UCO-958 School of Professional Studies Website Redesign.pdf

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF

THE SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

UCO-958

SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

WEBSITE REDESIGN

Issue Date: April 10, 2025 Proposal Submission Due: May 02, 2025

Designated Contact:

Helena Gacina, Purchasing Manager 230 W. 41 Street, 5th Floor New York, NY 10036

Helena.Gacina@cuny.edu (646)664-3178 mailto:Helena.Gacina@cuny.edu

Table of Contents

Part 1: Key Events and Dates; Designated Contacts; Proposal Due Location; Contract Term

Part 2: Proposer Qualifications and Requirements; and Diversity Participation Goals

Part 3: Project Objectives and Scope; Detailed Specifications and Deliverables and Certain Contract Specific Provisions

Part 4: Technical and Management Proposal Requirements (Proposal Volume II)

Part 5: Proposal Price Breakdown Pages (Proposal Volume III)

Part 6: Proposal Scoring Criteria and Weights

Part 7: Terms and Conditions of Contract

Part 8: Service Level Agreement (N/A)

Part 9: Supplier Diversity Provisions

Part 10: Important Notices to Proposers

FORMS THAT MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH THE PROPOSAL

□ Form 1: Proper Information and Authorized Signature; Acceptance of Contract Terms; Proper Certifications;

Confidential Information; Signed RFP Addenda; and References

□ Form 2: Offeror’s Affirmation of Understanding of And Agreement pursuant to State Finance Law § 139-j(3) and § 139-j(6)(b)

□ Form 3: Offeror’s Disclosure of Prior Non-Responsibility Determinations and Certification of Compliance with

State Finance Law § 139-j and § 139-k

□ Form 4: Diversity Practices Questionnaire

□ Form 5: Supplier Diversity (M/WBE/SDVOB) Utilization Plan and/or Supplier Diversity (MWBE/SDVOB)

Request for Waiver Form. Also see Supplier Diversity Provisions in Part 9.

□ Form 6: RFP Checklist

FORMS THAT CUNY MAY REQUIRE FROM THE PRESUMPTIVE AWARDEE

If required by CUNY, the Presumptive Awardee selected as a result of this solicitation (the “Presumptive Awardee”) shall complete, sign, and submit the following forms and certifications as described in Section 2.3.5 through 2.3.12 of Part 10 of this RFP.

□ Form 7: Executive Law Article 15-A – Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises and Equal

Employment Opportunity Policy Statement

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□ Form 8: Evidence in form and substance satisfactory to the University that the Contractor maintains workers’ compensation coverage and disability insurance coverage as required by the New York State

Workers’ Compensation Law, or is exempt from this requirement

□ Form 9: New York State Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire (NYS VendRep)

□ Form 10: New York City Vendor and Principal Questionnaire (NYC PASSPort)

FORMS THAT THE CONTRACTOR MUST SUBMIT UPON REQUEST BY CUNY BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE

PROPOSED CONTRACT TERM

□ Form 11: CUNY Substitute W-9 Form

□ Form 12: Workforce Utilization Report

□ Form 13: Supplier Diversity (MWBE/SDVOB) Quarterly Contractor Compliance & Payment Report

□ Form 14: State Consultant Services – Contractor’s Planned Employment (Consultant Disclosure Form A)

□ Form 15: State Consultant Services Contractor’s Annual Employment Report (Consultant Disclosure Form B)

□ Form 16: Tax Law §5-a, Form ST-220-CA – Contractor Certification (Contractor to send to the University)

□ Form 17: Tax Law §5-a, Form ST-220-TD – Contractor Certification (Contractor to send to the State)

□ Form 18: Certified Weekly Payroll Report

□ Form 19: Contractor’s Safety Protocols

Part 1: Key Events and Dates; Designated Contacts; Proposal Due Location; Contract Term

Key Events and Dates Action Date

CUNY issues RFP for School of Professional Studies Website Redesign

April 10, 2025

Procurement Lobbying Law Restrictions Begin April 10, 2025

Pre-Proposal Conference/Site-Visit ☐ Mandatory ☐ Optional

N/A

Submission of Written Questions Due Date 1 April 17, 2025 @ 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

Submission of Written Questions Due Date 2 April 24, 2025 @ 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

Proposal Submission Due Date and Time May 02, 2025 @ 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

**Proposers are advised to read all sections of this RFP document carefully, with emphasis on all terms and conditions. By tendering a response to this solicitation, each proposer agrees that it accepts all terms and conditions in the package without exception. If a vendor requires clarification on, or seeks to propose an exception to, any of the terms and conditions contained in the solicitation package, all such requests must be made in writing prior to the Questions Deadlines listed above. Proposed exceptions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and determinations will be published in a subsequent addendum. Proposers are not to rely upon an exception agreed to for a prior contract award to govern the terms of this solicitation – all proposed exceptions must be introduced and incorporated via addendum issued specifically for this solicitation. A proposer who submits exceptions to the solicitation after the Q&A Period may result in the proposer’s submittal being deemed non-responsive by the University.

CUNY reserves the right to amend any or all of the above dates and will issue such change in writing.

