Amendment 1.docx

SAP

State of South Carolina

Request for Proposal Amendment 1

Solicitation:

Amendment Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400021437 8/17/2021

KATHY SANTANDREU

803-896-5304 ksantandreu@mmo.sc.gov SFAA, Div. of Procurement Services, MMO 1201 Main Street, Suite 600 Columbia SC 29201

DESCRIPTION: Public Facing Website Redesign

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: South Carolina State Election Commission (SCSEC)

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

SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 09/16/2021 11:00 AM ET (See "Deadline For Submission Of Offer" provision)

QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: 08/12/2021 03:00 PM ET (See "Questions From Offerors" provision)

NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: see page 3

CONFERENCE TYPE: Pre-proposal Conference

DATE & TIME: 08/11/2021 03:00PM ET

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions) LOCATION: WebEx

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 120 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 (SEP. 2009): References do not apply

PREFERENCES - ADDRESS AND PHONE OF IN-STATE OFFICE: References do not apply

____In-State Office Address same as Home Office Address ____In-State Office Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

PAGE TWO (SEP 2009)

End of PAGE TWO

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JAN 2004) (modified): (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 by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two and returning with solicitation response (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged.

Questions from Offerors - amendment (Jun 2017) 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 provision. Stricken text is deleted. [02-2a097-1] Combined Vendor Questions

1. What version of Drupal would the SCSEC like to use in the future?

a. The winning vendor must keep the site at a secure and supported version. Drupal is not the required content management system for this RFP. However, the current version is 8.9.18 and should the winning vendor use Drupal, they must update the Drupal core and modules as new versions are released.

2. Is the SCSEC open to using a low-code tool that is specifically built for Drupal? (Assuming it meets all technical & security requirements)

a. Yes.

3. How does the team currently perform security patches & Drupal updates?

a. A third party performs the updates.

4. Are there any other security or compliance requirements for sensitive information stemming from the website (like HIPAA, PII, SOC-2, FERPA, FedRamp, etc)?

a. The SCSEC is not currently required to comply with any of the listed requirements.

b. The SCSEC is open to hearing vendor suggestions for securing the site.

5. Is the team open to alternatives to Azure for hosting?

a. Yes.

6. What is the average number of monthly page views on the website?

a. The number of page views and bandwidth varies and directly corresponds to the status of the election calendar—i.e., very high traffic leading up to a statewide election, but very little traffic in the months following.

7. Are there any traffic spikes based on seasonality, events, etc.?

a. The number of page views and bandwidth varies and directly corresponds to the status of the election calendar—i.e., very high traffic leading up to a statewide election, but very little traffic in the months following.

8. Please describe the makeup of the team that will be managing the websites & application - are users technical/non-technical? How large is the team?

a. The awarded vendor will be managing the technical and security aspects of the site.

b. The SCSEC has several non-technical employees who are familiar with content management and light site management duties.

c. The SCSEC has one staff member that is familiar with technical and site management aspects on a higher level.

9. What is your current annual spend on your CMS & related technologies like hosting?

a. The amount varies year to year based on rates imposed on agencies by the S.C. Department of Administration for hosting agency data.

10. How often do you expect content to be added or edited?

a. The SCSEC will maintain control of all content management. The awarded vendor will provide support when technical support related to content management is needed. Content is added on an as-needed basis, but more content is added or edited the closer the state gets to a statewide election.

11. What other channels besides the web used to engage with users? (Ex. email, SMS, etc.)

a. No other channel of communication is currently offered to users of scvotes.gov. However, the SCSEC is open to vendor options and or recommendations.

12. Can you share any example sites that your team might like to model your new site after?

a. The SCSEC does not have any sites to offer as examples.

13. How are you defining success for this project?

a. The SCSEC wishes to have a website that is user-friendly, ADA accessible, clean and clear in an aesthetic, easy to use, information well organized, and that conveys a professional yet pleasing message to site visitors.

