Research, design, create and maintain a new task-based website

Tender description

Summary of the work To design and build a new website which is secure, easy to use, clear, impressive, meets user needs. It'll be responsive, easy to update and edit, and drive the Council's ambition to have a truly transactional site. It will also integrate with back office systems and work with new ones. Latest start date Monday 12 June 2017 Budget Range Up to £25,000 to build the site. Why the Work is Being Done Allerdale Borough Council wants to allow customers to be able to interact with the Council via its website as easily as possible, whether that be finding information or completing a task. The Council's current website is no longer of the design and standard required to do this. It is too unwieldy with redundant pages, too text and information based and not task orientated. The CMS needs updating. The website is key to Council's ambitions to be more efficient and serve our customers. The ambition is to have the site live by the end of September if possible. Problem to Be Solved The Council's current website is no longer of the design and standard required. Therefore the aim is to design and build a new website which is secure, easy to use, clear, impressive to look at and meets the needs of users and the Council. It shall reflect the Council brand, be responsive to all technologies, be easily updated, and drive the Council's ambition to increase transactions carried out over the web with a single sign-on for customers. It will also integrate with all back office systems and work with new ones. Who Are the Users As a customer I need to know if can find information and report things and interact with the Council to achieve my specific task as quickly and easily as possible. As an employee or Councillor I need to be be able to edit my pages easily and also find out information about the organisation for my work. As an administrator I need to be assured of the security of the system, resilience, and flexibility of the solution to integrate with other systems with a single sign-on. As an investor I need to be assured and impressed by the Council. Early Market Engagement We have had some initial contact with some providers and developers of other Council websites. Work Already Done We have assessed the usage of the current website and started integrating our new forms package and Customer Management System (Abavus) into the current website, ready for developing the new site. Some initial designs have been produced inhouse too. Existing Team There are two members of the Communications Team - the Communications and Marketing Manager and Communications and Marketing Officer (Digital Communications). They shall be working on editorial, and form building as well as the website structure. We also have a Systems Analyst who can advise on integrations etc. And a IT Manager. There is also a business support analyst who can help with the Customer Management System. We have a project team and support from senior management and Councillors. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Demonstrate considerable experience working with the public sector and understanding its specific demands • Demonstrate understanding of what makes a successful website with the use of user data, SEO and similar • Demonstrate an understanding of the aims of the Council as to the design and functionality of the website, with evidence of previous experience and success in similar projects • Demonstrate the ability to meet the design requirements of the Council to create a clear, task-based and impressive website using new technology • Demonstrate the ability to design and build a website which is responsive to all current technologies and software systems and future proof • Provide a content management system which is easy to use and flexible • Demonstrate that the CMS is secure and complies with all security requirements and statutory obligations including DPA and GDPR • Demonstrate that the website will allow full compliance with accessibility requirements • Demonstrate high levels of customer service through a helpdesk or equivalent, to ensure the Council can get any questions and amendments addressed quickly and efficiently • Demonstrate good service provision to ensure the site is resilient and highly unlikely to experience any down-time. This will include managing updates at quiet times • Demonstrate the ability to work with the Council’s current websearch system (or provide an equivalent, or better) • Demonstrate experience and confidence in the ability to integrate with other systems, ideally with examples of working with the systems currently in use (and where necessary, new possible systems) • Demonstrate the ability to devise a “My Account” solution which provides a single sign-on for all systems which require a login and ability to move current users to it • Demonstrate the ability to be flexible and dynamic in your approach to website design and features and to work with the Council to develop new ideas and functionality • Demonstrate a clear commitment to working with Allerdale Borough Council to deliver the services required. • Demonstrate a good understanding of the services required meeting Allerdale Borough Council’s requirements Nice to Haves • Demonstrate an understanding of possible technological developments and the ability to work with them – such as wearable technology - making the site future-proof. • Demonstrate ability to provide the Council and its customers additional functionality and packages (such as mini-sites) as part of your licenses • Demonstrate ability to be flexible and dynamic in your approach to website design and features and to work with the Council to develop new ideas and functionality Work Location Our office is based in Workington in Cumbria, and therefore there will be a need to visit here at some point. However, it is assumed that much of the work can be provided remotely. Working Arrangments As before whilst some face to face meetings will be required, especially in the initial phase, remote working is assumed and there is likely to be some conference calls. