REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

WEBSITE REDESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

for

MIDVALE CITY
7505 SOUTH HOLDEN STREET
MIDVALE, UT 84047
801-567-7237

Proposals shall be submitted electronically to U3P Utah Public Procurement Place

https://solutions.sciquest.com/apps/Router/SupplierLogin?CustOrg=StateOfUtah
no later than February 27, 2023 at 3:00 P.M. (MST)
I. INTRODUCTION
Midvale City is soliciting written Requests for Proposals (RFP) from qualified vendors to
provide a hosted and redesigned website environment to replace the City’s existing
website (www.MidvaleCity.org) including content management software (CMS),
conversion, installation, training, and ongoing support.

II. BACKGROUND
Midvale City, which was founded in 1909, is a thriving, authentic city built around its
rich history and heritage, along with a genuine tradition that honors the past while
focusing on its future. Nestled on the western slope of the Wasatch Mountain, this Utah
community is home to year-round recreation, a historic Main Street, vibrant businesses,
and active arts and culture. Located in the middle of Salt Lake County, Midvale provides
excellent mobility connections for residents, tourists, and businesses.

With roughly 6 square miles and 36,000 residents, Midvale has seen considerable growth.
According to the 2020 Census, Midvale’s population grew nearly 29 percent, while the
State’s total population grew over 18 percent. This rapid increase provides incredible new
opportunities for the city, but also many challenges. Key demographics include:
A. 86.7 percent of households have an active broadband internet connection.
B. 74.7 percent Caucasian households and 18.2 percent Hispanic or Latino
households.
C. Midvale is the 24th largest city in Utah.
D. 14 percent of residents have an income below the poverty line.
E. 44.2 percent of housing units are occupied by their owners.
F. Renters occupy 55.8 percent of housing units in Midvale.
G. Median age is 31.5 years (30.4 years for males, and 32.6 years for females).

Midvale City employs approximately 90 full-time employees who work in the following
departments: Administration, City Attorney, Human Resources, City Recorder,
Administrative Services, Community Development, Redevelopment Agency, Justice
Court, Public Works, and Information Technology. The City contracts with Unified Fire
Authority and Unified Police Department to provide public safety services, as well as
Sunrise Engineering for Building and Safety.

III. OBJECTIVE
Midvale City is seeking assistance in improving its website, www.MidvaleCity.org. The
City’s website is the first impression many have of its local government and Midvale
City. The website is currently outdated, inefficient, lacks good searchability function, and
the City is looking to streamline its content.

IV. CURRENT STATE

 The current website contains approximately 260 pages, 3,650 documents, 140 images,
270 stories, and 50 friendly URLs. The following data is based on a Google Analytics
report (December 1, 2021, through December 1, 2022):

Users 79,795 New Users 77,728

New visitor 65.3% Returning visitor 34.7%
Sessions 119,094 # of sessions per user 1.49
Pageviews 284,754 Pages 2.39
Bounce Rate 61.51% % Exit 61.51%
Top languages En-us (74,919) Es-us (521)
En (1,269) Es (241)
En-gb (770)
What device are Mobile 51%
people using? Desktop 47.6%
Tablet 1.3%
To acquisition Organic search 65.6%
channels Direct 28.9%
Referral 2.8%
Social 2.6%
Which pages Justice Court 8,482
are the most Building and Safety 6,161
popular? Bi-annual bulky waste program 6,075
Planning and Zoning 5,528
Contact us 4,815
Utility Billing Payments 4,712
Sanitation Division 4,023
Home 3,959
Harvest Days 3,280
What do users Jobs, employment, fee schedule, short term
search for on rental, inspection, ticket, trash, pay fine,
the site? permits, utilities, budget, zoning map, bulk
waste, water, pay a ticket, sign permit

V. PROJECT GOALS
Midvale’s goal is to create a website that engages, connects, and informs our constituents.
Midvale City residents, businesses, tourists, visitors, staff, and others need to be able to
access the site for the purpose of doing business with the City, and to find answers and
solutions to their inquiries and issues. The final website must be clean and welcoming, be
easy to use, and leave a positive impression on visitors.

