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Addendum “B”
Specification No. 17-11118-C Website Redesign and Web Content Management System
I. Additional insurance requirements – Awardee will be required to provide evidence of the
following insurance coverages as part of the contract execution process. A. Technology Professional Liability Errors and Omissions Insurance appropriate to
the Vendor’s profession and work hereunder, with limits not less than $2,000,000 per occurrence. Coverage shall be sufficiently broad to respond to the duties and obligations as is undertaken by the Vendor in this agreement and shall include, but not be limited to, claims involving infringement of intellectual property, copyright, trademark, invasion of privacy violations, information theft, release of private information, extortion and network security. The policy shall provide coverage for breach response costs as well as regulatory fines and penalties as well as credit monitoring expenses with limits sufficient to respond to these obligations. The Policy shall include, or be endorsed to include, property damage liability coverage for damage to, alteration of, loss of, or destruction of electronic data and/or information “property” of the Agency in the care, custody, or control of the Vendor. If not covered under the Vendor’s liability policy, such “property” coverage of the Agency may be endorsed onto the Vendor’s Cyber Liability Policy as covered property as follows:
B. Cyber Liability coverage in an amount sufficient to cover the full replacement value of damage to, alteration of, loss of, or destruction of electronic data and/or information “property” of the Agency that will be in the care, custody, or control of Vendor.
C. The Insurance obligations under this agreement shall be the greater of 1—all the
Insurance coverage and limits carried by or available to the Vendor; or 2—the minimum Insurance requirements shown in this agreement. Any insurance proceeds in excess of the specified limits and coverage required, which are applicable to a given loss, shall be available to Agency. No representation is made that the minimum Insurance requirements of this agreement are sufficient to cover the indemnity or other obligations of the Vendor under this agreement.
II. The City of Berkeley (“City”) has received Questions from some potential respondents regarding
Specification No. 17-11118-C, Website Redesign and Web Content Management System. In an effort to provide the same information to all, listed below are the Questions received to date, with responses from City staff.
1. Q. Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this? (like, from India or
Canada) 1. A. Companies based outside of the United States may apply, but must be able to comply
with all requirements for conducting business with the City of Berkeley as specified in
the RFP.
2. Q. Whether we need to come over there for meetings? 2. A. Yes, in person meetings will be required as needed.
3. Q. Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (like, from India or Canada) 3. A. Yes, certain tasks related to the RFP may be performed outside the United States.
4. Q. Can we submit the proposals via email? 4. A. No, proposals must be mailed or hand delivered. See the cover page of the RFP for
proposal submission instructions.
5. Q. We have US and UK offices, the majority of the development work would be done out of the UK – will this be a problem?
5. A. No, see response to Question #3.
6. Q. Did you have a rough budget in mind? We can tailor our solutions to your budget. 6. A. The City has researched cost estimates and has budgeted accordingly. Please provide
your best proposal.
7. Q. Does the City of Berkeley have any concerns working with a vendor from the East Coast? We are located in Raleigh, NC and we can certainly make arrangements for communicating and managing over email, audio, and web conference – but was curious if the City had strong aversion to not meeting “in-person” for the duration of the redesign project.
7. A. The City is open to working with a vendor from the East Coast and handling project communications virtually, but some in person meetings will be required.
8. Q. Besides https://www.cityofberkeley.info/ are there any other domains included within
the scope of this project? 8. A. No.
9. Q. What are the budget parameters for the project? 9. A. See response to Question 6.
10. Q. To give us a sense of your vision, please provide the URLs of up to three sites that
you admire and briefly explain why. 10. A. The City has identified the websites for San Diego (https://www.sandiego.gov/),
Philadelphia (https://beta.phila.gov/), and Hayward (https://www.hayward-ca.gov/) as models for the new website. The appeal is the same in each case – a clean, modern design, ease of use, and strong focus on service delivery.
11. Q. Perhaps I missed it but I did not see the Attachment J (Website Needs Assessment) 11. A. The Website Needs Assessment has been posted on our Bids & Proposals webpage as
Addendum A to the RFP: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Finance/Home/Current_Bid_and_Proposal_Opportunities.aspx
12. Q. Has any persona or customer segmentation data been completed? 12. A. No.
13. Q. If not, we have two research options – which do you prefer:
- Interview internal stakeholders to develop preliminary personas - Interview customer focused internal stakeholders to develop provisional personas
13. A. The City has conducted extensive research with internal stakeholders which will be provided to the selected vendor. If the vendor deems additional internal interviews necessary, the focus should be on customer-facing staff.
14. Q. Have you established specific goals for the site? If so, what are those goals and how is
the site performing actual vs. plan? 14. A. The City has not established specific goals for the new website and would like to
develop these in collaboration with the selected vendor.
15. Q. Have customer buyer’s journey been developed? 15. A. No.
16. Q. Have you completed keyword research and keyword mapping? 16. A. The City has completed keyword research that will be shared with the selected vendor.
17. Q. How long has Google analytics been running on the site? 17. A. The City has been using Google Analytics on the site since it was launched in 2008.
18. Q. What functionality and URLs are powered by a 3rd party that needs to be reskinned? 18. A. The third party services that will need to be reskinned to match the website redesign
include: • Online Parking Citation Payment System:
https://prodpci.etimspayments.com/pbw/ include/berkeley/input.jsp
• Administrative Review Request: https://prdwmq.etimspayments.com/pbw/ include/berkeley/dispute_request.jsp
• Berkeley Municipal Code: http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/Berkeley/ • City of Berkeley Electronic Filing System:
https://ssl.netfile.com/static/agency/brk/ • Records.cityofberkeley.info: http://records.cityofberkeley.info/Agenda/home • Locate in Berkeley Commercial Listing Service:
http://www.cityapplications.com/berkeley/commercialspace.html • NeoGov Job Opportunity listings:
https://agency.governmentjobs.com/berkeley/default.cfm • Online Service Center intake requests:
https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CrmRequestIntake.aspx? requestTypeHandle_IN=REQUEST-TYPE-ILLEGAL-DUMPING
• Rent Stabilization Board Property Finder: http://rentboardtools.berkeley.root/PropertyFinder/Home.aspx
The final scope of work negotiated with the vendor may include adapting the City’s new website design for additional services beyond those listed above.
19. Q. What KPIs have you set up for the new site? 19. A. The City has not identified Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the new website
and would like to develop these in collaboration with the selected vendor.
20. Q. How is the current site performing vs. its KPIs? 20. A. The City is focusing its web efforts on the new website and is not monitoring
performance of the existing website.
21. Q. What tactics have you been undertaking to improve your SEO? 21. A. The City is focusing its web efforts on the new website and has not taken steps to
improve Search Engine optimization (SEO) on the existing website.
22. Q. What action do you visitors to take on the site? 22. A. Visitors come to the City of Berkeley’s website seeking information about a wide
variety of City programs and services. They should be able to quickly and easily find the information they are looking for.
23. Q. How do you define a conversion? 23. A. The City does not use conversions as a metric on the website, as there is no single or
primary action the City wants most users to take.
24. Q. Do you prefer .NET or PHP, open source or off the shelf? 24. A. The City is open to considering any Content Management System (CMS) that meets
the technical and functional requirements as outlined in the RFP. The City does not have a preference regarding the underlying technology of the CMS, but is seeking a solution that is highly configurable and will not require custom coding from City IT staff.
