The King County Flood Control District (District) is accepting proposals for redesign of its existing website and the provision of ongoing web hosting and support. If interested, firms should submit a proposal which includes, at minimum, the items listed in the Requested Information & Proposal Format section for the work described herein.

Proposals shall meet the requirements stated herein, and shall be received by the District via e-mail, US mail, or in-person, marked “Website Design-Proposal,” and addressed to Kimberly Matej, Deputy Executive Director, King County Flood Control District, 516 3rd Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle, WA 98104, or kimberly.matej@nullkingcounty.gov, no later than 4:00 p.m. on December 23, 2019.

Project Schedule

About Our Organization
The District is a countywide independent special purpose district authorized under Washington State statute (Revised Code of Washington [RCW] Title 86). Established in April 2007, by ordinance 15728 of the Metropolitan King County Council, the District was created to protect public health and safety, regional economic centers, public and private properties, and transportation corridors.

The members of the King County Council serve as the governing body for the District. In addition to the Board of Supervisors, the District’s governance structure is comprised of an advisory committee, King County staff, and basin technical committees.

The Water and Land Resources Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks carries out the approved flood protection projects and programs for the District under an interlocal agreement.

The District’s Flood Management
The King County Flood Control District brings a comprehensive approach to flood management and provides funding to improve the County’s aging and inadequate flood protection facilities.

The District adopted the King County Flood Hazard Management Plan in 2007. This plan serves as a blueprint for management of the 500-flood control facilities and features capital improvement projects as well as floodplain management programs.

The Plan identifies up to $335 million in priority repairs and upgrades, including work on flood containment levees and bank stabilization projects. It also provides for a regional flood warning center and emergency response, flood facility maintenance, public education and outreach, mapping and technical studies, citizen inquiry, and public response.

We want our website redesign to feature and reinforce our key messages and be a useful tool for communities throughout King County while better serving, attracting, and informing the diversity of services that we provide to our customers.

Project Background & Description
The District’s current website runs on WordPress and is maintained internally with contracted assistance when necessary. It is supported and hosted by a contracted developer. The new redesigned website will predominantly be maintained by internal staff, and the consultant selected for the work will provide hosting, programmatic updating, public records captioning, and use assistance/guidance when requested.

The District wants to partner with a developer to build/re-build a new site that offers an excellent user experience, is state-of-the-art and visually compelling, interactive, easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and optimizes SEO.

The new site should provide easy electronic access to public information including the Districts’ public processes and decision-making, as well as the ability to engage in interactive mapping and educational opportunities based on property location within King County.

Although we would like to continue utilizing the WordPress platform, we encourage respondents to consider and propose alternative solutions, recommendations and improvements. We are also interested in your ideas and approach in re-designing the District website. We will migrate the majority of existing content from www.kingcountyfloodcontrol.org to the new site and add new content such as interactive mapping for users to be able to see their proximity to floodplains.

Scope of Services
The consultant selected for the project will work with the District to expeditiously craft and implement a detailed Scope of Work for the Development Plan includes, at a minimum, the key elements outlined below:

A. Web Redesign Services — Overview and inclusion of landing page, interactive components and specifications, design elements, website staging, post-production corrections, including the required the functional capabilities below (not all inclusive, other functionality may be recommended or added).

