Maintenance and development of the Science Museum Group website

Description

Summary of the work Ongoing maintenance, support and development of the Science Museum Group websites. These are developed in Drupal 8. Expected Contract Length One year with the option to renew for a further year Latest start date Monday 14 June 2021 Why the Work is Being Done Ongoing support, maintenance and development of the Science Museum Group website. This includes the websites for the Science Museum, National Media Museum, Locomotion, National Railway Museum and the Science and Industry Museum. The websites are developed in Drupal 8. Problem to Be Solved The Science Museum Group websites require ongoing maintenance and support as well as some development work to improve functionality and accessibility across the sites.This includes implementing any Drupal security patches, Drupal upgrades and prioritising and fixing bugs and issues with the websites on an ongoing basis. In addition, further development of the websites may be required to improve navigation, functionality and accessibility of the sites. Who Are the Users The visitors to the Science Museum Group website need to be able to find out what's on at the museums, access visiting information, book tickets for a visit, and sign up to our e-newsletters. This functionality must be fully accessible and meet the international WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard. In addition, the museums provide additional content such as videos, interactives, audio and narratives around the SMG collection that visitors need to be able to find, navigate and digest in a straightforward way. The museum websites are integrated with other platforms such as our ticketing system, online shop, online collections and our Group and Learning sites (developed in Wordpress) and this online experience needs to be seamless to the website visitors. Existing Team The supplier will need to work with the Science Museum Group digital team, including web managers at each of the museums. In addition, the website is currently hosted by another supplier so this role will require working closely with them to deploy upgrades to the web servers. Current Phase Not applicable Skills & Experience • Extensive experience developing large scale websites in Drupal • Experience of integrating Drupal with other systems, e.g. Shopify, Tessitura • Strong focus on UX and designing web functionality that is easy and accessible to use • Ability to carry out maintenance and security patches to Drupal’s core applications and modules • Experience maintaining and supporting large Drupal websites on an ongoing basis • Experience of working with a third party hosting provider to resolve issues around hosting and deployment of new web functionality • Experience in identifying, analysing and fixing website issues in a timely manner • Experience in delivering web functionality that meets the international WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard • Experience operating a Support Helpdesk to answer queries and raise tickets during hours of operation Nice to Haves Experience in building and maintaining websites for cultural organisations Work Location This work can take place remotely within the UK. The Science Museum Group has museums in London, Bradford, Manchester, and York. Working Arrangments All maintenance and development work will need to take place at the supplier's offices. Deployments of new functionality or Drupal upgrades/patches will take place remotely, working with the Science Museum Group's hosting provider. The supplier will need to meet regularly with the SMG digital team to discuss bug fixes and future website development but these meetings can take place via video call such as using Microsoft Teams. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Level of technical expertise and experience with Drupal websites • Approach to ongoing maintenance and support of the website • Process for raising, investigating and resolving issues with the website in a timely manner • Experience of integrating Drupal with other platforms • Approach to meeting accessibility requirements and accessibility testing • Quality Assurance and testing as part of the deployment process • Value for money • Approach to designing and developing new website functionality that meets user needs Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as a team with Science Museum Group and other suppliers • Take responsibility for their work Payment Approach Capped time and materials Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. As the work can be completed remotely, are you open to this being done offshore? No, we are looking for a supplier based in the UK. As stated in the requirements 'This work can take place remotely within the UK'. 2. We performance tested the Tate Galleries websites after a cloud migration, website development, online shop update to make sure that the performance was able to meet the same benchmark as before and to measure any improvements, whilst highlighting any problem areas. Testing Performance would like to help the Science Museum Group measure the performance before and after. Thank you for your interest. Please let me know if you have any questions, otherwise we look forward to receiving your response to the requirements. 3. Since the work can be done remotely, is some near shore work acceptable or is it 100% UK only? We are looking for a supplier based in the UK. As stated in the requirements 'This work can take place remotely within the UK'. 4. Is there an incumbent? Yes we are currently working with a UK based digital agency who originally developed the Science Museum Group websites. 5. What is the expected amount of hours required per month for support and maintenance? We would expect around 15 - 20 hours of support per month 6. Do you have an incumbent supplier for existing maintenance and development work? Yes, we are currently working with a UK based digital agency who developed the current SMG Drupal websites. 7. Why is this work out for renewal? Is there an incumbent agency? Yes, we are currently working with a UK based digital agency who developed the current SMG Drupal websites. This contract has come to an end and we are are going through the process of inviting other suppliers to apply for this work to ensure we receive value for money. 8. We occasionally like to work with partners for specialist activities such as accessibility testing and larger UX work. Are you happy for us to include third parties / sub-contractors in our proposal? Yes, please provide details of any third parties you would work with in your proposal. 