2445 Third Avenue South Seattle, WA 98134 Telephone: (206) 252-0566
Fax: (206) 743-3018
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. RFP09502
FOR
WEBSITE REFRESH
FOR
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Submittal Deadline:
Date: October 13, 2015
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Table of Contents
Proposal Certification Form……….Page 3
I.
Introduction………...Page 4
II.
Background and Scope of Work………...Page 5
III.
Selection Process………...Page 8
A.
Method of Selection
B.
Schedule
C.
Notifications
D.
Seattle Schools Right to Reject
E.
Procedures Requirements
IV.
Submittal Requirements………...Page 10
A.
Submittal Requirements
B.
Contents of Proposal
V.
Contract and Contracting Provisions………Page 12
A.
Contract Term
B.
Standard Form of Contract
C.
Protest Procedures
ATTACHMENT
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. RFP09502
PROPOSAL CERTIFICATION FORM
TO: Diane T. Navarro, Contracting Services Manager
The undersigned provider hereby certifies as follows:
1.
That he/she has read the Seattle School District's Request for Proposal No.
RFP09502 and the following Addenda and to the best of his/her knowledge has
complied with the mandatory requirements stated herein:
Addenda Number
Issue Date
________________
____________
________________
____________
________________
____________
2.
That he/she has had the opportunity to ask questions regarding the Request for
Proposal, and that if such questions have been asked; they have been answered by
the District.
3.
That the proposer’s response is valid for 90 days.
Dated at _______________, this _________________ of _________________ 2015.
________________________________ ________________________________
(Signature)
(Title)
________________________________ ________________________________
(Print Name)
(Email Address)
________________________________ ________________________________
(Company Name)
(Telephone Number)
________________________________ ________________________________
(Address)
(Fax Number)
________________________________ ________________________________
(City)
(UBI Number)
________________________________
(State)
________________________________
(Zip)
I. Introduction
The Seattle School District No. 1 (“District” or “SPS”) is requesting proposals for a consulting firm to help redesign the Seattle Public School’s external District and school website. The current SPS website is very difficult for our audience to navigate and lacks the appeal and usability offered by current best practices in web design. With a website refresh, the District hopes to create a modern, professional and fresh design, consistent with the existing District brand that provides a Web 2.0 experience where information is accessible, usable, and searchable.
The Request for Proposal (RFP) describes the selection process and documentation required for submitting proposals for this project. Any firm failing to submit their proposal in accordance with the procedures set forth in the RFP may be considered non-responsive. The selection of the firm for these services will proceed in the following manner:
• Proposals shall be received by Seattle Public Schools no later than 10:00 a.m. (PST) on October 13, 2015.
• The proposals will be followed by a determination of shortlisted candidates, whereby a live demonstration may be requested of the firm’s vision and strategy around how they would go about the website refresh.
• The District reserves the right to reject any vendor who is unable to comply with the District’s request for a live demonstration at the date and time determined by the District.
• The District reserves the right to seek clarifications about the proposals. • The District may award a contract based solely on the written proposals and a
live demonstration. However, the District may elect to engage in negotiations, in order to improve the proposals and obtain the best contract(s) for the District. The District reserves the right to request post-proposal modifications, including best and final offers and considerations.
• The final selection will be based upon the criteria set forth below. The District reserves the right to negotiate with the successful firm on pricing and scheduling.
The District will select the successful firm based on the best interests of the
District, all factors considered. The District reserves the right to reject any or all
proposals, waive informalities, and make the award in its best interest.
Diane Navarro Diane Navarro
U.S. Contracting Services Manager Federal Express: Contracting Services Manager Mail: Contracting Services United Parcel: Contracting Services
Seattle Public Schools In-person delivery: Seattle Public Schools
MS 22-337 MS 22-337
PO Box 34165 2445 Third Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98124-1165 Seattle, WA 98124
Telephone No.: (206) 252-0566 Fax No.: (206) 743-3018
Email: [email protected]
Proposals must be submitted in a sealed package or box with the Request for Proposal No. RFP09502, deadline date and time included on the bottom left-hand corner of the response, along with the firm’s name and address.
LAST DAY FOR QUESTIONS: Tuesday, September 29 at 2:00 p.m. (PST)
All questions must be submitted in writing by email, fax or U. S. Mail and addressed to the above. The District will consider no telephone inquiries regarding the Request for Proposal, and will consider no in-person inquiries except at the interview/demonstration for those firms making the short-list.
In the event that a firm attempts to contact any official, employee, or representative of Seattle Public Schools in any manner contrary to the above requirements, said firm may be disqualified for further consideration.