I. Designated Contact(s):

In compliance with the Procurement Lobbying Law, the individual(s) identified below are the Designated Contact(s) for this Request for Proposals solicitation and may be contacted for all inquiries regarding this solicitation:

The City University of New York , 230 W 41 Street, Rm 560 Attention: Helena Gacina, Purchasing Manager E-mail: Helena.Gacina@cuny.edu

New York State Procurement Lobbying Law permits rejection of a Proposal if a Proposer has made any unauthorized contact during the Restricted Period (as defined in the Procurement Lobbying Law).

Multiple violations of procurement lobbying restrictions regarding permissible contacts may lead to a Proposer’s being debarred from participating in future New York State procurements.

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II. Proposal Due Location:

CUNY is not responsible for the delivery or submission of Proposals. Only Proposals that are sent, and accepted by the Designated Contact, shall be accepted. CUNY is not responsible for Proposals received after the deadline, regardless of the reason for lateness. On a case-by-case basis, CUNY may deem it acceptable for Proposals to be submitted via e-mail. For this solicitation, CUNY will be accepting proposals via email. Proposals may be sent to: Helena.Gacina@cuny.edu.

• Proposals submitted via e-mail must include scans of original (wet) signatures and notarizations to be considered a valid Proposal.

• Proposals (including any excel spreadsheets) must be clearly labeled with three (3) separate pdf attachments clearly named for Volume I (Forms), Volume II (Technical Proposal), and Volume III (Price Proposal).

• Proposals submitted via e-mail must be clearly labeled with Proposer’s name and the RFP’s Project name by including the following subject line:

[Firm’s Name] – UCO 958 School of Professional Studies Website Redesign

III. Anticipated Number of Contracts

CUNY anticipates awarding one (1) contract based on an evaluation of best value, as further described in Part 6 of this RFP.

IV. Anticipated Contract Term:

The College anticipates that the selected Contractor will complete all specified deliverables, within eighteen (18) months following Contract’s approval by the Attorney General and the New York State or New York City Comptroller.

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Part 2: Proposer Qualifications and Requirements; and Diversity Participation Goals

Paragraph I: Minimum Proposer Qualifications:

CUNY is seeking an appropriately qualified firm with experience in providing these Services. To be considered for Contract award, the Proposer must meet the following minimum qualifications:

a. The Proposer must have a minimum of five (5) years of demonstrated experience in building websites and related digital web services using open-source web content management systems.

b. The Proposer must have completed at least three (3) higher education institutions’ primary public websites, located within the United States, which have been fully operational for a minimum of one (1) year.

c. The Proposer must be responsible for all aspects of the Information Technology Information Library (ITIL) Development and Service Lifecycles for the proposed website. Product resellers or other partners will not satisfy this requirement and, consequently, resellers and partners do not qualify for Contract award.

Proposer’s Subcontractors are subject to CUNY approval and must also possess appropriate qualifications and an acceptable level of experience, as determined by CUNY in its sole discretion.

Paragraph II: Non-Mandatory Proposer Qualifications:

None Applicable.

Paragraph III: Supplier Diversity Participation Goals

i. CUNY has established a 30% participation goal (based on the current availability of qualified MWBEs) in the aggregate for New York State certified Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (“MBE”) and Women- Owned Business Enterprises (“WBE”, and, together with MBE, “MWBEs”) and a 6% participation goal (based on the current availability of qualified SDVOBs) for New York State certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (“SDVOB”), to be part of the proposed team to provide the Services as subcontractor(s) or suppliers (the “Subcontractor(s)”). The Contractor shall be required to use good faith efforts to meet these participation goals. Additional MWBE, SDVOB, and Equal Employment Opportunity requirements applicable to this RFP and to the Contract are attached hereto as Appendix 3.

ii. Proposers may identify potential MWBE Subcontractor(s) by, among other means, referencing the directory of New York State certified MWBEs found at the following internet address:

https://ny.newnycontracts.com/.

iii. Proposers may identify potential SDVOB Subcontractor(s) by, among other means, referencing the list of New York State certified SDVOBs found at the following internet address:

http://www.ogs.ny.gov/Veterans

iv. As part of the proposer’s response, a Supplier Diversity – MWBE/SDVOB Utilization Plan or a Request for Waiver form that is accompanied by supporting documentation must be submitted in order for the proposal to be considered responsive. The selected Contractor will be required to complete a Quarterly Contractor Compliance & Payment Report accompanied by proof of payment to MWBE/SDVOB Subcontractor(s), in such format as shall be required by CUNY on a quarterly basis during the term of the contract. Sample CUNY Supplier Diversity forms and reports may be found at cuny.edu/vendorforms.