9. Who is currently managing the website?What is the current team size Maintenance and development of the Science Museum Group website?Total how many monthly hours are current spent behind maintenance and development work?How many monthly hours are envisaged for this maintenance and development project?We assume that resources can also work offshore (outside UK). Please confirm. We are currently working with a UK based digital agency who developed the current SMG Drupal websites. There isn't a permanent team size working on maintenance as the agency scale up or down according to the work required. There are 6 people in the SMG web team but they are web managers/editors rather than developers. We would expect around 15 - 20 hours of support per month. The development work is required on an ad-hoc basis. We are looking for a supplier based in the UK. As stated in the requirements 'This work can take place remotely within the UK'. 10. What budget have you allocated to this project for each of the two years? What roles to you envisage the supplier providing and which will you provide as the buyer? We do not have an estimated budget at this stage but please quote for the work based on the assumption that we would expect around 15 - 20 hours of support per month and any further development work would be on an ad-hoc basis, based on your day rates. The SMG web team consist of web managers and web editors who will raise issues and carry out testing of bug fixes but all Drupal development, deployment, and QA and accessibility testing would be carried out by the supplier. 11. To get an idea of anticipated scale, what is the approximate budget? We do not have an estimated budget at this stage but please quote for the work based on the assumption that we would expect around 15 - 20 hours of maintenance support per month and any further development work would be on an ad-hoc basis, based on your day rates. 12. What is the budget allocated for this project?How many days support are currently provided per month? We do not have an estimated budget at this stage but please quote for the work based on the assumption that we would expect around 15 - 20 hours of maintenance support per month and any further development work would be on an ad-hoc basis, based on your day rates. 13. Has the above opportunity been “CALL OFF”? Please can you clarify this question? This opportunity is still open for applications until Monday 7 June. 14. D you have a budget/budget range for this opportunity? We do not have an estimated budget at this stage but please quote for the work based on the assumption that we would expect around 15 - 20 hours of maintenance support per month and any further development work would be on an ad-hoc basis, based on your day rates. 15. What are the procurement timescales/schedule for this opportunity? This opportunity is open for applications until Monday 7 June 2021 at 11:59pm GMT and we are looking to appoint a supplier by 14 June 2021. 16. Within suppliers’ individual question responses, are you looking for multiple examples at a lower level of detail or a single, more detailed one? I would suggest going for a single more detailed example for each question that illustrates your expertise, experience and approach. 17. Could you please provide your definition of ‘cultural organisations’? Ideally we would like to work with a supplier who has experience working with museums, galleries, theatres or other non profit organisations that run exhibitions, performances and events. 18. Could you please provide your definition of ‘Large Drupal Websites’? The SMG websites receive around 10 million annual visits, there is a site for each museum and these sites also integrate with our ticketing systems, online collection database and online shop. The Science Museum website alone has around 1000 items of published content. We are looking for a supplier who has experience with websites of a similar scale and complexity. 19. What’s the most complex part(s) of the sites? The most complex aspects of the websites are the What's On listings as each museum has a variety of different kinds of events, exhibitions, displays, date/time configurations etc. The National Science and Media Museum includes a cinema with different listings requirements. In addition, the sites need to adhere to the latest government accessibility guidelines and undergo regular accessibility testing and audits. The websites are also integrated with other systems such as the online collection database, ticketing system and online shop. 20. Where are the sites currently hosted (i.e. is it on dedicated or specialist Drupal hosting, e.g. Acquia or Pantheon)? The site is not currently hosted on dedicated Drupal hosting such as Acquia or Pantheon. We have another supplier who provides all the hosting for our websites and they are responsible for managing our hosting and the Drupal deployment process. 21. Is there any technical, editorial, supporting or project documentation relating to the websites (e.g. technical documentation or build manual, editorial training manual, content guide, wireframes)? We have some documentation that will be shared with the successful supplier but we do not intend to publish this at this stage of the procurement process. 22. Are your incumbent hosting supplier and incumbent developer different/non-related entities? Yes, we are currently working with two different suppliers - one who is providing all our hosting and the other supplier covering Drupal development. The successful supplier from this process would need to work with our existing hosting provider. 23. New suppliers can be sceptical about the chances of winning a contract in a situation where there is an incumbent who is performing well. Given the effort and time involved in tender preparation, what assurance can you offer that the incumbent will not have any advantage during this process – given the fact that you have presumably been working together for many years. One of the reasons we are using the Digital Marketplace framework is to make sure that this is a fair and open process. We will be scoring each supplier based on the criteria laid out in the requirements. Our existing supplier will need to follow the same process as everyone else to make it as fair as possible. 24. Please can you provide details of your current maintenance agreement, i.e. is it based on Mon – Fri, 9am to 5.30pm only? Does this level of support suffice or do you typically need out of hours / weekend maintenance? Our current maintenance agreement is based on Mon – Fri, 9am to 5.30pm and anything outside those hours has to be arranged in advance. Very occasionally, deployments take place earlier than 9am as the website gets less traffic then. We do not typically carry out maintenance at weekends. 25. What type of support activites are currently conducted by your vendor? Our current supplier implements Drupal security patches, Drupal upgrades and prioritises and fixes bugs and issues with the websites on an ongoing basis. In addition, further development of the websites may be required to improve navigation, functionality and accessibility of the sites and this is costed separately on an ad-hoc basis. 