New York City Economic Development Corporation Issues Digital RFP

NYCEDC is seeking an agency to redesign and redevelop its external website, edc.nyc. The website serves as a primary engagement channel for NYCEDC’s various audiences, which include local, domestic and international businesses, potential vendors and suppliers, press, and members of the community. The website provides information about NYCEDC’s various services and opportunities, plus information on the City’s economic condition, business climate, incentive programs, and more. The goal of the redesign will be to present NYCEDC’s key information in a modern, engaging and dynamic manner, incorporating current best practices in design, functionality, interactivity, and communication—allowing us to effectively attract, engage, and retain our target audiences.

Strong New York City PR firms with digital experience includes 5WPR and Rubenstein Communications.

About the Current Website:

Target Audiences: EDC leadership and departments have identified three target audiences for the Website:

1. Businesses and institutions that benefit from EDC’s resources, public-private partnership opportunities or contracts (e.g., corporations, small businesses, entrepreneurs, real estate developers, universities, hospitals, construction firms, etc.)
2. New York City residents and community groups that are interested in learning more about and engaging with EDC projects
3. Potential new employees that are interested in working for EDC

Content: The Website consists of about many types of content pieces. EDC expects to only migrate a subset of existing content to the redeveloped Website. Content types on the current Website include:

• Static description pages (program and project descriptions, department and division pages, industry pages, press releases)
• Blog entries
• Solicitations (RFP/RFEI/RFQ/IFBs, leasing opportunities, hiring opportunities)
• Maps
• Photo galleries
• Videos
• Economic data
• Employee profiles
• Events

Intake Forms: The current Website has many intake forms, which will likely need to be simplified and/or integrated, in addition to potentially new forms that will need to be created. Forms on the current Website include:

• Contact and support
• Newsletter and other email subscriptions
• Public Hearing and Board Hearing requests
• RFP downloads
• Profiles for vendors, subcontractors, and suppliers
• Surveys
• General project and program inquiries

Development Environment: Drupal 8 will serve as the CMS for the redeveloped Website. The existing implementation of Drupal has the following environments:

• Local Environment — Allows developers to create and update the codebase before staging any changes. The data in this environment is for development purposes only.
• Staging Environment — Environment where QA happens. The development environment code that is to be tested and moved to production will be available in this environment. Periodically the data from production will be synchronized to assist testing. All the approved templates and code base will be available on this environment.
• Production Environment — This environment is accessible to the public. Authoring of content can also be done here. This is only accessible to authorized users of EDC.
• Disaster Recovery (“DR”) — Depending on the scale of a potential failure, we have multiple methods to address recovery. Both server snapshots and on-premise backups are completed on a custom schedule. If at any time a catastrophic event occurs, we will restore a previous snapshot/backup on production.

Scope of Work:

EDC will approve the satisfactory completion of each Task before directing the Consultant to start work on the subsequent Task.

Task 1: Project Management:

Ongoing throughout project

• Create and regularly update the project plan for this engagement, including workplans for each Phase and Task
• Meet with and provide regular updates to the EDC Working Team
• As needed, meet with and create pitches for EDC leadership

PHASE I: REDEVELOPMENT:

August 2018 – December 2018

 Task 2: Discovery:

Task 2.1: Conduct background research to refine redevelopment goals

• Briefly review Website analytics to confirm EDC Working Team’s insights around traffic patterns, content assumptions, and target audiences
• Analyze existing Website to recommend elements to keep, discard, or adapt, including design, content, and functionality
• Identify meetings with EDC departments (beyond EDC Working Team) needed to gain insights into target audiences, UI/UX goals, and key functionality required

Task 2.2: Create recommendations for Website changes

• Based on previous work and industry standards, recommend creative ideas for Website design and functionality not surfaced by analytics or staff conversations, including bestin- class tools, plug-ins, and applications
• Develop brief with recommended Website changes and additions for review by EDC Working Team and EDC Leadership

Task 3: Design:

Task 3.1: Design an intuitive, audience-focused user interface for the Website

• Create a detailed site navigation architecture to support the goals of the Website

Task 3.2: Create a visual identity and supporting design elements to strongly represent the EDC brand

