EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Volunteer Florida
Notice of Bid/Request for Proposal
Volunteer Florida
Volunteer Florida Website Design
Invitation to Negotiate
Deliver to: Volunteer Florida
Attn: Jayme O’Rourke
jayme@volunteerflorida.org
401 S. Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32301
Table of Contents
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1Volunteer Florida Overview
1.2Volunteer Florida Mission, Vision and Objectives
1.3Volunteer Florida’s Audience
2.BRANDING
3.WEBSITE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
3.1Website Design, Build, and SEO Objectives
3.2Website Design, Build, and SEO Needs Assessment
3.3Website Design, Build and SEO Scope of Work
4.PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS AND
ADMINISTRATION
4.1Overview
4.2Liability
4.3Use and Disclosure
4.4Protocol
4.5Questions from Respondents
4.6Evaluation Criteria and Negotiation Process
4.7Project Timetable
5.PROPOSAL FORMAT
6.RESPONDENT PROFILE AND PREFERENCES
6.1Company Overview
6.2Current Customer References
6.3Recent Past Customer References
6.4General Background on Company Services
7.PRICING INFORMATION
8.CONTRACT
Exhibit A – ITN Evaluation Criteria
1.0INTRODUCTION
Volunteer Florida, the Governor’s Commission on Community Service, is the issuer of this Invitation to Negotiate (ITN).
The anticipated length of the contract is through the completion of design and development services, with a possible extension clause for staff assistance and customary provisions for early termination based on performance. In the event that negotiations fail to result in a binding contract, Volunteer Florida retains the right to re-open negotiations with other ranking proposers until a mutually beneficial relationship is secured.
1.1Volunteer Florida Overview
Volunteer Florida was established in 1994 by the Florida Legislature (FS. 14.29) to administer grants under the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. Volunteer Florida is directed by a bipartisan, governor-appointed board comprising 15-25 commissioners who are actively involved in volunteer service.
Volunteer Florida administers funds to Florida AmeriCorps and National Service programs; coordinates volunteers and donations in a disaster; and inspires all Floridians to serve their communities.
AmeriCorps Administration
With substantial support from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS – a federal agency), Volunteer Florida grants funds for Florida AmeriCorps and National Service programs addressing critical needs in our state, and works with local faith and community agencies like Communities In Schools, the American Red Cross, Teach for America, senior centers and Florida’s State Parks to strategically address Floridians’ needs at the local level.
This year, AmeriCorps will provide more than 1,700 individuals with the opportunity to serve in Florida. Since 1994, more than 23,000 Florida residents have served over 26 million hours through National Service programs.
The AmeriCorps programs administered by Volunteer Florida have a significant impact in Florida’s schools. In fact, 86% of Volunteer Florida’s AmeriCorps programs were education-based last year. Highlights of their work include:
• 431 Florida schools received AmeriCorps members’ services.
• 93,792 students benefitted from AmeriCorps members’ mentoring and educational services.
• 18,556 students at-risk of academic failure received intensive tutoring or direct teaching.
• 80% of students receiving academic tutoring achieved a full year of reading grade gain.
• 60% of students served in 26 of South Florida’s highest risk schools achieved dramatic success of at least one year of academic grade gain due to AmeriCorps Teacher Corps.
Promoting Volunteerism
Volunteer Florida leads initiatives throughout Florida that use volunteerism as a strategy to meet local needs. These initiatives include engaging Floridians in service for Florida Volunteer Month, special service projects for national days of service including September 11 and MLK, Jr. Day, and honoring Floridians’ volunteer work through Presidential Volunteer Service Awards and other recognitions. The Commission also routinely provides training and technical services that are requested by local agencies throughout the state. This assistance includes coaching communities on how to apply for federal service grants, establishing volunteer centers, and trainings to prepare county emergency management staff and their partners on volunteer and donations management. In just the past year, Volunteer Florida partnered with over 640 organizations statewide to achieve this mission and strengthen volunteerism in Florida.