14. Is there a target launch date? Is it tied to an event or some sort of date deadlines like a fiscal year or event?

a. A target website launch date will be set with awarded vendor after contract is awarded within the confines of the terms listed on in the RFP under “Delivery Date.”

15. How will the winning vendor be selected? Is there a scoring matrix or something similar

a. Please see RFP section, “Evaluation Factors.”

16. Can you disclose a budget or budget range for this project?

a. No.

17. Is there an organizational preference for open source vs. a proprietary CMS?

a. The SCSEC is familiar with Drupal but is open to other recommendations.

18. What shortcomings of Drupal 7 do you hope to remedy with this effort? Do you wish to move away from Drupal?

a. The SCSEC is familiar with Drupal but is open to other recommendations.

19. Can you confirm that core and contributed modules are all unmodified at the code level?

a. Yes.

20. Please provide a list of modules in use on the site.

Core

a. Drupal core 8.9.18 Includes: Automated Cron, BigPipe, Block, Breakpoint, CKEditor, Color, Comment, Configuration Manager, Contact, Contextual Links, Custom Block, Custom Menu Links, Database Logging, Datetime, Field, Field UI, File, Filter, History, Image, Inline Form Errors, Internal Dynamic Page Cache, Internal Page Cache, Link, Menu UI, Node, Options, Path, Path alias, Quick Edit, RDF, Search, System, Taxonomy, Text, Text Editor, Toolbar, Tour, Update Manager, User, Views, Views UI Modules

b. Admin Toolbar 3.0.1 Includes: Admin Toolbar, Admin Toolbar Extra Tools, Admin Toolbar Links Access Filter

c. Adminimal Admin Toolbar 8.x-1.11 Includes: Adminimal Admin Toolbar

d. Block Class 8.x-1.3 Includes: Block Class

e. CAPTCHA 8.x-1.2 Includes: CAPTCHA

f. Chaos Tool Suite (ctools) 8.x-3.7 Includes: Chaos Tools

g. Embed 8.x-1.4 Includes: Embed

h. Encrypt 8.x-3.0 Includes: Encrypt

i. FAQ Field 8.x-7.0 Includes: FAQ Field

j. Filter Permissions 8.x-1.0-alpha1 Includes: Filter permissions

k. Google Analytics 8.x-3.1 Includes: Google Analytics

l. Honeypot 2.0.1 Includes: Honeypot

m. IMCE 8.x-2.4 Includes: Imce File Manager

n. Key 8.x-1.14 Includes: Key

o. Libraries API 8.x-3.0-beta1 Includes: Libraries

p. Menu Link Attributes 8.x-1.2 Includes: Menu Link Attributes

q. Pathauto 8.x-1.8 Includes: Pathauto

r. reCAPTCHA 8.x-3.0 Includes: reCAPTCHA

s. Security Kit 2.0.0 Includes: Security Kit

t. Simple XML sitemap 8.x-3.10 Simple XML Sitemap

u. Sitemap 8.x-1.5 Includes: Sitemap

v. Superfish 8.x-1.4 Includes: Superfish

w. Token 8.x-1.9 Includes: Token

x. Two-factor Authentication (TFA) 8.x-1.0-alpha7 Includes: Two-factor Authentication (TFA)

y. Username Enumeration Prevention 8.x-1.2 Includes: Username Enumeration Prevention

z. VC3 Security 8.x-1.0.1 Includes: VC3 Security

aa. Views Templates 8.x-1.1 Includes: Views templates Themes

ab. Adminimal - Responsive Administration Theme 8.x-1.6 Includes: Adminimal

ac. SC Votes Theme 8.x-1.0.0 Includes: SC Votes Theme

21. Please describe the functionality of any custom modules in use on the site.

a. There are no custom modules on the site except for the VC3 security module.

22. Do you expect to reuse a lot of the existing Drupal configuration, or should we plan to start over with a new Drupal config?

a. The vendor should propose what they consider to be the best content management system for the SCSEC.