The goals for the website redesign include, but are not limited to:
A. Improving communications between the City and the community.
B. Building trust with the community.
C. Promoting community and economic development.
D. Supporting special events within the community.
 E. Enhancing the City’s image and identity.
F. Delivering e-government services.
G. 24-hour access to City information, and forms, and make inquiries to minimize
phone calls, in-person visits, and outgoing mail that would otherwise occur.

VI. SCOPE OF SERVICES

A. Proposed services must include:
1. Installation.
2. Configuration.
3. Start-up services.
4. Migration of existing content.
5. Training of City staff on the use and maintenance of the system.
6. Ongoing technical and service support.
7. Custom configuration and programming services as needed to fulfill the
minimum functional requirements.

B. All software is subject to final acceptance and testing by the City.

C. Midvale City will own the website code.

D. Task 1: Creation of the Redesign Website Platform

1. Use of Cloud-based computing resources.
2. Appropriate management software for a third-party hosted and redesigned
website environment including Content Management Software (CMS),
conversion, installation, training, and ongoing support.

E. Task 2: Design, Programming, and Implementation

1. Kickoff meeting with the City’s Website Redesign Committee (“Committee”).
2. Weekly meetings with the Communications Director during the design
process.
3. Bi-Weekly meetings with the Communications Director during programming
and implementation process with additional meetings scheduled as needed.
4. The Vendor shall develop a minimum of three unique homepage and template
designs. The Committee will approve one final design for programming and
configuration.
5. The Committee shall review the prototypes with the Vendor, suggest changes,
and approve the website design for completion.
6. The Communications Director and Vendor shall collaborate to advertise and
publish the “pilot” website to key Department Stakeholders, along with a
survey designed to generate constructive feedback for the improvement of the
“pilot” Website.
7. The Committee and Vendor shall determine which suggestions to incorporate
into the redesigned website before final acceptance.
 8. The Vendor shall make the agreed-upon modifications and provide the final
redesigned website to the Communications Director for acceptance. The
Communications Director shall review the website for accuracy, navigation,
completeness, and adherence to previously agreed-upon design principles.
9. The Vendor shall transfer and/or archive any reusable content from the
existing website to the new website and complete any formatting or rendering
that must be done to load the content to the new site in a fully usable and
consistent manner.
10. The Vendor shall identify any City staff time required in migrating existing
content.
11. The Communications Director shall approve the final website, with
modifications if necessary, and the Vendor shall place the website into
production.
12. The City will retain the existing domain name, www.MidvaleCity.org. The
City also would like to utilize the www.MidvaleCity.com domain. The City
currently owns this domain and the www.MidvaleCity.gov domain.

F. Task 3: Training
A minimum of three training sessions will be required, two of which will be for
approximately 20 Web Content Coordinators and 3 website administrators who
are to be trained to use the content management module for updates, and a
training session for the City’s IT team.

G. Task 4: Website Launch

1. The Vendor shall provide recommendations on the soft launch timeframe
from one to four weeks prior to the official website launch.
2. The Vendor shall provide technical support during the soft launch period,
including a minimum of weekly meetings to check in on progress and address
any issues during the soft launch.

H. Website Requirements
The Vendor must create a better experience for all users, regardless of ability,
bandwidth, language spoken, or other differences and must ensure the website:
1. Provides the ability for customers to translate the website content between
English and Spanish. (Additional languages are welcomed, but not required.)
2. Complies with the Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with
Disabilities Act, and World Wide Web Consortium Standards.
3. Complies with all requirements of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
WCAG 2.0 (Minimum Level AA).
4. Has the ability to scale fonts on each page.
5. Provides cascading style sheets to be utilized to ensure consistency and
separation of content and design.
 6. Supports W3C standards, as much as technology will allow, so as to not
reduce the active functionality of the site to supported users.
7. Is HTML5 and CSS3 compliant.

