1400 K Street, Suite 400 Sacramento, California 95814 Phone: 916.658.8200 Fax: 916.658.8240 www.cacities.org
Request
for
Proposal:
Website
Platform/Content
Management
System
Goal
Build a website platform to enhance and streamline the League’s news and information distribution system. The new website will integrate social media platforms and preserve the membership services contained in the current website. It also will improve the League’s ability to effectively and efficiently share resources and communicate with our members, local government advocacy groups, the press and the public.
The current website, www.cacities.org, will serve as a starting point for the project. The existing content
management system for this site is antiquated and hinders our ability to effectively serve our audience. The League requires a modern approach to disseminate information and resources.
Specific Goals Are:
Improved ability to quickly disseminate news on multiple channels, including: ͦ A newsletter/weblog and press release e‐mail distribution
ͦ Social media news feed integration
ͦ Integrated advertising space to generate revenues New content management system; and
Improved organization and usability.
Information requested in the proposal
Interested vendors should submit a thorough and concise package of information responding to the Request for Proposal (RFP) including:
1. A title page containing your vendor’s name, address, telephone number, principal contact, fax number, and e‐mail address.
2. A total cost of the project, as well as a detailed “line item” breakdown of costs. Additionally specifying: a. “Not to exceed” fees (for actual cost of time and materials needed to complete the project); b. A “not to exceed” fee (for any reimbursable expense anticipated during the course of this
project);
c. An hourly rate schedule for services; and
d. Clearly defined additional costs/charges (such as traveling expenses).
3. The necessary software and hardware, and any additional communication integration needs and potential costs to maintain the website (i.e. hardware, software, installation, licensing, training, upgrades etc.). 4. An all‐encompassing package, with a single vendor identified as the “responsible lead vendor.” Please
include any subcontractor(s) that will be required to meet the needs of the proposal or clearly indicate what portion of the services are not included as part of your proposal.
5. Years of experience related to website design.
2011 Website RFP 2 7. A section on relevant website development experience and information on the extent of your vendor’s
abilities to meet the needs of this project.
8. An estimated summary timeline for completion of this project.
9. A list of comparable websites, including membership associations and local governments designed by your vendor. Include the website address, company/agency contact, address, telephone number, and hard copies of the Home Pages. These companies/agencies may be contacted for references.
10. Any other information deemed appropriate for this project.
Selection process
The League website team (League staff) will review the proposals received. Based on experience, scope of work, cost and other relevant issues, the most qualified vendors representing the best overall value for the services requested will be invited to conduct a formal presentation for League staff. The presentation and interview shall take place at the League of California Cities office in Sacramento. League staff will make a final determination regarding the selection of a vendor and a contract once the interview process is complete.
1. Proposal Evaluation and Review
As indicated, staff will select proposals for further consideration based on, but not limited to: a. The completeness and inclusion of requested information;
b. Ability and effectiveness of the vendor to meet the League’s needs; c. Qualifications and experience of the vendor and assigned project staff; d. Past performance of the vendor on completed projects;
e. Similar projects completed by the vendor;
f. Professional standing and financial stability of the vendor;
g. Availability of the vendor to meet deadlines, responsiveness to changes, and staying within projected budgets;
h. Ability to present materials that can be understood by technical and non‐technical staff; i. Feasibility of the proposal(s) based upon the proposed scope of service; and
j. Ability to provide technical support throughout the length of the contract.
2. Presentation and Interview
Areas to be considered for the presentation and interview include:
a. A demonstration of qualifications and the ability to fulfill the needs of the project as outlined in the RFP; and
b. A demonstration of services provided to other companies, associations, or municipalities.
3. Final Selection
Following the review of the proposals, presentation, and interviews, the League may further invite vendors(s) to formally meet with League staff prior to making a final determination.
2011 Website RFP 3 Due Date
Proposals should be submitted no later than May 27, 2011. Include five references with your proposal. Submit proposals by mail or e‐mail to Adrienne Sprenger.
Proposals can be e‐mailed to:
[email protected] (e‐mail size limit for this account may not exceed 4 MB) or [email protected].
Or mailed to: Adrienne Sprenger League of California Cities 1400 K Street, Suite 400 Sacramento, CA 95814
Timeline
Deadline to submit proposals to the League – May 27 League reviews proposals – First week of June
Final candidate interviews scheduled – Second and third weeks of June Final vendor selection – end of June
New website goal to go live – January 1, 2012
Inquiries
Questions or clarifications regarding this proposal should be directed to Adrienne Sprenger, communications specialist at [email protected] or (916) 658‐8278.
