Website Design and Implementation at Village of Wolverine Lake
VILLAGE OF WOLVERINE LAKE
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
for
WEBSITE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
ISSUE DATE: APRIL 26, 2019
PROPOSAL DUE DATE: MAY 24, 2019 AT 10:00 A.M.
PUBLIC OPENING DATE: MAY 24, 2019 AT 10:00 A.M.
NEW WEBSITE GOAL LAUNCH DATE: JANUARY 1, 2020
SUBMIT RESPONSES TO:
ATTN: RFP - WOLVERINE LAKE WEBSITE REDESIGN
VILLAGE OF WOLVERINE LAKE
425 GLENGARY
WOLVERINE LAKE, MI 48390
admin@wolverinelake.com
PHONE: 248.624.1710
WEBSITE: www.wolverinelake.com
2
INTRODUCTION
The Village of Wolverine Lake, located in Oakland County, Michigan, is a community of
approximately 4,312 residents, organized as a Council-Administrator form of government. The
Village Council is the legislative body responsible for overall operation of the Village. The Village
Administrator serves as the Chief Administrative Officer. The Village provides the following
services to its residents: general building and administrative, public safety, community
environment, and culture and recreation.
The Village of Wolverine Lake seeks the bid of a vendor that can accomplish all of the
functionality identified in the RFP and has the flexibility of providing this functionality over
time, with respect to potential budgetary constraints. Qualified applicants must be equipped to
integrate additional features that may be needed or new technologies that may be developed
in the future. The Village seeks a site that centralizes content management to our Village Staff
with the option of additional supporting users and oversite from the Village Administrator.
Finally, the Village website must have the capacity to meet Encryption Security Standards, and
the State of Michigan's Open Meetings Act and Federal ADA requirements.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
Our current website no longer adequately portrays the level of service and professionalism
exhibited to our residents on a daily basis. Our website is integral in providing important
information regarding: events; board meetings; tax payments; Freedom of Information
requests; emergency alerts; e-mail database; and providing accessible forms and documents. It
is the Village's chief resource for disseminating information to the public. As the design and
management software are both outdated, the Village has received feedback from the
community that the website is difficult to navigate and not user-friendly.
With transparency being a major goal, the amount of published information displayed on the
website has substantially grown and has overwhelmed the current organizational design. The
Village's ideal website vendor would have the ability to provide on-going organizational
maintenance strategies for future information to be published.
GOALS FOR WEBSITE
The goal of this request for proposal is to find an outstanding partner to redesign the Village's
website in order to better communicate with the Village to provide an easy-to-navigate online
experience, while better reflecting the professionalism of the Village's municipal services. The
Village's goal is to create a website that successfully promotes our brand, facilitates a userfriendly
environment for accessing municipal services, creates a two way communication
between the Village and citizens and simplifies content management while meeting high
standards for design quality and visual appeal. The new website will serve as the public face of
Wolverine Lake's government and community while providing 24/7 services for a wide range of
users. The current version of our website can be viewed at www.wolverinelake.com.
3
PRIORITIZED GOALS
This new website should support the following goals:
1. Provide at least the level of functionality of the applications within the current website.
2. Provide a fresh, sophisticated, updated and user-friendly re-design.
3. Increase community understanding of how to navigate the website.
VILLAGE OF WOLVERINE LAKE REDESIGN PROJECT CONTACT
The following will be the contact person on behalf of the Village of Wolverine Lake:
Michael Smith, Village Administrator|Clerk
admin@wolverinelake.com
248.624.1710 or 248.624.6434
The Village Administrator will be responsible for managing the website redesign project and
disseminating all inquiries and correspondence during the entire project. Administrative Staff
consisting of Paige Knutson and Tabitha Linsenmeyer will be a part of the migration process and
will be key team members to implement and maintain the Village website.
RFP ESTIMATED TIMELINE
RFP Issue Date April 26, 2019
Responses Due May 24, 2019
Public Opening May 24, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.
Finalist Selected June 12, 2019
Project Kickoff June 17, 2019
Goal Completion January 1, 2020
At the public opening only the name of the vendor and the amount will be stated. Proposals
received will not be available for inspection until after the evaluation process has been
completed and the finalist has been selected.
