Q&A Document IHDA.org RFP.pdf

RFP Q&A- IHDA.org Redesign- 25-551HDA-MARKC-B-45176

1. Do you have incumbent for this opportunity? If so, can you please share the details?

No, this is an open solicitation.

2. Can you consider references from non-governmental sources, such as commercial entities?

The RFP does not request references, but you may use non-governmental sources, such as commercial entities as examples in your response.

3. Can you please provide the place of performance/Work location for this requirement?

Per the RFP, TRANSPORTATION AND DELIVERY TERMS: All work may be conducted virtually. However, Offeror must have the ability to attend in person meetings at the offices of the IHDA, if requested.

4. Does the experience need to support designs for other subdomains or portals? Or will all have the same user experience?

TBD. This is something that we are looking for the vendor to provide their experience, thought leadership and recommendations on. The awarded vendor, IHDA Communications Team, and internal stakeholders will work collaboratively to determine.

5. What is your anticipated role in the content migration? Is there a substantial amount of clean-up, content redevelopment, or optimization needed?

The awarded vendor, IHDA Communications Team, and internal stakeholders will work collaboratively to re-develop existing and new content.

6. Is there the need to develop & manage more websites in the future, or will there only be 1 site in scope for the foreseeable future?

The current scope is for www.ihda.org and www.ihdamortgagehelp.org.

7. What is the estimated budget for this project?

IHDA will not be sharing estimated budget for this project. What is your annual maintenance budget?

IHDA will not be sharing budget information for this project.

8. Is the Housing Development Authority good with offshore resources providing support or applying for this project? Or for delivery?

No. Developer and hosting solutions need to be based in the United States.

9. How many pages will you be migrating from the current site to the new site?

TBD. Please see the sitemaps which were included with the RFP.

http://www.ihda.org/ http://www.ihdamortgagehelp.org/

The awarded vendor, IHDA Communications Team, and internal stakeholders will work collaboratively to develop content.

10. How many subdomains do you require on the website?

TBD. This is something that we are looking for the vendor to provide their experience, thought leadership and recommendations on. The awarded vendor, IHDA Communications Team, and internal stakeholders will work collaboratively to determine.

11. Are there specific pain points or areas of improvement you have identified in the website?

• The current sites are designed as IHDA views its operations vs. a navigation that is built for those interacting with the website. The content/copy reflects the language IHDA uses internally but may not be understood by outside audiences/new people interacting with IHDA.

• Since the content is very inward facing, the Search functionality needs to assist in directing a user, but it is not robust enough to meet the site content (in the current state).

• Improved backend functionality for staff. (i.e. capability to link the same document (pdf, excel, etc.) on multiple pages of the site using the same link. Currently the document must be added on all pages it needs to included on. Inability to create specialty/shortened URLs.

• Incorporation of more visuals and/or interactive functionality.

• Mobile experience needs improvement.

12. Please describe use cases where you will need translation of slang terms on the website.

We avoid and do not recommend use of slang in our copywriting. The site will need to utilize acronyms that are/will be explained and are commonly used in the Affordable Housing and Homeownership spaces and they should be translated. Please review the existing www.ihda.org, www.ihdamortgage.org and www.illinoishousinghelp.org websites for such examples.

13. Are you open for AEM or do we have to provide the CMS among the recommended "WordPress, Drupal" Yes, we are open to recommendations. There are no mandates.

14. Is the training calendar embedded with your current site/CMS (on https://www.ihdamortgage.org/training), would another service be needed or would we have to account for building it?

It is integrated into the site backend with a table that we update regularly, we do not use another service. Access is limited by a username and password to approved lenders only Example included below:

http://www.ihda.org/ http://www.ihdamortgage.org/ http://www.illinoishousinghelp.org/ https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ihdamortgage.org%2Ftraining)%2C&data=05%7C02%7Cspastore%40ihda.org%7C6dabc5af509849a464f108dd05a6ced4%7Cacc838208b8f4dc8b270266cb24e926f%7C0%7C0%7C638672936183375926%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Hb7ZHrjwjjzxkBvMBWvBOJVc0QlRLhIewpvbQ0wLJek%3D&reserved=0

15. Regarding the Lender Dashboard (one of the circles), what are the specific functionality requirements for that?

The functionality requirements for the lender dashboard include:

1. Current interest rates displayed live with “last updated” date

2. Email archive of past lender emails sent

3. Lender Training Calendar

4. CSV Export download option with the current interest rates

5. Controlled access limited to a specific user group (IHDA Staff and approved lenders only)

16. Do you need a document viewer service? The one located at https://www.ihdamortgage.org/matrix looks like it's through Wix.

We are open to the recommendations from the vendor on how to best present this information.