25. Q. How many concurrent editors will there be? 25. A. The City does not anticipate more than 20 editors using the site at any given time, but
the CMS should not restrict the number of concurrent editors.
26. Q. Do you need staging and production or just production? 26. A. Both staging and production environments are required.
27. Q. What features on the current site do you want to retain? 27. A. All functionality included on the current website should be supported by the new
website.
28. Q. What new features do you want to have built? 28. A. See RFP, Section II: Scope of Services, Parts 4-4.3.
29. Q. Will any content be pulled from a third party or will all content reside within the CMS?
29. A. All content will reside within the CMS.
30. Q. Do any features need to integrate with a back end third party? If yes, which third parties?
30. A. The City does not anticipate features that will integrate with a back end third party at this time. If a decision is made to include any back-end third party integrations as part of the project, this will be discussed with the vendor as part of contract negotiations.
31. Q. How many forms are required? 31. A. The number of forms that will be on the website at launch is not yet determined. The
CMS should support the ability to create an unlimited number of webforms.
32. Q. Do any forms need to integrate with a back end system? 32. A. The City does not anticipate any forms that will integrate with a back end system at
this time. If a decision is made to integrate any webforms with a back end system, such as the 311 intake CRM system, this will be discussed with the vendor as part of contract negotiations.
33. Q. What languages are required? 33. A. Website content will primarily be in English, with an embedded Google translate tool.
However, the CMS and WYSIWYG editor must support the use of foreign characters.
34. Q. Where does the data for the Council District Locator reside? https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CouncilDistrictSearch.aspx
34. A. The data resides in a City maintained database.
35. Q. “Robust event management” – I’m assuming these features are required: - Display in calendar form - Filtered search based on type of event, location of event
35. A. Add to calendar is required. The ability to let users register for selected events and limit the number of registrations is preferred, but not required. The City will not take payments for any events through the website. Most events will not use registration. Also, currently, the City uses a custom events calendar that was developed in-house over 15 years ago. For the new website, event management should be part of the CMS. Events should have the ability to be displayed in list or calendar format, and to be filtered by audience, event type, or other taxonomy created by the City. Additionally, events should have the ability to be displayed in multiple places on the website, including particular sections of the website or specific pages. Events should be removed from such displays once they have passed without requiring any action taken by City staff. The City should have the ability to highlight or feature specific events as needed.
36. Q. Are these features required:
- Registration form (if yes, is payment required)
- Add to Outlook 36. A. See answer to question #35.
37. Q. Does each individual event need to have its own page that describes the event? 37. A. Yes. See answer to question #35.
38. Q. Where does the data for the events reside now (i.e., does it get pulled from a third
party)? If yes, where do you want data to reside in the new website? 38. A. See question #35.
39. Q. What is meant by “Effectively support online payments…”? I ask because I’ve found
at least two online payments that go to separate websites: - https://prodpci.etimspayments.com/pbw/include/berkeley/input.jsp - https://www.officialpayments.com/pc_template_standard.jsp?
body=pc_step2_lookup_nl_body.jsp 39. A. The website must have the ability to link to the City’s various payment processing
services, including the two listed above and any that may be added in the future.
40. Q. What is meant by the bullet that says “Support online applications…” - https://www.cityofberkeley.info/onlineservicecenter/
40. A. The website should have the ability to link to any of the third-party online services used by the City, including all of those listed in Appendix I: Technical and Functional Requirements (page 39), and any the City may use in the future.
41. Q. What is meant by “manage logic-based data collection…”? 41. A. The CMS should allow administrators to create multi-step webforms that store
responses in a database and allow for export in CSV and other formats.
42. Q. Employing Siteimprove onto your website will ensure your site complies with WCAG 2.0 Level AA.
42. A. The City may employ a site analysis tool for ongoing accessibility monitoring of city-generated content on the future website. The new website design should also have accessibility compliance built in, making use of semantic front-end markup and accessibility features such as ARIA attributes where appropriate. The CMS should include accessibility support, such as the ability to require ALT tags for images.
43. Q. Have you completed Content Catalog, Content Mapping and Gap Identification? 43. A. The City has completed a comprehensive content audit/inventory and is currently in
the process of identifying which content will be retained and rewritten for the new site.
44. Q. What content that needs to be migrated resides in a structured format? I ask because
we may be able to write a script to automatically migrate structured content. 44. A. Content will be developed in and migrated from the tool GatherContent.
45. Q. If available, please provide the current hosting environment specs.
45. A. The website is currently hosted in house.
46. Q. What are your bandwidth, RAM, database and disk space requirements? 46. A. Please provided your best proposal.
47. Q. Do you prefer a Dedicated or Shared environment? 47. A. The City is open to considering dedicated or shared hosting environments. Please
provide your best proposal.
48. Q. Do you need a staging environment? 48. A. Yes.
49. Q. If yes, do you want staging and production setup as separate accounts on the same
server OR separate servers? 49. A. Please propose your recommended solution.
50. Q. Do you want your website and database on the same server? 50. A. The City prefers the website and database be hosted on separate servers.
51. Q. How many unique sessions does the site get per month on average? 51. A. In 2017, the website averaged 128,356 sessions per month.
52. Q. Please let us know the number of pages the current website have? 52. A. See RFP, page 4, Site Content.
53. Q. And, kindly specify the number of pages to be on the new website as City team will be
working with the vendor to update/rewrite content of current site too? 53. A. The City is currently in the process of identifying content for the new site and does not
have a final estimate for number of pages. Please provide estimates for migrating between 500 and 1500 pages.
54. Q. Do you want vendor to help in content writing for new site? 54. A. No, the City is contracting web writers for the new site independently.
55. Q. Do you want vendor to create logo for City site? 55. A. No, the City will continue to use our existing logo.
56. Q. Kindly explain this feature in details. “Create form with ability to create and manage
logic based data collection captured into database format. Forms should collect data securely and feature a captcha or other spam prevention feature.”
56. A. See response to Question 41.
57. Q. We understand that, City wants to create few forms to collect the data and store in database. How many forms City wants to create?
57. A. The number of webforms on the site initially is not yet determined. The CMS should support the ability to create an unlimited number of forms.
58. Q. Integration of Map to get location/Contact information. Can you please explain the
functionality of “Hours of operation that can be reused in multiple places across the site”?
58. A. The operating hours of many City facilities, offices, and service desks are listed in multiple places on the website. When these hours change, the content editor should be able to update the hours once and have that change reflected everywhere the hours are displayed.
59. Q. According to the RFP, we have to integrates 29 links, external pages, 3rd party
script/app to the site. Do you want vendor to develop any other custom feature? If yes, please specify.
59. A. No.
60. Q. What are the timelines to complete the project if, started on 1st August 2018? 60. A. The City will work with the selected vendor to develop a project timeline. Vendors
should provide a proposed timeline that will address the full scope of services outlined in the RFP. See RFP, section III.6 – Respondents are expected to submit with their proposals a pro forma timeline, assuming an 8/1/18 start date.
61. Q. Is there any preference will be given to the local vendor? 61. A. No, vendor location is not one of the selection criteria.
62. Q. Does vendor need to provide five (5) reference/experience with the Large Public
Sector entity, including at least one (1) from California City entity or five (5) Government Public Sector entity experience will be suitable?