VENDOR QUALIFICATIONS
The Village seeks a vendor that has produced a minimum of twenty websites and has been in
the business of municipal website design for at least five years. Additionally, the Village seeks a
vendor with proven capacity to provide the following: Content Management System (CMS)
components and tools.
4
NARRATIVE
Responders are to submit a written narrative corresponding to each outlined requirement.
1. Company Profile
A. Introduction | Overview | History
B. Contact Information | Office location(s)
C. Demonstrated company financial stability
D. Project Team Roles
1. Name, title, role (e.g. project management, training, design, etc.)
2. Education and/or years of experience
2. Municipal Website Design Experience
A. Minimum of three municipal references, including:
1. Client name
2. Website URL
3. Contract duration
4. Client contact person, title, phone number, and email
B. Any municipal award-winning websites designed by vendor
C. Design portfolio (minimum of three screenshots with URLs)
3. Project Development Approach
A. Proposed timeline
B. Outline all project phases and the Village's role
C. Explain the design process
D. Explain the data migration process
E. Meets Federal ADA requirements
F. Training
G. Ability to integrate municipal branding into new site
H. Ongoing technical assistance and training opportunities
4. Support and Maintenance (describe all available)
A. System ownership
B. Ongoing operations and maintenance
C. Training opportunities
D. Availability of robust self-service documentation and technical support
E. Beta testing
F. Normal support hours and Emergency support hours
G. Software updates and site maintenance
H. Software licensing (if any)
5. Ability to integrate the Village's branding and aesthetics into the site design
5
6. Integrated Content Management System (CMS) Components and Tools
A. The CMS listing below represents functional categories and is not
comprehensive; some may be deleted/amended, while others may be
recommended or added.
1. Alerts | E-notification systems
a. Front page solution for emergency notification updates with a
registration widget and the ability to share via social media
b. Management of current govDelivery database integration
2. Archive | Search Functions
a. Searchable solution for live/archived content, documents, and news
3. Browser Based Administration
a. Create | edit | delete and template-based web pages and news
4. Calendar
a. Update | publish calendars w/optional ability to import Google or
other type of calendar feeds
5. Departmental Pages
a. Ability to create landing pages for associated municipal departments
6. Document Retention
a. Upload | download capability, back-end ability to search
7. Event Management
a. Web-based registration software for Recreation events
b. Editing capabilities for Village staff members with the ability to be set
up as single events or recurring events, with options for daily, weekly,
monthly or annual recurrences and ability to link important
documents to specific events
8. Forms | Documents
a. Forms, publishing, and tracking with email forwarding capability
9. Interface Solutions
a. Integration or links to Interactive GIS, Oakland County Land Records
Portal, Google Suite, etc.
