Request for Proposals Website Redesign and Modernization.docx

Request for Proposal (RFP) Website Redesign and Modernization for the Central Transportation Planning Staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization February 4, 2025

RFP Title: Website Redesign and Modernization for Boston Region MPO Statewide Contract# PRF70 Category III – Marketing Services and ITS81 Project Services and GIS Commbuys Bid # BD-25-1217-MAP02-MAP02-112265 Description of Purpose of Procurement Need Summary: This Request for Proposal (RFP) is for the procurement of a vendor to assess the current Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) external and internal websites, and redesign them to improve their functionality, user experience, aesthetics, and performance.

Estimated Duration of Project: not to exceed 6 months Estimated Value of Procurement: not to exceed $100,000 Project Completion Date: no later than 5 p.m. on September 30, 2025 Commonwealth Eligible Entity Engaging a Vendor

This Request for Proposal (RFP) does not commit the Metropolitan Area Planning Council or the Central Transportation Planning Staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization to approve a Statement of Work, pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a bidder’s response to this RFP, or to engage for products or services. The issuers of this RFP reserve the right to accept or reject any and all proposals received as a result of this RFP and to contract for some, all, or none of the responding vendors as a result of this RFP. The issuers further reserve the right to negotiate with any or all vendors who respond or cancel this RFP, in part or in its entirety, if it is in the agency's best interest to do so.

Who We Are:

The Central Transportation Planning Staff serves as staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. The Central Transportation Planning Staff was created in 1973 as a permanent resource of expertise in comprehensive, multimodal transportation planning and analysis in the Boston Region. There are approximately 400 other metropolitan planning organizations in the United States, which are required by federal legislation to be created through agreements between governors and local representation. The agency is funded primarily through federal and state dollars and counts among its clients and partners the United States Department of Transportation, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, regional transportation entities, and area municipalities. The Central Transportation Planning Staff promotes interagency cooperation, ensures consistency among planning efforts, reduces redundancy, and fills gaps in the capabilities of the elected members of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization board—thus enabling the region’s federally defined continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative planning work for member agencies to be accomplished.

At its core, Central Transportation Planning Staff is a public agency made up of a passionate group of transportation planners, analysts, modelers, programmers, and engineers working to address the Boston region’s transportation challenges to create an equitable, safe, resilient, and reliable transportation system. There are approximately 60 full-time staff members at the Boston agency and 25 regional members of the board.

How We Contract:

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council serves as the Central Transportation Planning Staff's legal fiduciary, and in its role as the fiduciary, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council enters into all contracts on behalf of the Central Transportation Planning Staff. However, all work described in this Request for Proposal will be for and overseen by the Central Transportation Planning Staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council is the regional planning agency representing 101 municipalities in the metro Boston area and is a political subdivision created under MGL c. 40B. §§24 - 29. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council uses a standard Professional Services Agreement (included as Attachment A to this scope). The consultant(s) is expected to enter into the Professional Services Agreement “as is” and without material alteration. Funding for this project is through federal sources and must be completed by September 30, 2025, the end of the federal fiscal year.

What We Are Looking For:

The Central Transportation Planning Staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization is undertaking the redesign of bostonregionmpo.org to develop a more engaging, user-friendly, and accessible digital platform. This new design will effectively serve the needs of stakeholders, policymakers, and the public by enhancing usability, fostering transparency, and supporting collaboration in regional transportation planning. The new website will align closely with the agency’s branding and identity work, reflecting a cohesive visual identity and organizational values across all digital platforms.

Key goals of the project include improving usability, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and incorporating accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG 2.1 compliance[footnoteRef:1]). Additionally, the redesign will focus on streamlining access to critical data, reports, dashboards, and resources while maintaining a clear structure that reflects the agency’s role in regional transportation planning. [1: Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 ]

The project will involve a collaborative process with stakeholders to define user needs, create a modernized design, and develop a flexible content management system (CMS) that allows for easy updates and future scalability.

In addition to the public-facing website, the agency is also looking to redesign its internal website to improve collaboration, streamline workflows, and enhance document and resource management for staff. The internal platform will provide tools for effective communication and secure access to organizational resources, creating a more efficient and centralized digital workspace. To ensure usability across all devices, the internal website will be fully optimized for mobile and designed with accessible compliance as a priority.

Scope of Work:

The maximum budget for this project is $100,000, inclusive of all anticipated expenses. The following elements are expected as part of the Scope of Work. Proposals from bidders must incorporate but are not limited to these elements. Additionally, bidders are expected to integrate aspects of the content in the “What We Are Looking For” section into their proposals.

1. Assessment This includes internal meetings with selected staff to define project goals, target audiences, and key features. During this phase, user experience (UX) research will be conducted, and an analysis of the current site will be performed to assess performance and identify improvement areas. A sitemap and wireframes will be developed for both the external and internal websites.

2. Design Detailed, high-quality wireframes and design mockups for the external website will be developed and finalized through an approval process. These designs will incorporate the agency’s branding elements, including color schemes, typography, and visual identity. The design will also ensure accessibility, mobile responsiveness, and multilingual support for the external site.

The internal website’s design will prioritize streamlining access to key resources, enhancing usability, and ensuring staff can efficiently find and manage information. Wireframes and mockups will focus on improving navigation, rethinking content organization, and addressing specific pain points in the current internal site structure. It currently does not meet accessibility guidelines and lacks mobile-friendly functionality. The redesign will address these issues by ensuring compliance with accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG 2.1) and implementing responsive design to provide seamless usability across all devices.