17. Can you speak more to the need to maintain or mimic search function of FAQs?

The current search functionality needs to be revamped and improved. Our preference is not to have excessive lists of FAQs throughout the site.

https://www.ihdamortgage.org/matrix

We have several different audiences, with a substantial amount of content, and a large number of documents (PDF, Word, Excel, etc.) that we provide.

We would like to streamline the search to ensure our audiences find content in an efficient manner.

18. For https://www.ihdamortgage.org/lenders, would the functionality need to carry over such as the map regions and the Lender search?

Visitors need to have the ability to easily find top lenders, to search for lenders (by name or geographic locations) and be able to discern how we define our main geographic regions (Chicagoland, Northwestern Illinois, Central Illinois and Southern Illinois.) and what active lenders operate within those regions.

19. For the Document Library, are these public-facing documents? Are you asking for a pretty simple listing of public facing documents on a page, with filtering capability and an intuitive layout?

These are public facing documents. This will house documentation that our business partners will need to access to conduct business with IHDA. A good reference for this would be a fellow Housing Finance Agency, MassHousing - www.mhp.net/rental-financing/massdocs-onesource An example on our current site would be our Developer Resource Center which provides many application and reference documents for our Multifamily partners. Content like this needs to be rethought and presented in more of an easy to find, searchable library. (Note that this new “library” may include more content than what is currently housed on this page.)

20. Will the Document Library house sensitive documents that need to be protected and have restricted access?

1. No

21. If yes, are there any specific security compliance requirements like PCI, HIPAA, Fed-

RAMP, others? If so, please specify which type of information will be stored in the

CMS.

1. N/A. Currently, the websites are not used for transactional purposes nor accept application information. No PII of consequence is stored. We are not required to utilize FedRAMP.

22. Will any personal data from these forms be stored in the site?

1. N/A

23. Are you requesting and accepting completed forms through the website?

1. The website will not accept program applications/PII. Contact or intake forms will be needed for newsletter sign ups, programmatic update sign ups, etc.

https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ihdamortgage.org%2Flenders%2C&data=05%7C02%7Cspastore%40ihda.org%7C6dabc5af509849a464f108dd05a6ced4%7Cacc838208b8f4dc8b270266cb24e926f%7C0%7C0%7C638672936183398697%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=LgITOWKSfwsNt9B8MwsTfSjz8vzZtVAzq0wW042BGNY%3D&reserved=0 http://www.mhp.net/rental-financing/massdocs-onesource https://www.ihda.org/developers/developer-resource-center/ https://www.ihda.org/developers/developer-resource-center/

24. Regarding Accessibility, can you specify which level of compliance you require?

https://doit.illinois.gov/initiatives/accessibility/iitaa.html The Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA) requires Illinois agencies and universities to ensure that their web sites, information systems, and information technologies are accessible to people with disabilities.

Illinois' accessibility standards are based on the United States' Section 508 Standards and refer to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

25. Do you desire ADA certification for this site?

https://doit.illinois.gov/initiatives/accessibility/iitaa.html The Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA) requires Illinois agencies and universities to ensure that their web sites, information systems, and information technologies are accessible to people with disabilities.

Illinois' accessibility standards are based on the United States' Section 508 Standards and refer to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

26. For DAM Integration, can you share which DAM you've selected so we can review and give an estimate?

We cannot provide this information at this time.

27. For Search, it's clear you'd like a better search experience. Is there anything you can add to help clarify what that looks like from your perspective? Are you even leaning toward/desiring AI enhancement?

We have several different audiences, with a substantial amount of content, and a large number of documents (PDF, Word, Excel, etc.) that we provide.

We would like to streamline the search to ensure our audiences find content in an efficient manner.

At this writing, we are not looking for AI enhancements but this can and will evolve as our IT team is currently leading and developing our AI roadmap.

28. For Downloadable Forms, is the expectation that your internal teams will be working on this internally, or that these forms would need to be created on the web site?

These will largely be provided by our internal teams. Through this process, we hope to have a streamlined look and feel to forms well as a preferred format when applicable.

29. Are these embedded maps?

1. Many of the maps we provide aid developers as they look to apply for funds and to ultimately develop affordable housing units in Illinois.

These maps are created / updated internally by IHDA staff. They are updated typically annually or biannually. At a minimum, we would need to ensure that we can implement the script/embedding the maps throughout the site.

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

30. Are you wanting an agency to create interactive maps within the site?

The maps are created / updated internally by IHDA staff. They are updated typically annually or biannually. At a minimum, we would need to ensure that we can implement the script/embedding the maps throughout the site.