Emergency Management
Volunteer Florida is the lead agency for the State of Florida’s Emergency Response Team’s Emergency Support Function 15 (ESF 15), charged with helping communities mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from disasters through the engagement of volunteers and donations. This effort involves constant trainings for local communities and strategic collaborations with over 40 disaster relief agencies and all 67 counties. For example, during the active storm seasons in 2004 and 2005, the Commission coordinated the support of over 252,000 volunteers and donations totaling more than $85 million in value, which at that time was the largest volunteer response for any natural disaster in U.S. history.
1.2Volunteer Florida Mission, Vision and Objectives
Volunteer Florida’s Mission is inspiring Floridians to serve their communities. The Vision of our organization is to engage more Floridians in National Service and volunteer opportunities, and to recognize the impact of current volunteers and National Service members. We are committed to the belief that all people can benefit from incorporating service into their lives and can make a difference in their community and country. When we share our talents, we:
• Solve problems
• Strengthen communities
• Improve lives
• Connect to others
• Transform our own lives
A growing body of research indicates that volunteering can even provide health benefits in addition to social ones, showing that volunteers have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression.
Volunteer Florida’s objectives are to:
• Increase public understanding of our work as a state service commission
• Increase public awareness of AmeriCorps in Florida
• Inspire new volunteers
• Be a resource for volunteer managers and voluntary organizations
• Improve our visibility as the State of Florida’s lead agency for disaster volunteers & donations
• Increase awareness of the Volunteer Florida Foundation, a Direct-Support Organization
1.3Volunteer Florida’s Audience
• Current partners and programs
• New volunteers
• Stakeholders
• Potential donors
2.0BRANDING
We would like to redesign our logo to simply say “Volunteer Florida.” Key attributes of the new logo and branding would:
• Be modern, fun and fresh
• Utilize a color scheme that would blend with current branding
• Incorporate a new, more sophisticated version of the Volunteer Florida signature sunshine
3.0WEBSITE DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
3.1Volunteer Florida Website Design, Build and SEO
Objectives
This document was created to provide all potential respondents with the information necessary to respond completely and accurately to Volunteer Florida’s need for a professional and efficient Website Design, Build, and SEO.
The objectives of the Website Design, Build and SEO ITN are:
• Updating the website’s visual aesthetic
• Improving navigation and usability
• Creating a compelling web presence across all Volunteer Florida web properties that engage visitors with relevant, up-to-date information and tools to volunteer
• Creating the requirements for, developing, implementing and assuring a Content Management System that empowers Volunteer Florida staff to take full ownership of our online presence and maintain the website’s content
• Bringing the site into compliance with current best practices for web development
• Usage of syntax to ensure the site is optimized for search engines
The site should be valid across all modern browsers and platforms and comply with ADA accessibility standards.
In addition to a redesigned, redeveloped site, Volunteer Florida would like to add new features to its site, including:
• An interactive tool that allows Volunteer Florida website users to search for volunteer opportunities based on geographic location and areas of interest. The tool would incorporate similar functionality to that found on Volunteer Louisiana’s website, located at: http://volunteerlouisiana.gov/, and would likely involve an interactive map as well as a national database like Volunteer Match or www.serve.gov.
• A login for AmeriCorps programs to use to access program-specific information.
• Capability to accept donations to the Volunteer Florida Foundation.
3.2Volunteer Florida Website Design, Build and SEO Needs Assessment
A. Volunteer Florida requires a best-in-class partner who can collaborate with internal marketing resources to design and build a new website
B. Volunteer Florida desires to create a look and feel for its site that engenders trust in its brand and communicates the brand mission and values
C. Volunteer Florida desires a partner who can work alongside or augment internal resources through a seamless workflow. The partner must have a solid track record for customer and technical service.
D. Contractually, Volunteer Florida requires that all of its content, data, structure and tagging remain an asset of Volunteer Florida at all times; and upon termination of any agreement, will remain Volunteer Florida’s property.
E. Contractually, Volunteer Florida requires a partner that understands redundancy and appropriate security as well as Disaster Recovery as its content is a key asset to the function of the Volunteer Florida mission and goals.