62. A. References from other Government entities outside of California will be suitable.
63. Q. Since your team is currently conducting a content audit, what percent of pages and documents are you hoping to delete? This will help us estimate our content migration time.
63. A. See response to Question 53.
64. Q. Would you be open to using WordPress for the new site? 64. A. Yes. See also response to Question 24.
65. Q. Do you have professional photography that can be added to the new site? 65. A. The City plans to contract a photographer to create a library of high-resolution images
that can be used for City communications and marketing materials, including on the new website.
66. Q. In regard to customizing the styles of all third-party vendors, do you know which
applications allow this? If so, which ones will require/allow custom styling? 66. A. See response to Question 18.
67. Q. Do you have an existing brand style guide?
67. A. No.
68. Q. What event/calendar application are you currently using? Would you like to continue using this app or integrate a new one on the new site?
68. A. See response to Question 35.
69. Q. Since we’re located in Washington State, would it be possible to host the training sessions virtually? Or do they need to be in-person?
69. A. Some on-site training sessions will be required.
70. Q. We’ve worked with clients all over the country, but don’t have any in California; since you mention that our client references need to include at least one organization in California, does this disqualify us from bidding on the project?
70. A. No, see response to Question 62.
71. Q. When would you like to launch the new site? 71. A. See response to Question 60.
72. Q. Is there an incumbent vendor (i.e. an agency you’re already working with)? 72. A. No.
73. Q. Who will be in charge of copywriting? 73. A. Content for the new website will be developed by contracted web writers, working
with the City’s Digital Communications Coordinator.
74. Q. Do you have a preference for California-based agencies? 74. A. No.
75. Q. What is this project’s scoring/evaluation criteria? 75. A. See RFP, Section IV: Selection Criteria.
76. Q. Are on-site meetings a requirement for this project? 76. A. See answer to question #2.
77. Q. Do you have existing data on your target audience that you can share with the chosen
vendor? 77. A. Yes.
78. Q. Do you have a budget range? 78. A. See response to Question 6.
79. Q. Will developing the website on Wordpress exclude an agency from the running? 79. A. No.
80. Q. What’s your preferred timing for launch? 80. A. See response to Question 60.
81. Q. Can you provide a good example of search that you’ve seen on other municipal
websites? We assume using a modern, predicated search feature that’s integrated within the CMS would be your preference.
81. A. Yes, the City prefers a search feature that is part of the CMS. The City is impressed with the search features on https://www.boston.gov/ and https://www.hayward-ca.gov.
82. Q. What’s the number one feature that your website users use currently? Can you provide
Analytics information? 82. A. After the homepage, the most visited page on the City website is the parking citations
payment page: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/parkingcitations/ The City will share detailed analytics information with the selected vendor.
83. Q. Are you using a web-based CRM for customer complaints, reports, or scheduling
services? 83. A. The City’s 311 department uses the Lagan CRM system. End users do not interact
directly with Lagan.
84. Q. Content Migration: how many pages do you anticipate with the new website? 84. A. See response to Question 53.
85. Q. In-person Training: how many training sessions and number of users would you have
participating? 85. A. The final number of staff to be trained is not yet determined. Please provide your best
proposal.
86. Q. What is your target launch date? 86. A. See response to Question 60.
87. Q. For the information architecture and user testing: ideally we prefer to conduct user
tests with the end users of a site. Are you willing to help recruit users for things like like IA tree tests, card sorting, and usability tests?
87. A. Yes. Testing with end users is a high priority for the City.
88. Q. As you work on streamlining your content, what are your rules of thumb for identifying what content gets cut and kept?
88. A. The City plans to retain only the content that provides the most value to end-users of the website, and content that is legally required to be posted on the website.
89. Q. Approximately how many “power users” do you anticipate needing to be training on
how to use the site? 89. A. The number of “power users” to be trained is not yet determined.
90. Q. Can we conduct usability tests with the “power users” to ensure that the content
creation workflow is intuitive for them? 90. A. Yes, usability testing with power users is a high priority for the City.
91. Q. Can you provide a list of the app and platform integrations required for the CMS? We
are happy to recommend apps and platforms for any of these tasks, but if you’re planning to keep your current solutions it would be helpful to know what they are. Notably:
a. Online payments b. Online applications for parking permits and other services/products c. Event management
91. A. See also RFP, page 39, Appendix I: Technical and Functional Requirements, and response to Questions 30 and 32.
92. Q. What is your budget target? For reference, palantir built the CMS for the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a project with similar goals (ie: making it intuitive for visitors to surface the content/service they required). That budget was $4.5 million, exclusive of the IA planning, visual design, content migration, hosting, and support. Assuming the City of Berkeley doesn’t want to spend $4.5 million dollars on this project, can you tell us what range your budget fits in?
a. $400,000 - $750,000 b. $750,000 - $1,000,000 c. $1m – 2m d. 2m+
92. A. See response to Question 6.
93. Q. Palantir works in open source technologies, mainly Drupal and Wordpress as a CMS. Is the City of Berkeley interested in working with an open source CMS?
93. A. See response to Question 24.
94. Q. The RFP mentions examples of tasks that are currently frustrating to users (scheduling inspections, reporting complaints, finding contact info, etc). Are there specific KPIs the City of Berkeley is trying to hit? Are there certain tasks that the City wants to improve so KPIs can be better measured?
94. A. See response to Question 19.
95. Q. For security reasons, we cannot disclose the exact location of its data center. Will you relax this requirement?
95. A. Yes.
96. Q. Is it mandatory to use Windows server? Will you relax this requirement? 96. A. Hosting on a Windows server is not mandatory. The City requires high availability
hosting on a secure server and will consider other hosting options that support its needs. Please provide documentation regarding the reliability of the proposed hosting solution, including security documentation.
97. Q. I would request you to share site analytics. 97. A. The City will share detailed website analytics with the selected vendor. See also
responses to Questions 51, 82, 108, 162, 205, and 234.
98. Q. On page 4, Section I.2, you say, “The City has recently completed a comprehensive
content audit, and is currently in the process of identifying which content will be migrated, archived, or removed.” What were the deliverables/artifacts that came out of this audit?
i. Was any persona/audience work done during this audit? ii. What were some of the biggest takeaways?
98. A. The City is currently in the process of addressing findings of the content audit. No persona/audience work has been done at this point.
99. Q. You say the City is “in the process” of addressing findings from the audit. Do you
expect that work will be completed before this engagement begins later this year? 99. A. Yes, the City expects to have identified the content needed for the new website and
begun the process of developing the new content by the time the engagement begins.
100. Q. Did the City conduct this audit on its own? If no, follow up question: is the vendor
that worked with the City submitting a proposal to this RFP? 100. A. Yes, the content audit was performed in-house.
101. Q. On page 2, in Section I.2, you say “All content identified for migration will be re-
written to meet newly developed content standards” and on page 8 in Section II.5 you say, “the [vendor’s] proposal should include migration of website content to the new site.” Do you mean that we should include rewriting content as part of our proposal? Or, do you mean that we should include automated migration? Or, both?
101. A. Content re-writes will be performed by web writers who are being contracted separately from this RFP. Proposals should include migration of the newly written content into the new website. See responses to Questions 44, 53, 54, and 73.
102. Q. On page 5, Section II.2 says, “Most of the City’s online services are provided
through third party hosted solutions…The vendor will need to work with third party hosts to adapt these [third-party portal] pages to the new designs.” When you say “work with third party hosts,” do you intend that the selected vendor to will help guide those third-parties to retheme their portals, or the selected vendor will apply the theme to those portals?
