Amendment 1.docx

SAP

State of South Carolina

Request for Proposal Amendment 1 Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400023332 7/14/2022

KIMBER CRAIG

(803) 737-2527 kcraig@mmo.sc.gov SFAA, Div. of Procurement Services 1201 Main Street, Suite 600 Columbia SC 29201

DESCRIPTION: Website Design & Maintenance

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: Aeronautics

SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 08/02/2022 11:00:00 (See "Deadline For Submission Of Offer" provision)

QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: (See "Questions From Offerors" provision)

NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: On-line Submission

CONFERENCE TYPE: Not Applicable

DATE & TIME:

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions) LOCATION: Not Applicable

You must submit a signed copy of this form with Your Offer. By signing, You agree to be bound by the terms of the Solicitation. You agree to hold Your Offer open for a minimum of thirty (30) calendar days after the Opening Date. (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

NAME OF OFFEROR

(full legal name of business submitting the offer) Any award issued will be issued to, and the contract will be formed with, the entity identified as the Offeror. The entity named as the offeror must be a single and distinct legal entity. Do not use the name of a branch office or a division of a larger entity if the branch or division is not a separate legal entity, i.e., a separate corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc.

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

(Person must be authorized to submit binding offer to contract on behalf of Offeror.)

DATE SIGNED

TITLE

(business title of person signing above)

STATE VENDOR NO.

(Register to Obtain S.C. Vendor No. at www.procurement.sc.gov)

PRINTED NAME

(printed name of person signing above)

STATE OF INCORPORATION

(If you are a corporation, identify the state of incorporation.)

OFFEROR'S TYPE OF ENTITY: (Check one) (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

___ Sole Proprietorship ___ Partnership ___ Other_____________________________

___ Corporate entity (not tax-exempt) ___ Corporation (tax-exempt) ___ Government entity (federal, state, or local)

COVER PAGE - ON-LINE ONLY (MAR. 2015)

SAP

SAP

PAGE TWO

(Return Page Two with Your Offer) HOME OFFICE ADDRESS (Address for offeror's home office / principal place of business)

NOTICE ADDRESS (Address to which all procurement and contract related notices should be sent.) (See "Notice" clause)

_________________________________________________ Area Code - Number - Extension Facsimile

_________________________________________________ E-mail Address

PAYMENT ADDRESS (Address to which payments will be sent.) (See "Payment" clause)

____Payment Address same as Home Office Address ____Payment Address same as Notice Address (check only one) ORDER ADDRESS (Address to which purchase orders will be sent) (See "Purchase Orders and "Contract Documents" clauses)

____Order Address same as Home Office Address ____Order Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AMENDMENTS

Offerors acknowledges receipt of amendments by indicating amendment number and its date of issue. (See "Amendments to Solicitation" Provision)

DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See "Discount for Prompt Payment" clause)

PREFERENCES - A NOTICE TO VENDORS

Preferences are not applicable to Request for Proposals

PREFERENCES - ADDRESS AND PHONE OF IN-STATE OFFICE

Preferences are not applicable to Request for Proposals

PAGE TWO (SEP 2009)

End of PAGE TWO

MAXIMUM CONTRACT PERIOD - ESTIMATED (JAN 2006)

Start date: 10/4/2022 End date: 10/3/2027 Dates provided are estimates only. Any resulting contract will begin on the date specified in the notice of award. See clause entitled "Term of Contract - Effective Date/Initial Contract Period". [01-1040-1]

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JAN 2004)

(a) The Solicitation may be amended at any time prior to opening. All actual and prospective Offerors should monitor the following web site for the issuance of Amendments: www.procurement.sc.gov(b) Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation (1) by signing and returning the amendment, (2) by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two, (3) by letter, or (4) by submitting a bid that indicates in some way that the bidder received the amendment. (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged. [02-2A005-1]

THE SOLICITATION IS AMENDED AS PROVIDED HEREIN. INFORMATION OR CHANGES RESULTING FROM QUESTIONS WILL BE SHOWN IN A QUESTION-AND-ANSWER FORMAT. ALL QUESTIONS RECEIVED HAVE BEEN REPRINTED BELOW. THE “STATE’S RESPONSE” SHOULD BE READ WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE QUESTIONS. THE QUESTIONS ARE INCLUDED SOLELY TO PROVIDE A CROSS-REFERENCE TO THE POTENTIAL OFFEROR THAT SUBMITTED THE QUESTION. QUESTIONS DO NOT FORM A PART OF THE CONTRACT; THE “STATE’S RESPONSE” DOES. ANY RESTATEMENT OF PART OR ALL OF AN EXISTING PROVISION OF THE SOLICITATION IN AN ANSWER DOES NOT MODIFY THE ORIGINAL PROVISION EXCEPT AS FOLLOWS: UNDERLINED TEXT IS ADDED TO THE ORIGINAL PROVISON. STRICKEN TEXT IS DELETED.