26. What type of support activites are currently conducted by your internal team? Our internal team raise any bugs or request enhancements to the website. They will then test the fixes or new functionality on the UAT environment before it is deployed. We do not have any Drupal developers within the internal team so all development and maintenance work is carried out by an external supplier. 27. Do you have Single Sign On?Do you have any compatibility or portability requirements? (e.g. mobile, certain browsers, etc)Do you have any requirements for VPNs, proxies, or whitelisting?Can we get access to your Google Analytics and/or SEO tools?Are there any existing front end frameworks?Any existing code flow procedure? We do not have Single Sign On. We require the website to be fully optimised for mobile devices, tablets etc and to work on all modern browsers. The back end of the website can only be accessed via VPN or we can whitelist a supplier's i.p. address to obtain access.We can provide access to our Google Analytics to the successful supplier. All technical documentation will be provided to the successful supplier. There is an existing deployment process that is managed by another supplier and we have test environments set up. The code is stored in Github. 28. Do you have any other teams/devs working on your site(s) (e.g. in-house team, other vendors)? No, currently we only have one supplier for all our Drupal development. There are no in-house Drupal developers. 29. What is your current QA process? We expect our supplier to carry out as much testing as they can before any changes are deployed to our UAT environments. At this point, our internal team carry out testing to make sure any issues are fixed and that the update has affected anything else. When we are happy with everything on the UAT environments, the changes are deployed to production. Additional testing is carried out by our hosting provider during the deployment process to make sure no issues arise on the servers. 30. Do you prefer for us to do the deployments or yourself? The deployment is carried out by another supplier - our hosting provider - and they will carry out testing and raise any issues that require Drupal support. The SMG team are unable to carry out deployments. 31. What does your deployment process look like? Any things to watch out for? What is the best time to deploy (except Fridays and weekends)? Deployments are managed by our hosting providers and they can provide details of the deployment process to the successful supplier. They also monitor for any issues that come up during deployment and pass these back to the Drupal developers. Generally, the best time for us for deployments is fairly early in the morning before the museums open. 32. Did you have a previous vendor? What was the relationship like (e.g. can we contact them up to a certain point for technical questions, etc.) Yes, we have a good relationship with our current vendor and we would ensure there was a proper handover process in place. 33. Can we do a thorough knowledge transfer with your previous vendor? Yes, we would ensure that a proper handover process was put in place. 34. What does your privacy/security/accessibility policy look like? You can find these policies on our website:https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/terms-and-conditions/https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/privacy-policy/https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/web-accessibility/ 35. Do you have any high traffic seasons that we should be aware of? We tend to see lower traffic at weekends and school holidays and higher traffic at the start of the academic year but it doesn't fluctuate massively. 36. Do you have a current backlog of tickets/issues? Yes we have a number of minor issues recorded in Github at present but nothing critical or requiring major development. 37. Do you have any automated scripts for QA or a testing checklist Our hosting provider carries out some automated testing following deployments to the UAT and production environments. We also have tools to carry out additional accessibility testing and sometimes ask accessibility specialists to carry out audits. The SMG web team also has a checklist of things that they test for on UAT following deployments. 38. Are there any 3rd party systems we need to be aware of The Drupal website integrates with our ticketing system, Tessitura, and our Online Shop, Shopify, and our Online Collection database. These are maintained by other external providers. Our hosting environment is also managed by another supplier. 39. Can you please describe your expectations of how the 15-20 hours per month should be distributed? This tends to be quite flexible as sometimes more time needs to be dedicated to urgent Drupal security patches for example. Or if a critical issues pops up on the website this will take up the majority of the time. During quieter times we dedicate more time to addressing the current list of minor bugs or enhancements. 40. Do you have an in-house IT team? Is there a “go-to” person for technical/IT issues? Yes we have an in-house IT team who can assist with IT issues. In addition, all our web hosting is provided by another supplier who manages this. They have a system for raising tickets and responding to any hosting issues. 41. Are all sites on separate instances of Drupal 8?Is there any shared config between the separate instances?Even if fully separate, are they are all set up and have similar or the same configuration?Do the sites use the same underlying themes and content types, is there any shared styling (CSS files) between the websiteswhat is the editorial experience like (any rumbling from the editorial team about any of the sites being difficult to manage)? The sites are on separate instances of Drupal but with some shared config, content types and themes. Full detail and documentation of the set up will be provided to the successful supplier.The editorial experience is generally good. We have some minor issues and enhancements currently in progress but nothing major. 42. Are your sites set up as a multisite or are they different drupal installations? The sites are on separate instances of Drupal but with some shared config, content types and themes. Full detail and documentation of the set up will be provided to the successful supplier. 43. What does your hosting look like? (e.g. self hosted, Acquia, etc)Where is your code located? (e.g. Github, Acquia, Bitbucket, etc)Do you have any CI tools like Bamboo or Jenkins?What kind of monitoring do you have, if any? If so, please add us to be notified (mandatory) Our hosting is set up and managed by another supplier and this will continue to be the case. Our hosting providers can provide full details of the hosting set up and tools used to the successful supplier. The Drupal developers will need to work closely with our hosting providers. Our code is stored in Github. There are monitoring tools in place that are managed by our hosting providers.