102. A. The third-party services themselves or City IT staff will apply the theme to the portals. The vendor will provide the new theme to match the new website design.
103. Q. Can you share with us the number of third-party portal teams we will need to work
with? 103. A. See response to Question 18. The final number of services to be rethemed will be
determined with the selected vendor as part of contract negotiations.
104. Q. On page 11 of the RFP, you have Interfaces with 3rd Party Web Services. Most of these appear to be links out to third-party services, but not API integrations with CityOfBerkeley.info. Can you please confirm?
104. A. This is correct.
105. Q. The RFP is silent on preferred CMS, we assume this is a deliberate omission. In your research to date, are you leaning toward a specific CMS solution? Which CMS has piqued your interest?
105. A. See response to Question 24.
106. Q. On page 7 in Section II.4. 1, you want a CMS that can “effectively support online payments.” Currently it appears that online payments are managed on third-party sites as listed on page 11 of the RFP in the Interfaces with 3rd Party Web Services section. Does the current site take payments?
a. If so, what is the current payment gateway you’re using? b. If not, what are your plans regarding taking payments?
106. A. Payments are not currently processed on the City website. The City intends to continue using the listed third party services for online payments.
107. Q. On page 2, in Section I.2 you say “the City plans to refine the web governance
workflow to use a more centralized structure, with one power user in each department responsible for maintaining existing website content.” How many users do you intend to give editing access to the system?
107. A. This has yet to be determined. The CMS should not impose a limit on the number of accounts that can be created.
108. Q. Analytics: what are the current monthly page views on CityOfBerkeley.info? 108. A. In January 2018, cityofberkeley.info received 877,371 total pageviews and 351,062
unique.
109. On page 11 of the RFP, under Web Hosting and Performance Criteria, you say the web host must “provide unlimited bandwidth in case of emergency.” What can you tell us about the analytics around traffic spikes during emergencies?
109. A. The City has not had an emergency that created a major traffic surge recently. The highest number of single day pageviews in 2017 was 64,552. The most likely emergency that would create a traffic spike is a major earthquake, which would generate a significantly higher amount of traffic than we have experienced at any time in the recent past. It is imperative that the website would remain online and available to users in such a situation.
110. Q. On page 10 of the RFP, under Web Hosting and Performance Criteria, there is a
web hosting requirement, “Provide CMS on MS Windows Servers and MS SQL Server.” According to a Netcraft.come January 2018 survey, Microsoft web servers have just over 7% market share among active websites whereas Apache and nginx have just under 65% market share. Are you open to using a web hosting solution that uses Apache or nginx? For example, your data portal https://data.cityofberkeley.info/ runs on nginx.
110. A. See response to Question 96.
111. Q. In Section VIII on page 15 of the RFP, you detail the timeline leading up to kickoff. Can you elaborate on a desired project timeline after kickoff?
111. A. See response to Question 60.
112. Q. What is driving your timeline? (i.e.: end of life for the platform, new initiative or marketing campaign from the City… etc.)
112. A. The website redesign and CMS replacement was identified as a priority project by the City Council, the City Manager, the City’s Strategic Plan, the City’s Resilience Strategy and the City’s 2016 Digital Strategic Plan which can be viewed at: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/IT/Home/IT_Digital_Strategic_Plan___Roadmap.aspx
113. Q. You do not share a budget for this project in the RFP, we assume this is an
intentional omission. Can you share a bit about the budget goalposts? Do you expect this budget to be up to $500k, up to $750k, or above $750k?
113. A. See response to Question 6.
114. Q. Who are the individuals who will be on the core team for the City of Berkeley project?
a. Who will be the main point of contact? b. As a percentage of their work week, how much time will they have
dedicated to the redesign project? c. What are the superpowers on the core team? (i.e.: marketing, social
media management, project management, developer, designer… etc.) 114. A. The project manager is the City’s Digital Communications Coordinator. Other
members of the core project team include the City’s IT and Communications Directors, as well as senior staff in the Business Applications and Network Operations divisions of the Information Technology Department.
a. The Digital Communications Coordinator will be the primary point of contact with the vendor.
b. The website project, including the CMS replacement, redesign, and web content re-writes is the Digital Communications Coordinator’s primary focus for the duration of the contract.
c. The Digital Communications Coordinator’s professional background includes work in website design and development, web writing and content strategy, and information architecture.
115. Q. How familiar is your core team with organizing digital projects in an agile software
development organizational framework? a. If there’s familiarity with agile, how familiar are they with Scrum?
115. A. The experienced is mixed. Some members of the core team have worked with agile and Scrum previously, and some have not.
116. Q. Your website and RFP lists a number of departments that will work on the site.
How large is your internal stakeholder group beyond the primary point of contact/core team?
a. How involved will these stakeholders be during the redesign?
116. A. In addition to the core project team, the City has a Steering Committee to oversee the website project, consisting of the core project team, the City Manager and Deputy City Manager, and four Department Directors. Each of the City’s 12 departments has a web coordinator responsible for overseeing the project within their department and representing their department’s needs. The web coordinators group meets monthly. While the primary point of contact for the vendor will be the Digital Communications Coordinator, the City expects the vendor will have some contact with web coordinators.
117. Q. What are your thoughts about balancing the need to get buy-in from your
stakeholders vs. keeping the project moving along a desired timeline? 117. A. Developing stakeholder buy-in and keeping the project moving are both critical to
the project. Vendors should account for adequate time to develop stakeholder buy-in in their proposed timeline.
118. Q. Do you have an estimated budget for the main project build? 118. A. See response to Question 6.
119. Q. Do you have a separate budget set aside for hosting and ongoing support and
maintenance? 119. A. Yes.
120. Q. Pg. 4: What consultant assisted you with the Website Needs Assessment, and will
this be made available to potential bidders? 120. A. The Website Needs Assessment was performed by ThirdWave Corporation and has
been posted on the City’s bids and proposals webpage as Addendum A to the RFP: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Finance/Home/ Current_Bid_and_Proposal_Opportunities.aspx
121. Q. Pg. 8: Please clarify what you mean by access to a support “knowledge base” for
general or technical inquiries. 121. A. The CMS should have documentation available that City staff can refer to for help
without calling telephone support.
122. Q. Pg. 17, Attachment A: May the 3 copies be bound in a 3-ring binder? 122. A. Yes.
123. Q. Pg. 26, Attachment F: Does this form need to be notarized? 123. A. No.
124. Q. Appendix I, New System Requirements #47 & Content Management System #53:
Regarding telephone support, requirement #47 under New System Requirements states support should be from 7am to 6pm PST, while #53 under Content Management System states support should be from 7am to 5pm PST. Please confirm which timeframe you require.
124. A. Support should be available from 7am to 6pm PST.
125. Q. Appendix I, Web Hosting and Performance Criteria, #20: This requirement would preclude your site from open-source hosting platforms, please confirm that this requirement is not mandatory and you are open to Linux-based hosting platforms.
125. A. See response to Question 96.
126. Q. Have you given any thought as to what CMS you might be interested, and whether you are interested in an open-source CMS?