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

31. Are you looking for custom maps?

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

32. How often are these maps created / updated?

The maps are created / updated internally by IHDA staff. They are updated typically annually or biannually. At a minimum, we would need to ensure that we can implement the script/embedding the maps throughout the site.

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

33. What is the purpose of these maps?

Many of the maps we provide aid developers as they look to apply for funds and to ultimately develop affordable housing units in Illinois.

These maps are created / updated internally by IHDA staff. They are updated typically annually or biannually. At a minimum, we would need to ensure that we can implement the script/embedding the maps throughout the site.

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

34. Are they Geography based or other?

Developers of multifamily housing are essential partners in IHDA’s mission to provide safe and affordable rental housing across Illinois. Through federal and state tax credits and tax-exempt financing, we leverage private capital to produce housing for working families, seniors and people with special needs.

Many of the maps we provide aid developers as they look to apply for funds and to ultimately develop affordable housing units in Illinois.

These maps are created / updated internally by IHDA staff. They are updated typically annually or biannually. At a minimum, we would need to ensure that we can implement the script/embedding the maps throughout the site.

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

35. Regarding Unification of documents/links, do you want everything in a 3rd party DAM, from which we would pull into the site, or would you want us to create a Documents post type that contains information—for example—to be updated in a single area and then used throughout the site?

We would like to have the vendor recommend the best path. Going forward, we would like to have a CMS that has an intuitive find/replace function whereby if we update one document that may be linked on several pages throughout the site, we will not have to edit/update each individual page.

36. Please confirm that "Future State" refers to the completed scope of this project, or does it also include additional features that could come AFTER the new site is launched?

"Future State" refers to the completed scope of this project.

37. For Media Tracking via TvEyes, is this just a script?

This isn’t currently integrated into our site. Future forward, we would like to have the capability to incorporate media stories which may expand beyond TVEyes.

38. For Project management via Monday.com, can you clarify how specifically you'd like an agency to integrate this? What specifically needs to be integrated with this tool?

IHDA currently is using Monday.com primarily as an internal project management tool. It has the capability to develop external facing intake forms which we use in a limited fashion to manage select programs. At a baseline level, we will need to link to these forms from the new site, and there may be future integrations to explore as we go forward.

39. Is the Reporting via Power BI just a script similar to GTM or GA4?

Power BI is a Microsoft based data visualization tool. IHDA has an enterprise account which we may look to share IHDA program reporting on an external basis via the website. The reports can be embedded via scripts and is also available as a plugin with many Content Management Systems.

40. For Search, can you clarify what you mean by "Responsive search functionality"? Are you pointing to possible AI functionality, or something more standard (particularly for the Q/A format)?

We have several different audiences, with a substantial amount of content, and a large number of documents (PDF, Word, Excel, etc.) that we provide.

We would like to streamline the search to ensure our audiences find content in an efficient manner.

At this writing, we are not looking for AI enhancements but this can and will evolve as our IT team is currently leading and developing our AI roadmap.

41. Are you ok with keeping google translate to automate language option?

We are open to vendors recommendation on how to best handle translations. We currently utilize Google Translate. Our Language Access Plan may evolve and other solutions may need to be considered.

42. Under Homeownership, can the automation of email distribution be done within the CRM/s?

No. There is no CRM. E-distribution currently managed through the current web platform.

43. Is the ranking for lenders a manual process, i.e., moving Lender A to the top position on the page, or is this connected to some outside resource?

It is integrated into the site backend with a table that we update regularly. The ranking for lenders is pulled from this table and sorted via relevant data points, there is no external resource.

44. For the automation distribution of mortgage rates, are these rates being pulled form daily currently? Are you looking for an agency to source a solution to pull mortgage rates and then email them?

Our current vendor has built-in email functionality that automatically sends site admins a notification with the request for access. Upon approval by IHDA staff, it automatically registers for both our email lists and lender dashboard and sends the user an email confirmation. Ideally the email distribution and site updates would remain integrated.

45. Regarding the Integrations of mailing lists, etc., would this be more newsletter type sign ups to a CRM?

Yes, it would be primarily to have a central repository for CRM for people interested in our daily rates, new homeownership programs, multifamily, etc.

46. For the Secured Portal access, can you share what type of information is being accessed (e.g., resources like training materials, personal information like contact details, application statuses, denials, etc., or sensitive information, like account numbers, financial data, non-public records, etc.)?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

47. Is this portal mainly information based? Training, guides, etc.?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

48. Does this portal need to be stand alone or incorporated into the site?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

49. Does the login access need to integrate with any other logins or is a login system unique to this portal more ideal?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

50. Is the design of this portal to match the ihda.org site heavily or more unique?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

Creatively, any pass-through/skim page should mirror the look and feel of the new website.

