PNTA website RFP by Matt McGrath

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Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development
Request for Proposal

RFP Coordinator:
Jon Knechtel
Director of Trail Operations
Pacific Northwest Trail Association
24854 Charles Jones Memorial Circle,
Unit #4
Sedro-‐Woolley, WA 98284
360-‐854-‐9415
Email: jknechtel@pnt.org
1

Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

PACIFIC NORTHWEST TRAIL ASSOCIATION
Website Redesign and Development
Request for Proposal
Contents
I. Submission Timeline and Format .................................................................................................... 2
II. Organization Overview ................................................................................................................... 3
III. Project Overview ........................................................................................................................... 3
IV. Current Situation ........................................................................................................................... 4
V. Design Requirements ..................................................................................................................... 4
VI. Functional Requirements .............................................................................................................. 6
VII. Proposal Format .............................................................................................................................7
VIII. Basis of Selection ........................................................................................................................ 8

I. Submission Timeline and Format
Monday, January 13, 2014: RFP advertised
Friday, February 14, 2014: Deadline for submitting proposals
February 17-‐25, 2014: Interview Candidates
By Friday, February 28, 2014: Award contract
The RFP coordinator for this project is:
Jon Knechtel
Director of Trail Operations
Pacific Northwest Trail Association
24854 Charles Jones Memorial Circle,
Unit #4
Sedro-‐Woolley, WA 98284
360-‐854-‐9415
Email: jknechtel@pnt.org
Submissions must be in the PDF format and should be delivered via e-‐mail to the RFP coordinator. All
questions should be directed to the RFP coordinator. Any submissions received after the due date will
not be considered. PNTA may request an interview with vendors with the highest rating.

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Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

&Žƌ ĞĂƐĞ ŽĨ ƌĞĨĞƌĞŶĐĞ͕ ĞĂĐŚ Ĩŝƌŵ ƌĞĐĞŝǀŝŶŐ ƚŚŝƐ Z&W ŝƐ ƌĞĨĞƌƌĞĚ ƚŽ ĂƐ Ă ͞Ĩŝƌŵ͟ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ Ĩŝƌŵ ƐĞůĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ
provide services for PNTA ŝƐ ƌĞĨĞƌƌĞĚ ƚŽ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ͞ƐĞůĞĐƚĞĚ Ĩŝƌŵ͘͟ dŚŝƐ Z&W ƐƚĂƚĞƐ ƚŚĞ ŝŶƐƚƌƵĐƚŝŽŶƐ ĨŽƌ
submitting proposals, the procedure and criteria by which a firm may be selected.
II. Organization Overview
Founded in 1977, the Pacific Northwest Trail Association is a regional organization that works across
Washington State, Idaho, and Montana to construct, protect, and maintain the Pacific Northwest
National Scenic Trail (PNT). The PNT is a 1,200 mile route that runs from the Continental Divide in
Montana to the Pacific Ocean in Washington State. It is a unique pathway that travels through some of
the most spectacular and scenic terrain in the United States and connects people and communities of
the Pacific Northwest.
PNTA works with local land managers and communities along the length of the trail for trail
maintenance, management, and advocacy. PNTA also has a national voice in promoting the PNT and
other long-‐distance trails.
PNTA is a membership organization representing a broad diversity of individuals and organizations with
a common goal: preserving the protecting the PNT for present and future generations while helping
local communities realize positive economic and social benefits from the trail.
III. Project Overview
PNTA seeks an experienced firm to redesign www.pnt.org and implement technologies to meet the
objectives outlined in this document. This will be a concept to completion production, from scoping to
information architecture, design, development, and deployment.
dŚĞ ĂƵĚŝĞŶĐĞ ŽĨ WEd ͛Ɛ ǁĞďƐŝƚĞ ŝŶĐůƵĚĞƐ ĚŝƐƚŝŶĐƚ ĐĂƚĞŐŽƌŝĞƐ͗ ;ϭͿ ƚƌĂŝů ƵƐĞƌƐ ;hiking and equestrian day
use, overnight users, and thru-‐hikers), (2) PNTA members and volunteers, and (3) land management
agency officials and state and local government officials. In addition to informing, educating and
mobilizing each of our audiences, PNTA views each audience as a prospective member and donor.
Additional important audiences are foundations, corporations, and major donors.
Content for PNTA͛Ɛ ǁĞďƐŝƚĞ ŵĂǇ ŝŶĐůƵĚĞ ŐĞŶĞƌĂů ŽƌŐĂŶŝǌĂƚŝŽŶ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ ;ŵŝƐƐŝŽŶ͕ ǀŝƐŝŽŶ͕ ĐŽŶƚĂĐƚ ŝŶĨŽ͕
etc.), program and project overviews, news, events, blog posts, monthly e-‐newsletter or e-‐magazine
reports, publications, interactive maps, resource lists, online petitions and other actions, donation
pages, membership management pages, and annual financial statements. In addition, PNTA is interested
in creating a website experience with user-‐generated content, such as local trail condition reports and
reviews, volunteer projects, community events updates, or photo galleries.
The redeveloped website should be easy to use and intuitive, organized around PNTA͛Ɛ ǁŽƌŬ on the trail
and in communities across the region, using the most popular website informational area to encourage
users to participate in the fulfillment of other organizational goals. In some cases, existing content from
the old website will be brought forward to the redesigned site; in other cases, PNTA will provide
additional content for the initial deployment of the new site.
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Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