• In close coordination with the EDC Working Team, create a style template and wireframes to guide the choice of all design elements on the Website
• After agreeing on a style template with the EDC Working Team, design templates for all necessary page and content types

Task 3.3: Design an intuitive content update, review, and approvals process for the CMS

• Ensure CMS interface is optimally laid out for easy updating by non-technical users, yet offers powerful capabilities for power users

Task 4: Redevelopment of Core Functionality:

Task 4.1: Develop the website, incorporating the new style template

• Identify changes needed to hosting / server configuration to host redeveloped Website
• Create all code necessary to build front and back-end of system, including integration with any necessary internal systems

Task 4.2: Recommend and integrate an analytics suite

• Recommend an analytics package and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure Website performance against EDC’s goals in serving its target audience
• Integrate all code required by selected analytics solution

Task 5: Content Migration & Quality Assurance:

Task 5.1: Support migration of content from existing to redeveloped Website

• Support EDC Working Team (and other EDC departments) in migrating a portion of the content from current Website or adding new content
• Update/adapt design templates to ensure optimal presentation and interaction with content added by EDC departments

Task 5.2: Test redeveloped Website and new content for performance and compatibility

• Conduct standard Quality Assurance (QA) tests on all aspects of redeveloped Website
• Test Website for performance, compatibility, and ease of use across all major browsers and screen sizes

Task 6: Training & Site Launch:

Task 6.1: Train website champions across EDC departments on key functionality

• Identify features relevant to EDC departments beyond Marketing and MIS
• Conduct 5-7 training sessions for EDC departments, including technical instructions on using the CMS and a conceptual understanding of the review and approval process
• Create a user guide for future training sessions, incorporating video tutorials and / or other effective teaching methods

Task 6.2: Launch site!

• Work with MIS and Marketing teams to launch the site in January 2019 and monitor performance / traffic during the immediate post-launch period

PHASE II: NEW FUNCTIONALITY:

January 2019 – April 2019

Task 7: Development of New Functionality:

Task 7.1: Identify new functionality desired, plausible, and additive to accomplishing the Website goals

• Identify functionality needed to digitize offline business functions that require interactions with target audiences (e.g., RFP submissions)
• Recommend plugins or other modular functionality that will allow the Website to adapt to future media and information trends (e.g., virtual reality)
• Create functionality and a process to quickly spin up new microsites for major initiatives that can incorporate a unique brand and feel, and live within the site architecture

Task 7.2: Adapt Website design and develop new functionality

• Recommend changes to the Website design templates to accommodate any new functionality
• Identify changes needed to hosting / server configuration to enable new functionality
• Create all code necessary to enable new functionality, including integration with any necessary internal systems
• Conduct standard Quality Assurance (QA) tests on all aspects of the new features, including compatibility and performance with all major browsers and screen sizes

Task 7.3: Create a first prototype of microsite functionality, using a TBD NYCEDC program or initiative for content.

• Recommend a simplified site navigation architecture
• Adapting from or using the style template created for the Website, design a user interface and create design templates for the TBD project or initiative

Task 8: Training & Feature Launch:

Task 8.1: Train website champions across EDC departments on new functionality

• Conduct 5-7 training sessions for EDC departments, including technical instructions on setting up the new functionality for end users
• Update the user guide to incorporate new functionality

Task 8.2: Launch new features

• Work with MIS and Marketing teams to launch the new functionality by May 2019 and
• monitor performance / traffic during the immediate post-launch period

PHASE III: FOLLOW-UP:

January 2019 – December 2019

 Task 9: Post-Launch Services & Warranty Period:

• Guarantee the stability of the new Website for a period of at least 6 months following launch of the redeveloped Website (the “warranty period”)
• Provide source code for all elements of the Website and all associated documentation
• NYCEDC will procure all licenses and domains acquired. Any licenses procured by the Consultant will be required to be transferred to NYCEDC.

ADDITIONAL ALLOWABLE SERVICES:

• As directed by EDC Working Team, provide EDC with ongoing maintenance services for up to 12 months, incremental to the 6-month warranty period

Due Date:

June 25th, 2018

Address:

Maryann Catalano

Chief Procurement Officer

NYCEDC 110 William Street, 4th Floor

New York, NY 10038