51. Overall, for content, would the agency you select be expected to develop training resources and other technical content, or will internal comms teams be doing that?

For programmatic training content, the vendor should review current training manuals and provide recommendations if more user friendly content is necessary.

For launch of the site, the training must include ‘leave-behinds” or reference materials for staff who will be maintaining the site. The type of reference/training materials created can be discussed but may include video tutorials, PDF instructional booklet, or other form of communication pieces.

52. Who is the incumbent, if any, and the budget for this new project?

Please see answer to question 1 and 7 above.

53. Additionally, if there is a resource you can share that has the different agencies past spend on similar projects? This help us in determining our limits on the resources we would need.

IHDA is not providing budget information at this time.

54. In the requirements related to Homeownership, there’s a mention of the creation of a secured access portal for partner lenders to access. Can you provide more information on what content, features will reside behind the login? Will all users have the same level of access?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

Creatively, any pass-through/skim page should mirror the look and feel of the new website.

55. What kind of creative input are you looking for? What kind of copywriting/photography are you looking for? What is the expectation here? Will you provide the tools for this (photography)?

The vendor will have access to our existing creative assets (photos, videos, graphics, etc.) along of the skill sets of IHDA’s internal Communications team.

Ideally, the vendor should be able to provide creative and thought leadership and be able to provide best-practices to develop a responsive website.

56. During the pre-bid meeting this morning there was mention of a pricing structure document, but I don’t see it in BidBuy. Can you please provide this document, or let me know where I can find it?

There is no separate pricing structure document. Pricing should be provided under the Items Tab in BidBuy for each line item. Separate pricing documents should not be submitted.

57. Is there a percent of budget allocated to media presentation?

IHDA will not be sharing estimated budget for this project. Pricing must be submitted in the Items Tab in BidBuy. Do not submit a separate pricing document in excel or any other format.

58. Can hosting be anywhere in the U.S.?

Yes.

59. Do you have any FedRamp requirements for hosting?

No.

60. What levels of maps are we looking at (ArcGIS)?

IHDA has an enterprise level account with ArcGIS and mappers on staff. We need to ensure that the new site can allow for embedding and displaying maps at a minimum.

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

61. What is the preferred technology choice?

We are looking for vendors to provide their best recommendations based off our needs outlined in the RFP.

62. How many CMS users are expected to need logins to manage each website?

There will be 4 primary people (2 ihda.org and 2 ihdamortgage.org) who maintain the content. However, at this writing, you should account for additional restricted logins to be determined.

63. What is the current Technology stack?

Ihda.org utilizes WordPress, ihdamortgage.org utilizes Wix and Illinoishousinghelp.org utilizes Webflow.

64. What is the target level of compliance for AGA?

https://doit.illinois.gov/initiatives/accessibility/iitaa.html The Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA) requires Illinois agencies and universities to ensure that their web sites, information systems, and information technologies are accessible to people with disabilities.

Illinois' accessibility standards are based on the United States' Section 508 Standards and refer to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

65. Is this a T&M contract or cost plus?

Pricing should be provided under the Items Tab in BidBuy for each line item.

Separate pricing documents should not be submitted. Each line item in BidBuy specifies the scope of work and format pricing should be provided in.

66. ILLINOISHOUSINGHELP.org was created in 2021 acc to RFP, who was the vendor for this and what was the budget?

Illinoishousinghelp.org was created by Vera Creative. The contract with Vera Creative was procured via an exempt procurement pursuant to the Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation and not an RFP. The total not to exceed amount of the contract with Vera Creative was [COMMS PLEASE PROVIDE].

67. How is the language being handled?

We currently utilize Google Translate.

68. Do we have people who translate internally or is it reliant on google translate?

We largely depend on Google translate for our pages. There have been instances where we use a translation company which we have through a state contract or internal staff to provide program specific translations.

These are primarily for attachments (i.e. PDF files) vs. actual webpages.

69. With live streaming of old meetings, do we have a current platform to livestream? Are we looking to integrate this platform or find a new one/take recommendations?

We currently use Teams to live stream our meetings. This is managed by our IT team and they provide a public link which we make available. This current solution works. A new platform is not needed but would always welcome suggestions.

70. Is BEP certified, able to self-satisfy the BEP requirements?

Vendors who are CEI BEP certified can meet the BEP goal through self-performance but must be registered in at least one of the NIGP Commodity Codes associated with the solicitation.

https://doit.illinois.gov/initiatives/accessibility/iitaa.html https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?node=pt36.3.1194 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?node=pt36.3.1194 http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

71. How long does BEP cert take?

Certification can take up to 90 days. You may contact CEI BEP for expedited certification.