The primary goals of the new website include:
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Internet presence that professionally represents the organization;
Provide users with up-‐to-‐date information about PNTA, the organization's projects and programs;
Provide users with up-‐to-‐date information about the Pacific Northwest Trail
Design and functionality that provides tools to encourage users to interact through easy access to
blog, social media, publications, comment letters, research and other resources;
A site that is easily managed and maintained by non-‐programmers through a web-‐based interface;
Conversion of visitors to the website into contributing users;
Encourage membership and provide necessary membership support services for members and staff;
Encourage donations and make doing so easy;
Administrative capability for website and managed data;
Design and content aimed at engaging our target audiences: (1) trail users (day hikers/equestrian
riders, overnight users, and thru-‐hikers, (2) PNTA members and volunteers, and (3) land
management officials and state and local government officials

Budget
WEd ͛s budget for this project is $6,000-‐8,000. Responses beyond this range should present a very
compelling argument for the additional investment. Pro-‐bono contributions will be considered with
appropriate marketing recognition.
PNTA is a small non-‐profit with a similar budget. We honor our financial supporters and fiscal goals by
carefully spending the funds we have been entrusted with. As such, we will be carefully vetting
responses based on their reasonable pricing and high quality, among other features. Additionally, as a
small non-‐profit, our staff time is already focused on current projects. In light of this, responses should
not presume to use PNTA staff time as an inexpensive way to implement features, transition data, etc.
IV. Current Situation
The existing PNTA website (www.pnt.org) is a collection of different functionalities and software
systems which have evolved over a decade of development. Currently updates and resources for users
are complex, cumbersome, non-‐existent, and difficult to find. The next iteration of the website must
provide simple and fast means for users to find updates about the trail, a community, project or
program; access to resources and reports; information on events, etc.
The current website is hosted by DCS Hosting.
V. Design Requirements
The following are overall requirements for this project:
Intuitive and easy to navigate website

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Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

The website should undergo significant redesign and reorganization. The website design should be
based on our target audiences, visually appealing, have a unified look and feel, and provide easy
navigation throughout.
Modern web design
Website should be developed utilizing modern web design and standards, compatible with modern
browsers while providing graceful degradation for older browsers. Website URLs should predominantly
be clean URLs.
This design should be mobile device friendly.
Increase engagement and conversion
PNTA is a member-‐funded, volunteer-‐based organization that relies on an active, engaged user base to
help accomplish its mission of protecting the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail and connecting the
American people to their natural and cultural heritage.
Users should be able to fully engage with the organization, such as by signing up for events, taking
action, volunteering, filling out forms to receive reports, donating, commenting on blogs, and creating
user-‐generated content.
Sectioning and Tagging by Geography and/or Program
PNTA represents a regional trail while speaking out on national issues. Sections of the website should be
dedicated to particular regions along the trail (i.e. Olympic Peninsula, Puget Sound, North Cascades,
Okanogan Highlands, and Rocky Mountains) and defined programs (Service/Knowledge/Youth [SKY]
Program, Volunteering, Trail Planning, Advocacy, etc.) Site content might likely be assessed by users
looking for information about a specific section of the PNT, about a general region, or a specific PNTA
program.
Users should be able to easily select their trail section or geographic area of interest by clicking on a
rollover state map. In addition, PNTA would like a map (or maps) to visualize our past accomplishments,
current activities and projects, and long-‐term goals along the length of the trail. We are open to
solutions to accomplish this.
Example Websites
In terms of design and functionality, PNTA finds desirable attributes in the following websites:
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www.pcta.org
http://www.wta.org/
http://northcountrytrail.org/
http://www.adk.org/
http://www.continentaldividetrail.org/
http://www.forterra.org/
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Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

