Norwich Connecticut - RFP 12-01 Q&A

A: There isn't a predetermined budget set for this project. In its September 6, 2011 meeting, the Norwich City Council directed the City Manager to prepare an RFP to update the City's website. We would like respondents to put together an itemized cost proposal which gives the cost to perform the items in the "Scope of Work" and list the cost of other optional items separately.

Q: Do you have any addenda?

A: Any addenda will be posted on the City's public bid/RFP webpage and the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services' bid listing.

Q: How can I be put on the list for receiving future addenda and project notices?

A: You can send your contact information to Joshua Pothier who will send you an email when any addenda or other relevant information is issued.

Q: In the Needs Assessment section of the RFP you mentioned interviews with department heads, supervisors and staff. Can you tell me how many departments there are? Also, do you see this as individual interviews versus meetings with entire departments? If we need to interview each individual separately, how many individuals there are? Would you like a separate meeting for the public or are you looking for an on-line survey? How do you envision proceeding?

A: There are about 20 departments. We're leaving it up to the proposers to determine what the most effective means of gathering the information based on their previous experience with similar projects.

Q: Do you have statistics for your current website that show most used areas, least used areas, most frequent languages used, etc.

A: Click here to view reports of the most frequent searches, most visited pages, most frequent languages, and list of mobile devises used. Also, you can click here to see the results of the survey we conducted in November-December 2011, including the narrative responses.

Q: In the Functionality section of the RFP you list as a line item... Have a flexible enough platform to give us the ability to consolidate other department/ agency websites into the www.norwichct.org site over time without losing any of the functionality from those other websites. Can you tell me specifically, what type of functionality you're referring to?

A: I don't believe that there would be functionalities in those other websites that most CMS's couldn't handle, but you should glance at those other sites listed to confirm. It is highly unlikely that the Norwich Public Utilities and Norwich Public Schools sites would ever be combined into the City of Norwich site, but the other ones (Police, Fire, Golf Course, etc.) are possibilities.

Q: You also ask for... Role based to control access. Do you know how many levels you're looking for and what the access requirements are? (Example: standard access is: administrator has access to everything, others can edit, view and comment or view only)

A: The levels of access given in the example in the question should be adequate for our purposes.

Q: You mentioned having a password protected area for employees, are there any other password protected areas?

A: There are currently no other password-protected areas. By "password protected area for employees," we were referring to an employees-only section of the website with information about benefits, forms, policies, etc.

Q: How does your Citizen Complaint System work at this time?

A: A citizen fills out his/her contact information, selects which type of complaint he/she has from a drop-down menu, selects the location of the complaint from a list of our streets, and provides a narrative on the complaint. The complaint is routed to the appropriate city employee. The employee handles the complaint and closes the complaint number with a description of what was done to resolve it. The Complaint System sends the citizen a message notifiying him/her that the complaint was closed.

Q: Citizens Dashboard - What components do you want citizens to manage from their dashboard? Describe your vision and the functionality of the "personalized dashboard" for citizens.

A: This is an optional item, so we are open to your suggestions on what would work best given your experience with other government websites.

Q: Although we have worked on websites of comparable size and complexity to the City of Norwich website, we have not, to date, worked on a municipal website. Would that eliminate us from consideration?

A: If you can show that your "list of a minimum of four similar relevant projects, together with information on the project scope, client,
location, budget, common issues, services provided, and number of days from design to launch" are substantially similar to Norwich's, then your proposal will be considered.

Q: Are you unhappy with your current vendor and can you tell me why? Is there something specific you're looking for that you're not receiving currently?

A: In its September 6, 2011 meeting, the Norwich City Council directed the City Manager to prepare an RFP to update the City's website.

Q: Are you open to using open source software, such as Drupal CMS? I notice you use Microsoft .aspx currently.

A: We would like the website to be hosted and maintained remotely, so the type of software used to build the site is left up to the vendor.

Q: Are you open to remote development? We can do on-site project management if required, too.

A: We're leaving it up to the proposers to determine what the most effective and cost-effective means of gathering the information and managing the project based on their previous experience with similar projects.

Q: You are currently using Google Translate. Would you prefer to have multi-lingual versions of your website for the six most commonly used languages built-in?

A: Because of the wide variety of languages spoken in our Community, I think it might be beneficial to have the website translated by Google Translate or some other translation tool that can handle 50+ languages.

Q: There is a table illustrating the "Other Software Systems Used by the City." Some indicate that they interface with the City website, while others do not but imply that they will (or should) in the future. Currently it appears that they are just hyperlinks. What level of system integration would you like to have in the new WCMS? There are many levels of integration. Here is a list from the most basic to the most complex. Please indicate what your expectations are.

o Hyperlinks--Links from webpages on the City site to the other systems (current level of integration)
o Single Sign-On--Once users are logged in they can access all of the systems without needed to log into each one separately
o Systems' Data Displays--Specific information from the other systems displays dynamically on the webpages on the City site
o Full Read-Only Access--All information from the other systems displays dynamically on City site webpages, but users cannot add in their own data here; the pages will have the main navigation features of the City website, but will contain the interface and look and feel of the other systems in the body of each of the pages
o Full Access on City Site--All of the functionality in the other systems can be utilized on the City site; the information is passed back and forth between the systems and the users; the pages will have the main navigation features of the City website, but will contain the interface and look and feel of the other systems in the body of each of the pages; the original systems can be set up to be accessible by the users so they can access the information two different ways or just used to support the website
o Complete Integration--The City website leverages all of the functionality of the other systems and each of the separate systems no longer display to users independent of the City website; all of the systems have a unified interface and design that matches the website design so users do not feel like they are using other systems; the other systems run strictly behind the scene
A: We would be interested in seeing cost proposals for both the current level of integration and the single sign-on method.

Q: List specifically what calculators, or at least how many, you would like.

A: I think there would be 5 or 6, including the examples given in the RFP.

Q: Training--we prefer to conduct this onsite to enable users to get hands-on experience using the system. Would you prefer onsite training or remote training? How many users would you like us to train?

A: We would prefer onsite training, but we can understand that it may be cost prohibitive. If your experience indicates that training can be effectively done by webinar, then that is an option. We would probably have 20-30 individuals who would need training.

Q: Is the 120 days for Implementation & Training a hard deadline?

A: It is not a strict deadline, but we would like to see the project wrapped up in roughly that timeframe.

Q: Is W3 compliance mandatory for the project? http://www.w3.org/

A: It is not mandatory.

Q: Are the assets listed in the “Improve Aesthetics” section already available?

A: We will be asking for residents to submit pictures to be incorporated into the City's website.