Title
Website Redevelopment - Expenditure Approval
History
The Village of Orland Park website was launched in 1999 to establish an Internet presence primarily focusing on economic development opportunities in the Village. In the past year, the website has received over 721,000 visitors and 1.9 million pages have been viewed on the site.
The website design has become outdated and is hard to navigate. The website needs to be revamped to create a resident-focused website with intuitive navigation that makes it easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for. The police department’s website should be incorporated to present a unified presence of the Village on the Internet. The website editing tools should provide the ability for all Village departments to easily create and publish their own content on the website.
The Village needs an effective enterprise solution to create, update, approve, publish, and maintain web pages and applications. A Content Management System will fulfill these requirements. Using a CMS to develop and maintain the website would allow users and non-technical staff to add, author and update web content without knowledge of HTML or the complex structure of the underlying web site. Editing content using a CMS is as easy as editing a Microsoft Word document.
The Village issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Website Content Management System, website design and implementation services, hosting, training and support. Four responses were received. Of those four, three were chosen to present their solution to the Evaluation Committee consisting of the Assistant Village Manager, Finance Director, Development Services Director, Police Commander, and the Information Technology staff.
The Evaluation Committee initially reviewed and evaluated four proposals and selected three vendors; Websolution Technology, Adage Technologies, and CivicPlus to make a presentation to the Evaluation Committee. The committee conducted two hour sessions with each vendor to review their proposals and demonstrate their software product.
The vendor’s proposal cost summary:
Civic Plus $36,500
Adage Technologies $48,804
Websolution Technology $96,960
The Evaluation Committee is recommending CivicPlus based on proposed cost, design services, presentation, municipal government experience, responsiveness, and the functionality of the Content Management Software. CivicPlus works exclusively with the public sector and has a client base of over 250 municipalities and counties. The CivicPlus Content Management System allows for faster web page development, menu additions, menu changes, and the addition and updating of content by non-technical personnel.
The proposal includes consulting, design, setup, programming and training for a total of $36,500. There are optional items outlined in the proposal that would be of benefit to the Village and the overall website. The Evaluation Committee is recommending these additional items:
Site Within a Site - $3,000
This feature allows individual department pages to have a distinct appearance and functionality while maintaining a standardized look. This feature will be used to give recreation, economic development, and police a unique look within the site.
People Spotlight Module - $1,200
This module is currently under development and will be released to the customer based in the fall. The Village will be able to utilize this new feature to showcase our special events.
Intranet Module - $750
This module provides login-restricted pages for unlimited staff access or may be established for individuals outside of village staff, e.g. member directory, special committees who need access to special information.
The cost for the optional items including maintenance is $4,950. Staff is also recommending a project contingency amount of 10% or $3,650 for any unforeseen issues that may arise over the course of the project.
At the 8-27-07 Finance Committee Meeting, the members voted 3-0 to recommend approval.
Financial Impact
The amount budgeted for the website project is $40,000. There are sufficient funds in the computer operating budget for the optional components of the proposal.
Recommended Action/Motion
I move to approve accepting the proposal from CivicPlus for the website redevelopment project including the optional items and project contingency in an amount not to exceed $45,100;
And;
Authorize the Village Manager to execute the contract.