I. Website Capabilities
1. Site Navigation and Organization. Site navigation must use modern
tools/techniques to help guide visitors to their desired information. The site
must incorporate the following, or more, strategies:
a. User-centric design and organization.
b. Robust, intuitive search functionality.
c. Menu system as the primary navigation tools.
2. Content Management System (CMS). The Vendor shall provide a
comprehensive, widely used CMS as follows:
a. The CMS software must not be a beta prototype, release candidate, other
early adopter technology, or easily susceptible to hacking.
b. The CMS shall be accessible via external access.
c. The Vendor shall provide a search engine solution to support the indexing
of all contents withing the CMS.
d. The Vendor shall provide an intuitive system for content creators that are
published to the website.
e. The Vendor shall allow system administrators to establish specific rights
and capabilities for internal staff to update content based upon the role
they have in updating the website.
f. Allow for easy maintenance by City staff, including making
programmable changes internally without having to contact the Vendor.
3. Search Engine Accessibility.
a. The site shall provide Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and site search
functionality and allow for the highest possible ranking of individual
pages within the site from all major search vendors, including but not
limited to, Bing, Google, MSN Search, and Yahoo!.
b. The site must be accessible by spiders for the purpose of indexing the site.
c. The site must be structured in a manner to allow easy access for spiders to
crawl.
d. The site must provide meta-title and meta-description tags that can be
maintained by City staff.
e. The site must provide robust and prominent smart search functionality
allowing users to type in a word or phrase to find information on the site.
f. The search feature must provide results for a single word, a combination
of words, or the exact phrase searching using quotation marks.
g. The search feature must auto correct and/or provide results that best match
misspelled words or phrases.
h. The search feature must enable the search of both HTML pages and
documents, such as PDF files.
 i. Results will be returned in order of relevance based on the frequency of
the search words in the page content or metadata, and results can be
browsed by category.
j. Users must be able to browse search results within different content types,
such as documents, event calendars, and news.
4. Browser/Device Compatibility. The Vendor must provide the following
browser/device compatibility:
a. A website that utilizes current web, mobile, and social media technology
to better engage and inform the constituency.
b. A responsive site design.
c. Any new website design for this project must be easily viewable from a
desktop, tablet, or mobile device of any manufacturer.
d. Fully functional, both viewing and editing, with the major browsers and
operating systems on PC and Mac.
e. Ensure implementation is functional with the current versions and one
version back of major browsers and operating systems.
5. Calendar Program. The City is looking for a flexible calendar program.
Features must include the ability to view the calendar in either day or month
format. In addition, the ability to add to specific days hyperlinked events that
can lead to either a web page or a document (such as a PDF) is required. The
online calendar must be downloadable and available for import into users’
personal calendars.
6. Email Subscription. The website must allow visitors the ability to sign up for a
mailing list for various communications platforms such as e-notifications and
subscription-based newsletters. The email subscription feature must be CAN-
SPAM compliant. The Vendor must provide one email template that is
consistent with the website design.
7. Online Newsroom. The website must allow for the ability to post news to a
page, or pages, on the site. News must have the ability to be automatically
archived in an easily retrievable manner at a predefined time after publishing
and scheduled to be published at a future date and time. News headlines must
have the option to be displayed on the homepage in an order defined by staff.
8. Data Migration. The Vendor must migrate the data and files from the existing
site into any new or upgraded CMS. This includes indexing and integrating
existing content into the new design and navigation structure.
9. Long-Term Management. Long-term management of the website’s
architecture and Content Management System must provide:
a. A review of site usage statistics and suggestions for improvements on a bi-
annual basis to the City.
b. Maintenance of website architecture.
c. Technical support of CMS.
d. Assistance with the implementation of third-party software on the website.
10. Audio and video embedding. The website must contain the ability to embed
audio and video in website pages.
11. Forwarding page feature. The website must contain the ability to forward
pages to friends, coworkers, etc., using a simple form that asks for the sender
 and recipient’s email addresses and allows the sender to include a short
message to the recipient.
12. Integrated RSS Feeds. The website must integrate with social networking
applications, including, but not limited to, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter, so users can share City information to their social media contacts.
The ability to integrate with future social media tools must also be provided.
Staff must have the ability to set up RSS feed readers for important City
information. Users must have the ability to sign up to receive RSS feeds.
13. Integration of Third-party Sites and Services. Third-party tools, features, and
databases must have the same look and feel as the City’s website and the links
to the third-party websites must be integrated into the site’s navigation. The
option to live stream public meetings and future video streaming service for
videos and City meetings is desired, but not required.
14. Website Analytics. Analytics tracking and reporting must be integrated on the
site to allow for website visitor tracking, page tracking, etc.
15. Hosting. Vendor will provide hosting for the website. In addition, there must
be redundant server backup to ensure 99.999% uptime. Downtimes must be
transparent to the user with processes and procedures to preclude data loss and
file corruption. Multiple redundant backups for transparent downtime
recovery.
16. Records retention. Identify and provide web information management tools to
comply with the City’s retention and access to public information
requirements, including the storing of each information update.
17. Ability to plug in future technologies. Easy integration with future
technologies, particularly those that allow for virtual services and engagement
tools.
18. Balanced government look and feel with a unique web presence. Vendor will
be expected to work with City staff to develop the look and feel of the site
with the purpose of conveying the City’s unique brand as detailed in Exhibit
G, Brand Guidelines.