23. How many content types are in use on the current site?

a. 15

24. Please describe any existing taxonomy that needs to migrate to the new site.

a. Press releases – as stated

b. Election results – taxonomy and post related to reporting election results

c. Special Election Results - taxonomy and post related to reporting election results

25. How many user accounts need to be migrated?

a. 6

26. How many files (PDF/Word /Etc.) need to be migrated?

a. 11 application/msword

b. 2 application/octet-stream

c. 377 application/pdf

d. 2 application/rtf

e. 161 application/vnd.ms-excel

f. 366 application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet

g. 2 application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

h. 1 image/gif

i. 76 image/jpeg

j. 17 image/png

k. 2 text/csv

l. 1 text/plain

27. Please describe media entities (videos, etc) that need to be migrated.

a. There is one YouTube video on the site

b. https://www.scvotes.gov/south-carolina-voting-information-page

28. How many nodes exist on the current site?

a. Approximately 600

29. Please estimate the percentage of the above nodes and files you expect to migrate to the new site.

a. 100%

30. Are there multi-lingual requirements? Is Google Translate or similar sufficient?

a. Not currently, but this will likely be a requirement in the future.

31. Do you need advanced features such as:

· User login: how many levels of users?

a. Site admin

b. Content admin

c. Content contributor

· Workflow needs?

a. Yes

· Survey/voting tools

a. Yes

· Photo/video galleries

a. Yes

· Document library

a. Yes

· Email newsletter distribution

a. This can be proposed and priced appropriately in an “options” section of your price proposal.

· Ecommerce features

a. The SCSEC has a sale of list function that is handled by SCInteractive

· Personalization features

a. This can be proposed and priced appropriately in an “options” section of your price proposal.

32. Does search need to index the contents of pdf/Doc files?

a. Yes

33. Does the site search need to index content from other domains?

a. No

34. Please describe all integrations with other sites or data sources more complex than an iFrame or embed code.

a. none

35. Will single-sign-on be used to control administrative access to the site? If yes, please elaborate.

a. Not at this time but this may be a future endeavor

36. Can you provide usage data, or estimate expected traffic to the site?

37. Do you need a contractual SLA for hosting (more expensive) or a best-effort SLA based on a 99.9% historical uptime (less costly)?

a. Best-effort SLA may be acceptable. Said SLA must be proposed in your RFP response.

38. Is FedRamp hosting desired/required?

a. The vendor can include this in their proposal as an option and include pricing in the options section of their cost proposal.

39. Are you committed to hosting with Azure?

a. Other options/alternatives may be included in your proposal

40. Are there special security requirements or audits involved?

a. The site is and will continue to be evaluated by SCSEC security staff and two outside security vendors

41. Would you describe the existing content as structured, with consistent separation of content and code?

a. Yes

42. Are tables used for layout in the existing content?

a. Tables are used to post.

43. What percentage of the current content is obsolete and won’t be migrated to the new site?

a. All site content will be migrated.

44. What is your plan for editing/creating content during the redesign?

a. The awarded vendor will work with the SCSEC to determine the best plan.

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

a. No. However if you feel this would benefit the SCSEC and will enhance your services, please list them as an option (with corresponding additional pricing) in your response.

46. Do you need us to conduct an extensive discovery process that includes extensive research into user persona development - or a more streamlined discovery based on the web team's input and best practices?

a. We expect the site to be developed with the end-users needs in mind. We need vendors to suggest an approach to meet this goal.

47. How detailed are the existing branding guidelines?

a. The agency has standard branding package including but not limited to logos, colors, and fonts. The SCSEC is contracted with a third-party marketing firm that provides input on branding. The SCSEC needs the website to be consistent with its brand.

48. Do you have high-quality photography/media assets available for the new site?

a. The SCSEC currently uses high-quality photography made available to the SCSEC by SC Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism.