The Submission Deadline for this solicitation has changed to:

August 2, 2022 at 11:00 a.m.

MAXIMUM CONTRACT PERIOD - ESTIMATED (JAN 2006) - Has been revised to:

Start date: 10/4/2022 End date: 10/3/2027 Dates provided are estimates only. Any resulting contract will begin on the date specified in the notice of award. See clause entitled "Term of Contract - Effective Date/Initial Contract Period". [01-1040-1]

Questions & Answers

1. Does SCAC expect that each section/link listed under "Airport Data" in the website sidebar will be ported to the new website? If not, please specify which will and won't be ported.

All links under Airport Data will be ported to new site with the exception of IFR Movement List.

2. For each of the sections/links listed under "Airport Data" in the website sidebar can detailed information be provided on the data sources or databases that provide the statistics. For instance, is the data housed in a relational database such as MySQL or SQL Server? Is the data available at an API endpoint using JSON:API or similar technology?

Database data is stored in a MS-SQL server. Data not currently available as API endpoint.

3. Can you please provide an anticipated budget for this contract? Understanding the Commission’s budget range will assist vendors in providing accurate estimates and/or selecting the most appropriate content management system (i.e., Drupal, Wordpress, etc.)

Anticipated budget range is between $250K and $300K

4. Can you please clarify the website that is to be updated for this RFP? The hyperlink in the RFP links to https://scribblesc.com/ (the South Carolina Innovation hub), however, this link appears to the correct site: https://scaeronautics.sc.gov/ .

Website to be updated is https://scaeronautics.sc.gov/.

5. Section III. SOW/Specifications. 6. With Internet Explorer reaching EoL on June 15, 2022, to what extent do you expect compatibility with this line of browsers? Is it suficient to include IE’s replacement, Edge, as the browser for browser testing?

Compatibility with products beyond end of life are not required. MS Edge is acceptable for browser testing.

6. Section III. SOW/Specifications. 7. For the purposes of estimation, do you have an estimation or approximation of the level of support that will be needed for content development support?

We estimate 150 hours of content development.

7. Section III. SOW/Specifications. 7. For website population or content migration, in what format do you anticipate providing the selected contractor content? Do you anticipate any additional content sources for migration, ie an export of content from your current CMS? Approximately how many pages do you anticipate needing to be migrated into the new website?

Unless explicitly excluded, all pages are to be migrated to the new website. Selected contractor will receive a full backup of the website for content migration purposes.

8. Section III. SOW/Specifications. 9. While open source content management systems are free to use, some community contributed modules/plugins have licensing fees - for example SearchWP is a powerful and widely used search engine plugin for WordPress which carries an annual license fee. Would this fall under the requirement not to “procure proprietary content management software”?

Any software modules/plugins with annual licensing fees may be included in proposals.

9. Section III. SOW/Specifications. 12. Can DTO provide a brief description of your hosting environment? Ie. AWS/Azure, Container based?

Current hosting environment is virtual server hosted in VMware.

10. Scope, For sections under “Web Applications” that feature record and content filtering such as SC AVIATION FACILITIES, Airport Data Search, Grant History - does this integrate with an external platform - how is this data stored and managed? How will this data be provided to the selected contractor?

Data are stored in MS SQL server. A full database backup will be supplied to the selected vendor.

11. Scope, Can you please describe any scope work related to applications/maps built with ESRI or ArcGIS including the CLUE tool or the All Data Viewer?

All maps and CLUE tool shall be migrated to the new web site.

12. Scope, Do you anticipate the “Airport Runway Friction Testing Results” section being redesigned or re implemented in any way, or the files migrated as is?

Airport Runway Friction Testing Results will not be migrated to the new web site.

13. Scope, are there any integrations with external platforms that we should be aware of?

Current website utilizes a desktop MS Access application called SC-CAIRS (Comprehensive Aviation Information Reporting System) to keep MS SQL data in-synch with FAA 5010 data. SC-CAIRS is approaching end of life, and alternatives are being considered.