3.3Volunteer Florida Website Design, Build and SEO Scope of Work
A. Volunteer Florida requires a best-in-class partner that will collaborate with internal marketing to design, build, port and support its current websites. Currently, Volunteer Florida’s website assets include:
• www.volunteerflorida.org
• www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org
• www.floridavolunteermonth.org
• www.6days6ramps.org
• www.floridaremembers911.org
• www.volunteerflfoundation.org
These are web pages & sites that have been developed and designed internally by Volunteer Florida staff. However, Volunteer Florida would like to incorporate all materials found on these pages on the newly-designed website so that there is a uniform look and consistency in branding.
B. Candidates must demonstrate best practices for website user interface design, knowledge and experience working with front-end web development languages based in ASP, PHP, XML, HTML, HTML5, as well as working and integrating with a variety of legacy database and core back-end systems based in .Net, SQL, C#, C+, C++.
C. Candidates must be able to demonstrate understanding of best practices for porting content and UI/UX to other web and mobile device platforms such as smart phones and tablets.
D. Candidates must have experience and references for working seamlessly with internal resources and other agency partners to achieve brand look and feel.
E. Volunteer Florida will prioritize partners who have experience with, and expertise in, developing front-end website designs and user interfaces using turn-key, open and extensible multi-channel, content management and distribution platforms.
F. Candidates must demonstrate through knowledge and experience best practices in SEO management to maximize search engine traffic.
G. Volunteer Florida requires all of its website UI, messaging, content, data, URLs, website designs, structure and tagging remain an asset of Volunteer Florida at all times; and upon termination of any agreement candidates will maintain and not block or remove end user access to its websites. This can be accomplished via a royalty-free perpetual license, if appropriate.
H. The candidate is expected to devise, collaborate and review its website design plans with Volunteer Florida; to lead the development of approved website requirements in a timely fashion, providing Volunteer Florida with reasonable options in the time, quality, and cost triangle; and to meet agreed-upon timelines.
I. Contractually, all tangible and intangible property acquired in conjunction with the production of Volunteer Florida promotional materials shall be the property of Volunteer Florida and shall be used exclusively by the organization to promote volunteerism on behalf of Volunteer Florida. Volunteer Florida reserves the right of final approval of the disposition of said property.
4.0PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS
4.1Overview
This ITN represents the best effort of Volunteer Florida to document its requirements for this project. Volunteer Florida reserves the right to adjust the specifications or scope of effort slated in this ITN. In the event that any modifications are necessary, Volunteer Florida will notify all respondents remaining in consideration via a written addendum to this ITN. The selected firm will be posted on the Volunteer Florida website on September 24, 2012.
4.2Liability
The issuance of this document and the receipt of the information in response to this ITN will not in any way cause Volunteer Florida to incur liability or obligation to you or your organization, financial or otherwise. Volunteer Florida assumes no obligation to reimburse or in any way compensate you or your organization for expenses incurred in connection with your response to this ITN.
4.3Protocol
Responses must be submitted no later than close of business on the date specified in the Timetable (Section 4.7 of this ITN). Volunteer Florida will return any ITN responses that are received after the deadline.
Submit your responses in the format that is described in Section 5 of this ITN. The response should be submitted to:
Jayme O’Rourke
Director of Communications and Government Affairs
jayme@volunteerflorida.org
Subject Line: Website Design ITN
Volunteer Florida will notify each applicant that their response has been received via e-mail. Please be sure to include your email address with your response. It is mandatory that the requirements stated in this ITN are addressed completely.
4.4Questions from Respondents
To ensure that all respondents have accurately and completely understood the service requirements, Volunteer Florida will accept written questions through August 13, 2012. If you have questions, you should submit them via email to: jayme@volunteerflorida.org. Please include the ITN section reference, if appropriate, with your questions. Be sure to include the necessary contact information – name, company, title, telephone and email address. Volunteer Florida will answer all questions on or before close-of-business on August 24, 2012. All respondents will receive a copy of all questions and answers via email. If you do not have any questions, please email: jayme@volunteerflorida.org with your intent to bid in order to confirm your company will receive the questions and answers proposed by other firms.