2011 Website RFP 4
Scope
of
Project
Project Description Background
The League is a nonprofit membership organization that serves California cities by providing services in three main areas: legislative advocacy, legal advocacy and education. The organization focuses on several major legislative issue areas and municipal organizational departments, as well as educational training conferences for members.
Our Audience
The League’s website serves its members consisting of California management and administrative city staff and elected city officials. It also serves the League’s local government advocacy partners, working on lobbying and grass roots political activism, as well as the larger public and members of the news media.
Existing Web Information
League main website: www.cacities.org.
Websites connected to the League website: http://www.svcities.com, http://www.lacities.org/ and
http://lccannualconference.com. The League also links to a site that contains a database of members. Further information can be provided upon request.
Artwork: Files would need to be designed.
League Logo colors: Pantone 445 grey and Pantone 7459 blue
Website Features
Navigation: Intuitive website navigation;
Display Pages: Attractive, flexible and functional display pages. Each display page will use attractive fonts; prominent yet elegant headers; and be capable of displaying a variety of layouts. A section on each display page will be reserved for customizable “quick links” for League events, campaigns or other advocacy efforts. Standardized page templates to keep format and style consistent when updating pages. Multimedia display: The ability to upload onto any display page an image, video clip or audio file. Main
pages should be able to display galleries for video, audio and photos;
Search: A powerful, fast, pre‐indexed, website search function on every page, including the ability to search MS Office and Adobe Acrobat documents and other similar resources;
Electronic File Repository: A file repository for Acrobat, Word, Excel, and image files. The files would then be linkable to any display page and also be searchable;
Social Media: Integrated social media feeds on any display page we chose; Electronic Newsletter/WebLog Features:
ͦ An article archive feature;
ͦ Serve as a platform to sell/host advertising
ͦ Functionality to publish news simultaneously on multiple platforms‐ i.e direct email newsletter/weblog and social media platforms.
Detailed Website Analytics: The ability to view page hits and clicks down to individual subscriber on every page of the website;
Notifications: A subscription function for those interested in receiving news updates by topic/event; An RSS feed;
2011 Website RFP 5 Blogging: Ability to create a blog with e‐mail subscription function, capable to publishing one or multiple
stories at the same time.
E‐commerce: PCI compliant payment gateways for a variety of events or products;
Conference and Meeting Support: The ability to host conference agendas, handouts, speaker biographies, and short audio/visual clips in a concise, easy to navigate sub‐section of the website
(http://www.cacities.org/handouts). Also include images for each conference, things to do at that conference city, weather, parking, venue, maps and restaurant information;
Conference Expo Support: Pages specifically designed to incorporate autoCAD to manage exhibit hall logistics like, booth sales for future events.
Seamless Integration: This website will be the primary portal for other web enabled functionality supplied by other vendors.
Newsroom: press contacts, news releases, City Advocate Weekly articles, etc.
Data collection: City Attorneys Papers and Opinions Database (http://www.cacities.org/attypapers). A master organizational event calendar, displayed on the home page;
Secure section: While most of the website is public, a small section of the website will be password protected. This section will be used for our internal staff calendars and other secure items.
Database driven data collection
The new website platform must have the ability for end‐users to enter data into online forms and have that data stored in a database. The League would need to access this data easily and quickly, or utilize pre‐formatted reports based on the data collected. The ability to access reports and download them into various formats, such as an excel spreadsheet, would be preferred. An example of this is the League’s amicus request form
(http://www.cacities.org/requestamicus) or the League’s education department’s call for session proposals for conferences. The amicus request form is exportable to a FileMaker Pro database. The session proposals should be exportable to excel or into an Access database.
Website Content Management Tools
The League must have a website that utilizes a powerful and flexible content management system.
The content management tools will:
Be user‐friendly. Any office worker with experience using common desktop applications like MS Word should be able to use the content manager without the need for extensive training;
Perform well, without error codes or lag time; Behave in a consistent and predictable manner; Automatically resize pictures and graphics upon upload;
Include a spotlighted section on the home page for hot/current items; Include master event calendar, displayed on the home page;
Create e‐mail distribution for marketing/newsletter/press release/campaign updates, which may include a Blog section.
Provide standardized page templates to keep format and style consistent when updating webpages; Be able to upload documents up to 10MB in size;
Track resources, showing the page and story they are linked to;
Show the full name of any person who creates or updates a resource, story and page;
Send automated e‐mails to the owner and administrator of resources, stories and images that have been inactive for a period of time. Have an option to automatically delete these items after 30 days;
Have a setting available for users who only need access to calendars; and Create an end time for shortcut links if they are not permanent.
2011 Website RFP 6
Browser Compatibility
The new website and associated content manager will be fully viewable and functional in the current version of all major web browsers, including; Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome.
