REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL for WEBSITE REDESIGN
The organization is in the process of shifting all of its major sites from Cold Fusion to Drupal 6 and late last year relaunched the main site (http://www.eli.org) in that platform. At six years old, the existing design is very dated and difficult to navigate. We would now like to have a new design with improved functionality for the site that takes advantage of what Drupal has to offer.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
FROM: THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE
Primary Contact: Brett Kitchen
202-939-3833
[email protected]
About ELI:
Since 1969, ELI has played a pivotal role in shaping the fields of environmental law, policy, and management, domestically and abroad. Now in our fifth decade, we are an internationally recognized, non-partisan research and education center working to strengthen environmental protection by improving law and governance worldwide.
The Institute publishes periodicals and books on environmental law and policy. We educate and build bridges among the various environmental stakeholders through ELI's membership program, which convenes environmental professionals from all sectors and offers seminars on timely topics presented by leading experts and practitioners.
The Institute's Research and Policy (R&P) group produces research reports and policy recommendations on critical areas of environmental governance. Education and training programs for public officials, judges, citizens, and factory managers are a large part of the R&P agenda. Our work focuses primarily on protecting water resources, land, and biodiversity; safeguarding the global commons (earth's climate and oceans); and improving environmental law and its implementation in the United States and internationally.
Support for the Institute comes from individuals, foundations, government, corporations, law firms, and other sources.
What We Need:
ELI is in the process of shifting all of its major sites from Cold Fusion to Drupal 6 and late last year relaunched the main ELI site (http://www.eli.org) in that platform. At six years old, the existing design is very dated and difficult to navigate. We would now like to have a new design with improved functionality for the ELI site that takes advantage of what Drupal has to offer.
Functionality:
Overall, ELI wants its website to be easy to navigate, especially for first-time users. They should not have to think too hard about where to go. On the contrary, the site should help guide them to areas we think they should see.
The current ELI site is stove-piped by department. Marketing across these departments should be an integral part of the page design, demonstrating how our various work areas relate to each other. For example, a page for a book on clean water should have dynamically-generated links to ELI events, reports and other ELI resources on the same topic, and vice-versa. Each page should refer to other ELI pages of a similar interest.
The new site should meet the latest web standards, i.e., HTML5/CSS3.
A bread crumb trail is a must for helping users navigate backwards.
Design:
It is difficult to have a home page covering all that ELI does. The current homepage is very cluttered, and ELI would like to move to a much cleaner, flat design, using a simpler, brighter palette, and one that meets accessibility standards. In short, we would like a home page design that portrays a complex organization in a simple way.
Homepage text should be kept to a minimum. Save the text for the secondary pages.
New designs will be required for our secondary and tertiary pages. The proposal should thus include pricing for five new page designs.
The new web design should be responsive for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
The site should be structured for enhanced SEO.
We will ask the selected vendor to identify other functional components that could make the website a success.
Other information on the homepage should include:
Research output
Events
Membership
Donations
ELI's 3 Periodicals
Books
Search Engine:
ELI currently uses a mixture of Acquia Solr Search as part of an Acquia Network basic subscription and the Drupal Search and Views modules for searches within the site. We would like improved search capabilities and results for site-wide, site-sections, and content-type specific searches as well as cross-site searches. Solutions that do not involve Acquia or Solr will be considered.
Analytics:
ELI would like greater integration with Google Analytics to provide content creators with easy access to feedback.
ELI would also like better statistics on users including IP address for certain roles.
Experience Required:
ELI will remain in Drupal 6 for this redesign so significant experience developing and theming in this version is required.
ELI currently uses the Domain Access module to manage a multi-site, single database install. Demonstrated experience with this module is required.
Timeline:
ELI plans to select a designer by mid- to late June and expects delivery no later than November 1, 2014.
Websites We Like:
http://www.housingworks.org/
http://www.restorethegulf.gov/
http://ncseonline.org/
http://www.nrdc.org/
http://www.wri.org/
FORMAT FOR PROPOSALS
1. Company Background
Provide a history for your company and as well as a summary of your understanding of the project. Please include any special attributes and qualifications that make you ideally suited for this project. This section should be no more than two pages.
2. Technical Process
a)Web development process: explain the process you will follow to build the Web site, including major milestones and evaluation.
b)Address any important technology information and specifications used in your solution (platforms, server requirements, etc.).
3. Management Capacity
a)Organizational structure: provide an organizational chart for this project.
b)Schedule of deliverables; include major milestones and testing proposal.
c)Provide a list of your current firm obligations with scope of services and start and end dates.
d)Provide a list of any relevant conflicts of interest and pending lawsuits.
e)Please name what type of work/input you expect from ELI.
4. Fees
a)Break down cost by production hours, tools and functionalities
b)Maintenance and support: identify any costs that should be assumed as part of the site and ongoing costs for maintenance and support to be provided by your company in the future.
c)Third-party costs: identify any costs that should be assumed as part of the site and ongoing costs for maintenance and support to be provided by a third-party in the future.
d)Other charge areas: Please identify whether there will be other expenses, consulting fees, future work, etc. to complete this project.
5. Relevant Experience
a)Please list up to 5 Drupal sites your company has designed, developed or built (no more than five years old) with information on accessing any online demos or examples.
b)Provide a brief narrative of the project and the associated costs and schedule, as well as information about how the website has helped the organizations reach stated objectives.
c)Please provide a list of staff for each project listed.
d)Please provide a client contact, email and phone number for each project listed.
e)List any awards won or any other information you deem useful.
f)Please include complete biographies of all who will work on the project.