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https://ny.newnycontracts.com/ http://www.ogs.ny.gov/Veterans http://cuny.edu/vendorforms

Workforce Utilization Report

i. The Contractor shall submit a Workforce Report, and shall require each of its Subcontractors to submit a Workforce Report, in such format as shall be required by The City University of New York on a monthly basis during the term of the contract.

ii. Separate forms shall be completed by Contractor and any Subcontractor.

iii. In limited instances, the Contractor may not be able to separate out the workforce utilized in the performance of the Contract from the Contractor's and/or Subcontractor's total workforce. When a separation can be made, the Contractor shall submit the Workforce Report and indicate that the information provided related to the actual workforce utilized on the Contract. When the workforce to be utilized on the contract cannot be separated out from the Contractor's and/or Subcontractor's total workforce, the Contractor shall submit the Workforce Report and indicate that the information provided is the Contractor's total workforce during the subject time frame, not limited to work specifically under the contract.

iv. The Contractor shall comply with the provisions of the Human Rights Law and all other State and Federal statutory and constitutional non-discrimination provisions. The Contractor and Subcontractors shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed (religion), color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, age, disability, predisposing genetic characteristic, marital status or domestic violence victim status, and shall also follow the requirements of the Human Rights Law with regard to non-discrimination on the basis of prior criminal conviction and prior arrest.

v. Pursuant to Executive Order 162 of 2017, contractors and subcontractors will also be required to report the gross wages paid to each of their employees for the work performed by such employees on the contract.

vi. Visit cuny.edu/workforceutilizationreport for additional information and instructions on how to complete this Report.

In accordance with Executive Order No. 177, Proposer must certify that it does not have institutional policies or practices that fail to address the harassment and discrimination of individuals on the basis of their age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, marital status, military status, or other protected status under the Human Rights Law.

Proposers are encouraged to provide evidence of a demonstrable commitment to diversity and inclusion in its hiring, retention and promotion of women and minorities and is strongly encouraged to reflect their commitment by the members of the legal team assigned to matters that are the subject of this request for proposal. Pursuant to Executive Order 162, the Contractor will submit quarterly reports that includes data on the gender, race, ethnicity, job title, and salary of employees performing work on the contract.

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http://www.cuny.edu/workforceutilizationreport

Part 3: Project Objectives and Scope; Detailed Specifications and Deliverables;

and Contract-Specific Provisions

About the CUNY School of Professional Studies

For over 15 years, the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) has been leading online education in New York. Notable for offering the most online bachelor’s and master’s degree options at The City University of New York, and for serving transfer students as the University system’s only undergraduate all-transfer School, CUNY SPS meets the needs of adults who wish to finish a bachelor’s degree, progress from an associate degree, earn a master’s degree or certificate in a specialized field, and advance in the workplace or change careers.

The School’s growth has been remarkable, with twenty-six degrees launched since 2006. Enrollment has risen by more than 30% in the last four years to over 4,000 students in the credit-bearing programs. Thousands more are enrolled in non-degree and grant-funded workplace learning programs. In addition, the School has an active alumni network and has established the CUNY SPS Foundation, which offers multiple scholarship opportunities to current students.

With aggressive enrollment projections and targets, CUNY SPS is planning 13% year-over-year growth, culminating in a 175% enrollment increase by 2029/2030. Facing the same challenges as other higher education institutions across the United States, CUNY SPS is looking to capitalize on our top-ranked programs, affordability of tuition, location (New York City), and accessibility for students, including both the flexibility of asynchronous learning and the use of best practices for inclusivity for all learners by increasing visibility of its digital presence for current and prospective students.

3.1 Project Objectives

The School of Professional Studies is seeking to completely redesign and rebuild sps.cuny.edu. The new website design should focus on a simple user experience, branding consistency, user journey integration and content strategy support to help CUNY SPS increase enrollment.

The current website size and traffic are as follows:

• Database Size: MySQL DB 250MB

• Overall Application Size: 1.3GB

• Files Directory: 870MB (5,700 items)

• Average Monthly Users: ~50,000

• Overall website pages: 1,500

• Current CMS: Drupal 10

• Current Hosting Platform: Pantheon

CUNY seeks a digital agency that possesses experience in higher education, with demonstrated technical and digital strategy expertise to research, design, and build a robust website while meeting current web usability and accessibility standards.

The final product will be launched on the cloud-based hosting platform, Pantheon. The ideal partner will have prior experience working with this hosting service.

3.2 Specifications

Audiences:

CUNY SPS’s primary audience is prospective and current students, as well as adult learners seeking to complete a degree or certification. The redesigned website will serve to increase enrollment numbers and retention rates by promoting the school and its programs.

Additional audiences include (but are not necessarily limited to) faculty (current and prospective), staff (current and prospective), School and University administration, donors, Foundation Board Members (current and prospective), alumni, news/media outlets, elected officials, and external partners (city, state, national, global).

Requirements:

The redesigned website shall conform to the following requirements:

• built using the WordPress CMS platform

• a redesigned website that aligns with the CUNY SPS Brand Guidelines (Exhibit 1)

• redesigned navigation and information architecture

• a user experience tailored to the target audiences and presents information with a clear and consistent visual hierarchy

• a user experience that is optimized for both mobile and desktop browsers

• implementation of SEO best practices

• maintains SEO equity and mitigates impact of transitioning content management system (“CMS”) platforms

• a system for site administrators to manage and approve content o including the ability to customize roles to tailor edit access to specific users and groups

• integration with HubSpot

• integration with CRM (Slate)

• to meet or exceed WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility requirements

• to achieve Core Web Vitals metrics across platforms

• compliance with all current privacy and disclosure standards, including but not limited to, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and CCPA the California Consumer Protection Act (“CCPA”);

• a platform management strategy to ensure that all aspects of the site are maintained with the latest stable security patches, hosting best practices, and other cybersecurity protections

Timeline:

The College anticipates the launch of the fully redesigned and tested website within eighteen (18) months from the date the Contract is . approved by the Attorney General and the New York State or New York City Comptroller.