49. Please confirm that one design theme will carry across the entire site. If we need sub-themes of any type please specify.

a. Yes

50. Please confirm that the awarded vendor will primarily remotely, with regular web conference meetings as needed.

a. Yes

51. How do you envision the relationship with the developer post-launch? Do you need a maintenance contract to keep sites patched and secure?

a. Yes, and it must be included in your proposal.

52. How will on-going maintenance be quantified for the purpose of the bid? For example, should we make a monthly allotment of man-hours and a corresponding hourly rate?

a. Yes.

53. Are US-based but out-of-state vendors eligible to bid on this project?

a. Yes

54. On page 68 in the pricing summary chart, there is reference to an "Implementation Period (one-time payment)". Can you please clarify what this means? Please note that the page numbers are not showing in the footer of the PDF so "page 68" is based on the actual page count.

a. Please see updated section VIII. Bidding Schedule / Price Proposal below

55. Section III.7.b states "The primary objective of the redesigned website must allow the use of existing VREMS public service backend infrastructure with minimal development effort from SCSEC". Can you please provide clarity on what this means?

a. SCVOTES hands off voters to the Statewide Voter Registration and Election Management System (VREMS) though links. Once a link is clicked, the user is leaving the SCVotes.gov site.

b. There will likely be future work with SCSEC staff and the VREMS vendor to ensure that both the handoff and landing sites look and feel the same so that the voter does not feel they have left the SCVOTES sites.

56. Can you share any budgetary information about this project with us, is there any assigned budget for this project? Please specified the budget.

a. Budget will not be disclosed at this time.

57. Do you have any CMS preference for this project like Open Source, WordPress, Drupal?

a. Of those three, Drupal. However, vendors should offer other CMS options if they feel like other options benefit the SCSEC.

58. On the RFP page 31 Section 14 Training, it says ‘Training must be performed at SCSEC headquarters in Blythewood at the Contractor’s expense.’ Can the training be performed remotely thru any platform, like teams, or zoon, or any other?

a. That is an error in the RFP. In-person training must be performed at the SCSEC office located at 1122 Lady Street, STE 500, Columbia SC.

b. Remote training may be acceptable if the SCSEC aggress that the training medium meets the needs of those being trained

59. As we are not on SC, getting to headquarters can be difficult.

a. Understood. Remote training may be acceptable if the SCSEC aggress that the training medium meets the needs of those being trained.

VIII. BIDDING SCHEDULE / PRICE-BUSINESS PROPOSAL - UPDATED

PRICE PROPOSAL (MODIFIED)

Notwithstanding any other instructions herein, you shall submit the price information above as a separate document.

Offeror’s Price Proposal shall include the following information (at a minimum) broken out by year : Line-item pricing and a break down by line item to completely supply, install, integrate, implement, test, commission, train, support, professional services, and warranty.

Any options must be demonstrated separately and will be used for information purposes only and not as part of scoring the price proposal.

Cost must include associated costs with the proposed levels of service (years 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 – extended service contracts).

Contractors will quote with a scalable solution including functional upgrade options which will serve the needs of SCSCE for a minimum period of 5 years and be easily upgraded without requiring a major refit of systems as new technologies develop.

Offeror shall submit as part of their pricing section the summary chart below. This will be placed as the cover/first page of their detailed price proposal.

TOTAL COST (Summation of all cost reflected above)

*One-time costs would be any cost associated with the proposed solution that would not be a regular/reoccurring yearly cost. These one-time costs must be clearly identified in year 1 of the cost proposal.

All other terms, condition, bidding instruction, and specifications remain unchanged. If there are any question or if any confusion or uncertainty arises as a result of this amendment, it is the sole responsibility of the Offeror to contact the procurement officer for clarification. Contact information can be found in the top right-hand corner of the cover page of this amendment reference the “Duty to Inquire” in the original Request for Proposal (RFP).

Page Page image2.png image1.png