J. Hosting Requirements
Responsiveness of website. Website responsiveness must adhere to industry
standards and apply to mobile and tablet devices accessing the website.

VII. PROJECT BUDGET AND TIMELINE

Midvale City will award a 5-year contract and its total budget for the website redesign
and development, including training and hosting, for the first year is $40,000.

The City anticipates the contract kickoff will occur in early March 2023. The deliverables
requested in the Scope of Services must be completed no later than June 12, 2023.

VIII. RFP INFORMATION, PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS AND CONDITIONS

A. Access to Request for Proposal
 The RFP is available electronically on the Midvale City’s Website
(www.midvalecity.org) and Utah Public Procurement Place. Midvale will only
accept submission through the U3P.

B. RFP Coordination and Communication

Questions about this RFP must be submitted via U3P before the deadline to
submit written questions as identified in the schedule of events. Under no
circumstances must Midvale City staff be contacted directly. The intent behind
this requirement is to ensure the same information is communicated and
disseminated to all prospective respondents. Questions must clearly identify the
relevant section and subsection of the RFP related to the question being asked.
Questions received after the deadline will not be answered. The City will post its
responses to questions on U3P. Midvale is not responsible for delays caused by
U3P.

C. Schedule of Events
Action Date
Deadline for written questions and comments 2/15/2023, 3:00PM (MST)
Proposal Due 2/27/2023, 3:00PM (MST)
Committee Review TBD
Interview of Finalist(s) (if needed) TBD

D. RFP Amendments and Cancellation

The City reserves the right to change the RFP schedule or issue amendments to
the RFP at any time. In the event the City amends the RFP, the RFP due date may
be changed. The City reserves the right to cancel or re-issue the RFP. Midvale is
not responsible to any vendor for any expenses incurred in preparing a proposal.
A vendor prepares a proposal for this RFP at its sole risk.

E. Proposal Evaluation Criteria

An RFP evaluation committee, comprised of City staff, will review each proposal.
The following weighted evaluation criteria will be used in selecting a suitable
Vendor:

Evaluation Criteria Points

Web redesign approach 25
Feature functions worksheet response 25
Experience 20
Timeline to complete the project 20
Price Evaluation 10
 Vendors with the overall highest point value may be awarded a 5-year contract. The
City reserves the right to make no awards following this RFP. For specific criteria on
which vendors will be evaluated, please refer to Exhibit A Evaluation Criteria.
F. Proposal Deadline and Submission
1. Proposal Close Date
The close date and time is February 27, 2023, at 3:00 pm MST. The City will
not be responsible for late submissions. No proposal will be accepted after the
RFP closes. Corrections or modifications to previously submitted proposals
that are made or attempted after the close date and time will not be
considered, unless specifically requested by the City for purposes of clarifying
the RFP.

