Request For Proposal

Website Design & Development

InterPride

11 min readOct 5, 2021

The PDF version of the RFP can be downloaded here.

Acronyms

InterPride (IP)
Request For Proposal (RFP)

Request for Proposal Timeline

Request For Proposal Release — October 5, 2021
Last day to submit RFP questions — November 15, 2021
Proposals Due — December 1, 2021
Evaluation of Proposals — December, 2021

*All dates are subject to change with or without notice.

Introduction

InterPride was founded in 1982 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. InterPride brings together Pride organizations from around the world and regional, national, and local Pride networks, therefore contributing to the global coordination of Pride efforts.

InterPride is incorporated in the U.S.A. and is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization under U.S. law. It is funded by membership dues, sponsorship, merchandise sales, and donations from individuals and organizations.

We currently gather over 400 organizations from more than 60 countries to assist Pride organizers design and conduct the most important visibility event that deconstructs myths, lies, and prejudices surrounding LGBTIQ+ realities. InterPride promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex Pride, maximizes networking and communication among Pride Organizations, offers resources, empowers, and leverages education.

Member organizations usually meet in person every year during Regional Conferences and the General Meeting & World Conference (GM&WC). InterPride owns and awards the license for the “WorldPride” brand, the international flagship Pride event. These events are hosted by an InterPride member organization, which is confirmed through a membership vote.

InterPride assists member organizations at their discretion. InterPride promotes networking, makes introductions, shares good practices, suggests ideas, mentors, offers advice, provides education/information, and assists when needed. InterPride doesn’t interfere in Member organizations’ local matters and calls for de-escalation and dialogue to build on the global impact of visibility through Pride. Member organizations and Prides worldwide design and organize their events without the direct involvement of InterPride.

Solicitation Objectives

InterPride is accepting proposals to design and develop a new website. The project will be a concept to completion project. IP currently has a web presence that is outdated in appearance, structure, functionality, and content presentation. Outside of edits to the text, images, links, HTML & CSS, and video content — the existing site functionally has had only minor adjustments for several years. Audits of InterPride.org report approximately 25–30 web pages, not including additional PDFs, images, videos, and unlinked archive pages.

Multiple web developers have classified our site as text and link-heavy, lacking strategy and consistency on most of our programs and events. An opportunity exists to re-engineer the site to reflect the mission of InterPride better and incorporate the latest web technologies. Upon completing the site’s development, InterPride will assume full responsibility for website content maintenance and administration. All content, coding, and graphics will become the sole property of InterPride.

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Our new site should be responsive and engage visitors by presenting attractive visual images, intuitive navigation, and concise messaging, while at the same time increasing functionality and ease of use for member organizations, Pride organizers, and the general public. The tools that are incorporated must allow for timely delivery of content using basic technical skills and limited personnel.

Description

Create a flexible, informative, up-to-date website that is easy to maintain and is responsive (viewable on desktop, tablets, and mobile devices). In addition to designing a user-friendly site with an intuitive interface, you must also incorporate a web-based, database-driven content management system that allows key personnel to easily update content without directly accessing source code. Our current site uses an older CMS and we do require a more robust, user-friendly platform moving forward. In addition, we are seeking a design partner that provides tools for search engine optimization and social sharing. For pages and content that is not yet in existence, the preference is to have user-selectable, predefined templates to choose from that dictate the layout and color scheme. InterPride will consider other hosting options based on recommendations. We encourage website designers to offer suggestions and be creative in responding to this RFP.

To be effective, our website must be:

Informative
Safe and secure
Visually pleasing
Easy and intuitive
Quick to load and operate
Responsive mobile device and desktop
Improve Net Promoter Scores and Google Rankings
Accessible
Easy access to translate into at least 10 languages
Versatility to integrate social media widgets
Search Engine Optimized with proper Keyword Research

Vision

To meet our goals, our new website must:

Serve as an ambassador for the InterPride brand
Provide a modern, relevant design update
Showcase the work and programs InterPride does worldwide
Improve customer service and engage site visitors
Strengthen relationships with Pride organizers and partners
Provide a scalable, maintainable solution
Document InterPride’s rich history in the Pride movement