72. How can we verify our NIGP codes?

supplierdiversitymanagementportal@illinois.gov

73. Are there enough licenses for power users currently?

For Power BI, yes and we have an Enterprise license which our IT and IT Procurement teams manage.

74. What would IHDA prefer to see in the demos?

This will be provided at a later date to the vendors who are selected to participate in the demonstration phase of the RFP.

75. What Digital Asset Management (DAM) system are you interested in using?

The DAM system/vendor will be shared at a later date.

76. Do we already have responsive search and SEO planned?

We are looking for the vendor provide their best strategic solution for our search and SEO.

77. What is the main business driver for the project? What do we hope to achieve?

Develop a site focused on the end user experience while utilizing new tools and features to show the robust, impactful, and impressive work of IHDA.

78. Can our Application for BEP be considered as a Good Faith Effort?

No, application for BEP certification cannot be considered as a Good Faith Effort. Instructions for how to demonstrate a Good Faith Effort can be found in the Utilization Plan.

79. AI search, are we open to using it strategically?

At this time, we are not using AI search, however our IT team is currently leading and developing our AI roadmap.

80. Will the RFP be extended?

Please check BidBuy for any due date extensions.

81. What are the limitations for sub-contracting?

No more than 50% of the scope of work may be subcontracted.

82. Is there an estimated budget range for the project?

Please see answer to question 9 above.

83. Is the vendor expected to be on site?

Per the RFP - TRANSPORTATION AND DELIVERY TERMS: All work may be conducted virtually. However, Offeror must have the ability to attend in person meetings at the offices of the IHDA, if requested.

84. Any preferred hosting solutions vendor need to aware of?

No. The vendor will recommend and procure the hosting solution largely based on the CMS selected.

85. Has any user research or usability testing been done on any of the current sites? Is IHDA open to conducting research or testing as part of this project?

No. However, we have conducted internal departmental meetings and have done outreach among our Housing Finance Authority peers. We anticipate further research/testing being done by the awardee’s own department interviews and external interviews with key stakeholders. Examples of external interviews include but not limited to developers, grantees of our Community Affairs or Homeownership/Mortgage programs, and/or those who have received assistance through our emergency response programs.

Beyond this, we would be open to other research that the vendor may recommend.

86. What kind of creative input are you looking for? What kind of copywriting/photography are you looking for? What is the expectation here? Will you provide the tools for this (photography)?

The vendor will have access to our existing creative assets (photos, videos, graphics, etc.) along of the skill sets of IHDA’s internal Communications team.

Ideally, the vendor should be able to provide creative and thought leadership and be able to provide best-practices to develop a responsive website.

87. In the requirements related to Homeownership, there’s a mention of the creation of a secured access portal for partner lenders to access. Can you provide more information on what content, features will reside behind the login? Will all users have the same level of access?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

88. Who was the incumbent for the 2021 re-do of the website?

Please see answer to question 67 above.

89. Should the vendor include a DAM in the proposal, or are we supposed to integrate and leverage an existing DAM ? If a DAM already exists, what is the product (e.g.

Adobe AEM Assets ?)

The vendor should integrate and leverage an existing DAM. The DAM vendor/product will be shared at a later date.

90. Are there any budgetary constraints or limitations on resources that should be considered in the proposal?

Please see answer to question 7 above.

91. Is there an incumbent for this contract? If so, please provide the incumbent name, current contract number, duration, historical level of effort and value of the contract.

Please see answer to question 1 above.

92. Will the incumbent be eligible to bid on this project?

There is no incumbent vendor.

93. Is there any existing user research in place with the IDHA?

No. However, we have conducted internal departmental meetings and have done outreach among our Housing Finance Authority peers. We anticipate further research/testing being done by the awardee’s own department interviews and external interviews with key stakeholders. Examples of external interviews include but not limited to developers, grantees of our Community Affairs or Homeownership/Mortgage programs, and/or those who have received assistance through our emergency response programs.

Beyond this, we would be open to other research that the vendor may recommend.

94. Is there any scope for new content development?

We fully expect new content to come out of this redesign. This will be a collaborative effort with the chosen vendor, the IHDA communications team and key internal partners/stakeholders.

Once the redesign is complete, any maintenance agreement terms are to be negotiated.

95. Approximately how large is each microsite (pages, files, etc.)?

Please reference sitemaps provided with the RFP.

96. Is there any preferred CMS for the new website? Are you open to CMS such as Drupal?

No, we are open to recommendations. There are no mandates.

97. Does the project require complete data/content migration?

Much of the data and content will need to be retained for retention purposes;

however, we fully expect new content to come out of this redesign.