This prohibition does not apply to:
• Telephone calls to the District to request copies of this RFP; • Delivery of written questions about the proposal;
• Delivery of the firm’s proposal;
• Discussion at the interview/demonstration (if necessary).
II. Background and Scope of Work A. Background
The District has approximately 8,000 staff, and 54,000 students within the City of Seattle. The District and school websites are a tool that allow us to communicate with parents, students, community members, media, and SPS staff. The District website focuses on providing news updates, enrollment information, board updates, employment opportunities, and department-level information. School websites focus on school news, events, academics, PTSA, and other school-based information. On June 1, 2015 the District changed its website provider and migrated its web presence to SharpSchool. The District’s web presence is organized in the following manner:
• Public-facing District site • 99 School sites
The District site and the intranet site are organized by departments and sub-departments. Each school site is treated as an individual site, but they all follow the same template and maintain the same top-level navigation.
In anticipation of the website refresh, the District is working on removing outdated content, tightening the information architecture of the website, and removing unnecessary files and web pages. Through this process and the website refresh, the District hopes to achieve the following:
• Create a valuable website experience where information is accessible, usable, and searchable.
• Have a site that is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA.
• Give the District website an aesthetic uplift with a modern, professional and fresh design, consistent with existing District brand and visual identity.
• Update the information architecture of the website and remove unneeded content so that relevant information is easy and quick to find.
• Identify and promote the top tasks that visitors come to the District’s website for, by updating the navigation hierarchy of the site.
• Produce a responsive and mobile friendly design.
• Interface seamlessly with images, video content, and social media streams.
Seattle Public Schools is committed to making its technology related products and services accessible to individuals with disabilities in compliance with applicable law and technical standards. Hence, accessibility is a priority for the District as we look at doing a website refresh. Any new website design template should be built with accessibility and adherence to WCAG 2.0 AA in mind.
B. Scope of Work
This project will involve:
1) A thorough and timely implementation of the services that account for all of the following: planning, design, implementation, accessibility testing, user experience testing, deployment, and revisions and corrections after rollout.
2) The selected vendor will work with the District’s CMS vendor, SharpSchool, to develop the new design, keeping in mind the capabilities of the SharpSchool website tool. The ideal vendor will have a team of individuals that understands the K-12 environment or has experience with the public sector. The vendor will also need strong graphic design skills, experience with responsive and mobile design, usability best practices and standards,
knowledge of WCAG 2.0 AA, and usability and accessibility testing skills. The successful vendor will be expected to adhere to project milestones and project costs.
The selected vendor will be working with the Communications Department and the District Webmaster to help inform discovery and accept project deliverables. Before the design is finalized, the District will be reaching out to public through small focus groups. Vendor participation during these is expected. The selected vendor will also work closely with the District CMS vendor, SharpSchool, to develop the new design.
The scope of this project includes:
• Full refresh of the District site (www.seattleschools.org). This includes an aesthetic facelift, updated navigation, and a responsive design with the goal to have an aesthetically pleasing, accessible and easy to use website.
• Work with SPS staff to incorporate the updated information architecture within the new design template.
• A design template to serve all school sites. The following items are out-of-scope for this engagement:
• Logo redesign (District and school)
• Changes in color palette (District and school) • URL Branding
• Information architecture • Intranet site
Deliverables
The vendor selected for this project will manage completion of the following planning period deliverables:
1) Provide an implementation plan, identifying expected activities, durations, and critical path elements.
2) District website wireframe, built in consultation with District staff and stakeholders. 3) District website design, built in consultation with District staff and stakeholders. 4) School website wireframe, built in consultation with District staff and stakeholders. 5) School website design, built in consultation with District staff and stakeholders. 6) Accessibility testing of the new district and school website design, to comply with
WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines.
7) User Experience Testing of the new district and school website design. 8) Submittal of bi-weekly project status reports.
9) Revision and corrections to the wireframe after rollout.
The District reserves the right to delete from the scope of work any or all of the scope listed above. The District also reserves the right to modify the schedule, specific size or scope. The District reserves the right to terminate this contract at any time for any reason. Below is the tentative timeline for the project:
November 2015 Customer needs presented
January 2016 Vendor deliverables/recommendations for: • Site navigation
• User experience improvements • Aesthetics
• School site wireframe
March 2016 Navigation, design, and other improvement decisions finalized April 2016 New design and demo site established for testing
May 2016 Revisions provided by Website Enhancement Group June 2016 District and school website design finalized
July 2016 New site design switched III. Selection Process
A. Method of Selection
1. Vendor selection will be based on the criteria set forth below.
2. The District reserves the option to meet with one or more vendors and conduct negotiations based on the proposals in order to select the best proposal(s), all factors considered. As part of such negotiations, the District may require key personnel to be assigned to the contract to be present, and to discuss the firm’s approach to management of the project based on their understanding of the scope and contract.