Transition To WordPress:

The CUNY SPS website is currently using Drupal 10. The redesigned website will be built on WordPress.

Location:

All services provided under the resulting Contract for this RFP must be provided within the continental United States, and all data must be stored within the continental United States.

Brand Statement:

With a core focus on online education for adult students, The City University of New York School of Professional

Studies (CUNY SPS) is unique within CUNY as its only fully online School. We are committed to making sure our students balance their education and life and so our online programs are designed to allow students to maintain work and family commitments while pursuing educational goals.

Adapting to the needs of our students across a growing range of fields and sectors, we expand CUNY’s ability to address the demands of evolving workplaces and disciplines. With the core values of flexibility, affordability, and quality, and as the University’s leader in online education, we provide educational opportunities that expand the possibility and promise of public education, and position our students to grow personally, excel in the workplace, and enrich their communities.

Up-to-date demographic information can be found here: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/sps.iep#!/

Website Brand:

CUNY SPS is looking to increase brand awareness and use modern visual templates that are responsive and accessible to create content that is relevant, targeted, and conversion driven.

3.3 Implementation Services and Deliverables:

The contractor will provide the following implementation services and deliverables to CUNY:

Milestone Activity Deliverable(s)

1. Project Planning and Management

• Develop, maintain and update the implementation project plan, including CUNY SPS tasks.

• Conduct a project kickoff meeting to establish goals, roles and expectations

• Maintain the Issues and Risk logs.

• Provide weekly status reports and conduct weekly status meetings.

• Escalate any issues to keep the project on the mutually agreed upon schedule.

• Project Plan

• CUNY SPS Resource Plan

• Weekly Status Report

• Issues and Risk Logs

2. Discovery • Conduct at least 8 stakeholder interviews and 2 interactive workshops to identify key requirements.

• Audit existing analytics data

• User research

• Competitive analysis

• Reports based on activity findings.

3. User Stories • Using the research and data gathered in the discovery phase, develop user stories for each of our target constituencies.

• User stories

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https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/sps.iep%23!/

4. Wireframes and

Design

• Develop at minimum 4 wireframes per page type, including main navigation, homepage, child page, post, and mobile/responsive versions

• Develop wireframes based on the user stories to demonstrate the information architecture and how a user will navigate the site on prioritized user

• journeys.

Provide 3 different design templates for review

• Create high-fidelity design mockups and interactive prototypes

• Ensure accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA standards or higher)

• Conduct user-testing and provide revisions based on feedback

• Wireframes

5. Technical Development & Integration

• Develop the website and all associated features and content types according to the approved design using

WordPress.

• Implement mobile-responsive design and cross-browser compatibility.

• Develop custom functionalities (e.g., API integrations or user portals).

• Ensure robust security measures and data protection.

• Optimize website for speed and performance utilizing Core Web Vitals best practices and guidelines.

• Implement an easily maintainable build process to package and optimize front end assets for deployment

• Create site administrator roles with access to post/edit content tailored to the needs of the user

• The site should be implemented with Git for source control.

• A working development version of the website deployed to a staging/testing server

• All site code and data made available for review.

6. Content Integration &

SEO

Optimization

• Conduct a content audit and create a migration strategy

• Migrate all legacy data that will be preserved in the rebuilt website

• All content, imagery, and/or video developed by

Contractor is subject to approval by SPS, in its sole discretion.

• Optimize metadata, schema markup and URL structure

• Implement a 301 redirect strategy to prevent broken links and SEO loss

7. System Deployment and Configuration

• Provision, deploy, configure and maintain the required systems resources, software and network components to meet CUNY SPS’s requirements.

• Complete the application configurations and security configurations, as applicable.

• Deployment checklist

• Application configuration document

• Security configuration document

• Website disaster recovery plan

8. System Integration and Interface(s)

• Develop and test any API integrations or interfaces required between the website and other systems in use by the college or university.

• Provide detailed API documentation.

• Include expected data request/response examples

9. Custom Reports and Extensions

• Develop, test, update and maintain any custom reports developed for the project and application extensions required to meet CUNY

SPS requirements.

• Provide detailed documentation with steps to produce custom reports.

• Include any data required to run reports and the expected data output

10. Testing • Assist CUNY SPS in conducting User

Acceptance Testing (UAT).

• Log, track and remediate all Severity Level 1 and 2 defects identified in the test cycle. The

Severity Level of the defects will be determined by CUNY SPS. Implement Visual

Regression testing where applicable.

• Test cases and scripts

• Performance Test Results

11. Training Materials • Develop detailed training materials for the new site CMS.

• Document any custom components and their associated functionality.

• Training Materials signed off by CUNY SPS

12. Training Sessions

• Training Sessions: Conduct up to 10 training sessions for CUNY SPS end- users, identified by

CUNY SPS. Each training session, up to 3 hours in duration, will be conducted as an interactive webinar session.

