RFP: Website and Logo Upgrade for the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative (MEJI)

Project Overview and Purpose

The Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) issues this RFP to help build two new websites in Drupal 10 for the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative (MEJI) and the Michigan Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (MLTCOP), as well as to create a new logo for MEJI. We seek a digital presence that is visually engaging and clearly communicates MEJI’s and MLTCOP’s mission and services. The MEJI website needs to incorporate subpages for the MEJI programs that require separate URLs, including mhlo.org. The MLTCOP website is separate and will stand alone. MEJI aims to have a Drupal 10 site within 6 months of the start of the project with all components fully functioning and which incorporates all new graphic design elements. This project is just for the build; MAP will handle all maintenance of the sites after the launch.

About the Organization

MEJI seeks to empower, educate, and protect low income older adults and people with disabilities through administrative and policy advocacy, educational efforts, and collaboration with multidisciplinary partners on the local, state, and national level. MEJI provides support to civil legal aid programs and other advocates to assist them in providing effective representation to and advocacy for low income older adults and people with disabilities.

MEJI is one of several statewide advocacy programs under the Michigan Statewide Advocacy Services (MSAS) created by the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP). MAP provides administrative services to several statewide programs, including MEJI. MAP was founded on the belief that equal justice is a right, not a privilege. MAP’s mission is to advance the safety, independence, and economic stability of those most affected by poverty, racism, and other structurally oppressive systems by increasing access to justice and working for systemic solutions.

Core Objectives

  • A compelling visual experience for website visitors that clearly highlights MEJI’s and MLTCOP’s work and demonstrates their missions
  • A visually engaging logo that represents MEJI’s identity and purpose
  • A website that is consistent with MAP’s other websites visually and functionally (see, e.g., MIAdvocacy.org, MichiganImmigrant.org, FarmworkerLaw.org)
  • Streamlined, user-friendly content that is easily accessible for clients, many of whom are older adults, funders, and supporters
  • An ADA compliant site that is fully accessible to those with disabilities
  • A layout where content can be easily updated by staff without extensive HTML knowledge
  • An end product that can be easily maintained by MAP’s in-house Drupal web developer after launch (i.e., one that doesn’t rely heavily on custom modules)

Features

  • Information on MEJI/MLTCOP’s programs and instructions on how to get help
  • Improved donate pages
  • Pages for each distinct service provided and clear language on how to access them
  • About/mission pages
  • Staff pages
  • Employment and volunteer opportunities pages
  • Lists of funders
  • News pages
  • MLTCOP “look up your local ombudsman”
  • Resources pages to house resources developed by programs and links to other resources and key sites

Budget and Timeline

The budget for this website project is $44,000 and the timeline for completion will be six months from the commencement of the project. Proposals should be “total cost” bids covering all specifications outlined below in Exhibit A.

Terms and Conditions

All work done for the websites, including, but not limited to, the design, code, graphics, and content shall be owned by MAP, its successors, and assigns. MAP, its successors, and assigns will have full access to and have the right to customize all site code.

DEADLINE: Proposals must be delivered to Jennifer Visel by email at jvisel@lsscm.org no later than 5pm (EST) on June 15, 2023. All proposals must include a statement of authorization to bid signed by a principal of the bidding company. All proposals must use the proposal format outlined in this RFP. Bidders must disclose any relevant conflicts of interest and/or pending lawsuits.

Format for Proposals

Proposals should adhere to the format below:

  1. Introduction/executive summary, including:
    1. Project understanding, recommendations, and objectives
  2. Project schedule and development process, including:
    1. Explanation of your process for creating a final scope of work document - e.g., define deliverables, create milestones, etc.
    2. Explanation of your customer communication and evaluation procedures
  3. Project budget estimates and cost projections, including:
    1. Provide a breakdown of costs
    2. Please identify any additional expenses, fees, etc. that you will require to complete the project
  4. Company or agency profile, including:
    1. Background, capabilities, related experience
  5. Attachments:
    1. Examples of recent interactive projects
    2. Summary of current clients and partners
    3. Biographies of all who will work on account
    4. Professional references

Evaluation Process and Timeline

This RFP will be released on May 15, 2023. Proposals are due by 5:00pm EST on June 15, 2023. Between now and then, we will respond via email to any questions you may have. A vendor will be selected by June 30, 2023, and work on this project is scheduled to begin thereafter. The selected vendor will be expected to enter into a contract with MAP. Vendors whose responses have not been selected for further negotiations or award will be notified via email.