Additionally, how content is presented will be audience focused going forward. Again, this will be a collaborative effort with the chosen vendor, the IHDA Communications Team and key internal partners/stakeholders.

100. Are there any pain points with the existing CMS?

There are currently three sites which use three different Content Management systems. Our goal is to have all content within one CMS and on one hosting platform.

101. Can the work be performed remotely?

Yes. Per the RFP, TRANSPORTATION AND DELIVERY TERMS: All work may be conducted virtually. However, Offeror must have the ability to attend in person meetings at the offices of the IHDA, if requested.

102. Are any other third-party or external site integrations required?

Please refer to section B.3. of the IHDA.org redesign RFP document.

103. Are there specific APIs or integration protocols required?

Beyond our current and expected integrations that are listed in the RFP, not at this time. This may evolve during the development process.

104. What are the different roles and permissions required for different user groups?

This will likely depend on the CMS that is chosen. We currently utilize Administrators, Contributors and viewers.

There will be 4 primary people (2 ihda.org and 2 ihdamortgage.org) who maintain the content. However, at this writing, you should account for additional restricted logins to be determined.

105. Are there specific service level agreements (SLAs) that need to be met?

• The following service level agreements should be met:

o Uptime Percentage – Industry Standard (99.999%) o Support Hours – Standard Business Hours of 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (CST), or equivalent service hours, are required and vendor needs to provide recommendations/operating procedures based on emergencies o Response Time to Incidents Based on Severity– Industry Standard (Critical/Major/Minor ranges should be provided) o Resolution Time to Incidents Based on Severity– Industry Standard (Critical/Major/Minor ranges should be provided)

Both response and resolution times require identification of Severity levels and definitions of each level o Backup and Restoration – Industry Standard (at a minimum/ daily backups are required but should adhere to 3-2-1 backup method) o Performance – Page loads must meet Google/Industry standards for desktop and mobile

• SLA Compensation – for each of the aforementioned categories, IHDA will work with the vendor to determine appropriate refunds if these standards are not met.

• Monitoring – Vendor must provide their methodology on how these will be monitored and provide their best recommended path to provide ongoing reporting.

• If the selected vendor is working with third party vendors on this website, and those partners impact any of the above areas, these standards are expected by all parties involved.

• SLA’s are subject to change and will be defined as final when the selected vendor agrees to a contract.

106. Staging Site: What specific features and functionalities should the staging site include?

The staging site needs to be a replica of the live site where administrators can test functionality and new content before making updates to the ‘live’ site.

This would include any plugins, scripts, etc. to ensure that the functionality and presentation are the same.

107. How often will the staging site be updated to reflect the latest changes?

Weekly at a minimum.

108. What level of technical expertise is required for staff to maintain the website?

Technical expertise varies but it should be noted that Vendor and client can discuss and agree upon the best method to deliver the training (in person vs.

remote.)

109. How will training materials be delivered (e.g., in-person, online)?

Vendor and client can discuss and agree upon the best method to deliver the training (in person vs. remote.)

As mentioned in the RFP, the training must include ‘leave-behinds” or reference materials for staff who will be maintaining the site. The type of reference/training materials created can be discussed but may include video tutorials, PDF instructional booklet, or other form of communication pieces.

110. Is there any specific pricing format required for submission? Can we submit pricing in Excel?

Pricing must be submitted in the Items Tab in BidBuy. Do not submit a separate pricing document in excel or any other format.

111. Are there any specific content elements (e.g., PDFs, forms) that require special attention?

Currently there are a mix of documents on the site from word, excel workbooks, PDF and Fillable PDFs. These are for program reference and for program application. Ideally, we’d like to have a uniform means of downloadable forms (i.e. fillable PDF) going forward.

We have several intake/content forms throughout the sites which will need to be accounted for so we can collect feedback/input from our audiences.

112. We are not BEP are we eligible?

You may respond to the RFP and meet the goal by either subcontracting with a CEI BEP certified vendor or demonstrating a Good Faith Effort. Please refer to the Utilization Plan for specific instructions on how to meet the BEP goal.

113. Are the internal stakeholders for all three sites the same?

The internal stakeholders for ihdamortgage.org site reside within our Homeownership Department. The IHDA Communications serves as primary backups for Homeownership.

The management of ihda.org and illinoishouseinghelp.org reside with the IHDA Communications team.

114. Can you share more about why a flexible navigation is a priority? For example, have you had challenges in the past with adding/restructuring sections, or do you have plans for future content/programs that you anticipate adding after launch?

The current sites are designed as IHDA views its operations vs. a navigation that is built for those interacting with the website. The content/copy reflects the language IHDA uses internally but may not be understood by outside audiences/new people interacting with the Authority. Restructuring content to be audience oriented is essential. In addition, the sheer number of sections is problematic for visitors especially when visiting via mobile.