• Up to 10 Training Sessions

13. Production Deployment

• Production Deployment: Develop the system readiness checklist.

• Risk Assessment Checklist

14. Post Production Warranty

• Log, track and remediate Level 1 and 2 defects reported by CUNY SPS for 90 calendar days after the deployment.

• CUNY SPS sign-off that no Level 1 and 2 defects remain 90 day post site launch.

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Helena Gacina Highlight

Deliverable Review and Acceptance:

Contractor shall prepare each Deliverable in a form, format, and in such detail as required or necessary to fulfill the Deliverable’s purposes. Contractor shall perform a systematic review and revision of such Deliverable(s) prior to delivery to CUNY. CUNY will review and provide feedback on the Deliverable within five (5) CUNY Business Days, unless a different time period is agreed between the CUNY and Contractor project managers. If the Deliverable is not acceptable to CUNY in form or content, Contractor shall revise and resubmit the Deliverable to CUNY within three (3) business days, unless a different time period is agreed between the CUNY and Contractor project managers. The cycle of Deliverable submission and review will continue until the Deliverable is approved by CUNY.

The above acceptance criteria shall be required for all milestones, except milestones 12 & 14. For milestone 12, training will be deemed complete following delivery of all specified training sessions. For milestone 14, the Contractor shall provide remediation of all defects within twenty-four (24) hours-notice from CUNY.

Severity Level of Defects:

Level 1 – A Defect that results in a critical business impact interruption, making critical functionality inaccessible, or a complete system interruption causing a severe impact on system availability with no acceptable alternative or work around.

Level 2 – A Defect that results in a critical functionality interrupted, degraded, or unusable, having a severe impact on business processes. Functionality is adversely affected but can be circumvented, or certain functions are disabled but the system remains operable. No acceptable alternative is possible.

Level 3 – An issue that results in a partial non-critical functionality loss and the issue has no significant effect on the usability, or a time-sensitive issue important to long-term productivity that is not causing an immediate work stoppage. An acceptable workaround is available.

Level 4 – An issue that results in a very low impact on the business processes. A functionality enhancement request, or configuration request for a change to the screen layout or design.

3.4 Project Oversight

CUNY will establish a project team for this Website Redesign. The project team shall provide the overall governance of this project.

3.5 CUNY Project Manager

CUNY shall identify a point of contact to manage the overall operations of this project, the CUNY Project Manager. The CUNY Project Manager’s responsibilities shall include but are not limited to:

a. Be responsible for relaying decision(s) from CUNY to Contractor

b. Manage CUNY tasks, project risk and take corrective actions to mitigate any delays and report status to the Contractor and the CUNY executive committee in a timely manner;

c. Participate in weekly status meeting;

d. Manage the Change Orders, timeline, scope and budget for the project;

e. Facilitate the involvement of other CUNY staff members as needed; and

f. Coordinate CUNY’s review of and signoff of deliverables, Change Orders and acceptance.

3.6 Contractor’s Project Manager

The Contractor shall designate a project manager for this Project (“Project Manager”) in writing. The Project Manager shall:

a. Serve as the principal liaison between the CUNY and Contractor personnel (including any subcontractors) participating in this project;

b. Have full decision-making authority on behalf of Contractor including authority to obligate Contractor;

c. Develop and maintain the Implementation Plan, in consultation with the CUNY Project Manager;

d. Review all project risks with CUNY Project Manager

e. Maintain control over the work duties, schedule, and performance of the Contractor’s team;

f. Resolve any CUNY question and comments on the submitted deliverables.

g. Be responsible for managing the Contractor’s staff assigned to this Project.

h. Facilitate regular communication with CUNY, including weekly meetings and status reports/updates, measure the project performance against the project plan and provide updates to CUNY. Communication shall include but not limited to:

i. Status Reporting – The Contractor’s Project Manager shall publish a weekly status report to communicate progress, issues, risks, and plans. The status report will be sent to the CUNY Project Manager to ensure they share a common view of the contributions, commitments, and challenges of the effort. The status report shall be a document that includes all items such as issues, Change Orders, communication, and actions taken.

ii. Status Meetings - At the request of CUNY, the Contractor’s Project Manager shall meet with the CUNY Project Manager and any other CUNY stakeholders to review progress, adjust priorities, resolve issues, review staffing plans, assess risks, and identify improvements.

iii. Ad Hoc Meetings –the Contractor’s Project Manager shall coordinate with the CUNY Project Manager on the scheduling and facilitation of ad hoc project meetings, in particular for those meetings covering topics related to the overall timeliness, cost, and success of the project.

iv. Provide meeting summaries (minutes) within two (2) business days of meetings.

In the event of a mid-term change of Project Manager or any other Contractor personnel, or during the absence of the Project Manager, for any reason, Contractor shall promptly provide a detailed continuity plan for CUNY’s approval.

Prior to replacement, CUNY reserves the right to interview candidates for key positions within the project team and reject proposed staff from the team. The Contractor shall also clearly describe the retention time of key staff throughout the contract. Employers are required by Federal Law to ensure that all employees are legally entitled to work in the United States. Accordingly, CUNY reserves the right to request legally mandated documentation.