14. Scope, Do you have any requirements regarding administrator authentication and log in to the CMS - ie integration with an active directory or external identity provider, multifactor authentication, etc?

No AD or external identity provider requirements for the CMS.

15. Scope, Should the existing website be utilized to assess scope and complexity? Do you anticipate adding features for the new website or removing features that currently exist?

No additional features anticipated. Runway Friction data, IFR Movement List, and other items currently shown in Airport Data sets may not be included in the new website. The exact scope will be determined during scope/fee development.

16. Scope, Does SCAC have an anticipated scope for ongoing web maintenance and web design services or should we outline a typical scope and budget for annual support?

Vendor should provide typical scope for annual support.

17. Re; Section VIII - Business/Price Proposal, Do you have any specific requirements or preferences for how bidders breakout separate line item costs? (e.g., by milestone stage? project deliverable, etc.?)

SCAC prefers potential vendors to enumerate line-item costs.

18. Place of performance - Does SCAC expect contract work to be performed on-site (in the Columbia, SC ofice) or at the contractor’s facility? Will remote-based meetings be acceptable?

Remote web-based meetings are acceptable, and work may be performed at the contractor’s facility.

19. The RFP notes a full redesign of the current SCAC website – aside from a streamlined, modernized redesign - is there any specific functionality you’d like to see in this project?

Existing website functionality preserved. No additional functionality is planned.

20. In a similar vein, the RFP requests to add new content, specifically infographics – what specific content additions do you have in mind? Is there any specific content – statistics, news, et cetera – that you’d like to see in a new SCAC website?

SCAC would like to be able to view data in airport specific, and may like airport comparative views.

21. The RFP notes that all valuable content, as noted in the RFP, should be no less than 3 clicks from the homepage – what content, both current and planned, needs to be displayed in this manner?

Three clicks to any data are a goal. The intent here is to prevent data from being hidden due to excessive navigation to find it.

22. On the current SCAC website, there are several searchable databases – these include the:

Airport Contacts – Database Aviation Facilities – Database FAA Grant History – Database SC Grant History – Database SC IFR Aircraft Movements – Database A few questions on these databases specifically:

a. Where is this data currently sourced from?

Airport contacts are sourced in house by direct input into CAIRS system. Aviation Facilities data is sourced from CAIRS system and crosschecked against FAA 5010 data. FAA and SC grant history are sourced from CAIRS. This methodology may change to pull directly from FAA sourcing or linking out to FAA data. SC IFR movements will not be included in new website.

b. How are said databases managed? Who runs the day-to-day?

Data are stored in CAIRS access tables that periodically refresh MS SQL by in house staff.

c. Will these need to be redesigned with the site, or could the existing database be passed through to a newly redesigned site with the design updated around it?

Complete redesign as well as MS SQL pass through to new website are both viable options.

23. Please provide an anticipated budget range, or NTE value. The budget information is quite important for two reasons: 1) providing some basic assurance to prospective offerors that a realistic amount of funding has been allocated towards the project; and 2) giving vendors the opportunity to realistically right-size their solutions/approaches within the parameters of available resourcing. Please understand that web projects can vary widely in budget, from $5,000 all the way upwards of $1 million. We just need a very rough, general ballpark sense (i.e., less than $100K, or $100K-$300K, $300K-$500K, or greater than $500K). Clearly, competitive pressures will assure that the State still receives the most aggressive bids possible.

Anticipated budget range is between $250K and $300K

24. Has funding already been publicly allocated to this project in a published budget? If so, how much funding has been publicly allocated in each year?

Funding is allocated based upon Commission budget approval. Future year funding will be approved prior to a new fiscal year start.

25. Are there any incumbent contractors who are currently accomplishing work on the legacy site? If so:

a. Please indicate who the contractors are, and provide some indication of the general scopes of work that each contractor is accomplishing.

b. Please provide the relevant contract numbers.

c. Please indicate how long each contractor has been working on the assigned scope.

There are no incumbent contractors currently accomplishing work on the legacy site.

26. We would be interested in gauging the State's primary points of focus/interest and its overarching assessment of the key project challenges. From the State's perspective, on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (highest), how would the State rate the project's COMPLEXITY in terms of:

a. Technical demands and expectations - 5

b. Design and creative demands and expectations - 5

c. Strategic MARCOM (marketing and communication, content production, content strategy) demands and expectations - 5

27. Regarding the CMS platform that is presently being used, please answer EACH of the following:

a. Name/identify the CMS platform (Drupal, Wordpress, Sitecore, etc.)