4.5Evaluation Criteria and Negotiation Process
Volunteer Florida is looking to make a “best-value” decision during this process. And, although cost is a critical part, we consider the quality of service, professionalism, pro-active/creative thinking, and project management commitment to be extremely important factors in making our decision. Our decision will be based on the perceived ability to fulfill these requirements.
The information requested from respondents in response to the scope of work and in the sections under Respondent Profile & References will be scored using the evaluation criteria. However, Volunteer Florida recognizes that many candidates may not have the bandwidth to provide answers to all of the questions listed in the ITN. Clarity and concision are highly valued. All respondents are encouraged to provide whatever information they are able to in order to best represent themselves and their merits to Volunteer Florida’s mission, goals and the scope and requirements detailed in this ITN.
Priority will be placed on candidates that:
• Exemplify the cutting edge of digital design
• Identify and assign a project team to the account who are considered industry leaders within their respective expertise
• Have a solid track record of expanding their clients’ digital footprints
• Have a history and an ethos of driving high brand awareness clients to even greater heights
• Show an ability to work seamlessly with other agencies, vendors and in-house resources
• Constantly adjust and optimize efforts to achieve the highest possible return on investment
• Create high quality messaging and creative assets for online and digital user experiences
All responses received by Volunteer Florida will be evaluated by a committee consisting of Volunteer Florida management and peer reviewers.
After the initial evaluation, Volunteer Florida will contact a short list of respondents. The finalists may be asked to formally present their proposal and Volunteer Florida reserves the right to require attendance by particular representatives of the proposer. They may be asked to submit additional information and/or recommendations as amendments to their initial proposal. Volunteer Florida may request an onsite visit to your facility. Any written summary of presentations or demonstrations shall include a list of attendees, a copy of the agenda, and copies of any visuals or handouts, and shall become a part of the proposer’s reply. Failure to provide requested information may result in rejection of the reply.
Volunteer Florida is under no obligation to reveal how a respondent’s proposal was assessed or to provide specific feedback information. Further, Volunteer Florida is not obligated to reveal specific information about its decision-making process.
Volunteer Florida has attached the evaluation criteria as Exhibit A.
Volunteer Florida reserves the right to reject any and all replies. Volunteer Florida reserves the right to negotiate concurrently or separately with competing proposers. Volunteer Florida reserves the right to accept portions of a competing proposer’s reply and merge such portions into one project, including contracting with the entities offering such portions. Volunteer Florida reserves the right to waive minor irregularities in replies.
4.6Project Timetable
The following schedule provides you with key events and their associated completion dates.
Activity
Date
ITN emailed to firms, posted on Volunteer FL website and in the Florida Administrative Weekly
July 27, 2012
Deadline for firms to submit written questions
August 13, 2012
Intent to Submit due to Volunteer Florida
August 13, 2012
Responses to questions submitted by firms posted as an Addendum to the ITN at www.volunteerflorida.org.
August 24, 2012
Institution proposals due
September 10, 2012, 12:00 Noon (EST)
Proposals opened
September 10, 2012, 12:05 p.m. (EST)
Proposals reviewed
September 10-21, 2012
Selected firm is announced on the Volunteer FL website
September 24, 2012, 10:00 a.m. (EST)
Contract negotiations underway
September 27, 2012, 10:00 a.m. (EST)
5.0PROPOSAL FORMAT
To ensure timely and fair consideration of your response, respondents are being asked to adhere to a specific response format, which is described in the following table. Volunteer Florida reserves the right to ask any clarification questions and request additional information.
No.
Proposal Selection
Content/Deliverables
1.
Authorization Letter and Signature
Under the signature of an authorized company representative, provide the names of individuals authorized to represent and negotiate the company’s products and services.
2.
Table of Contents
3.
Executive Summary
High-level summary of the most important aspects of your proposal, including a short explanation of your qualifications. Include a brief, but precise description of your proposed management of the website development, digital marketing and other online program service procurement process.
4.
Company Profile
Respond to questions presented in Sections 6.1 of this ITN.
5.