Post-launch the site will continue to grow as we develop new programs. We will need to continue to refine our navigation and search to ensure sections are easy to find/navigate.

115. Document library: You mention the MassDocs website as an example of a document library. Does your document library need to provide any functionality other than uploading and organizing files, like we see on the public-facing page of the MassDocs website?

Working with our internal partners (Multifamily, Asset Management, Strategic Planning and Reporting (SPAR), Legal and Homeownership teams), we will create a customer friendly document library. This will house documentation that our business partners will need to access to conduct business with IHDA.

Within this library, it will need to account for larger file sizes. The site will require a library or repository of PDF/documents which can average 10-20 MB in size. These do not exist yet, but they will be in addition to the site’s existing content. There will be a minimum of 40 files at this size that should be accounted for.

The MassDocs is for reference only. From a functionality standpoint, we would like it to be more dynamic than a static page with files and would like to ensure that it is organized in a thoughtful manner to best help our different audiences who will be accessing the content

116. DAM integration: If you are able to share, what tool have you selected as your

DAM?

The DAM vendor will be shared at a later date.

117. Automate an email distribution of daily mortgage rates: Are your 3rd-party email services Constant Contact and/or Mailchimp expected to be used for this email delivery?

Daily mortgage rates are currently emailed daily through the Wix platform.

We are open to the vendors’ best recommended path.

Vendors should be cognizant that ihda.org utilizes Constant Contact for its e-newsletter distribution. No automation is currently integrated for the site.

We need to account for integration with Constant Contact.

118. Secured access portal for partner vendors: What kind of features would be available to those with access? Is this portal for allowing partners to privately download training materials only, or is there other functionality needed?

This portal is managed by our homeownership and information technology department. Our lender partners and key IHDA personnel will only have access. Vendor will need provide a pass through to the log in.

119. Streamlined data and analytics: What does it mean to provide data and analytics to internal customers?

The ability to monitor and report on the data analytics for the website are critical in order to continually optimize the site and have a clear picture of our customer behavior. There are many different website measurement tools available to integrate into websites and it is incumbent on the vendor to make their best recommendations to provide measurements for website traffic, SEO performance, keyword research and more.

The internal customers that need to access this are primarily the IHDA Communications team. The end product(s) must be accessible via the site so we are able to access this information easily and provide consistent reporting measurements.

120. Integrations: What kind of specific integrations are expected for:

a. Monday.com

IHDA currently is using Monday.com primarily as an internal project management tool. It has the capability to develop external facing intake forms which we use in a limited fashion to manage select programs. At a baseline level, we will need to link to these forms from the new site, and there may be future integrations to explore as we go forward.

b. TVEyes This isn’t currently integrated into our site. Future forward we would like to have the capability to incorporate media stories which may expand beyond TVEyes.

c. Power BI Power BI is a Microsoft based data visualization tool. IHDA has an enterprise account which we may look to share IHDA program reporting on an external basis via the website. The reports can be embedded via scripts and is also available as a plugin with many Content Management Systems.

d. ArcGIS - Is there specific functionality/ interactivity you desire beyond what you have currently via embedded ArcGIS maps?

IHDA has an enterprise level account with ArcGIS and mappers on staff. We need to ensure that the new site can allow for embedding and displaying maps at a minimum.

We are looking for recommendations by the vendor on how we can use map functionality to better convey our impact across Illinois and our services.

121. What current CMS are you using?

Ihda.org utilizes WordPress, ihdamortgage.org utilizes Wix and Illinoishousinghelp.org utilizes Webflow.

122. What are some things the team likes about the current CMS?

There are currently three sites which use three different Content Management systems. Our goal is to have all content within one CMS and on one hosting platform.

123. What are some things the team DOES NOT like about the current There are currently three sites which use three different Content Management systems. Our goal is to have all content within one CMS and on one hosting platform.

124. What is the current annual spend on CMS, hosting, ongoing support, etc?

IHDA will not be sharing this information at this time.

125. Are you open to an open source CMS?

We are open to the vendor’s best recommendation.

126. Do you prefer a cloud hosted CMS?

We are open to the vendor’s best recommendation.

127. What was the budget for the last website redesign & development effort?

Please see answer to question 57 above.

128. For your current site, did your internal team build it or did a vendor? If the vendor, who was it?

Original Agencies – Fleshman Hillard (ihda.org), IHDA Homeownership-internally developed (ihdamortgage.org) and Vera Creative (illinoishousinghelp.org).

129. Are there any accessibility or content policy compliance you track against (WCAG, GDPR, etc)? If so, please state https://doit.illinois.gov/initiatives/accessibility/iitaa.html The Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA) requires Illinois agencies and universities to ensure that their web sites, information systems, and information technologies are accessible to people with disabilities.