None currently.

b. Please describe any weaknesses, problems, and/or challenges that SCAC might be experiencing with its present CMS platform.

There is not one.

c. What are some of the strengths of the current CMS platform that SCAC appreciates?

N/A.

28. The RFP makes reference to WordPress. Does the State presently have any particular preferences in terms of CMS platform? (Will the CMS selection be factored into evaluation?)

SCAC does not have a preference regarding CMS selection. SCAC will rely on vendor recommendations as to the strengths and weaknesses of a particular CMS.

29. Please clarify any preferences that might exist in terms of the selected CMS platform’s native coding language (ex. PhP, C#, .net, Java, etc.)

No specific preferences.

30. Please provide a rough/estimated/approximated skills breakdown of current staff and resources, in terms of their skils and familiarity with common coding languages, such as PHP, .net, Java, etc. (ex. PhP – 10 people, .net 45 people, etc.)

Website is currently maintained by a single staff member with no coding experience in languages listed above.

31. Please clarify any expectations pertaining to on-site performance. Will remote performance by the contractor be deemed generally acceptable?

SCAC expects selected vendor to make periodic on-site milestone meetings with the majority of interaction via web meetings.

32. Will there be any preference given to vendors headquartered in the State? If so, please explain the extent of the preference, and how it will factor into evaluation.

Vendor location does not figure into evaluation preference.

33. Please confirm that all work on the site must occur within the continental united states, and please furthermore confirm that the work must be accomplished by US citizens Work must occur within the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii. Work must be performed by US citizens.

34. Please provide some basic/minimal sense of the roles and workflows that are anticipated. (we just need a general sense of what the State has in mind, not the firm and final detailed plan; a tentative and notional sense of the intended approach would be sufficient, even if imperfect)

a. Provide a very brief definition and functional distinction of each role.

Vendor will provide programming staff, content developers, project manager and backup contact(s) to provide communication and deliverables to SCAC project manager and evaluation team.

b. Who will be generating and working with content/data?

Primarily the vendor.

c. What sorts of workflows? How many steps?

Gather requirements, Structure Web design and architecture, build proposed website, test and deploy, support and maintain.

35. Will identification of subjects/participants for user testing and research be the responsibility of the vendor? Or will the State be able to provide sufficient participant/candidate lists?

User testing will be performed by the selected vendor. SCAC will provide acceptance testing.

36. From the RFP III. SCOPE OF WORK/SPECIFICATIONS

a. #3 The redesigned website shall integrate the SCAC logo unless directed otherwise by SCAC.

Question: are there other branding guidelines the contractor will need to adhere to in creating new website designs?

No, but rebranding changes must be approved by SCAC.

b. #6 The Contractor must utilize HTML5 and CSS techniques, so the website displays effectively and uniformly on all browsers, including but not limited to Internet Explorer (with graceful degradation for older versions), Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Furthermore, the Contractor must provide a responsive site that scales appropriately to display effectively on desktops, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones (IOS 15.2 and Android 12). The website must also contain a privacy statement provided by SCAC and be Section 508 ADA compliant per WCAG 2.0.

Question: is it safe to assume that we can eliminate IE from this list of browsers as Microsoft has officially retired it? See this article for reference: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2022/06/15/internet-explorer-11-has-retired-and-is-officially-out-of-support-what-you-need-to-know/ Substitute MS Edge for IE.

c. #10 After the initial re-design, SCAC will manage the day-to-day content management of the website (e.g. adding news releases, editing body copy, etc.), but will rely on the Contractor to assist with edits that require design work or changes that are outside of SCAC’s expertise (ex. changing pictures, changing spotlights, etc.). The Contractor shall provide SCAC with the necessary training on the technological platform used in designing the website to accommodate SCAC’s day-to-day content management, including providing SCAC with a training guide and all website documentation.

Question: the included list of “changes that are outside the SCAC’s expertise” are not any different than “day-to-day content management” task on the sites that we build - is your team open to our standard process of meeting just before launch to create the realistic scope of work for the on-going maintenance portion of the contract/project?

Yes

d. #11 The Contractor shall provide ongoing web maintenance and web design services as agreed upon by SCAC and the Contractor.

