System, storage and content management software package

Tender description

The University has an ageing and outdated web presence which is the result of years of under-investment. It is based on an end-of-life, bespoke web content management system dating from 2004 and a largely ungoverned operating model with over 1 400 content editors. Notwithstanding some recent interim design changes to a few top-level pages, our website is visually dated, unengaging, and lacking in interactivity and personalisation. Beyond the top-level pages, content is inconsistent, fragmented and poorly presented. In the absence of a separate intranet, our externally-facing website also contains considerable internal content, making it large, unwieldy and difficult to navigate. Many of the 1 170 sites contained within our overarching University website are out of date, unnecessary, or internally-focused. The University has an ageing and outdated web presence which is the result of years of under-investment. It is based on an end-of-life, bespoke web content management system dating from 2004 and a largely ungoverned operating model with over 1 400 content editors. Notwithstanding some recent interim design changes to a few top-level pages, our website is visually dated, unengaging, and lacking in interactivity and personalisation. Beyond the top-level pages, content is inconsistent, fragmented and poorly presented. In the absence of a separate intranet, our externally-facing website also contains considerable internal content, making it large, unwieldy and difficult to navigate. Many of the 1 170 sites contained within our overarching University website are out of date, unnecessary, or internally-focused. We have reached a critical point where we need to radically overhaul our outwardly-facing digital presence, transforming it into a fit-for-purpose communications platform. Our website is one of our most important communications channels with a truly global reach: during 2018, the site was accessed by 4 700 000 users undertaking almost 12 000 000 sessions. It will be instrumental in communicating our new brand identity, enhancing our international reputation and conveying the uniqueness of our offer to an international audience. The HE environment has changed significantly over the past decade and the political uncertainties and challenges now faced mean that the sector has become increasingly competitive. External stakeholders (future students, potential faculty members, collaborators, funders, influencers) will all form a view of the University, not simply from what we say, but from the way in which we say it. Our young potential student audiences in particular are digital natives – they do not remember a world without the internet. Rapid access to information; an integrated, multi-channel digital browsing experience (web, social, and mobile apps all fully integrated with each other); multi-media content and personalisation are baseline expectations. The technology underpinning our incumbent CMS (CentOS 6) will go out of service in November 2020. This presents a hard deadline for implementing a new CMS. Relying on our existing CMS beyond the November 2020 deadline would open the University up to a number of risks, given security patches will not be available after this date. Data security is of particular concern given that our current CMS is used to store internal as well as external information. The University have split this procurement into 2 lots. Lot 1: relates to the CMS technology solution; and Lot 2: is for an Implementation Partner who will provide all services to successfully deliver the project. Both services may be provided by the same organisation, however, it is recognised that technology providers may outsource implementation services to their partner networks. In this instance, it is required that the submission to Lot 1 is made by the technology partner and Lot 2 is completed by the implementation partner who has the required scale/skills/experience to undertake all required implementation services. For purposes of clarity, one organisation may submit separate responses to both lots if they can supply both the system and the implementation services. The University has an ageing and outdated web presence which is the result of years of under-investment. It is based on an end-of-life, bespoke web content management system dating from 2004 and a largely ungoverned operating model with over 1 400 content editors. Notwithstanding some recent interim design changes to a few top-level pages, our website is visually dated, unengaging, and lacking in interactivity and personalisation. Beyond the top-level pages, content is inconsistent, fragmented and poorly presented. In the absence of a separate intranet, our externally-facing website also contains considerable internal content, making it large, unwieldy and difficult to navigate. Many of the 1 170 sites contained within our overarching University website are out of date, unnecessary, or internally-focused. We have reached a critical point where we need to radically overhaul our outwardly-facing digital presence, transforming it into a fit-for-purpose communications platform. Our website is one of our most important communications channels with a truly global reach: during 2018, the site was accessed by 4 700 000 users undertaking almost 12 000 000 sessions. It will be instrumental in communicating our new brand identity, enhancing our international reputation and conveying the uniqueness of our offer to an international audience. The HE environment has changed significantly over the past decade and the political uncertainties and challenges now faced mean that the sector has become increasingly competitive. External stakeholders (future students, potential faculty members, collaborators, funders, influencers) will all form a view of the University, not simply from what we say, but from the way in which we say it. Our young potential student audiences in particular are digital natives – they do not remember a world without the internet. Rapid access to information; an integrated, multi-channel digital browsing experience (web, social, and mobile apps all fully integrated with each other); multi-media content and personalisation are baseline expectations. The technology underpinning our incumbent CMS (CentOS 6) will go out of service in November 2020. This presents a hard deadline for implementing a new CMS. Relying on our existing CMS beyond the November 2020 deadline would open the University up to a number of risks, given security patches will not be available after this date. Data security is of particular concern given that our current CMS is used to store internal as well as external information. The University have split this procurement into 2 lots. Lot 1: relates to the CMS technology solution; and Lot 2: is for an Implementation Partner who will provide all services to successfully deliver the project. Both services may be provided by the same organisation, however, it is recognised that technology providers may outsource implementation services to their partner networks. In this instance, it is required that the submission to Lot 1 is made by the technology partner and Lot 2 is completed by the implementation partner who has the required scale/skills/experience to undertake all required implementation services. For purposes of clarity, one organisation may submit separate responses to both lots if they can supply both the system and the implementation services.