Customer References
Respond to Sections 6.2 and 6.3 of this ITN.
6.
Company Services
Respond to Sections 6.4 of this ITN
7.
Pricing
Respond to Section 7.0
6.0RESPONDENT PROFILE AND REFERENCES
6.1Company Overview
A.Provide company legal name, parent company, ownership structure, mailing address, main phone number and email.
B. Provide primary contact.
C.Total employees and number of employees whose primary function is A.) Website Design; B.) Website Program Management; C.) Website Development; D.) UI/UE; E.) SEO Management and Optimization.
D. Provide senior staff bios.
E. If different from above, please provide proposed project team’s staff bios.
F. Guaranteed duration of the initial project team (the team whose bios are included in the response) on the Volunteer Florida account.
G. Indicate the number of years and nature of experience on related projects of the proposed team.
H. List any potential conflicts with existing clients and this ITN. Volunteer Florida reserves the right to exclude a proposal from consideration at any point in the review or negotiation process should the conflict(s) of interest be deemed as unacceptable.
I. If applicable, indicate the number of years and nature of your experience in the nonprofit or volunteer sectors.
J. Describe specific knowledge of Florida nonprofits or state commissions.
K. Detail company location that will be used to support the Volunteer Florida account and the business nature of the location’s operation.
L. Describe commitment and procedures in delivering flawless service to your clients.
M. Describe your procedures during any given emergency that will enable you to carry on the business contained in this ITN on behalf of Volunteer Florida.
6.2Current Customer References
Please provide contact information for at least three existing clients that Volunteer Florida can contact. Wherever possible, please include nonprofit or state commission clients as references. For each reference, please indicate the following:
• Contact Name and Title
• Contact Phone Number
• Service Description
• Contact Company Name
• Industry of Client
• Length of Relationship
6.3 Current Customer References
Please provide contact information for at least two former clients that Volunteer Florida can contact and provide a brief explanation regarding the end of the business relationship. For each, please indicate the following:
• Contact Name and Title
• Contact Phone Number
• Service Description
• Contact Company Name
• Industry of Client
• Length of Relationship
6.4General Background on Company Services
Website Design & Development Services
A. What website design and development services do you provide?
B. Do you conduct usability testing? If so, what are your methods?
C. Do you have any proprietary tools or products related to this ITN?
D. Describe your process for ensuring a seamless end user experience if/when digital assets and content you wish to serve through your UI, web services or applications are stored on our agency’s server.
E. Please provide two Case Studies in the following format:
• Client Requirements
• The challenge, goals and objectives
• Strategy developed to achieve goals and objectives
• Approach selected and rationale for approach
• Metrics selected and rationale for selection
• Value delivered against chosen metrics
• Commentary for how the site was built, what code base was chosen and why, how the website was optimized over time (what were initial successes & failures, how did your team adjust and capitalize on learning? What did you do to change your approach? What impact did your change in approach have on the goals of the client, its website(s) or its audience?
• How does this apply to Volunteer Florida?
Client Services & Project Management
A. Outline your project communication structure. If your account staff is separate from your project team or the technical experts who will work on this account, please detail how these teams work together and with the client. Include how you approach the client review process during the different phases of development and your process for post-launch revisions and adjustments.
B. For the proposed budget, what is the level of client services you will be able to provide?
• Onsite, how often and at what capacity
• Offsite, dedicated technology expert/program manager
• Offsite, dedicated account manager
• Other, please specify
Candidate’s Design and Development Working Process
A. Outline your Design and Development process for executing against a client’s strategy.
B. Provide an excerpt from the final deliverable of a development requirements spec or MRD (the client’s name or website name or address can be removed).
C. Provide a copy of an SEO assessment on a recent website redesign you completed. Also provide a copy of your team’s approach to SEO strategy and best practices and the ways in which you incorporate these practices into your development process.
Familiarity with other Digital Media Channels and Platforms
Describe your level of expertise with mobile and web applications, ratings service sites, social networking tools, content sharing services and other social sharing technology and platforms.