Question: does this include regular updates to the plugins/CMS code or will the web hosting team be handling those?

Updates to plugins/CMS code will be the ongoing responsibility of the selected vendor.

e. #16 The Contractor shall be knowledgeable about industry trends that may be relevant to SCAC’s customer service efforts.

#17 The Contractor shall be knowledgeable of SCAC’s target audiences (government, private industry, researchers, general public, etc.) and make effective recommendations to SCAC for website enhancements.

Question: regarding both item 16 & 17 - is the SCAC team asking that their selected vendor work exclusively within their industry OR are you willing to work within our research and discovery methodology in order for our team to collect the necessary details in order to research and learn about your industry and audiences?

SCAC is open to other methodologies to research and learn about your industry and audiences.

37. Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this? (like from India or Canada) Companies outside the continental U.S., Alaska or Hawaii will not be considered for selection.

38. Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

Milestone meetings will be in person.

39. Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (like, from India or Canada) All tasks must be performed by U.S. citizens within the continental U.S, Alaska or Hawaii.

40. Can we submit the proposals via email?

No.

41. Do you have a style guide or brand guide?

No.

42. Do you have a budget you are able to share?

Current budget is $250K to $300K.

43. Does the budget include tech support and hosting?

No. This budget is for development only.

44. What was the investment in the previous website?

Unknown.

45. Does the organization have a CMS preference? Open source? Drupal/WordPress?

We do not have a preferred CMS.

46. Who are your primary and secondary users?

Airport Owners, General Public and Airport Consultants.

47. Would you like detailed research in terms of your audience in the form of an audience needs assessment?

No.

48. What is the current hosting environment?

Windows IIS in virtual server hosted by SC Department of Technology Operations.

49. How many visitors does the current website receive on a monthly basis?

~400 users.

50. How many pages of content do you anticipate transferring to the new site?

Less than 100.

51. What are your current pain points with the existing website?

Synchronization with FAA data.

52. What are the current technical challenges (if any)?

Unknown.

53. How many site administrators will you have?

Three.

54. Will you require different levels of admin permissions?

No.

55. Do you expect copywriting or editing services as part of engagement?

No.

56. On Page 14, SCAC mentioned Wordpress as an example CMS. Does SCAC have any particular interest in using Wordpress, other than it being open source and if so, what are the reasons?

Currently we are CMS agnostic.

57. If there is a budget planned for the project/could those numbers be shared?

$250k-$300k

58. How much has SCAC spent on website development and maintenance over the last five years?

Zero dollars.

59. Are there any example websites that SCAC could share that accomplish what SCAC would like to accomplish in design and presentation?

No.

60. Other than a logo, do you have brand guidelines in place, or would you need support with branding?

No.

61. How many stakeholders will be approving the designs?

One.

62. Can you elaborate on what support will be needed around content development? (Page 15, #7) The content development will be an iterative process to arrive at the finished product. Vendor to provide sample page to begin iterative process.

63. What percent of content will be completed prior to starting the project?

Content is estimated to be seventy percent complete (70%).

64. Who do you currently use for hosting?

South Carolina Department of Technology Operations (DTO).

65. Will you be considering bids from agencies outside of South Carolina?

Yes.

66. Do you have a budget range in mind?

$250K to $300K.

67. What level of WCAG 2.0 compliance is required (A, AA, AAA)?

AA.

68. You mentioned WordPress, but is Drupal also a possibility for this project?

Currently we are CMS agnostic. Proposals should include suggested CMS and evidence for choosing one CMS over another.

69. Do you have in-house developers that should be included in this project?

No.

70. A Google site search indicates approximately 2,370 results. Does that sound accurate to you?

Unknown.

71. How many pages and content types do you envision the new site having at launch?

Other than what has already been excluded, we expect that the information on the new site will be like the current site.

72. Are you looking for an improved, custom-developed search for the new site, instead of leveraging Google?

No, current search technology is adequate for our needs.

73. Can you list out all custom functionality that exist on the current site that needs to be included in the new site?

Other than what has already been excluded, we expect that the information on the new site will be like the current site.

74. Are there any third-party integrations that are part of the site that need to be built into the new site? If so, please elaborate and include how the data flows are expected to work.

Current site does include third party mapping applications using ArcGISonline as well as ArcGIS Server and Microsoft SQL server.

75. Do you have a target launch date for the site? If so what is driving that date?

June 1, 2023. Date is driven by desire not to engage in a multiyear project.

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