Contractor shall ensure that CUNY shall have access at all times to an individual with full authority to make decisions on behalf of Contractor. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to preclude CUNY from discussing any matters relating to Contract with any other members of Contractor’s organization.

3.7 Accessibility

3.7.1 The Contractor shall comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations regarding the accessibility of the Services for those who are disabled. Any network-based information and applications development, or programming, including, but not limited to, websites delivered to or by the State of New York pursuant to this contract or procurement, will comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, Executive Law Section 170-f, as amended, and be consistent with New York State Enterprise IT

Policy NYS-P08-005, Accessibility of Information Communication Technology, as such policy may be amended, modified or superseded (the “Accessibility Policy”). The Accessibility Policy requires that State Entity Information Communication Technology shall be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities as determined by accessibility compliance testing. Such accessibility compliance testing will be conducted by CUNY and any report on the results of such testing must be satisfactory to CUNY, as an explicit condition of being awarded the Contract.

3.7.2 In accordance with Section 170-f of the New York State Executive Law, Contractor represents and warrants that the Services’ online content and functionality shall conform to the most current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines adopted by the World Wide Web Consortium for accessibility (“WCAG Standards”), or any successor standards, which is incorporated herein by reference.

3.7.3 Contractor shall provide, prior to Contract Award, an Accessibility Conformance Report (“ACR”) or a completed Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (“VPAT”) that clearly indicates the Services’ compliance with the WCAG Standards. Please note that this document need not be submitted with the Proposal, but must be submitted as an explicit condition of being awarded the Contract. Contractor’s ACR or VPAT must be reviewed, verified, and accepted by the University prior to award of Contract, and Proposer must provide test temporary credentials for the appropriate University staff person to perform a test of the Services to ensure the Services meet the requisite accessibility standards. The ACR or VPAT must reflect the Contractor’s current software release to CUNY. Contractor warrants that the Services’ online content and functionality shall meet or exceed the accessibility standards specified in Contractor’s ACR or VPAT throughout the Term of this Contract. If CUNY determines that a user of the Services requires a special modification in order to make full use of the Services, then the University shall promptly submit a written request to the Contractor for a modification to the software in writing, and Contractor shall use commercially reasonable efforts to provide such modification promptly. In the event that the requested modification requires more than commercially reasonable efforts, then the Contractor shall engage in good faith negotiations with CUNY to amend the Contract as necessary to provide for the requested modification of the Services. In the event that the Services cannot, following good faith negotiations by both parties, be modified in accordance with this section to enable the user to make full use of the Services, then the University shall have the right to terminate the Contract upon thirty (30) days’ written notice.

3.7.4 The University will not award a Contract to any Proposer which: (a) fails to submit an ACR or completed VPAT that clearly indicates the Services’ compliance with the WCAG standards; (b) submits an ACR or completed VPAT that does not conform to the Services’ accessibility features as verified and tested by the University; (c) proposes a Services which, upon testing, the University determines do not meet the accessibility standards stated herein; or (d) does not provide the necessary credentials to allow the appropriate University staff person to test and verify the accessibility of the online content and functionality of the proposed Services.

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Exhibit 1

CUNY SPS BASIC BRAND GUIDELINES

Logo Style/Minimum Width

See Color Palette for the correct logo color. Logo can also appear as white on dark background. CUNY SPS FAVICON can be used to brand social media and/or when an alternative to logo is needed for design purposes. Minimum width of the logo is 1.25 inches.

1.25” w

Incorrect Logo Usage – Primary Color Palette

Do not alter logo in anyway

Do not place logo on complicated background

X

CUNY SPS LOGO

2756c 716c 390c #003366 #ff6600 #cccc00

We continue to use these CUNY colors

PRIMARY COLORS

Responsive, reliable, rich, grounded in

7555c 7723c 2756c 209c 105c history #cccc00 #669999 #003366 #663333 #996633

172c #ff3300

1788c 240c 3105c 3278c 108c #ff3333 #cc3399 #66cccc #009966 #ffcc00

116c #ffcc00

SECONDARY

COLORS

Innovation, accent, vibrant, energy, charged

AUXILIARY

COLORS

Supportive neutrals, 623c 7527c 7494c 7401c 4725c balance #99cc99 #cccccc #999999 #ffcc99 #999966

Logo Specification – Leave space around logo the width of the CUNY ICON “C”.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Calibri and Georgia examples:

Calibri Regular

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

1234567890

Georgia Regular

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Avenir Roman

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890

Helena Gacina Cross-Out

CUNY SPS EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS

Naming Conventions Miscellaneous Conventions

ACRONYMS

Spell out the name of the organization/program before using an acronym, then use the acronym in parenthesis.

Use the acronym alone (no parentheses) in all following mentions of the organization/program.

PHONE NUMBER

Use (000) 000-0000

HYPHENS

Use “–” or “—”

TIME

Write a single time: 6:00 pm Write a timeframe: 6:00 – 8:00 pm

If there’s a space consideration: 6 – 8 pm For noon time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm

DATE

Write out the month and day, number only, no “th” or “st” i.e. Tuesday, October 25 If there’s a space consideration:

Tuesday, Oct. 25

CAPITALIZATION

Capitalize School and University when standing in for our institutions.

