Marathon County City Of Wausau RFP QA 09222021.docx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

City of Wausau and Marathon County Website Refresh

PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED

NO LATER THAN 4 P.M., CDT, Friday, October 15, 2021

troy.krezine@co.marathon.wi.us

Index

1. General Question

2. Technical Questions

3. Budget and Billing Questions

General Questions

· 9/22/2021 Posting

· How do we submit questions?

· Questions can be submitted via email to troy.krezine@co.marathon.wi.us

· How will questions be answered?

· Questions will be answered within this Q&A document, so all bidders have equal access to information

· How often will answers to questions be posted?

· Questions will be answered weekly. All questions received by 12:00 PM CST on Tuesday will be answered in the bid documents section by 4:00 PM CST on Wednesday

· What is the expected timeline for completion of the websites and/or desired/anticipated launch date?

· Marathon County & Wausau: We would like to start work as soon as possible upon awarding the contract. However, it is understood some vendors will likely have a waitlist at that point and will not be able to start work immediately. We would like to see completion no later than June 30. However, if work doesn’t start right away this could be impacted. A later starting date does not eliminate a bid from consideration if the bid and solution is deemed to be of high value.

Technical Questions

· 9/22/2021 Posting

· Is the expectation that the two larger sites be hosted in two different CMS instances or can they share the same license and backend (with two different sections, two different URLs, and two different looks)?

· The city and the county will need to be billed separately for their individual sites. If a single instance can allow this, as well as restrict the city to their settings and content, and same for the county, this can be considered, but they must be 100% exclusive in almost all other aspects

· Regarding email management: Will a system like Constant Contact or MailChimp be assumed for linking to subscribe and unsubscribe?

· We are not dictating the methods for SMS/email distributions/subscriptions, please include what method you propose to use as part of the RFP proposal and disclose associated licensing costs

· Marathon County & Wausau: We currently use MailChimp for the Wisconsin Central Times eNewsletter distribution. Unless we put a new solution into place at the time of launch, we would need to allow for sign-ups through MailChimp.

· Regarding the ability to subscribe via SMS and email to any committee (Item: J iii): Is this a link to a system like Constant Contact or MailChimp to manage the email messaging?

· We are not dictating the methods for SMS/email distributions/subscriptions, please include what method you propose to use as part of the RFO proposal, and disclose associated licensing costs

· Item Jiv: Does the website need to send out email blasts to a distribution list?

· Yes, if a citizen signs up for email notifications, for example “emergency alerts”, we will require the ability to build and maintain email distribution lists for use in these scenarios

· We are currently using Everbridge integration for parts of this service

· Marathon County: We would like the technology to allow for this integration. We may not implement at the time of launch but want to be able to add this in the future. The proposal should note this as an itemized cost.

· Integrating with internal databases would require an understanding of what that integration is. Please provide specifics regarding Oii for consideration when pricing database integrations.

· City County IT is primarily an Microsoft SQL database shop. Since specific integrations are not defined within the RFP, we mostly concerned with ability to use API calls to our on-prem DB/APIs to deliver information to end users. City County IT would provide the necessary APIs and negotiate T&M charges at that time

· Item Oiii: Does the website need to create online surveys or will this be created by a third-party and served from the website?

· Either option is suitable. If you do not have capability, please state what solution you would implement, and any additional costs associated with that solution as a line item cost

· Item Ov: Are the forms considered a web page or do you want routing outside of a page approval?

· Site should allow the creation and hosting of custom forms and a mechanism to send data payload to the City of Wausau or Marathon County based upon user entry such as JSON,XML, flat file, API

· Low code form creation would be preferable

· Item Qi-iii: Would you use a third-party chat system and integrate into the site?

· We are open to either, part of the supplied solution, or an integration. However the configuration of the solution is owned and maintained by the website vendor and should maintain a similar feel to the rest of the sites for a seamless user experience

· Pricing for this should be clearly shown as a line item option with pricing information

· Have you utilized Google Translate on any/all of the existing sites before?

· Yes, we have used Google Translate on our sites previously

· Will you require migration services?

· Migration Services are requested to help move content from old sites into new sites but not all of the existing content on our sites will be migrated

· The migration services included in the proposal should be all-inclusive of the page counts noted in the RFP, including any additional charges

· Does the City of Wausau/Marathon County require access to the testing environment

· Yes, both entities will require a test environment to make changes to prior to moving content and features to the site to ensure proper configuration, operation, and user training

· Is there a preferred content management system Wausau/Marathon would like to use for the project?

· No, we are open to any CMS that meets the requirements listed in the RFP

· You list the current Marathon County page count as 744 with a new site number is 350. Is that 350 the goal for the new site or have you already identified the content not migrating and know for sure the new site will be about 350 pages?

· We undertook a project to redesign the website and during the project our new site which is not published is now approximately 350 pages

· Do you intend to maintain the separate URLs for the various sites, or do you intend to have 2 top level domains at the end of the project - one for the city and one for the county?

· It is our intent to have all sites listed under two main URLS, one for the city and one for the county

· Storing - is this just the ability to store data and docs in the CMS?

· Yes – storing documents on the site as well as video and other media as needed to be published to the site

· Application Marketplace - please expand as it's not clear what this is

· Generally mean that there are features available to the solution that are somewhat plug and play, that lends itself for future enhancements. Some CMSs have a marketplace to look for supported or custom functions

· Indexing - is this referring to an indexed search feature?

· Yes

Budget and Billing

· 9/22/2021 Posting

· What is your estimated budget for this work? Alternatively, what is the anticipated not-to-exceed amount and/or budget range?

· We do not have a set budget for this project as the range of solutions will be weighed upon their individual merits and the best solution chosen comparing costs/features. All vendors are expected to submit their best bid based upon the requirements listed.

· Do you have a maximum hourly billable rate?

· We do not have a maximum billable rate

· Does the City/County want proposers to provide a separate proposal and pricing for the City and County (ie a proposal in response to the City website and a proposal in response to the County website)? If so, does this mean that two vendors could be awarded?

· Yes, we are requesting that the City and County sites be treated as separate. Not all functions of the County website will be necessary in the City site

· Preference will be given to vendors that meet the needs of both sites to simplify billing, administration, and other governance

· Marathon County & Wausau: It is the County’s and City’s expectation that we will select one vendor for both sites to create efficiencies with project management and maintenance efforts of CCITC.

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