126. A. See response to Question 24.
127. Q. Page 7, Section 4.1: The RFP refers to “support online applications and web forms, such as parking permits, citizen’s academy, etc.” Is the City of Berkeley needing to be within PCI compliance by taking cards themselves? Or are is it looking to a third-party for payment processing, or is there a required third-party or system needed for payment processing?
127. A. The City will not be taking payments through the website and will continue to use third party services for online payments.
128. Q. Page 8, Paragraph 6: Can you clarify if IT staff needs training on the actual
integrations? (e.g. Active Directory) 128. A. The extent of training required by IT staff will depend on the selected system and
will be determined in contract negotiations with the vendor.
129. Q. Per system requirements: Is providing a CMS to run on MS Windows Servers and MS SQL Server a strict requirements, or is the City of Berkeley open to other infrastructure hosting solutions such as a LAMP stack on Amazon Web Services that can help achieve same requirements?
129. A. See response to Question 96.
130. Q. Per the system requirements, what older devices and OS are required? Or is this based on industry best practice standards?
130. A. Support for older devices and Operating Systems should align with industry best practices.
131. Q. General: What regulatory compliance requirements need to be met for this project? 131. A. None.
132. Q. You are on Ektron now. We work in open source CMS systems. Are you open to a
build in Drupal or Wordpress? 132. A. Yes. See also response to Question 24.
133. Q. Who designed and developed your existing site? 133. A. The current City website was designed and developed in-house by City staff in the
Department of Information Technology.
134. Q. Who are the audiences that utilize the site other than Residents, Businesses, Visitors?
134. A. Residents, Businesses, and Visitors are the primary audiences for the City website.
135. Q. Who would you say utilizes the site the most? 135. A. The website is primarily used by City residents.
136. Q. Why this project now instead of next year? 136. A. See response to Question 112.
137. Q. What is the most important thing that you want the new website to change for the
city? 137. A. The new website should make it easier for residents to access City services online,
quickly and at their convenience. A key indicator of success would include a reduced number of calls and e-mails to City staff requesting basic information.
138. Q. What are the 3 main things you want the following audiences to do?
- Residents - Businesses - Visitors of the city
138. A. The website should prioritize the actions that end-users are coming to the site to accomplish. The City does not have preconceived ideas of what audiences should be doing on the website.
139. Q. Current search functionality…Why is it considered so poor? 139. A. Users have a difficult time finding the information they’re looking for with the
website search. The search feature frequently returns old PDF documents unrelated to the topic of the search.
140. Q. Why is it currently so hard to schedule building inspections? 140. A. Users find the process opaque and confusing.
141. Q. Other than the previous two questions… What are the top 3 things constituents
complain about relative to the current site? 141. A. In a 2017 user survey, the most common complaints among users related to the site
not being mobile friendly, the dated visual appearance, and the small and difficult to read typography.
142. Q. What are the top 3 things constituents love about the current site? 142. A. The City rarely receives of positive feedback about the website.
143. Q. Are you looking for a standalone style guide ONLY or a style guide along with
completed HTML/CSS templates? 143. A. The style guide should include completed HTML/CSS templates.
144. Q. Are there any integrations that we should be aware of? Please note things like
javascript integrations… Google Analytics, Salesforce/Hubspot, Surveys, Social or video plugins… etc versus programmed integrations
144. A. The website uses Google Analytics.
145. Q. Will we integrate with any event type apps like Eventbrite? Calendar apps? 145. A. Event management should be part of the CMS and not in a separate system.
146. Q. What other sites does your website “talk to”? 146. A. See responses to Questions 30 and 32.
147. Q. Is there any gated content that you need to have a password to access as a user? 147. A. No.
148. Q. Do users get different content based on their login? 148. A. No.
149. Q. Would you like a proposal for SEO/PPC along with the design and development
proposal? 149. A. Search engine optimization should be supported by the CMS and be included in the
proposal. The City does not use pay-per-click advertising.
150. Q. Who is creating the initial content for the site that doesn’t exist yet? 150. A. Content for the new website will be developed with contracted web writers in
collaboration with City staff. See answers to question 44, 53, 54 & 73.
151. Q. Can you confirm the workflow for how content is… - created/edited - reviewed - published
151. A. Currently, web content is written by topic experts within each department, then provided to designated web posters who input the content into the CMS. The City will be revising the content creation workflow as part of the website project.
152. Q. Do you have newsletters? If so, what service do you use and do you want it
integrated into the site? 152. A. Yes, the City uses GovDelivery for its e-mail lists. The City is interested in
integrating e-mail list sign-ups into the website, but this is not a requirement.
153. Q. Will you be integrating video into the website? If so, would you like recommendations of vendors?
153. A. Yes, the City will use video on the website. The City does not need vendor recommendations for video hosting.
154. Q. Can you give us an example URL for each of the content types? 154. A. The City intends to work with the selected vendor to develop a final list of content
types of the website.
155. Q. Can you define the types of users? 155. A. The City intends to work with the vendor to develop the levels of user roles.
156. Q. Can you provide the model for what content is available to each user type? 156. A. See responses to Questions 154 and 155.
157. Q. Content editors can edit content but can they ever create new content themselves? 157. A. The CMS should support multiple levels of permissions related to creating and
editing content. Some editors should have the ability to edit existing content but not add new content, some editors should have the ability to create only certain types of new content, and some editors should have the ability to create and edit any type of content.
158. Q. Content migration: We propose including a cost to migrate the content
programmatically and then have the Berklee staff “massage” it until it is ready for publishing. Will that work for you? For example, formatting or image size, etc.
158. A. The City prefers to have content clean-up performed by the vendor, but will consider proposals that anticipate this work being done by City staff.
159. Q. Content migration: We will also include a separate cost to have the Cazy team do
this clean up. Would you like that? 159. A. Yes, please include the cost of clean-up in the proposal.
160. Q. Who is the stakeholder or single person for sign off available for this project? 160. A. The City’s Digital Communications Coordinator, who is the project manager for the
website project.
161. Q. Do you have a mandatory proposal submission style or can we use our own? (We typically submit in a PDF of a Powerpoint)
161. A. Yes. See RFP, page 1 and Section III. Submission Requirements beginning on page 9.
162. Q. Can you tell us the number of monthly page views 162. A. In January 2018, the City website received 877,371 total pageviews and 351,062
unique pageviews.
163. Q. Can you tell the amount of storage required 163. A. Please propose your best recommendation.
164. Q. Will we be able to contract directly with the City of Berkeley or will we have to
contract through an already approved vendor? 164. A. Yes, the contract will be with the City of Berkeley.
165. Q. Have you established an intended budget range for this project? If so, how does that
breakout in terms of the Implementation, Hosting, and Support components?
165. A. See response to Question 6.
166. Q. Can you share what you are currently spending per year in licensing, services, hosting, and support fees for the website?
166. A. The City is not able to share this information.
167. Q. Business Goals – Success Measures: How will you measure success? What are goals? e.g.
i. Improve customer service. In what ways is customer service lacking today, specifically?
ii. Reduce staff time spent on updates iii. Increase repeat visitors iv. Increase number of online form submissions v. Other?
167. A. See responses to Questions 14 and 19.
168. Q. Brand Guidelines: There appears to be no brand definition or style guidelines. The RFP indicates a desire to use website design as a proxy for a style guide. Is the City of Berkeley interested in a more formal brand definition and brand guidelines initiative to deliver a more comprehensive digital brand for Berkeley?
