To design and build a new Redcar and Cleveland Corporate Website based on existing LocalGov Drupal.

Description

Summary of the work Design and build a new Redcar and Cleveland corporate website based on the existing LocalGov Drupal templates. Upskill existing team to continue transformation beyond the lifetime of the contract. Expected Contract Length 2 years + 6months extension (including initial 8 month design, development and implementation phase) Latest start date Wednesday 1 September 2021 Budget Range £40000 - £80000 (price breakdown to be included at next stage) Why the Work is Being Done The current Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Website no longer meets the needs and requirements of the Organisation in terms of ongoing development and improvements and residents, in terms of design and usability. The current site does not meet the legal minimum requirement in terms of accessibility for users with additional needs. The required changes are centred around design issues that would require significant reinvestment both in time and money to resolve. These changes would take longer than the 12 weeks given by the GDS to rectify. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is moving toward a digital first future with residents, partners and stakeholders being able to interact and transact online easily and quickly. Other projects, such as the implementation of the Firmstep CRM system, will play key roles in this but it is essential that our Website is robust enough to form the centre piece to our overall digital strategy. The overall goal of the website redevelopment project is to create a WCAG 2.1 AA compliant website that provides easy to access information for residents, partners, and stakeholders alongside being developed in a way that allows for future development to take place easily. Problem to Be Solved The overall goal of the website redevelopment project is to create a WCAG 2.1 AA compliant website that provides easy to access information for users allowing for future development. Specific goals are: • A minimum of a 10% increase in traffic year on year. • A decrease in bounce rate to below 40% within the first 12 months of the website lifespan, achieving a bounce rate below 35% within 24 months of the new live website. • A reduction in the number of contacts with Customer Services team for information that is readily available on the website. • Production of a clear and easy to navigate website structure. We welcome any insight from developers relating to how to achieve this. • Creation of a robust search engine that allows users to easily find information, with the ability for the organisation to develop the search engine to improve the searchability of website content. • Decrease the number of pages on the site to less than 5000 through the creation of better quality content and delivering content outside of standard text. We will work with the successful supplier on key goals and welcome suggestions for other goals that are public sector relevant. Who Are the Users As a user I need to access online information easily and quickly. As an organisation I need to: •provide a website that is easily accessible and compatible across the various browsers used i.e., Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome and Safari without losing the branding, information and appearance. •Provide web pages that offer accessibility for users with disabilities (WAI-ARIA). •Provide web pages to announce if cookies are used with the relevant opt-ins shown. •Provide a website that is GDPR compliant •Provide a website that is PCI compliant – this relates specifically to our payment portal provided by Civica •Regulations mean that Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has a legal duty to make sure all its website and apps meet accessibility requirements. The standards that must be met are the international WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/. We would like to aim for AAA compliance where possible. Work Already Done • Research into similar Local Authority websites. • Baseline review of existing website, microsites, third party systems and forms has been undertaken. • Review of the current content publication processes (‘as-is’). • Analytics review – transaction volumes, website page views, conversion rates (where available). Existing Team Head of Marketing and Communications IT Project and Customer Manager Communications Officer: Website and Social Media Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Please provide details (with evidence) of your experience in design, development and implementation of a Drupal based website using the LocalGov Drupal distribution framework - 4%. • Commitment to deliver MVP by December 2021 - 2% • Understanding and experience of delivering services that meet, GDS Service Standard, MHCLG Local Digital Declaration, GDS Technology Code of Practice, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility guidelines - 2% • Providing qualified, skilled personnel to; manage and contribute to the various project stages -provide skills in content migration, content strategy development, business analysis, user research and service delivery -2% • Designing high volume digital services to meet wide ranging user needs; includes mapping business requirements, developing user journeys, stories, personas and wireframes for key content pages/types - 2% • Understanding and experience of providing visually engaging customer-first websites that have transformed the online experience for users - 2% • Understanding and experience of working with internal IT teams to arrange hosting and integration with existing services - 2% • Understanding and experience of data security and compliance (GDPR) - 2% • Understanding and experience of providing multi-site search functionality and managing search engine optimisation - 2% • Understanding and experience of creating and maintaining databases -2% • Other technologies like Customer Relationships Management (CRM) systems and online form platforms - Also having understanding of integration between systems to ensure duplication of effort is minimised - 2% Nice to Haves Evidence of previous development within Drupal using the following languages: PHP/Twig/JavaScript/CSS/Dockerlife alongside other commonly used languages for the development of opensource websites - 1%. Work Location Redcar and Cleveland House/Remote working Working Arrangments We would expect a delivery partner to work with us on this project for as long as necessary each week. The length of time spent on this project by the partner each week will be determined based on the needs of the project. Any communication or activities that need to take place will be carried out through the most appropriate channel. Security Clearance BPSS Additional T&Cs All expenses to be included within the written proposal. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 8 Proposal Criteria • Understanding the Tasks - 5% • Ability to Meet the Requirements - 15% • Delivery Methodology for the Overall Project - 10% • Business Continuity - 5% Cultural Fit Criteria • Able to work well with colleagues within Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and existing suppliers and being mindful of the Council's Corporate Priorities – 2.5% • Able to share detailed knowledge and skills regarding the user-centred design, agile methodology and continuous improvement with team members – 2.5% • Able to up skill and empower in-house teams to create a sustainable product outcome - 2.5% • Comfortable implementing their ways of working to encourage existing colleagues to follow suit – 2.5% Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method • Case study • Work history • Reference • Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 10% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. Is the budget stated intended to cover the entire 2 years + 6 month extension or the 8 month design, development and implementation phase? Yes, a breakdown of costs/charges will be expected during the second phase of the procurement process. 2. Can the authority confirm if a procurement exercise for this opportunity has already happened? If so, are they able to share the reasons for re-tendering? A procurement exercise for an opportunity similar to this one was carried out earlier this year and the Council did not proceed to award stage . The reason for re-procuring is that the bids received did not fully meet the Council’s requirements. 3. "Is the budget stated intended to cover the entire 2 years + 6 month extension or the 8 month design, development and implementation phase?”. Can you please specify which of those two options you are confirming? The budget is intended to cover the initial 2 year contract period, which includes the 8 month design, development and implementation phase. 4. You require the supplier to have BPSS clearance. Will the Council sponsor the BPSS application of a successful bidder that does not currently have the requisite clearance? No. 5. Is your latest start date of 1 September fixed or flexible and, if the latter, to what extent? This date is based on our anticipated completion of the procurement process, resulting in a 1st Sept contractual start date (Subject to internal approval). 6. MVP delivery is required by December, but does that mean 1 December or 31 December. In either case, to what extent, if any, is that flexible? This means 1st December 2021, however slippage in the initial design phase is acceptable provided the overall project meets the key deadline for delivery on the 1st May 2022. 7. Content migration is mentioned as a required skill, but it’s not clear what, if any, hopes and expectations the Council has for the programmatic migration of content from your current Sharepoint website to the new LocalGov Drupal website. Please clarify. The supplier is expected to support the overall process of content migration at a technical level (potentially utilising tools to migrate from the Sharepoint site). Internal resources (content owners) will be responsible for the actual content production. 8. The title states for the website to be based on existing Drupal templates, however would the council be open to moving to another Content Management System such as Umbraco? No. 9. Are you able to provide more detail on the scope of the MVP? This will be detailed in the 2nd stage of the procurement process. 10. Should we assume that following the initial 8-month project, the work that the budget would need to cover for the remainder of the 2-year contact period would be Drupal support, maintenance and incremental improvements rather than any significant additional projects? Yes, that is correct. 11. Hosting provision is not covered by this contract. What are the Council’s current plans for hosting the new website? Supplier hosting options will be required, full details and requirements will be provided in the 2nd stage of the procurement process. Hosting charges/costs are expected to be included in the overall budget (set at £40,000 - £80,000). 12. Does the Council envisage any requirement for the supplier to work onsite at Redcar and Cleveland House during the contract, or can this contract be delivered fully remotely over the 2-year period? Covid19 restrictions permitting, it is anticipated meetings for key milestone dates will be onsite, with day-to-day activities/tasks completed remotely, utilising systems such as Teams for project meetings etc. 13. Wrt training, from the description looks like it is going to be about content updates on the pages and sections etc., is that right? Training will be required from the supplier to provide internal teams/users information on the management of the site. This will be detailed in the 2nd stage of the procurement process. 14. By the looks of the description, do you mean initial 8 months are for design and build of alpha/beta phase(s) and the rest 16 months are for support and up skill? Yes, that is correct. 15. Is the budget (£40000 – £80000) is merely for Discovery phase or the full phase of GDS lifecycle (i.e. Discovery, Alpha, Beta) ? If it’s for the whole process, then what’s the timeline and budget for Discovery phase? The budget covers the design (based on the existing Drupal product set) and implementation. In relation to GDS we expect, as a minimum, WCAG compliance. 16. Can you elaborate on your requirement for PCI compliance, specifically as it relates to your Civica payment portal? There is no specific requirement for PCI compliance on the website, our current solution is cloud based, the website will 'link' to this system. 17. The Council’s current team does not include any in-house developers, so in terms of knowledge transfer is this largely about editorial and administrative use of LocalGov Drupal, or does the Council intend to hire developer/s onto the in-house team at some point and therefore require more technical knowledge transfer for developers? We expect the knowledge transfer / training to be about editorial and administrative functions. 18. In the context of a finite budget of £40K to £80K spread over 2 years covering design, development, support and hosting of the new website, can you clarify your expectations of a supplier’s time and resource commitments when you say “We would expect a delivery partner to work with us on this project for as long as necessary each week.” The key project milestones need to be met, the supplier's time and resource commitments may vary week-to-week, ensuring the project milestones are met. 19. Regarding the PCI compliance, will the user be passed to the Civica Payment Portal for payment to be made, or is it expected that payments will be made in line and so will need full PCI compliance? There is no specific requirement for PCI compliance on the website, our current solution is cloud based, the website will 'link' to this system. 20. Given there is the expectation that hosting will be included in the budget, are there any performance / availability SLAs or estimates of site usage? This could have a significant impact on hosting / infrastructure cost. This will be detailed in the 2nd stage of the procurement process. 21. Are there any additional services that require to be included with the hosting e.g.DDoS prevention services. This will be detailed in the 2nd stage of the procurement process.