Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture Digital Experience Initiative Request for Proposals
Closed Solicitation Posted
- Solicitation number
- 33330225RF0010026
- Agency
-
Smithsonian Institution
- Responses due
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- NAICS code
- 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services
- Place of performance
- Washington, District of Columbia 20560, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture is seeking a contractor to enhance and develop their Searchable Museum online platform through a Digital Experience Initiative. The Museum requires services including improving accessibility and discoverability of digital content, developing new interactive and immersive features, creating online exhibition experiences (particularly for "A Changing America, 1868 - Today"), enhancing the homepage and search functionality, and implementing improved audience analytics tracking. The contract will be awarded on a firm fixed-price basis for the initial term with potential option periods, and offerors must meet minimum qualification requirements including having dedicated staff in roles such as content strategist, full-stack developer, and user experience designer. The solicitation was posted on April 10, 2025, with Amendment No. 1 containing responses to questions posted on May 5, 2025, and proposals are due by May 21, 2025. The evaluation will focus on technical capabilities, past performance, and the contractor's ability to work with the existing technology stack including Craft CMS, React, Gatsby, Algolia, AWS, GraphQL, and CircleCI.
This solicitation has no set-aside designation and no current incumbent contractors are identified in the documentation. While specific award values or budget ranges are not disclosed in the available materials, the contract structure includes a base six-month period with potential for six additional six-month option periods, utilizing agile methodologies with two-week sprints for development cycles. The primary place of performance is Washington, DC 20560, where the Museum is located on the National Mall. The contractor will be responsible for supporting the Museum's strategic goal of serving as a trusted online source for Americans and ensuring accessibility to digital resources for homes and classrooms nationwide. The project aims to expand the Museum's online audience reach beyond the 11 million in-person visitors it has welcomed since opening in September 2016, building upon the existing Searchable Museum platform that launched in November 2021 and currently features seven exhibitions from the Museum's permanent and changing galleries.
Notice text
2 versions
Update #2 · Latest ·
UPDATE: The responses to all questions recieved for this solicitaion are now uploaded in Amendment No. 1 to the RFP. Please review this new document for answers to all questions and updated information regarding the RFP.
This is the solicitation for former Notice ID 33330225RT0010022. This opportunity is now a solicitation for a federal contract and all participation in this request for proposals must be under this new Notice ID 33330225RF0010026.
Since opening Sept. 24, 2016, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (the “Museum”) has welcomed more than 11 million in-person visitors to its location on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. The Museum has also continually expanded its reach by engaging millions more online through its digital presence, including the Searchable Museum, the Museum’s signature online platform for interpretive, scholarly, digital experiences
The Museum launched the Searchable Museum in November 2021 with the release of its first exhibition experience, Slavery and Freedom. Since that initial release, seven exhibitions from the Museum’s permanent and changing galleries have been added to the Searchable Museum, along with many new digital stories, Constellations featuring objects from the Museum’s collection, and digital learning resources for educators and students.
The Searchable Museum is committed to bringing all the Museum’s permanent exhibitions online while creating new, original, interpretive, digital experiences that reimagine the Museum’s exhibitions, collection, archives, and scholarly works in a digital space that engages online visitors with visually compelling, immersive, multimedia storytelling that is informative and educational. As an online platform, the Searchable Museum is built on a flexible, scalable, and secure cloud-based computing environment and content management system, using modern standards for web browser-based applications that meet current requirements for online accessibility, and align with the Museum’s established brand identity and online style guide.
In 2025, the Museum is prioritizing improving the accessibility and discoverability of its original digital content through qualitative and quantitative audience research and analysis, iterative design enhancements to the user experience, and a strategic approach to content development and publishing that aligns with the Museum’s audience outreach and engagement goals. The Museum is also prioritizing growing its online audience reach and engagement through the design and development of new, interactive, immersive features for the Searchable Museum that add value to the user experience and provide new opportunities for engaging learners of all levels who visit the platform online. Key outcomes will include the release of the online exhibition experience for A Changing America, 1868 – Today, the final permanent exhibition from the Museum’s History Galleries, an enhanced Home Page and Search experience, and improved audience analytics tracking.