168. A. Not at this time.
169. Q. Are there any cities that Berkeley believes has the website image, usability and features that relate to the City of Berkeley’s aspirations?
169. A. See responses to Questions 10 and 81.
170. Q. Does Berkeley have user research, personas, customer journey mapping or other customer data and insights.
170. A. The City has research it will share will the selected vendor. Any personas and customer journey mapping should be developed by the vendor in collaboration with City staff. See RFP, Section II: Scope of Services, 1. Visual Website Redesign.
171. Q. Are the findings of the 2017 Website Needs Assessment indexed by personas or
stages in the customer journey? 171. A. No.
172. Q. Has the customer experience strategy been defined? 172. A. No.
173. Q. Does the project require additional research and/or consulting on defining customer
needs? 173. A. See response to Question 170.
174. Q. The RFP states the need to adopt standard graphic layout for third-party apps to be
embedded. Can we get a list of the third-party apps and their relationship to the website, e.g. redirect user to an external feature independent of the website, or
integrating a third-party app with the delivery of the user experience or functionality?
174. A. See RFP, page 39, Appendix I: Technical and Functional Requirements. See also responses to Questions 18, 30, and 32.
175. Q. What languages, in addition to Spanish, are required? 175. A. See response to Question 33.
176. Q. Will all pages be translated for each language? 176. A. See response to Question 33.
177. Q. Will these be translations be localized, or machine translation? Who will translate
copy, e.g. internal staff, 3rd party translation services (e.g. translations.com)? 177. A. See response to Question 33.
178. Q. Is there a requirement or interest in an interface between the CMS and 3rd party
translations services? 178. A. See response to Question 33.
179. Q. What is the frequency of changes? 179. A. Content updates are made to the website daily.
180. Q. Third-party Web Services – “deliver consistent user experience across” Define
specific services with a definition of relationship to the website and related APIs 180. A. See RFP, page 39, Appendix I: Technical and Functional Requirements. See also
responses to Questions 18, 30., and 32
181. Q. Open Government applications – “capable of adapting to” Define specific applications with a definition of relationship to the website and related APIs
181. A. See RFP, page 39, Appendix I: Technical and Functional Requirements. See also responses to Questions 18, 30, and 32.
182. Q. Are there additional usability requirements beyond the Usability Challenges
provided on page 4? 182. A. The new website should reflect usability best practices.
183. Q. Can we get a copy of the 2017 Website Needs Assessment? 183. A. The Needs Assessment has been posted on our Bids & Proposals webpage as
Addendum A to the RFP: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Finance/Home/ Current_Bid_and_Proposal_Opportunities.aspx
184. Q. Is there a Content Strategy for the new website? 184. A. The City is currently developing a content strategy for the new website, which will
be shared with the selected vendor.
185. Q. Is there a draft site map or information architecture for the new website? 185. A. No, this should be developed by the vendor in collaboration with City staff. See
RFP, Section II: Scope of Services, 3. Information Architecture.
186. Q. New copy will be needed for the website, will this be provided or should the RFP response include new copy development?
186. A. See responses to Questions 54 and 73.
187. Q. Will videos be used on the website? 187. A. Yes.
188. Q. Any expectation on the volume of videos? 188. A. This has not yet been determined.
189. Q. Does the project require additional research and/or consulting on defining the
content strategy and/writing copy? 189. A. No.
190. Q. Based on the recently completed content audit, can you provide any forecasts on
the number of assets. a. Number of pages for the new website vs. the current website with
14,000. Also, please confirm that the new pages will be new copy, thereby not requiring any existing content migration.
b. Number of documents for the new website vs. the current website with 25,000. Please clarify if the remaining documents will be migrated to the new website and if there are any special requirements, such as updating document URLs to eliminate database IDs.
c. Number of images to be migrated from the old website to the new website. Please clarify if there are any special requirements, such as updating image URLs to eliminate database IDs.
190. A. See responses to Question 44 and 53.
191. Q. Are there any Member group with special access to private/privileged information? Please define number and type of groups with permission levels.
191. A. No.
192. Q. How are the Members registered and managed, e.g. manually through a Berkeley Admin, online through automated controls?
192. A. Accounts are created for content editors as needed by City website administrators. End-users do not have accounts on the website.
193. Q. Third Party Systems: New System Requirements document indicates search
capabilities for documents in third-party systems (e.g. Agendas and Minutes). Please provide a list of third party databases and systems, with respective role on the website and APIs.
193. A. At this time, the City anticipates that the website search will only need to search content within the website itself.
194. Q. Third Party Systems: New System Requirements document indicates Forms data
integration with City of Berkeley systems (e.g. Department Lists). Please provide a list of City of Berkeley systems, with respective role on the website and APIs.
194. A. See RFP, page 39, Appendix I: Technical and Functional Requirements. See also responses to Questions 18, 30, and 32.
195. Q. Are there any desired application integrations? 195. A. See responses to Questions 30 and 32.
196. Q. Does your current site cooperate with any third parties that affect your website’s
workflow? If so, please explain the workflow. 196. A. No.
197. Q. How would you like the website to integrate with social and online advertising? 197. A. The City does not intend to use social and online advertising.
198. Q. What tools/technologies are used today for CRM, email marketing, and digital asset
management (DAM)? What integrations are expected with those systems? Will each of those systems remain in the future or are you hoping to replace them?
198. A. The City uses the Lagan CRM system, GovDelivery for email marketing, and does not have a digital asset management tool. These systems are not planned to integrate with the website at this time. If a decision is made to integrate any of these systems with the website, this will be discussed with the selected vendor during contract negotiations. See also responses to Questions 32 and 152.
199. Q. Is the payment capability within the new website or linked to an outsourced
ecommerce server? Integrated ecommerce is typically a better user experience. 199. A. The City will not be processing payments within the new website.
200. Q. Will https://prodpci.etimspayments.com and https://www.officialpayments.com/
functions be integrated into the new website? 200. A. No, the City will continue linking to these services for payment processing.
201. Q. There are current third-party websites and subdomain that fulfill website functions.
Are any third-party websites being integrated into the new website? a. http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/Berkeley/ b. https://bluerec3.bluerec.com/php/onlinereg/#/berkeleyca/login c. https://prodpci.etimspayments.com d. https://aca.cityofberkeley.info/Community/ e. https://permits.cityofberkeley.info f. http://agency.governmentjobs.com/berkeley/default.cfm
201. A. No, all of the listed services will continue to be provided through third party platforms.
202. Q. Ektron: Is the version 8.5 SP 3? 202. A. Yes.
203. Q. Ektron: Are you using “Page-Builder? 203. A. No.
204. Q. What percent of pages are using Page-Builder? 204. A. None.
205. Q. Website Statistics. Can we get the current Website statistics? e.g. Average
Monthly or Annual: a. Unique visitors b. Pages views c. Repeat visitors d. Conversion rate e. Bounce rate f. Etc.
205. A. For 2017: a. Unique visitors: 1,293,877 b. Pageviews: 10,218,209 c. Returning visitors: 311,142 d. n/a e. n/a
See also responses to Questions 51, 82, 108, 162, and 234.
206. Q. What is the level of training videos expected, e.g. recording a training session vs. profession online training sessions vs. CMS feature videos and materials from the CMS product vendor?