Capitalize professor only when it proceeds a specific person’s name.

Example: Professor Kennedy encouraged students at the School to register online for classes.

Capitalize semesters; Winter Session and Spring Session are also capitalized.

Example: Students at the School can now register online for Fall Semester classes.

Capitalize seasons only when they are used before a semester.

Example: Students are signing up for the Fall Se-mester. [OR] Students are signing up for many classes this fall.

Use “and” and not the “&” Use “Email” not “E-mail”

Example: Students at the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) register online for classes. To view the registration deadlines, visit the CUNY SPS website.

SCHOOL

Use “the CUNY School of Professional Studies” use abbreviation “CUNY SPS” after full name established

OFFICES/DEPARTMENTS

Use “Office of ” with the exception of Bursar and Registrar use “Office of the Bursar or Office of the Regis-trar”

TITLES

Use a comma between Title and Department i.e. “assistant dean, Student Affairs”*

*Job titles are not capitalized unless featured before a person’s name, such as Chancellor Rodríguez.

AWARDED TITLES

For titles of accomplishments use the abbreviation without periods, i.e. PhD, MSW

EMAIL SIGNATURES. SEE EXAMPLE BELOW:

Andrea L. Fagon

Director of Marketing and Communications CUNY School of Professional Studies 15 Years of Leading Online Education at CUNY

P. 646-664-8690 C. 914-384-1758 E. andrea.fagon@cuny.edu mailto:andrea.fagon@cuny.edu

Part 4: Technical and Management Proposal Requirements (Proposal Volume II)

Proposer shall provide a brief history and description of: Proposer’s business organization (with copies of organizational documents); its expertise and experience as it relates to the requirements discussed in the scope of work and specifications described in Part 3; its understanding of and approach to the Project; its process and timeline for rendering the Services; and plans for maintenance and support, to the extent applicable. The information should not exceed 60 pages and should include, but not be limited to:

4.1 Executive Summary:

a. Proposer’s name and address and, if applicable, EIN. Also indicate the type of entity, for example, a corporation, partnership, or public organization.

b. Name and title, address, email and telephone number of the person who receives correspondence and is authorized to make decisions or represent the Proposer. If these persons are different, include information for both.

c. Total number of years Proposer has been in its current business.

d. Documentation of Proposer’s organizational structure.

e. Brief history of your firm’s organization, number of employees and its performance to date, noting key milestones, challenges, and successes along with a statement and analysis of your firm’s organization going forward, including its goals, strategic outlook, projected growth, etc.

4.2 Organizational Strength and Company’s Experience:

a. Provide a detailed description of how the Proposer meets the requirements in Part 2, Paragraph I.

b. Provide a list of clients as described in Part 2, Paragraph I, Section b, and provide the following information for each of them:

i. Name and contact information of the client executive that your company worked;

ii. Dates during which services were provided;

iii. Description of the project scope, services and deliverables provided. This narrative should include and convey evidence pertaining to the Proposer's ability and experience in providing the Services as outlined in Part 3, including a description of the level of complexity of the project;

iv. Demonstration of experience conducting research and deriving insights specific to higher education audiences, including prospective students, faculty, and alumni. This includes an understanding of audience behaviors, motivations, and digital touchpoints unique to the sector.

v. Demonstration of a data-driven approach to website strategy and design, with measurable KPIs specific to higher education goals. Proof of ability to set up comprehensive analytics tools and dashboards that enable ongoing tracking and insights for continuous optimization.

vi. Demonstration of experience in conducting content migrations that preserve or enhance existing SEO value, ensuring that any existing rankings, backlinks, and domain authority are not negatively impacted during the transition.

vii. Demonstration of proven track record of implementing SEO best practices tailored to academic institutions, focusing on improving search visibility for key terms related to higher education.

viii. Total contract dollar value of each project;

ix. Project duration;

x. Additional information to support your firm’s experience (e.g. success criteria achieved, metrics, etc.);

xi. Description of subcontractor roles, if any.

CUNY reserves the right to reach out to references to verify the information provided. Differences between the Information provided by references and the proposal submitted may result in disqualification.

4.3 Staff Qualifications and Staffing Plan

a. Provide a project organization chart, with names and titles for the individuals to be assigned, including subcontractors to the project, during the implementation and for the duration of the project. Also include the role each individual would play. Clearly identify who are the firm’s and subcontractor individuals.

b. Describe how staffing will be provided to meet the project, business, and technical obligations over the entire term of the Contract.

c. Provide staff and subcontractor(s) qualification and experience that qualifies them for the engagement.

d. Describe how your organization intends to fill the Key Roles to provide the Implementation Services described in in Part 3 of this RFP.

e. If subcontractors are proposed for any part of this RFP, provide organizational information for each subcontractor, and describe the role the proposed subcontractor will play in providing services.

4.4 Implementation Plan & Project Schedule

Provide an Implementation Plan and Project Schedule in accordance with the milestones and deliverables set forth under Part 3, Section 3.3.

