Digital development, improvement and innovation for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Tender description

Why the Work is Being Done Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world leading plant science and conservation organisation. We run two botanic gardens - Kew Gardens in London and Wakehurst in Sussex. Kew Gardens is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and leading visitor attraction, welcoming 2m visitors in 2018/19. Wakehurst is Kew’s ‘wild botanic garden’ and welcomes over 300k visitors per year. We are looking for a partner agency to work with us on continuing to improve the Kew's digital estate, including the continuous improvement of kew.org, the upgrade of our ecommerce and online learning offer, alongside on-site improvements to visitor experience through digital channels. Problem to Be Solved We want to further improve customer journeys across our digital estate to help us meet our commercial and non-commercial goals. From improving upsell of memberships to encouraging donations and increasing our online retail capabilities, our offer is broad and at times confusing for users. We re-launched our main website early in 2019, and are now hoping to turn our attention to improving our ecommerce offer (retail, memberships, donations, tickets), along with continuing to test and improve kew.org. Our website is build on Drupal 8 - and we are open-minded about what ecommerce technology we use to build out our offer (we currently use a number of different solutions) Who Are the Users As a potential visitor, I need to find out information about what's there, what's on and how much it costs, so I can decide if I want to visit. As a horticulture fan, I can find and purchase beautiful products, so that I can make my house beautiful. As a last-minute shopper, I can purchase a gift membership voucher for my mum, so that I have something to give her on her birthday. As a botanist, I can find out about plant research happening at RBG Kew, so that I can inform my own research and identify potential partnerships/collaborations. Early Market Engagement We have been transparent with our existing supplier about our roadmap, and we would expect them to submit a response to these requirements. Work Already Done We re-launched kew.org in March 2019, and have continued to make iterative improvements over the past six months. Existing Team You'll be working primarily with Kew's Digital Experience team, and primarily with the Head of Digital Experience, Senior Product Manager, Product Manager, Junior Product Manager, UI Designer, Senior Content Manager and Content Producers. Where relevant you'll also work with stakeholders in other teams across Kew, for example our Digital Commercial Manager for ECommerce. Current Phase Live Work Location Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Working Arrangments We expect to negotiate a flexible arrangement with the supplier and believe it is important to have regular face-to-face meetings. When in the midst of ongoing sprints, we would like to explore co-locating on a regular basis (once a week or once a fortnight) - this can take place either on site at Kew or at the supplier's offices. Security Clearance None Additional T&Cs None Skills & Experience Experience of Drupal 8 website development and maintenance for clients with both commercial and non-commercial objectives. Experience of delivering ecommerce solutions for a not-for-profit organisation with a range of different product types (online donations, membership, events or experience booking, retail) using different technical solutions. Experience of integrating websites and web applications with business systems such as CRM, Email and Payment Gateways. xperience of a user research/data-driven approach to development, including use of prototyping and proof of concepts. Experience of working alongside additional suppliers and in-house teams to deliver complex technology change projects. Experience of delivering value for money by working in partnership with clients to scope and prioritise against business/user needs. Experience of working with an in-house IT team on hosting, monitoring, security and DNS, including regular vulnerability and penetration tests, acting promptly to mitigate and remediate security issues. Able to demonstrate proactive approach to maintenance and managing CMS updates (e.g. regular Drupal security updates) Nice to Haves Experience of delivering an integrated ecommerce offer (5 points) Experience of working with a multisite visitor attraction with a retail and membership offer alongside fundraising ambitions (5 points) No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 6 Proposal Criteria Provide an overview of some of the improvement opportunities you can identify to increase online revenues for RBG Kew, and some of the likely dependencies/challenges of the project. (50 points) Provide an outline of an end-to-end ecommerce project you have delivered including details of the methodology, technical solution, integrations, challenges you faced, an outline of benefit realisation. (50 points) Details of your approach to identifying a technical solution (or suite) to deliver our ecommerce ambitions and information you would need to inform/validate an options appraisal and recommendation (20) Detail your approach to ongoing maintenance/support of websites, outlining hours of service and how priority issues are dealt with, including an example work with an existing client. (20 points) Detail your understanding of the different and competing priorities (both commercial and non-commercial) we face as an organisation (20 points) Provide an example of how you have worked with a client going through a large-scale digital transformation to determine and deliver against their digital roadmap (20 points) Provide information on what makes a successful agency/client partnership, and an example of where you have achieved this (please include this client as one of your references). (20 points) Cultural Fit Criteria Demonstrate understanding of the different and competing priorities (both commercial and non-commercial) faced by complex non-profit organisations (20 points) Demonstrate an evidence-driven approach with an example of where you have used analytics or user research to influence outcomes (20 points) Provide an example of where you have worked with in-house development and IT resources to deliver on a project (20 points) Provide evidence of supporting an in-house digital team with stakeholder engagement to deliver solutions that meet both user and business needs (15 points Payment Approach Capped time and materials Assessment Method Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers Budget range maximum of £800,000 over two years - to cover a significant e-commerce re-development project, as well as ongoing improvements to existing properties as well as support and maintenance - exact spend to be agreed in separate smaller statements of work.