206. A. Please provide your best proposal.
207. Q. How many people will be trained? 207. A. This number has not yet been determined.
208. Q. Is there an estimate for the amount of content updates and website enhancements to
support Berkeley and their marketing programs? It can be difficult to provide an estimate without information about the volume and type of requests, or ideally the projected number of support hours.
208. A. Content updates are performed daily by City staff.
209. Q. Is there a requirement for ongoing training support, e.g. remedial support, new content editors/admins? How many hours should we forecast?
209. A. The vendor will not be expected to provide ongoing training as new users are added.
210. Q. The RFP states a requirement for a website refresh every 3 to 5 years. Is there a target scope for the refresh, which can be anything from a straight graphic design
refresh to a total redesign of information architecture based visitor behavior, technology evolution, and competition?
210. A. The vendor should propose a scope of refresh that they believe will best serve the City.
211. Q. Of the 14,000 pages and 25,000 documents, how many pages received >5 page
views in 2017? 211. A. The City does not have this information readily available.
212. Q. How many pages does the City expect to identify for migration, based on the
content audit? 212. A. See response to Question 53.
213. Q. How many of the “most requested services” does the City expect to redesign in the
scope of this proposal? 213. A. The City is re-writing all website content. An entirely new information architecture
and user flow for the website is a critical part of the project. See RFP, Section II: Scope of Services, Part 3. Information Architecture.
214. Q. Can the City please give some examples of the services and flows it expects to
redesign? 214. A. See response to Question 213.
215. Q. Does the website need to support online payments? 215. A. The website need to have the ability to link to the City’s existing payment
processing services.
216. Q. The RFP mentions Microsoft hosting requirements. We expect that many vendors will be unwilling to bid on a project that in 2018 requires Microsoft hosting, or a website that requires support but is hosted internally by the City. Rather, a modern approach would have the City host its website at a worldclass managed host such as Pantheon, WPEngine, or Acquia. Is the City open to these world class hosting solutions, or does it require a Microsoft-based hosting solution?
216. A. See response to Question 96.
217. Q. Who is in charge of managing content for different sections of the site? 217. A. Please see the “Site Content” portion of Section I, subsection 2 in the RFP.
218. Q. What is the existing process for making content changes? 218. A. See response to Question 217.
219. Q. Who will be involved in supporting the project on the city side? How many people,
at what % of time? What roles do they fill? 219. A. See response to Question 114.
220. Q. How many full time staff members does that the city recommend vendors staff in
this project? 220. A. Please provide your best proposal.
221. Q. Given the short turnaround time between when questions will be responded to, and
the proposal deadline, would the city be willing to extend the proposal deadline by 1 week to April 17?
221. A. The City has considered this request and is extending the deadline to April 24. See updated schedule on the last page of this document.
222. Q. Is the City able to share the budget that spent on conducting the Needs Assessment? 222. A. The City is not able to share this information.
223. Q. Can we see the documentation supporting the web governance program currently in
place? 223. A. The City will share this documentation with the selected vendor.
224. Q. Regarding the “Security Documentation” requirements (Section III.10), I’m curious
if compliance documentation needs to be provided for the hosting provider AND the CMS solution or just one?
224. A. Please provide security documentation for both the CMS and the hosting platform.
225. Q. Regarding those same “Security Documentation” requirements, could the City provide examples of what data is currently stored or will be stored on the site that falls under the specific standards mentioned? It’s a bit unusual for us to see Protected Health Information stored on a city site, or SOX and FedRAMP requirements in general for that matter.
225. A. The City does not store any Protected Health Information or any data covered by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on the website. For Security Documentation, please provide documentation you feel fully represents the security features of your proposed solution, keeping in mind that cybersecurity is a significant concern for the City.
226. Q. Does the City have a stated budget or any budgetary guidelines for this project? 226. A. See response to Question 6.
227. Q. Regarding the requirement “Effectively support online payments in an easy and
convenient manner” (4.1), do you have any examples of payments that are or will be executed on the site?
227. A. No payments will be executed on the website itself.
228. Q. For the requirement to “Support online applications and web forms” (4.1), what output should those forms have (Ex: integration with a certain API, CSV export, table viewable in the CMS, etc)
228. A. Webforms should support export to CSV, response tables viewable in the CMS, and e-mail notifications to selected staff upon completion of a form.
229. Q. We noticed you’re currently using Google Translate. Has this been sufficient or is
there need for a more robust translation solution? 229. A. Google Translate is sufficient to meet the City’s current translation needs.
230. Q. Can you identify any 3rd party applications that the new site will need to integrate
with? 230. A. See response to Questions 30 and 32.
231. Q. We noticed that the City is currently using a payment solution hosted at a different
domain (etimspayments.com), a job posting solution (at http://agency.governmentjobs.com), and a permit service center (https://permits.cityofberkeley.info). Are you keeping those solutions? If no, what solutions will be replacing them?
231. A. Yes, the City intends to continue using the listed services.
232. Q. Can you think of any solutions hosted on a subdomain or separate domain similar to those listed above that we’ve missed?
232. A. See RFP, Appendix I: Technical and Functional Requirements. Third party web services are listed on page 39.
233. Q. What is your current preferred web analytics solution? Google Analytics? Other? 233. A. The City uses Google Analytics to track website use.
234. Q. What are your average and peak page views per month? Page views per year? 234. A. For 2017, cityofberkeley.info averaged 851,516 pageviews per month. The highest
traffic month was April, with 981,622 pageviews. The site received 10,218,209 total pageviews in 2017.
235. Q. Is there user research available based on the current website and desired future
website? 235. A. Yes, the City has completed research that it will share with the selected vendor.
236. Q. Will the City of Berkeley provide access to user panels for testing and research? 236. A. Yes. The City will provide testing for the awardee.
237. Q. Is there audience segmentation already developed to understand each
demographic’s needs? 237. A. No.
238. Q. Have user journeys already been developed to support definition of IA and UX? 238. A. No, these should be developed by the vendor in collaboration with City staff.
239. Q. Are the functional requirements at the end of the RFP the same as the Needs
Assessment referenced earlier in the document? 239. A. No, the Needs Assessment is a separate document. See response to Question 11.
240. Q. Provide CMS on MS Windows Servers and MS SQL Server – Can you explain
what is driving this requirement? Are there platform or code language requirements as well?
240. A. See response to Question 96.
241. Q. For updating visual design of 3rd party vendor websites – will this update apply only to already styled 3rd party sites, or will it include new sites that do not yet have City of Berkeley styling applied?
241. A. See response to Question 18.
242. Q. What kind of demo is expected from top 3 selected vendors? 242. A. Vendors will be asked to show the evaluation team examples of the work they have
done on similar projects, and to provide a live demonstration of their proposed CMS solution.
243. Q. Will any of the content on the site need to be made available in other outlets (apps,
partner sites, publicly accessible data)? 243. A. No.
244. Q. “A structured solution for posting and display of agendas, minutes, and reports for
City Board and Commission meetings” – Do each of these content types have standard formats that a structured solution would work with?
244. A. Yes.
245. Q. What requirements would be included for “Robust event management”? Is this just simple calendar scheduling with date, time, location, details, or would more advanced features like reservations, ticketing, and guest limits be required?
245. A. See also responses to Questions 35 through 38.
246. Q. Are there any payments that are supported directly on the existing site (not by 3rd party solutions)? What payments would need to be directly supported in the future?
