HomeMy WebLinkAbout14.C. Web Site RFP
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City of Shakopee CONSENT
Memorandum
TO: Mayor & City Council
Mark McNeill, City Administrator
FROM: Tracy Schaefer, Assistant to the City Administrator
SUBJECT: Web Site RFP
MEETING DATE: February 18, 2003
Introduction
The City Council is asked to approve the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the new web
site.
Background
Telecommunications Commission unanimously approved the web site RFP on February
12. Attached is an RFP that outlines the specific requirements, which are necessary for a
new dynamic City website. I have worked with employees from each department and
other city commissions to ensure the website RFP is a reflection of the community, not
one city department.
Development ofthe web site will be an ongoing process that will extend beyond 2003, so
staff wants to ensure a stable company to minimize costs and time delays. The
Telecommunications Commission budgeted $50,000 for 2003 for phase one of the
website that will include features like the City Code, e-permits, and a more user-friendly
format. The Commission has also budgeted long-term funds to expand the website and
maintain it, so there will be no reliance on the general fund, since the funds will come
from the Telecommunications Fund.
If the City Council concurs with the website RFP, each firm that submits an RFP will be
judged on 4 criteria.
Each firm will be judged on the following four criteria:
1) Firm's experience with latest techniques, design, creativity, and being user-
friendly.
2) Firm's experience with dealing with non-technical staff. This is a very important
element, since staff would like to expand the role ofthe web site but does not
have any additional staff to pick up the additional responsibilities. Maintenance
of the website will be decentralized throughout the organization.
3) Qualifications of the staff working on the web site.
4) The firm's ability to provide a layout and design to expand the web site in the
future. 2003 will be a good start, but staff wants to ensure that the web site can
grow as the City continues to grow.
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Staff estimates that the Telecommunications will be able to view the development ofthe
new website in late spring/early summer.
Budget Impact
All funds for the development of the new website will be taken from the
Telecommunications Fund, not the General Fund. City Council budgeted up to $50,000
for the website development in 2003.
Action Requested
Approve the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the new Shakopee web site development.
~ef~
Assistant to the City
Administrator
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1.0 Scope Of Services To Be Provided
The City of Shakopee requests proposals from qualified firms to provide Web Site Development
services to the City. The City currently manages a website (located at
http:www.ci.shakopee.mn.us) that was developed internally in approximately 1996. However,
the design and technology on the site has become dated since the establishment of the web site.
The intent ofthe City is to utilize the latest techniques, designs, and technologies to redevelop
the web site to provide visitors to the site with a user friendly, informative, and useful City web
page. The City wishes to have a website that gives a "sense of community" and draws on the
many unique characteristics of the community.
2.0 General Requirements
2.1 Firm Qualifications. No contract shall be awarded except to responsible firms capable of
providing the highest quality of services.
2.1.1 Proof of Qualifications. Before being considered for the award of contract, firms
may be required to show evidence of the necessary experience, facilities,
equipment, ability, and financial resources to perform the work in a satisfactory
manner and within the time stipulated. The City of Shakopee shall make the final
determination as to the firm's ability to provide the desired services.
2.2 Evaluation of Firms. The City's evaluation team will assess the qualifications of firms
based on their proposals. The City reserves the right to interview representatives of
firms, request documents as needed, and review the quality of similar services provided
to other clients in order to determine which firm will be awarded the contract.
2.2.1 Evaluation Team. An evaluation team will be used to assess each proposal. This
evaluation team will consist of the following City representatives: the Information
Technology Coordinator, the Assistant to the City Administrator, and the Park
and Recreation Director.
2.2.2 Qualification Criteria. Due to the unique nature of municipal operations and the
various aspects of service that must be represented on the web site, the City
desires to work with a firm that has prior experience in developing municipal web
sites.
2.2.3 Presentation. The evaluation team will select, based on the evaluation criteria, not
less than two (2) nor more than four (4) proposals from all of the qualified
proposals. The finalist firms will be asked to give a short presentation (20
minutes) to City staff about the services they will provide the City. Staff from
multiple Departments will attend this presentation.
2.2.4 Evaluation Criteria. There will be four criteria used to assess each firm's
proposal. Each of the four criteria listed below will be rated from 1 to 25 by each
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of the evaluation team members. The total maximum score for each proposal will
be 100 points. The following criteria will be used to evaluate the proposals:
. The firm's experience in using the latest techniques, designs, and technologies
to create a useful, informative, and user-friendly web site that avoids the use
of complex elements that dramatically increase page-loading times or require
advanced browser features.
. The Firm's experience and ability to work with non-technical City Staff to
develop Departmental and other service related web sites. In addition, the
Firm's experience and ability to provide the City with easy to use tools so that
non-technical staff in the Departments can easily maintain and update
Department web sites.
. The qualifications and experience of the Firm's staff members who would be
working on the City's project.