10. Meeting Management
a. Create | manage | host agendas, minutes, and other documents
b. Ability to integrate with outside vendors who provide these services
11. Mobile Browsing
a. Website can be accessed from any mobile platform
12. News Updates
a. Add | Edit News Events
b. Online publishing of blog-style news with email subscription
capability
13. Online Payments
a. Secure online transactions capability
14. Page Management
a. Dynamic Content
15. Photos
a. Optional - Display community photos in a central location on website
6
16. Security Integration
a. SSL Encryption
17. Sitemap
a. Multi-lingual
b. Print-friendly function
c. Responsive and user-friendly layout and navigation, providing an
optimal viewing and interaction experience across a wide range of
viewing devices or host platforms
18. Site Statistics
a. Integration of comprehensive analytical status reports
b. Google analytics integration/Advanced SEO setup
19. Social Media Interface
a. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube feeds
20. Staff Directory
a. Dynamic Content
21. Training and Support
a. Ongoing technical and organizational maintenance support
22. Video Hosting
a. Ability to embed third-party videos
b. Embedded off-site hosting for video of Village Council Meetings and
other Government Access Content as required
7. Description of Features and Functionality included with the CMS at minimum include:
A. Description of page creation
B. Page content template information
C. Content scheduling and versioning information
D. The different back-end user permission levels
8. Hosting and Security (describe all available)
A. Site Hosting (remote or local)
B. Hosting Location
C. Appropriate redundancy and scalability to avoid unexpected outages and to
accommodate periodic maintenance, usage growth and sudden usage surges
D. Company's commitment to operational time - or limiting of downtime
9. Project Pricing Estimate/Cost for Services Outlined (specify amounts of items below):
A. Days/Hours of training, number of employees to be trained, on-site or webinar
B. Amount of content migration (entire website or a specific number of pages)
C. Hosting Costs
D. Any optional enhancements and consulting packages with deliverables and
associated fees
10. Guarantees/Warranties
A. List any guarantees or warranties the company offers.
7
SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS
The deadline for RFP responses is 10:00 a.m. on May 24, 2019.
Please mail three hard copies and one digital to:
Email: admin@wolverinelake.com
Attn: Michael Smith, Village Administrator
Village of Wolverine Lake
425 Glengary
Wolverine Lake, MI 48390
Please ensure "RFP - Wolverine Lake Website Redesign" is written on the envelope. Three
copies, plus one digital copy should be submitted.
Submittals not received on or before the specified deadline will not be accepted. The Village of
Wolverine Lake reserves the right to request follow-up information or clarification from
vendors in consideration. The Village reserves the right to reject any or all submittals, to
compare the relative merits of the respective responses, and to choose a vendor, which in the
opinion of the Village, will best serve the interests of the Village. Each response to this RFP shall
be done at the sole cost and expense of each proposing vendor and with the express
understanding that no claims against the Village for reimbursement will be accepted.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
The Village of Wolverine Lake will evaluate the proposals with regard to the proposed services
and the experience and qualifications of the firm. Specifically, proposals will be evaluated based
on the following criteria:
1. Ability to provide the integrated Content Management System components
2. Cost to build the website and to host and maintain it annually
3. Demonstration of the website security credentials
4. Extent of experience in successfully implementing/managing existing municipal websites
5. Review of aesthetics of illustrative examples of design and layout in existing websites
DELIVERABLES
The final project deliverable will be a fully functional website. The Village will own the copyright
for the sites original content and design assets. The Village will received appropriate technology
license for perpetual use of code and rights to any HTML or CSS source code developed as
appropriate. Final website design must be compatible with major web browsers (Internet
Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, Safari, Edge, etc.) and support viewing on the mobile versions of
these browsers regardless of platform. A mobile-friendly design is required.
8
CONTRACT NEGOTIATION AND EXECUTION
It is the intent of the Village that after the successful vendor has been selected, the Village and
the selected vendor will enter into contract negotiations containing all terms and conditions of
the proposed service. Any acceptance of a proposal is contingent upon the execution of a
written contract and the Village shall not be contractually bound to any bidder prior to the
execution of such written contractual agreement. The contents of the proposal submitted shall
become part of the contractual obligation and incorporated by reference into the ensuing
contract. The contract with a successful vendor will include penalties for non-performance and
failure to meet any proposal implementation schedule.
INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS
The award of a bid proposal is contingent on vendor providing satisfactory proof that the
vendor has adequate insurance coverage. It is in the Village's sole discretion to determine the
amount of insurance coverage required for the period of work under any contract awarded.
WAIVER RELEASE
The Village of Wolverine Lake retains the right to reject any and all submittals with or without
cause. The Village of Wolverine Lake reserves the right to consider and rely upon factors other
than pricing in its selection process. It is understood that all data on the final product will be
owned by the Village of Wolverine Lake should the Village migrate to another website for any
reason, the vendor will release all information in the reasonable format that the Village of
Wolverine Lake requests. Any cost incurred by the vendor in preparing or submitting a request
for proposal or interviewing for this project shall be the respondents' sole responsibility. Any
information contained in a request for proposal is considered public information once it is
submitted.
I, the undersigned, understand and agree to all of the forgoing information.
Company: ___________________________________________________________________
Agent Name: _________________________________________________________________
Signed: _________________________________________ Date: ____________________