2011 Website RFP 7
Vendor
Requirements
Experience
Qualified candidates will have no fewer than 50 current or recent website customers, and the company will be no less than five years old. Candidates will demonstrate they have sufficient permanent staffing to support the project from planning through implementation. The over‐use of outsourced contractors in key positions is discouraged. Candidates will demonstrate that they are well versed in current and emerging website design and functionality.
Project Management
The successful vendor will be able to demonstrate their project management experience, tools, procedures, and policies.
The successful vendor will assign an internal project manager to our website building team. The project manager will have 10 years of experience in website creation and deployment. The project manager will remain on the team until project launch, and have direct authority over all human and technical resources assigned to the project.
Website Creation Process
The successful vendor will demonstrate their established process for the creation of a new website. The documented process will include all major steps need to create a website from start to launch.
Website Graphic Design Assistance
The successful candidate will have an experienced internal graphic design team that will assist with layout, color, navigation, fonts, styles, and overall organization and usability. This team will work seamlessly with League staff to achieve the final product. The League will have a single point of contact for all design issues and decisions. Graphic design services will be included in the pricing model.
Customer and Technical Support
The successful candidate will demonstrate an established customer and technical support team. Support for billing, training, graphic design, and bug fixes. Also, support for changes and modifications for our constantly evolving website is required.
Hosting
The League seeks a vendor (or a vendor with a data center partner) that is able to host the website in a secure state‐of‐the‐art data center. The data center will have: redundancy, data back‐up, burstable bandwidth,
established OS patching and application update procedures, anti‐virus, intrusion prevention and detection, 24 hour support, and significant file storage capabilities.
Attachment A — League’s current website map
We will use the League’s current website structure as a “starting point” for creating the new website. Most of the navigational structure and display page locations may be re‐used on the new site.
Site Map Breakdown
Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL
About the
League http://www.cacities.org/about/index.jsp
History http://www.cacities.org/about/history/index.jsp
Mission http://www.cacities.org/about/mission/index.jsp
Bylaws http://www.cacities.org/about/bylaws/index.jsp
Strategic Plan http://www.cacities.org/about/strategy/index.jsp
Board http://www.cacities.org/about/board/index.jsp
Staff http://www.cacities.org/about/staff/index.jsp
Awards http://www.cacities.org/about/awards/index.jsp
League Awards http://www.cacities.org/about/awards/index.jsp
Helen Putnam http://www.cacities.org/partner/helen/index.jsp
Jobs at the League
http://www.cacities.org/about/employ/index.jsp
Learn More http://www.cacities.org/about/learn/index.jsp
Contact Us http://www.cacities.org/about/contact/index.jsp
Advocacy http://www.cacities.org/advo/index.jsp
Bill Search http://www.cacities.org/advo/billsearch/index.jsp?app=billsearch
Legislative http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/index.jsp
Legislative Staff http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/index.jsp?displaytype=11&story=774
Issue Areas http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/index.jsp
Admininstrative
Services http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/admin/index.jsp
Climate Change http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/climate/index.jsp
Community
Services http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/community/index.jsp
Conferences http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/conf/index.jsp
Employee Relations http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/emprel/index.jsp
Environmental
Quality http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/env/index.jsp
Federal Priorities http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/fed/index.jsp
Housing and Community
Development http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/housing/index.jsp
Legal http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/legal/index.jsp
Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL
Public Safety http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/pubsafety/index.jsp
Revenue and
Taxation http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/tax/index.jsp
Transportations, Communications,
and Public Works http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/trans/index.jsp
Water
http://www.cacities.org/advo/leg/issues/water/index.jsp?displaytype=11&zon e=locc§ion=advo&sub_sec=advo_leg_issues_water&tert=&story=2770 5
Public Affairs &
Campaigns http://www.cacities.org/advo/camp/index.jsp
Regional Divisions http://www.cacities.org/advo/camp/representatives/index.jsp
Ballot Measures http://www.cacities.org/advo/camp/ballot/index.jsp
Fundraising http://www.cacities.org/advo/camp/fundraising/index.jsp
Legal Advocacy
Program http://www.cacities.org/advo/legal/index.jsp