Among the Museum’s key objectives as part of the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan are to provide online visitors to the Searchable Museum with experiences that grow and diversify the Museum’s audience reach, enhances engagement, and increase the Museum’s impact among key online audience segments. To meet these objectives, the Museum seeks to enhance the usability, accessibility, flexibility, functionality, and performance of the Searchable Museum online platform and develop new digital content experiences drawn from the Museum’s exhibitions, collection, archives, and educational resources.
Together these enhancements shall provide the Museum’s online audiences with a digital experience that meets the Smithsonian’s strategic goals of serving as a trusted online source for all Americans and ensuring every home and classroom has access the Museum’s digital resources.
The Smithsonian is looking to award one time-and-materials contract with possible multiple option periods to one successful Offeror.
NOTE: This is a solicitation for a federal contract and is therefore governed by federal procurement procedures.
The RFP is available April 10, 2025. Please note: This solicitation anticipates requires a Minimum Qualifications Requirement. Interested Offerors will need to respond to and provide documentation satisfying these minimum qualifications in order to be considered for award. Any and all materials must be submitted by the deadlines set forth in the RFP in order to be considered.
Update #1 ·
This is the solicitation for former Notice ID 33330225RT0010022. This opportunity is now a solicitation for a federal contract and all participation in this request for proposals must be under this new Notice ID 33330225RF0010026.
Since opening Sept. 24, 2016, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (the “Museum”) has welcomed more than 11 million in-person visitors to its location on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. The Museum has also continually expanded its reach by engaging millions more online through its digital presence, including the Searchable Museum, the Museum’s signature online platform for interpretive, scholarly, digital experiences
The Museum launched the Searchable Museum in November 2021 with the release of its first exhibition experience, Slavery and Freedom. Since that initial release, seven exhibitions from the Museum’s permanent and changing galleries have been added to the Searchable Museum, along with many new digital stories, Constellations featuring objects from the Museum’s collection, and digital learning resources for educators and students.
The Searchable Museum is committed to bringing all the Museum’s permanent exhibitions online while creating new, original, interpretive, digital experiences that reimagine the Museum’s exhibitions, collection, archives, and scholarly works in a digital space that engages online visitors with visually compelling, immersive, multimedia storytelling that is informative and educational. As an online platform, the Searchable Museum is built on a flexible, scalable, and secure cloud-based computing environment and content management system, using modern standards for web browser-based applications that meet current requirements for online accessibility, and align with the Museum’s established brand identity and online style guide.
In 2025, the Museum is prioritizing improving the accessibility and discoverability of its original digital content through qualitative and quantitative audience research and analysis, iterative design enhancements to the user experience, and a strategic approach to content development and publishing that aligns with the Museum’s audience outreach and engagement goals. The Museum is also prioritizing growing its online audience reach and engagement through the design and development of new, interactive, immersive features for the Searchable Museum that add value to the user experience and provide new opportunities for engaging learners of all levels who visit the platform online. Key outcomes will include the release of the online exhibition experience for A Changing America, 1868 – Today, the final permanent exhibition from the Museum’s History Galleries, an enhanced Home Page and Search experience, and improved audience analytics tracking.
Among the Museum’s key objectives as part of the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan are to provide online visitors to the Searchable Museum with experiences that grow and diversify the Museum’s audience reach, enhances engagement, and increase the Museum’s impact among key online audience segments. To meet these objectives, the Museum seeks to enhance the usability, accessibility, flexibility, functionality, and performance of the Searchable Museum online platform and develop new digital content experiences drawn from the Museum’s exhibitions, collection, archives, and educational resources.
Together these enhancements shall provide the Museum’s online audiences with a digital experience that meets the Smithsonian’s strategic goals of serving as a trusted online source for all Americans and ensuring every home and classroom has access the Museum’s digital resources.
The Smithsonian is looking to award one time-and-materials contract with possible multiple option periods to one successful Offeror.
NOTE: This is a solicitation for a federal contract and is therefore governed by federal procurement procedures.
The RFP is available April 10, 2025. Please note: This solicitation anticipates requires a Minimum Qualifications Requirement. Interested Offerors will need to respond to and provide documentation satisfying these minimum qualifications in order to be considered for award. Any and all materials must be submitted by the deadlines set forth in the RFP in order to be considered.
Files
Show all 12
On GovTribe
Work this opportunity
- Track it in your pipeline
- Find teaming partners
- Similar opportunities
- Ask GovTribe AI about this opportunity