs, ranging from part‐time utilization of staff to hiring outside firms to design, implement, and maintain the www.neoninc.org website. Looking back at the results over time, the best results have been obtained by using a hybrid approach, supplementing in‐house expertise with direction from an outside contractor.

The contractor will provide web development, support, and maintenance services for NEON’s website (www.neoninc.org) on an ongoing basis by providing a fixed number of hours on a monthly basis, plus additional services as needed at a fixed hourly rate. It is estimated that the monthly hours would be 32‐ 40 (actual number to be finalized by the time an agreement is signed).

2 Period of Performance

The period of performance shall be from effectivity date of the contract through September 30, 2016 with an option to renew for one additional year.

3 Place of Performance

All work shall be performed at the Contractor’s facility.

4 Schedule / Milestones

Ongoing website maintenance tasks shall take place on a monthly schedule, including design and development tasks as needed. The provider shall conduct a weekly teleconference with the NEON Web Team to coordinate work efforts.

Milestone

Summary

Work

Package # Timeline Milestone Description

1 Monthly

Drupal base code, modules, and themes updated

2

Monthly, as

required Modify and/or extend website functionality 3

Monthly, as required

Modify and/or update website design elements

(5)

5. Work Requirements

A.

Work

Package

1:

Website

Maintenance

1. Description and Requirements: The contractor shall review the status of all deployed Drupal base code, modules, and themes on a monthly basis; installing, testing, and deploying relevant updates to keep all sites up‐to‐date and secure.

2. Required Meetings, Travel, Telecom, and other Events: The contractor shall conduct a weekly teleconference with the NEON Web Team to coordinate work efforts.

3. Key Personnel: The contractor must have demonstrable “expert‐level” knowledge of and experience with Drupal 7‐based websites.

4. Inputs: The contractor shall use Drupal’s Update Manager and Update Status modules (and/or other agreed‐upon methods) to identify needed security updates for all installed base code, modules, and themes.

5. Outputs/Deliverables: The contractor shall test, install and deploy security related updates to Drupal base code, modules, and themes on a staging site or certification server prior to production. The contractor shall take into account 1) ensuring Drupal base code, modules and themes lead to universal changes across the site (i.e., not just one page); and 2) ensuring Drupal base code, modules and themes do not conflict with existing elements of the website. The contractor shall then deploy tested/approved updates to NEON’s production server and retest.

6. Acceptance Criteria: Detailed in Section 7 on page 6 of this RFP.

7. Schedule: These tasks shall be completed as time allows under the monthly level of effort, unless prior approval is obtained from NEON to exceed the agreed‐upon monthly hours. 8. Restrictions and Constraints: Programming access to the NEON production webserver is

restricted to SSH/TELNET via a VPN connection. The contractor shall only be able to access the server via a NEON‐provided VPN connection.

B. Work Package 2: Website Functionality

1. Description and Requirements: Based on requirements from NEON staff, the contractor shall update functionality of the NEON website through new or modified templates, views, and modules as directed.

2. Required Meetings, Travel, Telecon and other Events: The contractor shall conduct a weekly teleconference with the NEON Web Team to coordinate work efforts.

4. Inputs: NEON shall provide requirements for desired new and/or updated website functionality.

5. Outputs/Deliverables: Based on input from NEON, the contractor shall develop, test, install, and deploy changes to Drupal base code, modules, and themes on a staging site or certification server prior to production. The contractor shall take into account 1) ensuring

(6)

Drupal base code, modules and themes lead to universal changes across the site (i.e., not just one page); and 2) ensuring Drupal base code, modules and themes do not conflict with existing elements of the website. The contractor shall then deploy tested/approved updates to NEON’s production server and retest.

6. Acceptance Criteria: Detailed in Section 7 of this RFP (bottom of page 6).

C. Work Package 3: Website Design/Styling

1. Description and Requirements: Based on requirements from NEON staff, the contractor shall update the look & feel of the NEON website through new or modified themes, styles, and CSS as needed.

2. Required Meetings, Travel, Telecon and other Events: The contractor shall conduct a weekly teleconference with the NEON Web Team to coordinate work efforts.

4. Inputs: NEON shall provide requirements for desired new and/or updated website design/styling.

5. Outputs/Deliverables: The contractor shall test, install, and deploy all needed functionality updates to themes, styles, CSS, etc. to NEON’s production server, ensuring that styling is consistent across the entire site.

6. Acceptance Criteria: Detailed in Section 7 below.

6. Other Requirements

All deliverables, processes, plans, data, and documentation developed for NEON as described in this statement of work are the property of NEON and will be provided to NEON by contract end as documented in the contract terms and conditions. Distribution, posting, or usage of the materials must be approved in advance by NEON as documented in the contract terms and conditions.

7. Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance of all changes, modifications, and updates to the NEON website will be based on

functionality testing and styling review performed by NEON staff and described in the next section.

(7)

8. Quality and Audit

In order to ensure that monthly work items are completed to NEON’s satisfaction, the following workflow shall be used:

a. NEON makes a request or presents an issue

b. Contractor reviews, providing functionality and styling recommendations c. NEON approves/disapproves*

d. Contractor develops and tests functionality e. NEON approves/disapproves*

f. Contractor develops and tests styling g. NEON approves/disapproves styling*

h. Contractor publishes changes to production environment and tests. i. NEON approves/disapproves styling*

*if any step is disapproved by NEON, the contractor will revise/correct until approved.

Additionally, emergency support shall:

 Be available Monday‐Friday between the hours of 8:00 am MST to 5:00 pm MST

 Respond to problem requests within 4 hours of receiving the request for service

 Resolve problem requests within 24 hours of receiving the request for service

 Communicate effectively with NEON personnel

 Not be automated beyond typical call intake prompts

9. NEON Furnished Property and Information

NEON shall provide the contractor with up‐to‐date copies of the website codebase, files, and database.

10. Security Requirements

Programming access to the NEON production webserver is restricted to SSH/TELNET via a VPN connection. The contractor shall only be able to access the server via a NEON provided VPN connection.

Contractor will be required to sign a Non‐Disclosure Agreement.