Contact: Michelle Kessler
Director of Operations and Planning
Vermont Family Network – ATTN: VT-P2P Project
600 Blair Park Road, suite 240
Williston, Vermont 05495
Email: michelle.kessler@vtfn.org
Proposals are due no later than 12:00 pm/noon EST, Friday, August 16, 2024.
Purpose:
The VT-P2P is a new federally funded project providing information to Vermont children
and youth with disabilities who experience many challenges transitioning successfully
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from high school to adulthood. This project brings together a broad array of partners
who understand their needs and are positioned to create enhanced pathways to
successful employment and postsecondary outcomes. Creating an inclusive web-based
portal with comprehensive, accessible information is critical to this project’s success.
Through the website, youth, families, and VT-P2P partners will have access to a tool
that explains adult services and the postsecondary opportunities available to youth and
young adults in an easy-to-understand and intuitive-to-navigate format.
Description:
Create a flexible, inclusive, accessible, and informative web site that is easy to maintain.
The web site must be flexible and user-friendly while capable of delivering large
amounts of constantly changing information to our key audiences. In addition to a user-friendly site with an intuitive and accessible interface, the website must include a web based, database-driven administration tool that allows key management personnel to
easily update content without accessing source code.
VT-P2P will maintain editorial and administration control of the content on the website,
preferably by using a system with a browser-based user interface.
To be effective, the web site must be:
- Accessible following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
- standards
- Intuitive and easy to use
- Informative
- Safe and secure
- Quick to load and operate
- Easily maintainable
- Visually appealing
Objective:
VT-P2P’s objective is to provide a comprehensive information web-based portal where
youth and young adults with disabilities, their families, and professionals can access
valuable and current information for transitioning from high school to successful
employment and postsecondary outcomes.
VT-P2P Vision for web site:
- Improve self-advocacy of youth with disabilities by providing readily accessible
information via an easy-to-use web site.
- Improve student with disability transition outcomes by empowering them with the
comprehensive information needed to develop ambitious transition plans that
create meaningful pathways and outcomes in postsecondary education and employment.
VT-P2P- REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL – WEBSITE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, & HOSTING
Provide one comprehensive source of information that explains opportunities
available to students with disabilities who are transitioning from high school.
Report high engagement and satisfaction of the web site by after 3 years.
TIMELINE
This RFP is dated July 29, 2024. Proposers may also request a copy be sent via
email by contacting Michelle Kessler at michelle.kessler@vtfn.org.
Proposals are due no later than 12:00 pm/noon EST, Friday, August 16, 2024.
Proposals will be evaluated immediately thereafter. During this time, the VT-P2P
partners may require interviews with our evaluation team. Proposers will be
notified if this is requested.
The name of the candidate firm who has been selected will be decided on or
about Monday, August 26, 2024.
Negotiations will begin immediately with the successful candidate and should
conclude no later than September 20, 2024
All other candidates will be notified on or about September 20, 2024.
Project deliverable dates will be determined during the negotiations.
BUDGET
Please provide cost proposal to accomplish the scope outlined below. The budget must
encompass all design, production, training, and software acquisitions necessary for
development, implementation, and maintenance of the web site.
Hosting will be addressed separately and costs for hosting are not included in the
budget for this project.
List pricing for:
Phase I: Discovery, Requirements Planning, and Site Definition.
Phase II: Site Development, Testing, and Implementation.
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The VT-P2P project has allocated $25,000 for this project (Phase I and Phase II).
However, we will entertain responses greater than $25,000 if the proposal shows an
incremental project plan.
SCOPE AND GUIDELINES
The scope of this project is to create an accessible, inclusive, informative, and user-friendly web site. The site must include a technology solution that allows the in-house
VT-P2P staff to easily and cost effectively update content and modify site design after
the initial launch.
Discovery:
Confirm demographics, audience, objectives, graphics look and feel, navigation,
technology, required functionality, and budgetary constraints, resulting in the creative
brief for the web site design.
Design:
Design the web site information architecture, graphic look and feel, user navigation,
accessibility, inclusiveness, home page and main navigation templates for each
navigation link.
Development and Implementation:
The web site designed by the successful candidate must meet the following criteria:
Create a content management system that will enable non-technical staff to
instantly update the web site content on specific pages.
Visually appealing – the site must have a mix of text and graphics.
Accessible to individuals with disabilities following the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) standards.
Secure and safe.
Common theme – each section of the web site should have a common look and
feel with the VT-P2P logo prominently displayed on every page.
Consistent Design with each section of the site using a common look and feel of
graphics/photographs, fonts, and layouts.
Easy to navigate – the site should be easy to navigate. Information should be
grouped and presented in a logical manner and require no more than three levels
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of “drill down” for users to find the desired information.
Provide search capabilities using key words or phrasing that will identify content
throughout the site.
The site must have a tracking tool providing the following information:
o Web traffic analysis
o Path analysis
o Visitor trends
o Page views
o Entry pages
o Top pages
o Exit pages
Once the web site has been completed, tested, and accepted by VT-P2P, the
web site design and all of its contents, software, and architecture become the property of VT-P2P.