The Implementation Plan & Project Schedule should describe the strategy and approach for accomplishing the services detailed in this RFP under a timeline that states the duration for all major milestones, a work breakdown structure, and a list of technical assumptions. The plan should define and sequence the necessary activities to perform and procedures to follow to ensure a smooth transition into the Production environment, and all dependencies among activities should be clearly outlined.

The information provided in this plan should demonstrate the Proposer’s understanding of the skills and processes necessary to successfully deliver the services. The Implementation Plan should also include the level of effort anticipated for the solution for both the Contractor and for CUNY SPS, as well as any expected CUNY resources.

4.5 Issue, Risk Management, and Communications Plan

Outline the specific activities the Proposer will regularly perform to identify, qualify, quantify, prioritize and manage project risks, and how your firm intends to ensure successful communication between CUNY and the Proposer’s Project Management Team. This shall include the following information:

a. Indicate the frequency of status updates and written communication about project progress, including risk management status reporting;

b. Describe the process envisioned to ensure that issues are managed and resolved in a timely fashion.

c. Describe planned actions to avoid, mitigate and address typical project risks.

d. Provide two examples from prior projects where there were risks/issues and how Proposer handled this. Your response should include at a minimum, how the risk was identified/determined, what were the step(s) taken to address/fix the issue and how long did it take to be resolved.

The Plan should include both status updates and written communications. Provide a sample communication plan from another client engagement of similar scope.

4.6 Training Plan

In accordance with Part 3, Section 3.3, Subsections 11, and 12 describe the training methodology, training materials and courseware and the proposed training schedule for orienting users to the full scope of services during the implementation and for ongoing training throughout the contract.

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Part 5: Proposal Price Breakdown Pages (Proposal Volume III)

Proposers must complete ALL line items in order for the Price Proposal to be deemed responsive. Failure to do so will result in the rejection of your Proposal. If there is no charge for a specific service, then state “$0” for that service. Each Service is deemed separate and must be priced separately.

Proposer must submit its Price Proposal clearly identified with the Proposer’s name and the words “SPS Website Redesign RFP, Part III: Price Proposal”. Volume III materials must be submitted separately from Volume II.

Implementation Cost:

Milestone Description Cost

M1 Project Planning and Management $

M2 Discovery $

M3 User Stories $

M4 Wireframes and Design $

M5 Technical Development & Integration $

M6 Content Integration & SEO Optimization $

M7 System Deployment and Configuration $

M8 System Integration and Interface(s) $

M9 Custom Reports and Extensions $

M10 Testing $

M11 Training Materials $

M12 Training Sessions $

M13 Production and Deployment $

M14 Post Production Warranty $

Total Cost of Implementation (Sum of Costs for Milestones 1 through 14) $

Total Proposal Price in Words: dollars

A milestone will be considered complete when the contractor has provided and CUNY has accepted all Deliverables listed against the particular milestone in Part 3. Contractor shall only invoice CUNY after completion of the milestone.

Part 6: Proposal Scoring Criteria and Weights

Step 1: Administrative Review

CUNY will conduct an administrative review of each Proposal to ensure that all content has been submitted in accordance with this RFP (including a completed Form 1 signed by an authorized representative of Proposer and completed Forms 2 and 3) and that Proposers meet the Minimum

Qualifications set forth in this RFP. Proposals that do not include all required content will be deemed non-responsive and will not be granted any further consideration, unless CUNY deems such omissions non-material. Proposers are not permitted to alter or amend their Proposals after the Proposal

Submission Due Date and Time. After a firm has been identified for award, all Proposers will be notified.

Step 2: Scoring of Diversity Practices Questionnaire (5 Points)

Upon completion of its Administrative Review above, the University’s/College’s Procurement

Department will score the Diversity Practices Questionnaire. The Diversity Practices Questionnaire will be scored on the points system as indicated on the questionnaire. The total score received for each

Diversity Practices Questionnaire will be proportionally converted for a maximum of up to five (5) points. The scores for Proposers’ Diversity Practices Questionnaires will not be disclosed to CUNY’s

Technical Evaluation Committee (“Committee”) prior to their completion of their evaluation and scoring of Proposers’ Technical Proposals.

Step 3: Scoring of Volume II: Technical and Management Proposal (60 Points)

Members of the Committee will preliminarily score each Technical Proposal individually and then meet as a group to discuss and give final scores to the Technical Proposals. The preliminary Technical Score for each Proposal will consist of the sum of the scores given to the Technical Proposal by each of the

Committee members, divided by the number of Committee members with a maximum score indicated in this section, and will be provided to the University’s or College’s Procurement Office. Then the members of the Committee will meet as a group to discuss the Technical and Management Proposals.

After such group discussion, the Committee members will provide their individual final Technical Scores, which may or may not be the same as their preliminary Technical Scores, to the Procurement Office.

Step 4: Scoring of Volume III: Price Proposal (25 Points)

The University’s/College’s Procurement Department will score the Price Proposals. Only the University or College Procurement Office will be privy to pricing information until the Committee members have completed and submitted all final scoring, including for Technical and Management Proposals and for the Oral Presentations and Product Demonstrations (if applicable) for the RFP.