VI. Functional Requirements
CMS
The website should have a simple inclusive content management system allowing non-‐developer staff
members the ability to create, edit and remove web site pages. The CMS should allow for the upload
and use of different media in a page. Pages should allow for structural intra-‐relating and relationships
with other managed content. PNTA must be able to maintain full editorial control of content without
dependence on outside contractors.
Calendar
The calendar needs to display upcoming volunteer projects, community events, planning projects,
workshops, etc. This area must be easily updatable by staff and designated users.
E-‐Newsletter / E-‐Magazine
PNTA currently publishes a monthly e-‐newsletter, and we are interested in shifting the content toward
an e-‐magazine or print magazine format that can be easily read online. The website must integrate the
content of the e-‐newsletter (or e-‐magazine) into the website and maintain an archive of past articles.
The content should be easily searchable by subject and date of past editions.
Media
The website should allow embedding from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.
API
hƐĞƌƐ ƐŚŽƵůĚ ďĞ ĂďůĞ ƚŽ ĚŝƌĞĐƚůǇ ͞ůŝŬĞ͕͟ ͞ƐŚĂƌĞ͕͟ ͞ƚǁĞĞƚ͕͟ ͞ƉůƵƐ͕͟ ĂŶĚ ͞ƉŝŶ͟ ƉŽƐƚƐ ĂŶĚ ŽƚŚĞƌ ĐŽŶƚĞŶƚ͘ In
addition, PNTA hopes users can use their Facebook profile or Google Plus account to comment on blog
posts. PNTA also desires to collect public contact information ʹ or contact information that the user
agrees to share ʹ ĨƌŽŵ ƵƐĞƌƐ͛ ůŝŶŬĞĚ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚƐ͘
Membership and Donations
Users should be able to join or donate to PNTA through the website. PNTA is open to solutions that
accomplish this and understand that it may require 3rd party software to do so.
News/Articles/Blog
The website should have blog functionality for posting articles, news clippings, videos, and other
content. These content elements should be able to be featured on the homepage of the website.
User-‐Generated Content

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Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

PNTA is interested in using the website as a platform for people to fully engage whereby users create
their own content. Beyond comments on blog articles, one example of another environmental
organization that has a website with user-‐generated content is the Washington Trails Association, which
allows people to post hiking trip reports. PNTA is open to ideas for enabling user-‐generated content that
is useful to the broad spectrum of our target audiences.
Search
Website should have a simple and standardized search with a text-‐box able to search site-‐wide, such as
a Google custom search. Search should capture items like current and past articles, public documents,
photos, project descriptions, newsletter contents and static pages.
Usage Tracking
The website should use Google Analytics for usage tracking.
SEO
The website should use best practices for search engine optimization.
VII. Proposal Format
Proposals should include information outlined in this section:
1. Describe in detail the firm's proposal to address the requirements outlined in this RFP.
2. Provide a timeline for the completion of the project outlined in this RFP.
3. Provide a brief history of the firm and its experience providing services for organizations like
PNTA.
4. Document examples of the firm's experience in designing/developing similar functionality to
each of the project requirements.
5. List the project team (including programmers and designers) and short biographies of each team
member. Indicate any portions of the work, if any, which will be sub-‐contracted and to whom.
6. Provide a list of the firm's clients comparable to PNTA indicating the length of service of each
account. Include contact name, telephone number and website URL. A minimum of three
references that may speak to projects of similar scope is requested.
7. Describe the project process and methodology including sample deliverables from past projects
of similar size and scope.
8. Explain methodology for demonstrating to and training PNTA in use of new website.
9. Describe the fee structure and how PNTA will be charged. The costs involved may be
categorized separately as redesign, implementation costs, maintenance costs, and software
licensing costs. Also include the firm's plan for post-‐deployment maintenance, support and
upgrades including hourly rates for services. The price you quote should be inclusive, if your
price excludes certain fees or charges you must provide a detailed list of excluded fees with a
complete explanation of the nature of those fees.

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Pacific Northwest Trail Association
Website Redesign and Development Request for Proposal

10. If hosting services may be provided, clearly identify cost as well as description of the hosting
platform, uptime, server location, data backup and integrity plan.
11. Document choice of content management system. If proprietary, firm is expected to explain
reasons this choice is superior to non-‐proprietary systems.
12. Proposal must contain signature of a duly authorized officer or agent of the company submitting
the proposal.
VIII. Basis of Selection
PNTA is seeking a comprehensive proposal from qualified firms for fulfilling these objectives. Firms are
expected to show a demonstrative capability of this type of work.
PNTA will evaluate proposals and, if a firm is to be selected, select the firm on the basis of:
1. The firm's plan to achieve the goals stated in this RFP in a comprehensive manner.
2. The firm's experience, examples of work, qualifications and successes in providing similar
services.
3. The firm's references from non-‐profit organizations, and other clients comparable to PNTA.
4. The firms pricing and timeline.
5. The quality of the proposal, responsiveness to requirements and adequacy of information
provided.
6. The firm's plan for hosting, post-‐deployment maintenance, support and upgrades and rates for
these services.
PNTA prefers open source software and non-‐proprietary content management systems. Responses
proposing a proprietary Content Management System will be considered but must provide a compelling
argument comparing against open sourced systems.
All proposals of a pre-‐existing CMS must provide examples of expertise in using that product. These
examples must include the integration of unique custom content for which no pre-‐developed solution
exists.
Submission of a response to this RFP does not bind PNTA to engage the firm to provide the requested
services. The firm is solely responsible for the costs it incurs in responding to this request for proposal.
PNTA will negotiate contract terms upon selection. All contracts are subject to review by PNTA legal
counsel, and a project will be awarded upon signing of an agreement or contract, which outlines terms,
scope, budget and other necessary items.

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