Website and Forms

Description

Summary of the work New design for the website and forms. Transfer existing content Transfer existing forms, with and without integrations to business systems. Provide documentation and train staff to use and administer the website and forms engine Provide API and methods of data transfer to/from the website, forms engine and Council Applications. Expected Contract Length Infrastructure, hosting, user licenses, API connectors, software maintenance and support for 2 years Latest start date Monday 14 February 2022 Why the Work is Being Done The purpose of this procurement is to deliver a replacement Council website (content management system) and integrated forms engine that supports the Customer Experience Strategy. The website has been in place for just over 5 years and the way in which technology and how people consume services and content has significantly changed. This project will deliver an environment that will enhance a digital relationship with our customers and will encourage online interactions where possible through the content and ease of use of forms and navigation. Problem to Be Solved Review design of the old website, including all templates, page layouts, and brand colours, to apply to the new website. Provide reporting and customer insight information. Provide a SaaS, cloud-hosted or off Council premises Content Management System and Forms Engine. Review and restructure of the taxonomy and navigation between website pages. Transfer to new website of all pages using existing content and new layout. Deliver enhanced functionality including but not limited to search and the ability to surface third party widgets such as YouTube on pages. Provide a model governance framework for the management and ownership of the website and content including user groups, and responsibilities for testing end to end, for departmental content and forms. Deliver micro-site functionality with migration of existing micro-sites to the new platform. Implementation of a Forms Engine that provides low-code or no-code workflow functionality and allows information to be submitted to the Council's enterprise applications using APIs and/or other suitable means. Who Are the Users Members of the public need to access the website in order to find up-to-date information and submit forms for services as required. Council staff need an easy-to-use content management system administrative interface so that they can add and manage website content and forms. Council staff need to be able to action requests from submitted forms so that they can track the progress of requests. Council staff need access to native website reporting so that they can understand how the website is being used, the types of visitors to the website and the types of requests that are being made along with how and why visitors do and do not use the website to deliver the customer strategy System administrators need to provide access and create authorisation levels for different types of users so that content and forms applications are only accessed by those that need them. Digital team members need to respond to requests for updates to content and creation and updates for forms so that they can action those requests. IT Infrastructure teams need to manage the security for the website and forms so they can ensure that they are configured correctly for security. Work Already Done We have produced a business needs and technical requirements document. Existing Team Digital Team that manages requests for creation and management of forms and website content. Content editors that provide content for the website. Business Assurance Group that provides oversight for changes and risk management. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering website and forms engines to local councils • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering and working to the Cyber Essentials or ISO27001 security standards • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of hosting, implementing and supporting website, content management systems and advanced form engines in UK data centres. • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of configuration of multiple environments to support implementation and hosting to allow for upgrades and developments. • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of providing information and/or solutions that allow council staff to access and query data securely from both the website and forms databases. • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering your solutions through direct (internet) and indirect (e.g. RDS) to organisations so that they can be administered securely • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of training council staff through various mediums to support the implementation and administration of designs of website, content management systems and forms engine. • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of providing CIA, Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability for website, content management and forms engines • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of re-designing a council website to support their strategy and for accessibility • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering websites with templated designs that can be configured and amended by the council team themselves. • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering forms engines with workflow including branching, notifications, page breaks, validation functionality and integration with third party applications • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering form engines and websites that allow payments into council systems • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering forms engines that have “on behalf of” functionality so that those customers that need support to complete forms can be assisted by council staff • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering forms engines that allow customers to receive a copy of their submitted form by email. • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering forms engines that can be designed to look like the council website that they are presented on. • Demonstrate evidence of 99.99% availability of existing website and form implementations for other customers • Demonstrate documentation available to the customer, that maps out the underlying data tables and relationships between the tables and records for the website and forms engine. • Demonstration credentials showing open standards that allow RPA (robotic process automation) such as UIPath and Blue Prism • Demonstrate connectivity to data analytics tools such as Power BI, to access in Read/Write Mode the underlying data tables of the website and forms engine. Nice to Haves • Connectors available for for Bartec • Connectors available for Civica Open Revenues • Connectors available for Agresso • Connectors available for DRS • Connectors available for Aareon QL • Connectors available for Idox Uniform • Connectors available for Common Council GIS Systems (currently ESRI and LocalView) • Connectors available for council Case Management Systems (e.g: vFire, Lagan) • Demonstrate offline capability for forms completion. • Demonstrate knowledge and experience of implementing web chat and chat bots on websites. Work Location Remote access. Main council offices are in Oxford. Working Arrangments The hours that will be worked by the supplier during delivery will be determined by them. The council working hours are Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm, so any meetings between the council and suppliers must be done within those hours. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 5 Proposal Criteria • Technical solution • Approach and implementation methodology • Estimated time frame from initiation to completion of the work • Identification of risks and dependencies and approaches to management them • Value for money • How the solution will meet the Council's users needs • How the approach and solution will meet the Council's Customer Experience Strategy Cultural Fit Criteria • Meet Social Value considerations linked with - Foster an inclusive economy - Deliver more affordable housing - Support thriving communities - Pursue a zero carbon Oxford • Work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team with our organisation and with another partners • Ability to effectively engage with staff and stakeholders at all levels to progress outcomes while understanding other demands on their time and other priorities. . • Ability to challenge and question existing behaviour or perspectives while maintaining good working relationships 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. Q1 The Essential Skills section mentions several times about direct experience working with councils; this appears to contravene the DOS 5 guidelines on discriminatory clause and should not be classed as “Essential”: Thank you. We have now changed the word council to organisations of a similar size and complexity.This will be for all instances where the word council is used. 2. "“It is discriminatory to suppliers to state that they must have previous experience working in the public sector or within your specific industry.What is it about the public sector that requires specific skills or experience? Suppliers may have worked for complex commercial organisations which are highly regulated (eg financial or pharmaceutical) and could therefore demonstrate the required skills and experience within a different environment.”" Thank you. We have now changed the word council to organisations of a similar size and complexity.This will be for all instances where the word council is used. 3. Please can you disclose the budget (excluding VAT). We anticipate the budget will be between £25K to £33K per year for the solution, support and maintenance and circa £100K for the design and implementation. We will be looking for suppliers to provide us with ideas that will provide value for money to the council. 4. Could the council share a copy of the business needs and technical requirements document? Yes, the link is https://www.oxford.gov.uk/downloads/file/7780/website_and_forms_specification 5. Could the council share the current preference for the new CMS? There is no preference 6. Can you advise what the indicative budget for this project is please. We anticipate the budget will be between £25K to £33K per year for the solution, support and maintenance and circa £100K for the design and implementation. We will be looking for suppliers to provide us with ideas that will provide value for money to the council 7. Given that this is a fixed price opportunity could you please publish the budget for initial build and ongoing support/development/maintenance over the duration of the contract? This information is essential to enable an assessment of the commercial viability of this project. We anticipate the budget will be between £25K to £33K per year for the solution, support and maintenance and circa £100K for the design and implementation. We will be looking for suppliers to provide us with ideas that will provide value for money to the council 8. Did your Discovery identify any particular technology preferences (for example a COTS solution vs an appropriately configured content/forms platform; any preference for open source solutions; etc) There is no preference for the solution. It should fit the requirements and be cost effective 9. We have produced a business needs and technical requirements document.” Could you please make this available? Yes, the link is https://www.oxford.gov.uk/downloads/file/7780/website_and_forms_specification 10. Can you please confirm the budget for this project? We anticipate the budget will be between £25K to £33K per year for the solution, support and maintenance and circa £100K for the design and implementation. We will be looking for suppliers to provide us with ideas that will provide value for money to the council 11. You state “We have produced a business needs and technical requirements document.” Could you please make this available? Yes, the link is https://www.oxford.gov.uk/downloads/file/7780/website_and_forms_specification 12. Can you please confirm the budget for this project? We anticipate the budget will be between £25K to £33K per year for the solution, support and maintenance and circa £100K for the design and implementation. We will be looking for suppliers to provide us with ideas that will provide value for money to the council 13. When you ask suppliers to “Demonstrate knowledge and experience of delivering and working to the Cyber Essentials or ISO27001 security standards” should we take that to mean Cyber Essentials or ISO27001 security *certification* is required? Yes, you should have the certification of one of those or national equivalent in place at the time that the work begins 14. Is the council able to disclose the budget for this work, or a range into which the budget is expected to fall We anticipate the budget will be between £25K to £33K per year for the solution, support and maintenance and circa £100K for the design and implementation. We will be looking for suppliers to provide us with ideas that will provide value for money to the council 15. Assuming the council has conducted some research into potential CMS options, are there specific CMSes that the council is actively considering or favouring? No, the council is looking for the solution that delivers the requirement 16. What is the current CMS being used and do you have a preference for a new CMS? The current CMS is Jadu. There is no preference for a new CMS 17. Can you confirm how many microsites will need to be migrated to the new CMS? Five microsites 18. Are you able to share your business needs and technical requirements document Yes, the link is https://www.oxford.gov.uk/downloads/file/7780/website_and_forms_specification 19. Has the council evaluated potential Forms Engine solutions, and identified an informal (if not formal) shortlist of those perceived to be a good fit? No, we would like suppliers to inform us of their proposal to deliver the council requirements 20. The current council website is running on Jadu. Has a decision been taken to move away from Jadu at this point, or does Jadu remain an option the council would consider for the next iteration of the website? All solutions remain an option