1. Alerts & Emergency Notification – Alerts posted on website and public notifications sent out through email, text message and social media
2. Approval Rights – Allow system administrator to establish specific rights and capabilities for internal staff to update content based upon the role they have in updating the website.
3. Archive Center – Store agendas, minutes, newsletters and other documents
4. Automatic Expirations – The ability to set a date for content to automatically expire
5. Broken Links Finder – Site visitors can enter comments concerning how they accessed the page
6. Calendar – Update/publish calendars. Includes unlimited number of event listings, single or reoccurring. Viewable by list, week, or month
7. Content Preview – The ability to preview content before publishing live
8. Document Center – Upload/download capability, back-end ability to search within
9. E-Notifications – Electronic subscription, scheduled notifications for email and SMS
10. Frequently Asked Questions – Dynamic content
11. GIS Mapping – Ability to integrate GIS mapping applications
12. HTML Code – Capability to view and edit the HTML code of any page
13. Live Edit – Create and edit pages live from the front end
14. Multi-Lingual Support – Using Google Translate
15. News & Announcements – Ability to post press releases, what’s happening, feature stories, and announcements, as well as emergency messages
16. Printable Pages – Print-friendly function
17. Responsive Design & Mobile Friendly – Fully mobile responsive design – site adjusts to the screen size of all devices its being view on, includes forms, calendars, etc.
18. RFP/RFQ/Bid Posting – Allow for easy posting of bids to the site, along with amendments and updates. Schedulable with ability to set auto-expire date
19. Rotating Photos/Banners – Dynamic image display
20. Quick Links – Links can be placed directly on the pages
21. Site Search – Internal site search engine, site search log
22. Site Statistics – Analytics and site audit reports
23. Social Media Interface – Ability to integrate Facebook and Twitter
24. Spell-check – Ability to spell-check content via the editor
25. Spotlight – Ability to highlight important text on one or more pages
26. Third Party Integration – Ability to integrate third-party applications
    

B. Training and Documentation — Training session(s) and documented instructions for site functionality.

C. Maintenance and Services – Updating of WordPress core, plugins, themes, and compatibility testing. Removal of malware, spam, and malicious code. Cloud back-up and recovery of website files from back-up. Available for client assistance with technical product questions and support.

D. Web Hosting – Ongoing hosting of site.

Budget
Submit a proposed budget as per the Requested Information & Proposal Format section. A budget to complete the agreed upon scope of services will be negotiated by the District and consultant prior to the commencement of work. The costs incurred for the preparation of the proposal shall be the sole responsibility of the proposing vendor.

Requested Information & Proposal Format
The King County Flood Control District will evaluate vendor experience, qualifications, and capabilities for developing and implementing a website redesign. Responders are required to submit a written narrative corresponding to each lettered section:

A. Introduction

• Overview and summary of how your company will assist the City of Oak Harbor in reaching our website goals Company Profile

B. Company Overview and History

C. Management Team

• Name, title, role
• Education, years of experience

D. Scope of Work

• Project phase deliverables
• What will be expected of the District
• What the District can expect from the company

E. Project Development Approach

• Average timeline
• Detailed explanation of all project phases including consultation, design, development, training, implementation
• Statement that website will meet Accessibility Compliance requirements
• Training options
• What role the District will play in the project

F. Hosting and Security

• Hosting
• Bandwidth
• Disaster Recovery
• DDoS Mitigation

G. Support and Maintenance

• System ownership
• Ongoing training opportunities and availability of robust, self-service documentation and technical support (videos and training manuals, etc.)
• Availability of continued communications post website implementation (with consultants and support staff)
• Support services – emergency and non-emergency situations

H. Project Pricing Estimate/Cost for Services Outlined

• First Year development fees including: days/hours of training, on-site or webinar; amount of content migration (entire website or a specific number of pages); additional products/functionality; ongoing fees for hosting, maintenance and support for Year 2 and beyond

I. Additional Products Offered

• Give brief descriptions of other products offered by the company

J. Local/Regional Government Website Design Experience

• References (minimum three references, including all contact information below)
• Client name
• Website URL
• Client contact person and title, phone, and email address

Consultant Selection
Following the review of the proposals, and possible presentation and interviews, the District may further invite a firm(s) to formally meet with District staff prior to making a final determination to address additional inquiries and to discuss and/or negotiate terms and conditions for a final contract. Factors that will determine the final selection will include, finalization of terms in regard to service agreements, costs, website security, and ease of use. Proposals should be all encompassing, with a single vendor identified as the responsible lead vendor. Any subcontracted services required or intended to meet the needs of the proposal should be clearly stated. The use of subcontracted services is subject to the District’s pre-approval.

However, the District reserves the right to reject any or all quotations, waive any informality in RFP’s, and to accept or reject any items thereon. Additionally, the District reserves the right to negotiate with and/or contract with other consulting firms sequentially ranked behind the selected firm in the event that the District and the initially selected firm are unable to agree upon a detailed Scope of Work and contract budget.

Questions
Please direct any questions concerning this Request for Proposals to:

Kimberly Matej
Deputy Executive Director
King County Flood Control District
kimberly.matej@nullkingcounty.gov
206-263-3462