Illinois' accessibility standards are based on the United States' Section 508 Standards and refer to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

130. Do you currently use anything to conduct accessibility scanning & reporting, and to help remediate issues? If so, please state

Wordfence and hosting security monitoring is utilized to alert us to security issues and prevent security risks. We currently to not utilize tools to identify user experience issues (e.g. broken links) and we are open to the vendor’s best recommendation for all.

131. How many pages in total are your website(s) Please see the sitemaps/wireframes included in the RFP.

132. Do you have a CDN and/or WAF in place currently? If so, please specify which one We have Cloudflare in place for ihda.org via our hosting provider.

Ihdamortage.org and Illinoishousinghelp.org have CDN’s integrated with their systems.

133. Please provide the average monthly page views that your in-scope sites receive (to nearest 100K is fine).

Traffic snapshots are provided in the RFP under B.2.

134. Are there any key integrations required with the CMS outside of what's in the document?

No, however it may evolve as we build out the new site.

135. For the DAM - what types of files & assets do you typically deal with roughly how many assets would need to go into the DAM?

We have a very large photo library, along with video and some audio that would need to be integrated. We don’t have a firm count of assets to be added currently.

136. Please provide some insight around the governance and distribution needed for the assets you'd put in the DAM

The assets need to be available for IHDA staff to utilize for search/use. It is expected that some of the assets will be used on the website (e.g.

photography, video, etc.)

137. What type of collaboration & workflows are needed with assets that would go in a DAM - are there many teams collaborating?

We need to have the opportunity to integrate with IHDA’s DAM system for ease of pulling assets into the site (the system will be shared at a later date).

Collaboration will be among IHDA teams but the Communications team will be the overall managers of the system.

138. Outside of the CMS, are there any other integrations needed for the DAM (Adobe creative, Box, OneDrive, Getty, Salesforce, Workday, etc)

IHDA is in the process of securing a DAM and it will be shared at a later date.

Currently we utilize the Adobe creative suite and OneDrive. We will determine if they (or others) will need to have DAM integration.

139. Is it mandatory for all vendors to be registered with the Illinois Business Enterprise Program (BEP) at the time of proposal submission, or is compliance only required for the awarded vendor?

If the vendor is meeting the goal through self-performance, they must be registered at the time of proposal submission. If the vendor is meeting the goal through subcontracting, the subcontractor(s) must be registered at the time of proposal submission.

140. Does the 5% BEP goal need to be met exclusively through subcontracting, or can it also include internal diversity initiatives within the vendor organization?

The BEP goal may be met by either 1) Self-Performance; 2) Subcontracting;

or 3) Demonstration of a Good Faith Effort.

141. If the vendor is unable to meet the BEP goal, what specific documentation or justification is required to request a waiver?

See the Utilization Plan guidance on Demonstration of a Good Faith Effort and what is required.

142. Is there a defined budget or budget range for the website redesign project that vendors should consider when preparing proposals?

Please see answer to question 7 above.

143. Are there any restrictions on allocating funds for specific activities, such as creative input (e.g., photography, video production) or software licenses (e.g., CMS, analytics tools)?

IHDA is not sharing budget information at this time.

144. Will the cost for the one-year maintenance term need to be included in the initial proposal, or will this be negotiated separately?

This will be negotiated separately. We ask for maintenance in the renewal terms. If this is needed during the initial term, we need to ask for it specifically, we can’t negotiate.

145. Does IHDA have a preference for the CMS platform to be used (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore, etc.), or is the vendor free to propose the most suitable CMS?

The vendor should propose the most suitable CMS.

146. Are there any existing CMS licenses or hosting agreements that IHDA plans to maintain, or should the vendor procure entirely new ones?

The vendor should make the best recommendation.

147. Should the CMS support multilingual capabilities for additional language options beyond English?

The site overall needs to have our current language offerings at a minimum for external uses. Internally, for users of the CMS, English is the only language needed.

148. For the document library, is the vendor expected to build the structure only, or will they also upload and organize all existing and new documents?

Vendor is expected build, upload and organize. IHDA Communications will work collaboratively with guidance along with uploads.

149. Regarding integration with the Digital Asset Management (DAM) system, can you confirm whether IHDA already has a preferred DAM provider, or is the vendor expected to recommend one?

IHDA is procuring the DAM vendor/product and it will be shared at a later date.

150. For SEO, does IHDA have specific performance targets or KPIs that the vendor should aim to achieve post-launch?

We are looking for the vendor’s leadership and recommendations here and we will collaborate on final key measurements.