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 10 Proposal Criteria • Technical solution and meeting Council's policy and ambitions • Experience, approach and methodology • Website Design and meeting the user needs • Usability of the Content Management System • Security and accessibility and compliance • Service level and website resilience and team structure • How the solution can integrate with other systems • Estimated timefranes • How risks have been identified and dependencies and approaches managed • Value for money Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • Be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • Share knowledge and experience with other team members • Take responsibility for work • Can work with clients with low technical expertise and explain things clearly Payment Approach Fixed price Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 61% Cultural fit 9% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Hi, is there an existing CRM/CMS that will need to be integrated with the new site? Also how many pages is expected for this new site? Our current Customer Relationship Management System is provided by Abavus as the My Council Services system. It would be expected that the task-based forms used in this system would be integrated into the site to be used by customers.The current site is too large with several thousand pages. Whilst no page limit has been set, it is likely to be around 400-500 pages at most. 2. You budget line states, To build the website upto 25k. Q. Is that inclusive of Research and/or Maintenance? The £25K budget is essentially for the building of the site - so any research required (or can be provided from previous projects), designing and building the site to making it live. Ongoing maintenance/licensing costs is assumed to be in addition to this £25K. 3. Do you have a preference for proprietary or open source? No preference. The decision would be based on what was concluded to be the best system for our requirements. 4. Is the £25k budget intended to include hosting and CMS licensing costs? The £25K budget is essentially for the building of the site - so any research required (or can be provided from previous projects), designing and building the site to making it live. Ongoing maintenance/licensing costs is assumed to be in addition to this £25K. 5. Please can you describe the other systems that website must integrate with? This is a current list of embedded systems: · MCS by Abavus – reporting and contact forms and a CRM · GIS – maps and tables & My Property section. · Northgate – Planning and building control sections · LalPac – login to the licensing system· Academy – access council tax, business rates and benefits· Mod.Gov - access agendas, forward plans etc· Mayrise – bin collection info etc· Civica – payments · SharePoint – job vacancies We're reviewing our planning, building control and GIS system and will introduce a new system in 2018. 6. Is there are preferred technology stack that the solution should be developed with? Please refer to the list of already embedded applications to our website. We would want these to all be embedded into the new system to provide as good or better service. It would be appreciated if you could quote as to whether the integration of new services once the site it live, would be included in any maintenance costs, or would be extra. 7. Is the location of the interested agency imperative or conducive to the success of the bid, or does skill set weigh more heavily? It is assumed that much of the work can be done remotely, though there is an expectation that some face-to-face meetings shall be required. We certainly however do not expect you to be working from our office and the skill set and experience is important. 8. What are the current back office systems that would need to be integrated into the new system? See the answer provided to a previous similar question. 9. What is the web-search system being used on the current website? The web search currently used is a Google Box. 10. Is there a Council style/branding guide available? See the branding guidelines here: http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/council-news/media-and-publicity-protocols.aspx 11. Where is the current website hosted and is there an expectation to host the new website on the same server(s)? If so, is the server(s) cloud-based and which cloud/hosting solution is currently being used? The website is currently hosted on site. There is no commitment to continue to host the website on site and we would consider a cloud-based solution. 12. Is migration of the current content to be included in the contract, or will this form part of the work by the Council’s web/content management team after completion? The editorial content of the new site would be largely carried out by the Council's officers. We are currently weeding through content and devising new task-based forms. However, it is assumed that some assistance from the contractor would be required where any issues may arise. 13. Demonstrate that the website will allow full compliance with accessibility requirements. Does supplier have to adhere to an accessibility standard, if yes, which one? We would expect you to be able to demonstrate that your designs meet an accessibility standard. We do not have a particular standard. 14. We have had some initial contact with some providers and developers of other Council websites. Will these business be invited to this tender? All suppliers on the framework are invited to tender. We are only going out through this framework. 15. What is the expected deadline for delivery of the website? We hope to have the website up and running as soon as possible. An ambitious target date is end September 2017 if possible. 16. The council is using a new forms package and Customer Management System (provided by Abavus) What technologies do these packages use? Are they cloud-based services? Does the My Council Services system provide web services, or an API for integration within a website? The Abavus system is run on Oracle, it is cloud-based and uses an API for integration. 17. Is there any commitment or service agreement (SLA) with Abavus to assist with the integration of their applications No