246. A. No, the City does not plan on processing payments directly on the website.
247. Q. For online applications and forms, where will data be stored? What systems need to be integrated with these forms (Email marketing systems, City-owned databases, etc.)?
247. A. This will be determined on a case by case basis with the vendor.
248. Q. In search requirements: “Users should be notified when multiple search capabilities exist.” We’re not sure what this means. Please provide an example.
248. A. For a search feature that allows the ability to filter or sort results by timeframe, content type, or topic area, these options should be displayed prominently to the user.
249. Q. For ADA accessibility, a common guideline is to provide transcripts for videos.
Will CMS admin have the ability to provide this content? 249. A. Yes.
250. Q. Content migration: How is current content stored? Will we be able to get a content
audit/mapping, with associated files, database fields, IDs? 250. A. See response to Question 44.
251. Q. Does the City of Berkeley have a dedicated IT team? If so, what involvement will
they have in this site? 251. A. Yes, the City of Berkeley has an Information Technology department. Senior staff
from the Business Applications and Network Operations Divisions of the IT Department will be involved in launching the website. Ongoing management of the website will be performed by City communications staff in the City Manager’s Office.
252. Q. A likely hosting solution would be AWS. Would this be an acceptable solution? 252. A. See response to Question 96.
253. Q. The search needs to be able to index documents that exist in third-party systems
(e.g. Agendas and Minutes). What third-party systems need to be supported? What format are the documents in?
253. A. At this time, the City anticipates that the website search will only search content within the website itself.
254. Q. CMS should include a content management dashboard that allows administrators to
see easily what is being edited and by who, with the ability to sort and filter by user, group, content type, etc. Is this a real-time requirement, or does the system just need to provide a log of changes?
254. A. Yes, administrators should be able to monitor content editing activity in real time from within the CMS.
255. Q. Provide comprehensive audit capability to see who is modifying what and when.
Would a log work for this? 255. A. No.
256. Q. Limit the number of allowed simultaneous session requests. Session requests to
what? Is this in reference to DDOS attacks? 256. A. Yes. Simultaneous session requests to the server should be limited.
257. Q. Is there a budget/budget range determined for this project? 257. A. See response to Question 6.
258. Q. How many agencies are participating in the RFP responses? 258. A. The City does not know how many agencies will bid.
259. Q. Are there mandatory key milestones/timelines to adhere to for phases of
development? 259. A. This will be determined in contract negotiations with the selected vendor.
260. Q. Section 5, page 10 of 28: Section 5 title includes “…Experience of Firm and Key
Staff.” However, the first sentence of this section states “…experience for the team.” Does the City want project experience for the Firm in addition to what is requested in Section 7 Relevant Work Examples and, if yes, how many firm projects are required and is there timeframe for project start/end dates?
260. A. In Section 5, the City would like to information about the professional experience of the specific staff who will be working on the City of Berkeley website project. Work Examples in Section 7 may include projects completed by the Firm that involved staff other than those assigned to this project. Please provide examples as you deem best representative of your work.
261. Q. Attachment I, page 3 of 12: Requirement states “The website must generate
information to be used by external applications or entities to monitor and control remote access.” What are the external applications?
261. A. The City does not have specific plans to use external applications in this way at this time.
262. Q. Attachment J, Section 2.1.7.1, page 9: There appears to be a contradiction in Section
2.1.7.1 between the first bullet, which states “The faster response time are being experienced with Internet Explorer and Chrome” and the fourth bullet, which states “The slowest commonly used web browsers include: UC Browser, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. This is significant because Chrome is the most widely used browser.” Can you clarify these findings and recommendations?
262. A. The website should conform to industry best practices and render quickly on all of the listed browsers.
263. Q. Attachment J, Section 2.2.2.1, page 13: Section 2.2.2.1, third bullet states “The City
has been very resistant to online services.” Does this mean the City does not want to use eGovernment/eCommerce online services or that the City is now onboard with using these services in the redesigned site?
263. A. The City currently offers a variety of online services and intends to continue expanding its online service offerings.
264. Q. Attachment J, Section 2.2.3.2, page 15: Section 2.2.3.2, second bullet states “The
City has refused to allow social media: Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.” Does this mean the City does not want to use these social media sites or that the City is now onboard with using these sites in the redesigned site?
264. A. This was an error in the Needs Assessment. The City has accounts and is active on social media platforms including Twitter and Nextdoor.
265. Q. What is the budget? 265. A. See response to Question 6.
266. Q. For the pricing proposal, is the intent for a time and materials/not-to-exceed contract
with billing per certain milestones or do you intend a fixed fee proposal?
266. A. Billing and payments must be milestone based.
267. Q. Is there a/who is the vendor currently supporting the current content audit and governance pilot implementation?
267. A. No, the content audit and web governance pilot are being conducted in-house.
268. Q. Will you share who attended the bidder’s conference and the notes from that discussion, if any?
268. A. An audio recording of the bidder’s conference will be posted on the City’s bids and proposals webpage: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Finance/Home/ Current_Bid_and_Proposal_Opportunities.aspx
269. Q. Due to complexity of requirement gathered, do you agree a more detailed
specification will be required? 269. A. Yes. The City will develop a detailed scope of services with the selected vendor.
270. Q. Is there documentation of the current site that can be shared prior to proposal
submittal? 270. A. No.
271. Q. Will any workflows need to be supported beyond simple form submission? 271. A. Yes.
272. Q. How do you envision the vendor working with the separately contracted content
migration vendor to ensure a good content architecture and overall fluid user experience?
272. A. Bidders should include content migration as part of their proposal. See RFP, Section II: Scope of Services, 5. Content Migration.
273. Q. Where are specific security requirements needed (e.g. HIPAA)? 273. A. See response to Question 225.
274. Q. Do you have certain new mobile technologies or open government applications
already in the digital plan? 274. A. Yes. The City’s Digital Strategic Plan can be viewed at:
https://www.cityofberkeley.info/IT/Home/ IT_Digital_Strategic_Plan___Roadmap.aspx
275. Q. Do you have specific requirements for which languages you want to
continue/expand? 275. A. See response to Question 33.
276. Q. When will results of the governance pilot be ready and how is the new role going? 276. A. The City will share details of the governance pilot with the selected vendor.
277. Q. Do you anticipate about 200 people might participate in training?
277. A. The number of staff to be trained is not yet determined, but it will be less than 200.
278. Q. Do you need in-person instructor-led sessions (or do you want digital/virtual only)? 278. A. See response to Question 69.
279. Q. Do you want any print materials as part of the training program or is digital only
preferred? 279. A. Digital only training materials are fine.
280. Q. I don’t see the following services listed in the 3rd Party Web Services section:
existing calendar, event management. Do you currently offer this functionality? If so, what software do you currently use for both?
280. A. See response to Question 38. SCHEDULE (dates are subject to change)
Issue RFP to potential bidders: 02/27/2018
Pre-proposal meeting for bidders 03/13/2018
Questions Due 03/20/2018
Responses to Questions 04/06/2018
Proposals due from potential bidders 04/24/2018
Evaluation and Notification of Top 3 Vendors 05/30/2018
Demos from Top 3 Vendors 06/14/2018
Complete Selection Process 06/18/2018
Council Approval of Contract 07/24/2018
Award of Contract 07/25/2018
Sign and Process Contract 08/15/2018
Notice to proceed 09/04/2018 Except as provided herein all other terms and conditions remain unchanged.