Selection Factors
A selection committee will evaluate each proposal. The proposals and presentations will be evaluated against the following criteria:
Technical Proposal – 50% Max Points
Project Approach and Methodology 50
Quality of work plan and ability to meet schedule 100
Experience with usability, design, and analysis 25
Experience developing websites 75
Technical Subtotal 250 Management Proposal – 30%
Project Team Structure and Management 40
Team Member’s Qualifications/Experience 70
Vendor’s experience in managing successful website refreshes for large public organizations
40 Management Subtotal 150 Cost Proposal – 20% (please see Section IV.B.7, Pricing) 100 Primary Evaluation Total 500
Reference Checks (required for shortlisted proposal(s) only) 50 Secondary Evaluation Total 100 Max Points for Entire Proposal 600
Based on the recommendation of the Review Team, the District may enter into contract negotiations with the selected firm. Upon receipt of best and final proposals, the team will select the best proposal, all factors considered, to recommend moving forward for contract.
The District also reserves the right to take past performance on contracts of similar nature into account in selecting the firm.
B. Schedule SCHEDULE
Date Selection Process
September 18, 2015 Advertisement for Request for Proposal published. (First Notice) September 25, 2015 Advertisement for Request for Proposal published. (Second Notice) September 29, 2015 Last day for questions from proposers at 2:00 p.m.
October 13, 2015 Responses due at 10:00 a.m. Approx.
October 13-16, 2015
Initial screening. Approx.
October 19, 2015
Shortlist notifications sent to firms. Approx.
October 22-23, 2015
On-site demonstration presentation (for selected vendors only) Approx.
October 30, 2015
Negotiations with recommended vendor (if needed)
C. Notifications
The District will provide timely notifications to firms responding to the Request for Proposal upon selection of recommended firm.
D. Seattle Schools Right to Reject
The District reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and re-advertise the contract at any time prior to contract execution of the recommended firm and the negotiated agreement. All costs incurred in the preparation of the Request for Proposal process shall be borne by the proposing firm. Proposals submitted in response to this Request for Proposal shall become the property of the District and be considered public
documents under applicable Washington State laws. The District reserves the right to modify the scope of services as a result of the written submittals and/or interviews.
E. Procedures Requirements
Any firm failing to submit information in accordance with the procedures set forth herein may be considered non-responsive.
IV. Submittal Requirements
A. The submittal requirements shall be as follows:
The proposing firm, joint venture or other form of association the consultant (“firm”) shall submit four (4) hard copies and one (1) electronic copy (via CD or USB flash drive) of its Proposal for the project. Each hard copy shall be provided in a 3-ring, loose leaf, binder with the firm name and the Request for Proposal name and number on both cover and spine. The proposal portion of the submittal shall be limited to a maximum of twenty-five (25) pages (8-1/2” x 11”) single sided, not smaller than 12 point type.
1. The title page, cover letter (including the Statement of Qualifications), table of contents, Proposal Certification Form (page 3 of the RFP), tabs and resumes will not count toward the page limits.
2. Project cut sheets, including photos, are included in the page limits. Submittals exceeding the page limits may be considered non-responsive.
3. Please Note: In preparing the firm’s cover letter (including the Statement of Qualifications), the proposing firm shall clearly identify the designated person of record responsible for the referenced project. If the proposing firm is representing an individual’s experience while employed at another firm, the firm of record for the project and the individual’s role shall be clearly identified.
B. Contents of the Proposal
Table of Contents (maximum one page)
1. Signed Proposal Certification Form (shown on Page 3 of the RFP – does not count towards the page limit).
2. Separate section for: Executive Summary (maximum one page).
• Provide a summary highlighting the firm’s Proposal and special expertise to provide the services requested in the Request for Proposal.
3. Separate section for: Company Profile. • Include the following information:
a. Identification of firm (or firms, if a joint venture or association) including address, telephone number, email address and date firm(s) were established. b. Areas of specialization of the firm.
c. Provide total size and breakdown of firm personnel by category. A firm organizational chart would be useful.
4. Separate section for: Experience.
• Describe relevant experience as it relates to website development, usability, design, and analysis. Provide examples of the firm’s work, expressed both in number of projects and in contract dollars.
