Colorado Charter School Institute. Website Design & Development Request for Proposal

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1 Colorado Charter School Institute Website Design & Development Request for Proposal This RFP is for the design and implementation of a new website for the Colorado Charter School Institute. Schedule of Events Date/Time RFP Release February 7, 2018 Deadline for Questions March 7, 2018 Proposals Due to CSI March 21, 2018 In-person/phone interview April TBD Announcement of Successful Proposer May-June, TBD Contract Execution July 1, 2018 RFP Proposals due to CSI: March 21, 2018 RFP contact: Rachel Hitt, Communications Coordinator, rachelhitt@csi.state.co.us Budget for new website: $5000-$10000 Goal for website launch: August 22, 2018 Colorado Charter School Institute Overview In response to the growing desire for high-quality public charter schools, the lack of school options for at-risk students, and an interest in an alternate authorizer that could serve as a model for and assist district authorizers, the Colorado State Legislature created the Charter School Institute (CSI) in CSI s mission is to foster high quality charters schools with a particular focus on service to at-risk students. CSI s vision is to serve as a national leader in charter school authorizing by building a portfolio of high performing charter schools through strong authorizing practices that promote autonomy and provide transparent accountability.

2 CSI s office is located in the heart of downtown Denver. However, our portfolio of 41 schools spans across the state of Colorado, from Fruita to Calhan, Durango to Steamboat Springs, and CSI serves over 17,500 students. As a charter authorizer, CSI s accountability system focuses on the outputs that is the quantitative evaluation of academic, organizational, and financial school performance providing schools the flexibility to focus on and make decisions about inputs like instructional strategies, educational programming, internal assessment system, facility selection, and staffing. The focus on outcomes rather than processes allows CSI to be neutral on educational model and maintain a diverse portfolio of school models, comprised of 15 different educational models including Classical, Early College, Alternative, and Montessori models. CSI is governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the Governor of Colorado and the Commissioner of Education. Our board is statutorily required to be mission-driven and politically balanced which ensures steady leadership of our organization and stable oversight of our schools. Our Audience 1. Existing CSI charter schools: CSI s website seeks to provide a one-stop shop for existing staff, leaders, and board members of CSI schools. Our website includes resources and guidance to existing CSI schools. Most guidance for existing CSI charter schools can be found within the School Resources section and the Calendar page of the existing website. 2. Charter school applicants: CSI s website provides information and resources for charter school applicants. Applicants include 1) teams interested in forming a new charter school, 2) existing schools seeking to replicate or transfer, and 3) existing CSI schools seeking to expand or be renewed. Most guidance for charter school applicants can be found within the Charter Applicants section of the existing website. 3. Other stakeholders: a. New to charters, CSI: CSI s website is also accessed by people who are looking for more information about charter schools or CSI in general. While we are seeking to develop this section of our website out, the majority of the basic information about CSI can be found in the About Us section of the existing website. b. Existing local and national authorizers and partners: CSI s vision is to be a national leader in high quality authorizing. Towards this end, it is our intention to build out an authorizer best practices section of our website that can reiterate our vision, encourage partnership with district authorizers in the state as well as authorizers across the nation and can link to authorizing materials found in other sections of our website.

3 New Website Objectives Provide a visually appealing, easy to use website that effectively promotes our performance/accomplishments and allows stakeholders to access relevant material intuitively. Criticisms of Existing Website Below are some of the most common criticisms of the existing CSI website: Homepage: The homepage does not guide users to the most appropriate/relevant sections of the website based on stakeholder type or interest. Calendar: While the calendar does organize events and deadlines by department, it is not extremely user friendly. The syncing feature is limited and users do not receive updates each time that the calendar is updated with new or adjusted information. School District Focus: The existing website provider supports school districts and offers features such as classrooms, grading, assignment submissions, etc. CSI is not a school district and does not need those to use such features so we are looking for a provider with annual fees that align to our needs. Design: The existing design is extremely dated. Access to Resources: CSI provides a variety of resources to its portfolio of schools, yet many of the schools do not realize or cannot easily access all of the available information on our existing website. We would like to simplify discoverability of these resources, creating a more optimal experience for our users. ADA Accessibility: The existing site is not fully aligned with ADA accessibility guidelines. CSI is committed to ensuring our website is accessible to all who seek to use it, including those with vision impairment or limited motor skills. It is important that the CSI website and its content are accessible to individuals with disabilities. Text Translation: CSI schools serve a diverse population of students and families and therefore needs to be accessible in multiple languages. New Website Functionality Requirements Our new website will need: An easy-to-use content management system (CMS) Accessibility (ADA compliant website) Mobile device compatibility Intuitive navigation internal and external search engine optimization

4 Clean and focused design Here are some examples of website design that we like: Optimized with SEO best practices Friendly URLs Social media integration (share buttons, follow buttons, etc.) Calendar of Events (ability to sync to user calendars) Training Resources (documentation, videos, person) Troubleshooting (availability, response time) Optional Additions to the Proposal (aka Our Wish List) We would be interested in the following options, depending on how these elements would impact timeline and/or budget. Please provide cost for these elements separately, and note if any additional design or development time would be required. Migration of existing content to new website Interactive Colorado map of CSI schools About charters/csi interactive infographic Staff Training Budget Details As listed in the summary, our budget for this project is $5,000-$10,000. While we of course prefer the most cost-effective solution, all proposals that fall reasonably within this range will be considered and weighed based on their merits. Proposals that offer flexibility in billing for non-required elements added to the website after initial launch will also be considered, as we may be able to budget for additional funding for these additional website elements or ongoing marketing efforts after this fiscal ends on June 30, All invoices for this project must be billed starting July 1, Proposal Requirements Please include the following in your proposal response: Overview of your company/details about your team Overview of how you will meet our objectives Explanation of your proposed platform Outline of your website design & development strategy Proposed website timeline from kickoff to launch Recent design & development examples o Provide examples of your work with non-profit organizations o Provide examples of your experience working on websites with large amounts of content that required simplified user-friendly navigation and search optimization. o References (including company name, contact name, phone number and address) Pricing

5 o Include optional elements line-itemed (Optional New Website Functionalities/Wish List) o Please also differentiate between one-time and annual costs o See New Website Functionality Requirements Terms & conditions Thank you for your interest in our RFP. We look forward to your response. If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Hitt at: rachelhitt@csi.state.co.us ( )