The Small Print - Miscellaneous Other Terms

  1. Costs of Preparing Responses: MAP will not pay any vendor costs associated with preparing responses, submitted in the response to this RFP.
  2. Responses Property of MAP: All responses, accompanying documentation and other materials submitted in response to this RFP shall become the property of MAP and will not be returned.
  3. Proprietary Information/Public Disclosure: All responses received shall remain confidential until the evaluation is completed and the vendor is selected and approved. Thereafter responses shall be deemed public records.
  4. RFP Amendments/Cancellation/Reissue/Reopen: MAP reserves the right to change the RFP schedule or issue amendments to this RFP at any time. MAP also reserves the right to cancel or reissue the RFP. All such actions will be posted at https://miadvocacy.org/get-involved/employment-opportunities.
  5. Minor Administrative Irregularities: MAP reserves the right to waive minor administrative irregularities contained in any response.
  6. Inability to Enter Contract: MAP reserves the right to eliminate from further consideration any vendor that MAP, because of legal or other considerations, is unable to contract with at the time responses are due in accordance with the project timeline outlined above.
  7. No Obligation to Enter a Contract:
    1. The release of this RFP does not compel MAP to enter any contract.
    2. MAP reserves the right to refrain from contracting with any vendor that has responded to this RFP whether or not the vendor’s response has been evaluated and whether or not the vendor has been determined to be qualified. Exercise of this right does not affect MAP’s right to contract with any other vendor.
    3. MAP reserves the right to request an interview with any vendor and/or a demonstration from any vendor prior to entering a contract with that vendor. If a vendor declines the request for an interview or demonstration for any reason, the vendor may be eliminated from further consideration.
  8. Multiple contracts: MAP reserves the right to enter contracts with more than one vendor as a result of this RFP.
  9. Non-endorsement: The selection of a vendor pursuant to this RFP does not constitute an endorsement of the vendor’s services. The vendor agrees to make no reference to MAP in any literature, promotional material, brochures, sales presentations, or the like without the express written consent of MAP.
  10. Contract payment limitations: Vendors should anticipate payment at the end rather than the beginning of the invoice period in which they provide services or after they submit any deliverable for which payment is due.

Questions regarding this RFP should be emailed to Jennifer Visel (jvisel@lsscm.org).

 

EXHIBIT A: General Design Standards and Specifications

As a baseline, the site must be responsive for all devices and for the most recent versions of commonly used browsers (including Chrome, Safari, IE, Firefox, Edge) and implement UI/UX best practices including but not limited to use of WCAG 2.1 guidelines and is 508 compliant.

The website must also be in significant compliance with the three Core Web Vitals metrics – Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and optimized for SEO. It should meet or exceed industry standards for security. The consultant will also be required to design and implement a content migration strategy, and to provide technical documentation.

We would like the development to follow the guiding principles below whenever possible. However, we are flexible and will defer to the selected developer if a sound argument is given for deviation from these general standards and specifications.

  1. Build system using Drupal 10 fully updated and patched upon delivery.
  2. Use Drupal Core functionality and stable contributed modules as much as possible.
  3. Develop the system using free, open source software that avoids proprietary licensing and undesirable licensing restrictions.
  4. Build the system so as to ease the learning curve for nontechnical content management staff. As much as possible, it is desirable for content management staff to have limited access to all but a few administrative screens. However, we do not want to minimize the site’s features just to make things easy for content managers.
  5. The system should function properly and appear in an attractive way in all major browsers.
  6. Developers should engage in mobile-first design.
  7. Prior to final release, the developer will assist MAP with documenting a description of the technical components and functionalities built for this project.

 

Date Posted