Crestwood Issues Website RFP
The City of Crestwood (further known as the City) is soliciting proposals from qualified Website Design and Hosting Companies (Firm) to assess the City’s current website, identify the needs of its users, develop an updated website and possibly provide hosting services.
There are four (4) main objectives to be accomplished with this project.
1) The replacement of the City’s current website and possibly provide hosting services.
2) Provide an integrated yet open website format that will enable appropriate information to be shared among end-users as well as streamline communication with current third-party applications.
3) Ensure the City’s software systems and data are maintained safely and securely.
4) Ensure ease of use; both from a learning perspective and operationally.
Background:
The City of Crestwood strongly desires to do a full redesign of its current website in FY2020 and seeks a website company to design the new website and project-manage the process. The City’s goal is to have a fully-redesigned website that promotes and invites engagement from all stakeholders — with a public-facing website serving as an easy-to-use resource for all residents, businesses, customers, visitors, interested parties, and potential businesses as well as a private facing website to serve City staff.
The new website should also be mobile-friendly and easily used on a variety of devices and operating systems (phones, tablets, Android, iOS, etc). It should integrate easily with current applications (defined below) as well as potential new ones. It should be easy and efficient to navigate. The new website should be fully-accessible, in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) 2.0 Level AA standards, and meet all current standards, best practices, and guidelines for all audiences. Moreover, it must be secure and reliable.
The new website should showcase the City’s brand as a full-service municipality, and it should support the City’s goal of transparency in government. The City hopes that by taking advantage of the most current technology and content delivery methods, the new design will (and must) improve service to all residents, customers, and businesses as well as increase employee productivity.
Scope of Work:
A. Requirements
B. Desired Features
C. Potential Features
D. Current Third-Party Applications
The information provided herein is for reference to convey the City’s desired components for a new website. For any modifications, additions, removals, or suggestions to the information provided herein please include detailed information in your response highlighting and describing why the deviation was made.
- Requirements
The following is a list of requirements for the new website. The firm will be responsible for providing the following services within their proposed solution. The firm shall note any discrepancies in their proposal for items provided in this list along with a description of the reasoning for the exclusion of the requirements. All website development, planning, and implementation services will be the responsibility of the selected vendor with oversight by City staff.
● Must have prior experience with or knowledge of municipal government websites, particularly those around the same size, complexity as the City of Crestwood.
● Content-management system (CMS).
● Website analytics and analysis features.
● Meets current accessibility requirements, guidelines, and best practices in accordance with the WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards.
● Content strategy: Working with staff to move, develop, update, and streamline content.
● Back-end/staff user training.
● The project manager through the development phase and continuing after launch doesn’t have to be the same person, but our expectation is that it will be someone who is knowledgeable about the project.
● After launch: Access to customer service 24/7.
● Mobile-friendly on a variety of devices — recommend the responsive or adaptive design.
● Optimal display in multiple browsers — both the public-facing website and private-facing website must work in Chrome, Edge, Safari, Explorer, and Firefox.
● Broken links finder.
● Review and regularly update CMS as new technologies emerge and in response to client needs.
B. Desired Features
The following is a list of desired functions for the new website.
● Website hosting (potentially), with disaster recovery and regular back-ups.
● Tracking of staff users’ content changes — when and by whom.
● Ability to define the amount of time content will be live: RFP’s, meeting notices, news stories, job postings, and calendar entries may have automatic starting and ending dates.
● Public meetings/events calendar for major departments and the City as a whole that can be accessed individually but also integrates as one calendar.
● Employee-only-access/password-protected area that allows staff to access beneficial information from anywhere.
● Photos: Easy to upload, resize, and move on the page.
● A news and information section on the home page that links to a full dashboard of recent and older (archived) news items (links to both individual stories and to the news dashboard as a whole), with defined ending dates (move-to-archive dates) for stories.
● Ability to automatically delete some information from archive after specified timeframe.
● Seamless integration of social media content, posted directly to social media accounts from website.
● City staff directory — clickable to send an email (“contact us”) — organized by service, department, or both — with the ability to search by name.
Other directories available for community services, if desired.
● Robust search engine that allows user to filter desired content.
● Engagement section(s) with single sign-on and topic surveys for residents. Used exclusively to receive feedback; not to be used as a forum.
● Customer Service Request system with tracking – that integrates with work order system.
● Integration with third-party applications (see list below).
● RSS feed
● Newsletters: Easy to use sign-up, newsletter templates (may be part of engagement site), easy to use.
● Notifications and Emergency Alerts on home page or any page; sign-ups to receive notifications and alerts via email and/or text. Easy to use.
● Videos: Suggest a creative and easy solution to provide video on the new website.
C. Potential Features
Firm may provide other offerings or suggestions to improve their provided solution.
· Integrated Employee Intranet where content can be easily shared between private website (behind the firewall) and the publicly accessed one.
· Business Directory D. Current Third-party Applications The City’s current third-party applications are as follows:
● CivicRec (online recreation program registration)
● Granicus/Peak Agenda Management
● eCode 360
● iWorQ The new website must be compatible with such applications.
Due Date:
November 18, 2019
Address:
Sarah Belcher, Assistant to the City Administrator
1 Detjen Drive
Crestwood, Missouri 63126
Relevant agencies include Finn Partners and Ruder Finn.