Strategies

Utilize responsive design with the latest technologies to provide a consistent user interface across all devices
Establish a clear path for visitors to access information relevant to them
Present clear and concise information to end-users
Integrate with InterPride’s social media platforms
Provide an easy-to-use fit into the CMS platform
Conduct thorough market research, competitive analysis, and internal focus groups
Leverage limited human resources through improved efficiencies in web management
Maximize search engine optimization through strategic mark-up language and content
Provide an archival system for InterPride press releases, photos, videos and move historical data to a searchable database

Executive Summary

Describe your understanding of our current website challenges
Summarize your proposed solution, and how your solution will resolve our current website challenges
Provide a summary of pricing for the proposed services and products

Company Overview

Tell us about your company, your experience in web design and production for projects similar to ours, and your experience in working with Pride or LGBTQIA+ organizations
Provide links to your agency website, online portfolios, and social media

Team

Identify the team that will work on this project
Include name, title/role, and brief background/experience of each. Include subcontractors if applicable

References

Provide a list of three references (at least one from a LGBTQIA+ organization) who can speak to services requested in this RFP
Please include contact information and a brief description of work done for those clients

Solutions Menu with Pricing

Based on the elements included in the Project Scope/Objective section, tell us about your proposed solution in terms of creative design strategy, methodology, plan, and other important aspects of the redesign process
Include all project phases and tasks, along with a line-item breakdown of costs
The total development cost for your recommendations must come in under five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) USD

Please be sure to address the following:

Project Management Tools — Your process for tracking and documenting project status
Deliverables — Outline the products and/or services that will be delivered
Schedule — Provide the suggested project schedule detailing the time required for each major step or phase of the project
User Training and Support — Provide details on the user training and support included for our content editors along with the training support format (i.e., live web, chat, email, phone-based, hard copy, other documentation, etc.)
Hardware — List any hardware necessary to host and/or support the proposed solution
Also, list any recommended configurations for a robust and reliable environment
Include hardware redundancy and/or disaster recovery recommendations
Payment — Include any requirements or preferences regarding invoicing and payment
Anything else deemed relevant/important to the vendor
Include all terms and conditions

Discovery

Confirm audiences, objectives, graphic look and feel, navigation, site marketing, technology issues and assumptions, required functionality, phasing, and budgetary constraints, resulting in a creative brief

Design

Disclosure of website information architecture, graphic look and feel, user navigation, the home page, and main navigation templates for each of the main navigation links

Development Guidelines

The website designed by the successful candidate must meet the following criteria:

Include templates that incorporate into the content management system that will permit both technical and non-technical InterPride staff, and volunteers to update website content on specific pages
Once the site has been completed and accepted by InterPride, the site will be maintained centrally by InterPride’s skilled web services team as well as non-professional editors from various committees (this should be kept in mind when selecting the tools that are included)
Convert and revamp substantial amounts of existing content
The site must be clean and attractive, with a mix of text and graphics
Include a Quick Exit button on every page that is linked to a generic page, such as the weather or a search engine.
Visually, the site should be modern, distinctive, memorable, and engaging
It should fit as close to a single displayed page on a typical size monitor as possible
Each section of the site should have a common look and feel
The InterPride logo should be prominently displayed on every page as a common header
The use of photography and fonts should be consistent throughout the site, with the layout of each page having a great deal of consistency
Pictures on the front page should be a larger size than other subpages
The sitemap should provide for these photos to be easily changed
The site should be easy to navigate, where information is grouped and presented in a logical manner with a minimal number of levels needed for the user to find the desired information
The navigation design should complement the capabilities of touch-enabled, mobile devices
Development of templates that adhere to the proposed navigation scheme enabling non-technical users to easily add new sections/pages
Provide search capabilities using keywords or phrases that will identify content throughout the site and optimize Google Rankings
An assigned project manager will be made available to present information and coordinate with InterPride, including a reasonable number of meetings (via videoconference) to present design and development solutions
Once the website has been completed and accepted by InterPride, the website design and all of its contents, software and architecture become the property of InterPride

Site Specifications

InterPride highly encourages creativity in the proposals submitted, but there are certain requirements for the website project. Your proposal must account for all of these requirements.