2. Proposal Submission
The following will apply to all proposals:
a. Proposals must address all questions in the RFP with supporting
documents.
b. Cost submission must be a separate document.
c. Proposals must be signed by the vendor (electronic signatures are
acceptable) and in the case of a firm or company, by its President, Chief
Executive or an individual authorized to act on behalf of the firm or
company. The name of the individual submitting the proposal must be
provided.
d. No oral proposals, or oral modification of an existing submitted proposal
will be considered.
e. Under no circumstances are City staff or its elected officials permitted to
comment on or have any involvement in the preparation of a vendor’s
proposal.
f. All written and electronic communications pertaining to this RFP shall be
subject to disclosure pursuant to the Utah Government Records Access
and Management Act (GRAMA). Proposals will be subject to disclosure
under the GRAMA only after staff have selected a vendor or the RFP is
cancelled.

3. Proposal Format and Content

Proposals must be prepared as simple as possible. Emphasis must be
concentrated on accuracy, completeness, and clarity of content. Each proposal
should be formatted to respond to and answer each requirement as outlined in
Exhibit A Evaluation Criteria. If a requirement does not pertain to your
proposal, write “N/A” in your proposal. Proposals with blank sections may be
deemed non-responsive.
Each proposal must conform to the outlined format as follows:
 a. Include cover letter that has a project statement describing your firm’s
understanding of the goals and objectives, as well as the approach and
philosophy regarding the project.
b. Provide your firm’s full name and address with a short description of the
firm.
c. Include a description of the firm, an organizational chart, and the primary
role and responsibility of each team member.
d. Designate the team leader for this project and the responsibility of other
contributing members.
e. Provide examples of similar successful projects, including at least one
project involving the generation of a government website.
f. Include an affirmative statement regarding the ability to start immediately
upon the full execution of the contract.
g. Complete and submit the attached Feature Function Worksheet found in
Exhibit B.
h. Complete and submit the attached Pricing Worksheet found in Exhibit C
i. Complete and submit the attached Non-Collusion Affidavit found in
Exhibit D.
j. Complete and submit the attached Agreement Verification Statement
found in Exhibit E.

G. Additional Information
The proposal may include any other information the vendor deems essential to the
evaluation. This includes any proposed changes to the attached Sample
Agreement found in Exhibit F.

H. Right to Purchase from Any Source

The City reserves the right to purchase from any source or sources any desired
products or services relating to this proposal.

I. Right to Reject Any or All Proposals

The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, to waive technicalities or
formalities, and to accept any proposal deemed to be in the best interest of the
City. Where two or more proposals are deemed equal, the City reserves the right
to make the award to one of the two vendors.

J. Withdrawal of Proposals
Proposals may be withdrawn any time before the proposal Close Date through
U3P. Proposals cannot be changed or withdrawn after the Proposal Close Date.

K. Proposal Validity Period

 Submission of a proposal will signify a vendor’s agreement that the proposal is
valid for 60 days from the Proposal Close Date specified in Section VIII.F.1.
Proposals must stipulate the expiration date of their quoted proposal.

L. Firm Prices
It is the City’s policy to obtain goods and services of the highest quality for the
lowest cost from the most qualified vendor. Prices quoted shall be firm prices and
not subject to increase during the term of a contractual agreement arising between
the City and Vendor as a result of said proposal, unless explicitly stated. Quoted
prices must include any applicable federal or state tax.

M. Expenses of Proposal Preparation

Each proposal prepared in response to this RFP is done at the sole cost and
expense of each vendor and with the express understanding that no claims against
the City for reimbursement will be accepted.

N. Public Records and Rights to Submitted Materials

All proposals, inquiries, or correspondence related or in reference to this request
for proposals, and all reports, charts, displays, schedules, exhibits, and other
documentation submitted by a vendor will become the property of the City when
received.