7.0PRICING INFORMATION
Volunteer Florida requests each consultant to provide detailed pricing. Pricing must be fully comprehensive and complete. Additional information and backup detail should be included as appropriate with your proposal.
8.0CONTRACT
The contract terms shall be defined by a written agreement, which shall be binding when fully executed by both parties. Any responses to the ITN will be incorporated by reference in each written agreement and will become an integrated part of the final contract. Agreements will be customized through negotiations, and Volunteer Florida’s basic terms and conditions and business requirements will be embodied in this contract.
If selected for contract negotiation, the partner will have to provide proof of financial stability and provide Volunteer Florida with information requested so they may determine that the partner has sufficient financial resources to perform all services associated with the contract.
Volunteer Florida hopes to maintain collaborative relationships with its agencies that foster and support the notion that “the best idea wins.” To that end, Volunteer Florida may increase its allocation for any initiative that shows promise of a higher return on investment than current or planned investments over the term of this contract.
The desired relationship is one marked with a commitment to consistent quality service and continual improvement for the contract processes and services. Therefore, any final agreement will include specific service level and performance standard requirements.
Other Contractual Consideration:
A. All concepts, slogans, or plans submitted or developed by the contractor for Volunteer Florida during the term of the agreement, whether or not used, and any and all layouts, copy artwork, films, and other tangible material which the contractor prepares for Volunteer Florida or purchases for its account pursuant to a campaign for Volunteer Florida, are Volunteer Florida’s property exclusively, provided that Volunteer Florida has paid the invoices rendered, if any.
B. All contracts for the acquisition or use of materials and properties, and for the employment of talent, shall be entered into and signed by the contractor on behalf of Volunteer Florida to the end that all materials, properties and rights obtained by virtue of such contracts shall become the property of Volunteer Florida.
C. The contractor shall, at its own cost during the term of this relationship, maintain liability insurance of at least $1 million covering claims or suits arising out of contractor’s services.
D. The contractor will exercise all reasonable precautions in the examination of all material prepared or used on Volunteer Florida’s behalf to avoid any claims against either party. To the extent and limits of the general liability policy maintained by Volunteer Florida, Volunteer Florida will indemnify and hold the contractor harmless with respect to claims, demands, or actions arising out of representation or materials furnished by Volunteer Florida to the contractor. The contractor will indemnify and hold Volunteer Florida harmless from and against any and all claims, demands or actions arising from the preparation or presentation of any campaigns covered by the final agreements.
E. Volunteer Florida shall reimburse the contractor for the costs of such materials and services, provided that the contractor shall be responsible for the completion of all subcontracted work in a manner deemed satisfactory by Volunteer Florida. The contractor shall be reimbursed for reasonable cost of travel necessary to carry out the final agreement, other than travel to Tallahassee directly related to the contractor’s performance.
Exhibit A – ITN Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria
% of Overall Score
Experience with developing and implementing integrated, digital marketing programs
Quality, creativity and relevance of work samples/experience in previous nonprofit or state commission-related accounts and ability to plan, develop, launch and maintain digital marketing platforms
Role in developing appropriate metrics and working with client to regularly measure and optimize success and recommend new metrics to best meet stated and changing goals of clients
2. SCOPE OF WORK
25%
Quality, creativity and perceived effectiveness of proposed programs in scope of work and likelihood of achieving program objectives
3. FAMILIARITY WITH
FLORIDA BRAND AND
PRODUCT
20%
Extent of knowledge and familiarity with Volunteer Florida platforms and/or with nonprofits, state service commissions, or National Service programs like AmeriCorps
4. QUALIFICATION OF
PERSONNEL AND PROPOSED SUBCONTRACTORS
15%
Prior experience and how it relates to this project, including industry position, agency leadership bios, agency through leadership, experience and availability of project team and outside resources
5. CAPABILITIES OF FIRM
Quality of past performance for nonprofit or National Service-related accounts on developing effective marketing programs
10%
Previous experience managing projects for Public/Private partnerships such as Volunteer Florida
6. COST EFFECTIVENESS
10%
The maximum services provided in relation to the per hour fee equivalent charged compared against the client’s budget and various measures and expectations