3. Development This will involve front-end and back-end development to build the redesigned external website with responsive design, cross-browser compatibility, and a content management system (CMS) for easy updates. The CMS will allow granular control over user roles and permissions, ensuring secure site administration.

The internal website will be developed on the same CMS platform, ensuring consistency in design and functionality. Security features will be prioritized, with adherence to industry best practices and web security standards.

4. Launch Both websites will be deployed, and comprehensive user testing will be performed to ensure proper functionality, usability, and accessibility. Content migration from the old sites to the new platform will take place, followed by staff training on managing content and using the internal website. Access to all design files and assets will also be included.

5. Coordination and Communication Include a description of how the following stakeholder groups will be kept informed and engaged with the project and at what intervals: internal project team (small group of select staff who will work on the project from consultant selection through implementation), agency leadership team (executive director, deputy executive director, and division directors), and select staff at the agency assigned at different intervals to review deliverables. The description should include an explanation of how open lines of communication will be maintained throughout the project.

The agency will engage a consultant for a branding and identity project that will run parallel to the project. The agency will coordinate meetings between the two consultants to best incorporate the recommendations into the design of the two sites.

6. Post-Launch Support Support for 30 days to address any issues or make minor adjustments. Documentation for both websites will also be provided for future updates and ongoing maintenance. Recommendations for best practices in website maintenance, covering routine updates, security checks, and content management, will also be provided.

Required Key Features and Project Tasks

· Content Management System (CMS) - Both websites will be built using a CMS such as Drupal, WordPress, or Joomla, providing an easy-to-use interface for content management. The CMS will allow granular control over user roles and permissions for secure site administration.

· Security and Compliance - The websites will adhere to industry best practices for web security and comply with ADA regulations and WCAG 2.1 standards for accessibility. Comprehensive security measures will be implemented to protect against potential vulnerabilities, primarily vandalism and content compromise.

· Calendar and Search Features - A robust, keyword-searchable calendar for events and file attachments (e.g., PDFs) will be integrated. A unified site and files search solution with analytics capabilities will replace the current three separate search tools.

· Data Integration—The websites will allow custom JavaScript, PHP, and HTML5/CSS3 to support integrated web applications and will permit linking to or preferably embedding web applications built with R, Python, and ShinyApps.

· Responsive Design and Navigation - Both sites will be designed for mobile compatibility, ensuring seamless navigation across all devices (desktop, tablet, mobile). A comprehensive, user-friendly menu will be incorporated for easy navigation.

· Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - SEO will be implemented using tools or plugins (e.g., Yoast) to optimize content for search engines and enhance visibility. A focus will be placed on high-ranking keywords.

· Multilingual Support - The external website will be capable of supporting multiple languages.

· Content Reorganization - The external website’s information architecture will be updated to bring frequently accessed pages to the forefront for easy discovery.

Projected Deliverables This projected list of deliverables serves as a reference with the understanding that the final list will be determined pending negotiation with the selected vendor.

· Assessment of the Current Sites to Identify Improvement Areas Memo

· Sitemap and Wireframes

· Design Prototypes

· Redesigned External Website

· Redesigned Internal Website

· Training and Support

· Documentation for Both Sites, including maintenance Best Practices Report

Submission Requirements:

1. Qualifications

· Description of the proposed team for the project, their qualifications, and the resumes of each proposed individual. Representative resumes will not be reviewed.

· Experience with government agencies of similar size and scope is preferred.

2. Proposal

· Detailed proposal that incorporates the elements and deliverables described in the “What We Are Looking For” and “Scope of Work” sections, not to exceed five pages.

· Marketing materials will not be reviewed.

3. Timeline

· A timeline or schedule estimating when elements or phases of work described in the proposal will take place and be completed, including the involvement of key stakeholder groups. The timeline should indicate where and when in the process key milestones and decision points are anticipated. This includes approvals that will be required by the agency leadership team.

4. Budget

· A comprehensive budget covering all aspects of the project that includes:

· A cost estimate for each deliverable of the scope of work above or the sections in the bidder’s proposal if organized differently.

· A table that shows the anticipated project team by name, title, anticipated number of hours working on the project, and each individual’s hourly rate.

5. Examples

· Two examples of public sector or governmental project(s) of a similar size and scope, that were completed by one or more members of the proposed team within 3 years (preferred) to 5 years (acceptable).

6. Contact information

· Point of contact for the RFP process and, if different, the project manager for the project, if awarded

7. References

· Using the Reference Form provided in Attachment B, the consultant must provide at least three past or current clients of a project of a similar size and scope to this project. All references must be for work completed by the consultant within the past three years.

8. Exceptions

· List of exceptions, if any, to the existing Professional Services Agreement (Attachment A).

Evaluation Criteria:

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following:

· Understanding of the project

· Clarity and feasibility of the proposed approach

· Relevant experience of key personnel, including with public sector entities;

· Best value, and

· The quality of past examples of work.

Interviews, if applicable, will be evaluated and incorporated into a final evaluation. Interviews will be conducted remotely. The project manager and relevant team members identified in a bid must attend interviews.

Attachment A:

· Professional Services Agreement Attachment B:

· Reference Form