The site must be compatible with current and one (1) previous versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari browsers
Websites must not require plug-ins as a default
The site should be developed to meet all current ADA access requirements
The site must be built in accordance with the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and should also be easily accessible to the novice as well as the experienced Internet user
The website must be designed with a mix of text and graphics such that each page loads in a way that is acceptable to the typical user having an average home Internet connection speed

Research

Internal and external research including focus groups and a comprehensive review of existing Google Analytics must be included in the scope of the proposal

Testing

Testing of the site on all applicable platforms to ensure that web site works as promised, including an explanation of the testing plan

Delivery

Delivery will be providing approved designs to the CMS provider
InterPride technical personnel will act as the “go-between” with our vendor during this time
Provisions for support must be made in order to assist InterPride when they are making the site live

The PDF version of the RFP can be downloaded here.

General Proposal Submission Instructions

Qualifications

List five websites your firm has produced that reflect your work and relevance to this project. List the role your firm played in each project
Please submit the URLs for these sites, and only currently “live” sites should be included
Describe your experience producing sites for non-profit and/or Pride organizations
Provide current reference information for five former or current clients
Briefly outline your firm’s organizational capacity to produce the InterPride website (such as staff, equipment, software, physical space, office location, etc.)
Provide company profile, length of time in business, and core competencies
Briefly describe the percentage of your web staff that would be working on this project relative to your entire staff
For example, if you would use three staff on the project and you have ten web designers and developers, the percentage would be 30%
What type of team will be assigned to this project? What will each person’s role be?
Please include a brief background summary for each key staff member assigned to this project
Briefly describe your project management process
Please detail any hardware/software vendor partnerships you have
Provide a detailed timeframe for completion
This will be evaluated and will be part of the contractual agreement, so a realistic time frame for completion is essential
Please state how you intend to communicate with the project lead at InterPride during the period of design/development, and at what intervals
Describe the support you offer during and after the project

Cover Page and Questionnaire

RFP Appendix A and B contain the templates for the Cover Page and Website Design & Development RFP Questionnaire
These documents must be fully completed, signed, and dated by an authorized organization official and submitted as part of the proposal

Ex Parte Communication

IP prohibits ex parte communication with any Board member and/or staff member after the deadline for the submission of proposals. No Board member and/or staff member shall initiate or accept oral communication regarding any proposal under consideration. Any written communication to Board members and/or staff from potential contractors will be distributed to the Project Manager (Fund Development) and Co-President for review and possible action. Respondents who attempt to influence the proposal review improperly and the evaluation process in any way shall be disqualified.

Solicitation Questions

Please submit all questions regarding this RFP to the following email address: tech@interpride.org. Questions will be accepted through November 15, 2021, by 5:00 p.m. GMT.

Proposal Requirements

The proposal must include the following items:
The cover page (Appendix A) — fully completed
Length and Font Size
Please use fonts no smaller than 10 point
Maximum proposal length including title page, cover letter, proposal, qualifications, and costs should not exceed thirty (30) pages

Proposal

Discuss your proposed solution, including the features, benefits, and uniqueness of your solution
Please include the length of time you feel it would take to deliver the completed project, from the day of signing the contract to completion
List costs as requested above
Identify staff who will be working on the project
Include standard hourly rates for work that may be needed in the future
The proposal may, and are highly encouraged to include the following items:
Supplemental information — please provide any other materials that may be appropriate to describe respondent and service delivery capacity, such as:
A brief description of the history of your business and your locations;
A short narrative of the procurement history, experience with Pride organizations, and capacity to manage a global website development project

Submission Requirements

Proposals may only be submitted via email
Provide one (1) electronic PDF no later than 5:00 pm GMT on December 1, 2021 to tech@interpride.org

Right to Reject

This RFP does not commit IP to accept any proposal submitted, nor is IP responsible for any costs incurred in preparing responses to this RFP. IP reserves the right to reject any or all bids, accept or reject any or all items in the proposals, and/or award the contract in whole or in part as deemed to be in the best interest of IP. IP reserves the right to cancel, delay, amend, or reissue this RFP at any time.