The City is subject to the Government Records Access and Management Act
(Utah Code Ann. §§ 63G-2-101 et seq.). Any documents collected under this RFP
may be subject to public access. If a vendor believes any information must be
held confidential under Utah Code Ann. §§ 63G-2-305(1) or (2), the vendor must
clearly identify that information, submit a written claim of business
confidentiality for that particular information, and include a concise, specific
statement of the reasons supporting the claim of confidentiality pursuant to
Utah Code Ann. § 63G-2-309(1). Vendors recognize that Midvale, as a
government entity subject to the Government Records Access and Management
Act, cannot guarantee the confidentiality of any submitted information.

O. No Collusion
By submitting a proposal, each vendor certifies that its submission is not the result
of collusion or any other activity that would tend to, directly or indirectly,
influence the selection process. The proposal will be used to determine the
prospective vendor’s capability of rendering the services to be provided.

P. Conflict of Interest

1. Employment
 By submitting a proposal, a vendor represents and warrants that none of its
officers, employees, or immediate family members of its officers or
employees is or has been an elected official, employee, board member,
commission member, or agent of the City or its affiliates who influences the
City’s procurement process. This includes, but is not limited to, anyone
involved in the City’s drafting of procurement and project documents or the
City’s selection of a proposal.

2. Compensation
By submitting a proposal, a vendor represents and warrants it has not provided
any compensation or gift in any form, whether directly or indirectly, to an
elected official, employee, board member, commission member, or agent of
the City or its affiliates who influences the City’s procurement process. This
includes, but is not limited to, anyone involved in the City’s drafting of the
procurement and project documents or the City’s selection of a proposal.

IX. AGREEMENT
A. The selected Vendor will be required to enter into the attached written agreement
with the City. A sample of this Agreement can be found in Exhibit F. Vendors are
expected to review the contract and warrant to the City that they are willing to
execute the contract if selected by the City. Any proposed changes to the contract
must be submitted prior to the deadline for questions. The City reserves the right
to modify the agreement at any time prior to the agreement’s execution. The City
does not anticipate making any substantive changes. It anticipates that if any
changes are made, they will be made to facilitate an efficient implementation of
the selected proposal.

B. Inclusion of Proposal
The proposal submitted in response to this RFP may be incorporated as part of the
final contract with the selected Vendor.

C. Insurance
General liability, automobile, professional liability, and workers’ compensation
insurance are required. The selected Vendor must retain, at a minimum, the
following insurance coverages for the term of the contract:
1. Commercial General Liability : $1,000,000.00 combined single limit per
occurrence and $3,000,000.00 aggregate.
2. Automotive Liability: $1,000,000.00 per occurrence and $3,000,000
aggregate.
3. Professional Negligence/Errors and Omissions: $1,000,000.00 per occurrence
and $3,000,000 aggregate.
4. Cyber Liability: $1,000,000.00 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate.
 5. Worker’s Compensation Insurance (Part A) at Utah’s statutory limits.
Employer’s Liability Insurance (Part B) in the amount of at least 1,000,000 for
each accident, disease, and employee.

D. Independent Contractor
The successful Vendor for these services shall perform the services as an
independent contractor and not as an employee of the City.

E. Subcontractors
Subcontractors will be held to the same performance standards as the Vendor.
Vendor shall maintain sole responsibility for Subcontractors servicing the
Agreement. Vendor is liable for performance of the Subcontractor(s) and is
responsible for payment of any Subcontractor.

F. Federal, State, and Local Laws

Vendors will be required to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, codes,
standards, and ordinances during the term of the awarded contract including, but
not limited to:

1. Discrimination
Vendor may not discriminate against any individual because of race, color,
sex, age, religion, national origin, disability, pregnancy, familial status,
veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and
these cannot be factors in Vendor’s consideration for employment, selection
of training, promotion, transfer, recruitment, rates of pay, or other forms of
compensation, demotion, or separation.

2. Status Verification System

Under the Utah Immigration Accountability and Enforcement Act, Utah Code
Ann. §§ 63G-12- 101 et seq., any entity contracting with a public employer is
required to certify that it participates in the Status Verification System and
complies with the Act.