• Describe your experience with accessibility and adherence to WCAG 2.0 AA in website design
• Describe your experience working with large public organizations and K-12 Districts.
• For references, provide the client name, address, email address, and client’s project representative and telephone number for the firm’s three most recent projects that most closely relate to the services being proposed.
5. Separate section for: Capabilities, Availability and Capacity.
• Briefly discuss your proposed team for this project and each of the individual key team members’ relevant professional experience and capabilities as it relates to this project. Briefly discuss the availability of all key personnel for the scheduled time frame of the proposed project, and identify their proposed location during provision of the requested services. Additionally, discuss the capacity of the proposed team, as a whole, to accomplish the work.
• Briefly describe your team’s general understanding of the project. Include any special issues that affect the project, as they relate to reliability and delivery. 6. Separate section for: Approach and Methodology.
• Briefly discuss the approach your firm would use in undertaking this work. Include project milestones and how you would provide the deliverables expected by the District.
7. Separate section for: Pricing.
•
Please provide a detailed pricing breakdown based on the services requested in this RFP. Include cost information showing the total amount, the names and hourly rates of the person(s) proposed for this project, and the specific tasks that would be included in time and materials.8. Separate section for: Terms and Conditions.
• Provide any proposed changes to the general conditions as noted in the attached Sample Standard Form of Contract.
Please note that the District reserves the right to ask questions and seek clarifications about the Proposal, to request post-proposal modifications, and to engage in negotiations with a selected short list of firms.
The District also reserves the right to take past performance on contracts of similar nature into account in selecting the firm.
The successful proposer will be expected to sign a contract which includes the District’s standard services contract (see Attachment 1 – Sample Standard Form of Contract), or to propose a different form of contract.
V. Contract and Contracting Provisions
A. Contract Term
The District anticipates the contract will begin October 2015 through August 31, 2016. B. Standard Form of Contract
The District’s standard form of contract is included as Attachment 1. The proposal should include any comments or requested changes. The District is willing to consider commercially reasonable alternative contract provisions. Please provide this as an attachment to your proposal. These do not count towards the page limit. Please note: the District reserves the right to reject any firm that is not willing to accept the District’s terms and conditions as noted in the standard form of contract.
C. Protest Procedures
Any actual or prospective Vendor who is aggrieved in connection with the solicitation or award of this contract may protest to the District in accordance with the procedures set forth herein. Protests based on the terms in this Request for Proposal, which are apparent prior to the date established for submitting the proposal must be received five (5) days prior to the submittal deadline. Protests based on other events must be received within three (3) working days after the aggrieved person knows, or should have known, of the facts and circumstances upon which the protest is based; provided, however, that in no event shall a protest be considered if all proposals are rejected or if the protest is received after the award for this contract.
1. In order to be considered, a protest shall be in writing and shall include: the name and address of the aggrieved person; the contract title under which the protest is submitted; a detailed description of the specific grounds for protest and any supporting documentation; and the specific ruling or relief requested. The written protest shall be addressed and mailed to:
Kenneth Gotsch
Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Seattle Public Schools
Mail Stop 33-300 PO Box 34165
Seattle, WA 98124-1165
or delivered to: Kenneth Gotsch
Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Mail Stop 33-300
Seattle Public Schools 2445 Third Avenue South Seattle, WA 98134
And shall be labeled: “Protest”
2. Upon receipt of a written protest, the District shall promptly consider the protest. The District may give notice of the protest and its basis to other persons, including Vendors involved in or affected by the protest; such other persons may be given an opportunity to submit their views and relevant information. If the protest is not resolved by mutual agreement of the
aggrieved person and the District, the District will promptly issue a decision in writing stating the reasons for the action taken. A copy of the decision shall be mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, or otherwise promptly furnished to the aggrieved person and any other interested parties. The District’s decision may be appealed to the Superintendent by written notice together with all supportive evidence, received at the address set forth in paragraph 2, not more than two (2) working days after receipt of the decision. The Superintendent’s decision shall be final and conclusive.
3. Strict compliance with the protest procedures set forth herein is essential in furtherance of the public interest. Any aggrieved party that fails to comply strictly with these protest procedures is deemed, by such failure, to have waived and relinquished forever any right or claim with respect to alleged irregularities in connection with the solicitation or award. No person or party may pursue any action in court challenging the solicitation or award of this contract without first exhausting the administrative procedures specified herein and receiving the District’s final decision.
4. Any Vendor submitting a proposal shall be deemed to have accepted these procedures.
End of Request for Proposal
ATTACHMENTS