. The Firm's demonstrated ability to expand the web site to include interactive
processes as the City's needs in this area expand. The City, in the future,
would like to move its web site towards providing more interactive services
such as the completion of forms, applications, video streaming, and financial
transactions on the web site.
. Bonus points will be given to firms that have developed other municipal
web sites in the past three years.
2.2.5 Basis of Award. Each member of the evaluation team (see 2.2.1) shall
independently evaluate each qualified proposal (see 2.2.2) and any other
information that is used to evaluate the firm's ability (see 2.2) to provide quality
services to the City. Once these individual evaluations have been completed, the
scores will be averaged and the overall average will be the final score of each
proposal. The two to four Firms with the highest rated proposals will be asked to
give a short presentation to City staff. Based on these presentations the final
award of contract will be made, after presentation to City Council, and City
Council approval.
2.4 Contacts. The contact for this RFP is Tracy Schaefer, Assistant to the City
Administrator, 952-496-9673 or tschaefer@ci.shakopee.mn.us.
3.0 Specific Requirements
3.1 Create a City web site with an attractive design, using artwork and graphics as
appropriate, that is user friendly and informative but avoids the use of complex elements
that would increase page-loading times or require advanced browser features.
3.2 Consult with individual operating departments within the City to determine their needs
and design an appropriate page for each Department and/or service area; each
Departmental/service page will retain the overall general look and design of the City's
entire web presence.
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3.3 Provide easy to use tools so that City Staff can easily maintain and update the various
web pages contained in the overall web page network. The City intends to decentralize
the administration of the website; maintenance of various areas will be delegated as
appropriate to the person/department based on their knowledge of a specific topic, not
necessarily their expertise in web site development.
3.4 The site will provide visitors with easy access to reference materials including City
Codes, Ordinances, Planning Documents, Agendas, Meeting Minutes, Forms &
Applications, Automatic Email Notices and List Serve capabilities for customers, and
Financial Records.
3.5 The site will be able to dynamically create pages as needed.
3.6 The site should be easily searchable by category, department, and/or area of service. The
City wishes to have areas grouped into categories based on service function, not
necessarily department. For example, Fire and Police would be included under Public
Safety, not simply their own individual button on the home page.
3.7 The web site should be built to serve as a foundation for an interactive web presence for
the City; at some point in the future the City desires to move in the direction of providing
more interactive processing forms, applications, video streaming, and financial
transactions on the web site.
3.8 The City has contracted with a firm to provide an e-permit service for its residents, this
and other similar functions need to be integrated into the development of the web site.
3.9 Provide for the construction of an intranet site for internal reference & communication.
3.10 Provide an example of documentation of design and programming that has been provided
to a customer after the web site was completed.
3.11 City intends to have sole ownership/priority rights to the web site, its contents, design and
technology when the project is completed.
4.0 Information to be Submitted.
4.1 Description. The proposal should include a one to two paragraph description of the firm
that includes the scope of services the firm provides, years of experience providing the
services described in this RFP, and a description of the firm's capability to provide the
desired services.
4.2 Services to be Provided. Please provide a brief description of the Firm's capacity to
perform the services outlined in the Specific Requirements section (Section 3.0),
including but not limited to a description of the firm's equipment, staff experience, and
financial resources.
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4.3 Expansion of Services. Please provide the City with an idea of how your firm would
handle expansion of services. When the City is ready to move forward with interactive
processing of forms, applications, and financial transactions please provide a brief
description of how your Firm could meet the needs of the City.
4.5 Staff Qualifications. Please identify and provide resumes for the specific staff members
who would be responsible for working on this project and coordinating with the City on
the project.
4.6 Previous Clients. Please provide the names of companies or municipalities you have
worked with, including any municipal clients. Please make sure to include the name and
contact information of an appropriate contact person. In addition, please provide the web
addresses of at least five web sites that have been developed by your Firm as well as a
brief description of the development of the site and its unique features.
4.7 Fees. Please provide an estimate of the fees that would be associated with the proposed
service. Please include, at a very minimum, prices for each of the following services:
1. Development of the Home Page Web Site and the design that will be used
on all of the City's web pages.
2. A per page price for the development of each of the subsidiary web pages
(i.e. the links on the home page) including each Department/Category web
page and any other information pages the City may wish to create.
3. A price for integrating City databases onto web pages (i.e. allowing a
visitor to the web site to search for information by accessing a City
database on the web, an example would be searching the City zoning
database on the Building and Planning web page).
4. A price for development of searchable databases on the web site.
5. Provide prices for advanced features that would not be included in the
standard development price of a web site.
6. A price to create a City intranet.
7. Hourly rate for staff for additional work not included in the initial proposal
for future work as needed.
8. Price for a service contract for basic services like checking links for 1 year
after the web site is completed.
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