Request Amicus http://www.cacities.org/advo/legal/reqasst/index.jsp
Submittal Form http://www.cacities.org/requestamicus
Amicus Guide http://www.cacities.org/amicusguide
Policy Development
http://www.cacities.org/advo/policy/index.jsp
Policy Committees http://www.cacities.org/advo/policy/comm/index.jsp
Admininstrative
Services http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=966
Community
Services http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=980
Employee Relations http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=992
Environmental
Quality http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=20354
Housing,
Community & Econ http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=1018
Public Safety http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=1031
Revenue and
Taxation http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=1048
Transportations, Communications,
Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL
Guiding Principles http://www.cacities.org/advo/policy/principles/index.jsp
Conferences & Events http://www.cacities.org/prof/index.jsp Calendar http://www.cacities.org/prof/courses/index.jsp Exhibitor Opportunities http://www.cacities.org/prof/expo/index.jsp Annual Conference and Expo http://www.cacities.org/ac Communication s http://www.cacities.org/comm/index.jsp Headlines http://www.cacities.org/comm/headlines/index.jsp
News by Topic http://www.cacities.org/comm/headlines/news/index.jsp
City Advocate
Weekly http://www.cacities.org/cityadvocateweekly
Press Releases http://www.cacities.org/comm/press/index.jsp
Western City
magazine http://www.westerncity.com/
About Cities http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=locc&previewStory=28188
Member
Resources http://www.cacities.org/member/index.jsp
Regional Divisions http://www.cacities.org/member/region/index.jsp
Central Valley http://www.cacities.org/member/region/centval/index.jsp
Channel Counties http://www.cacities.org/member/region/chancntes/index.jsp
Desert Mountain http://www.cacities.org/member/region/desmount/index.jsp
East Bay http://www.cacities.org/member/region/eastbay/index.jsp
Imperial County http://www.cacities.org/member/region/impcnty/index.jsp
Inland Empire http://www.cacities.org/member/region/inlemp/index.jsp
Los Angeles County http://www.cacities.org/member/region/lacnty/index.jsp
Monterey Bay http://www.cacities.org/member/region/montbay/index.jsp
North Bay http://www.cacities.org/member/region/norbay/index.jsp
Orange County http://www.cacities.org/member/region/orngcnty/index.jsp
Peninsula http://www.cacities.org/member/region/pen/index.jsp
Redwood Empire http://www.cacities.org/member/region/redemp/index.jsp
Riverside County http://www.cacities.org/member/region/rvrsdcnty/index.jsp
Sacramento Valley http://www.svcities.com/
San Diego County http://www.cacities.org/member/region/sdcnty/index.jsp
South San Joaquin
Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL
Professional
Departments http://www.cacities.org/member/departments/index.jsp
City Attorneys http://www.cacities.org/attorneys
City Clerks
City Managers http://www.cacities.org/managers
Fire Chiefs http://www.cacities.org/firechiefs
Fiscal Officers http://www.cacities.org/fiscalofficers
Mayors & Council
Members http://www.cacities.org/member/departments/council/index.jsp
Personnel &
Employee Relations http://www.cacities.org/erd
Planning & Community
Development http://www.cacities.org/member/departments/planning/index.jsp
Police Chiefs http://www.cacities.org/member/departments/policechiefs/index.jsp
Public Works Officers http://www.cacities.org/publicworks
Community Services http://www.cacities.org/communityservicesdept
Caucuses http://www.cacities.org/member/caucuses/index.jsp
African American http://www.cacities.org/member/caucuses/aframerican/index.jsp
Asian Pacific Islander http://www.cacities.org/member/caucuses/asianpac/index.jsp
Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Local
Officials http://www.cacities.org/member/caucuses/alternative/index.jsp
Latino http://www.cacities.org/member/caucuses/latino/index.jsp
Library http://www.cacities.org/member/resources/library/index.jsp
Event Handouts http://www.cacities.org/handouts
Search for League
Members http://www.cacities.org/member/resources/membersearch/index.jsp
CityBooks http://www.cacities.org/member/citybooks/index.jsp
Listservs http://www.cacities.org/member/listsrv/index.jsp
Programs for Cities
http://www.cacities.org/member/programs/index.jsp
Puchasing and
Financing Programs http://www.cacities.org/member/programs/financing/index.jsp
Enhanced Local Government Airfare
Tab Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Current URL
MuniLink http://www.cacities.org/member/programs/muni/index.jsp
Affiliates http://www.cacities.org/member/affil/index.jsp
Partners http://www.cacities.org/partner/index.jsp
Partners Program http://www.cacities.org/partner/program/index.jsp
About Program http://www.cacities.org/partner/program/about/index.jsp
Partner Benefits http://www.cacities.org/partner/program/benefits/index.jsp
Become a Partner http://www.cacities.org/partner/program/join/index.jsp
Current Partners http://www.cacities.org/partner/program/current/index.jsp
Platinum Partners http://www.cacities.org/partner/program/platinum/index.jsp
What's New http://www.cacities.org/partner/new/index.jsp
Events &
Opportunites http://www.cacities.org/partner/corp/index.jsp
CCLI http://www.cacities.org/partner/ccli/index.jsp
Helen Putnam
