Website Design Services - Answers to Questions about RFP

Question Answer

What is driving the dates for this project?

New site is needed and we must have web accessibility brought into compliance.

Do you have a target go live date for the new website?

If possible, April 2026.

Will you require content migration services?

Yes

Will the entire .edu domain need to be migrated?

ASUMH will work with the apparent winner of the RFP to determine the needs of the new site.

Are there parts of the site that will not be migrated?

ASUMH will work with the apparent winner of the RFP to determine the needs of the new site.

Are there Additional domains that need to be migrated?

No

In regard to migration, how many different page layouts do you have on current site?

ASUMH will work with the apparent winner of the RFP to determine the needs of the new site.

Who currently hosts your website(s)? Are you looking to change this arrangement?

ASUMH’s current site is hosted by VisionAmp. ASUMH retains the option to remain with the current host

How many developers do you have to work on templates, and other CMS-related development?

None

How many individuals at your institution will need to use the CMS?

Seven to Ten users.

Can you share an established budget for this project? Or Budget range?

To be determined

What systems do you have that you would need to integrate with? Is there a priority of system integrations? What specifically would you like to integrate within these systems?

Element 451 CRM, event calendar, and social media platforms, etc.

How important is a support plan/option for you with the new CMS?

We are a small campus, so we will have a need for a support plan moving forward.

Can you elaborate on the following requirements? “The site must provide a secure environment for storing information.” Is this related to the hosting infrastructure, or is there a password protected portion of the site available to some users?

We want to ensure that our site is secure with the information. This is related to the hosting infrastructure. There is not a password-protected portion of the site because we have a separate portal for that. We don't want anyone that isn't authorized to update our information, and we want to ensure that the data is secure on the servers that it is being stored on. 

Should the vendor include costs to do all content migration, or will that be a shared task with ASUMH?  

Vendors should include complete costs for implementation and content migrations services.

Do you have requirements for usability testing (user groups, number of sessions, format, etc.) or are you open to vendor recommendations? 

We are open to recommendations.

Are there legacy assets (PDFs, videos, documents) that must be remediated for accessibility as part of this contract, or should we scope that as an optional item? 

Please add as an optional item. The marketing team will have to guide the direction on this. 

For the requirement that states, "Text-only alternatives should be provided for every page. The vendor proposal should specify how this will be achieved and the associated costs.” Is this referring to alt-text and other WCAG success criteria for accessibility standards, or does this refer to something more specific?

This refers to all the WCAG accessibility standards. 

Of the features listed (podcasts, chatbots, social feeds, streaming video, RSS, etc.), which are in use today and which are new requirements? 

Chatbots

Hosting RFP Reference: Section 2.2 (Hosting).

The RFP states that the site may be optionally hosted by a third-party vendor. Would ASU-Mountain Home prefer vendors to include hosting as a standard part of the proposal, or present hosting as an optional add-on?

We would prefer someone host as long as up time can be guaranteed as part of the agreement. We do not want to have a lot of downtime with our main point of communication with the public.

Search volume RFP Reference: Section 2.2 (Search / site search expectations).

To ensure the proposed search solution meets ASU-Mountain Home’s needs, could you provide an estimate of the expected monthly search volume on the website (e.g., average searches per month)?

ASUMH will work with the apparent winner of the RFP to determine the needs of the new site.

CMS users RFP Reference: Section 2.2 (CMS / content management).

Could you please confirm approximately how many users will need access to manage and edit content in the CMS, and whether there are different user roles required (e.g., admins, editors, approvers)?

Seven to Ten users.

Content migration volume RFP Reference: Section 2.2 – “Successful vendors will move selected content on the current website to the new website.”

For the purposes of estimating the effort involved in content migration, can you estimate approximately how many pages and how many files (images, PDFs, etc.) need to be migrated?

No - you are free to review our current site at asumh.edu

Content migration scope. RFP Reference: Section 2.2 – “Successful vendors will move selected content on the current website to the new website.”

Are any portions of the website to be migrated not publicly accessible (e.g., behind authentication)? If so, please describe the type of authentication and the nature of the content, tools, or pages behind authentication.

We have an external intranet that will just have a link on the main website and nothing special will have to be done.

Information architecture / sitemap responsibility RFP Reference: Section 2.2 – “Site will be well organized with a clear navigation scheme.”

Is it the vendor’s responsibility to define and develop the new information architecture and sitemap for the website, including navigation structure and page hierarchy?

Yes and ASUMH will work with the apparent winner of the RFP to determine the needs of the new site.

Element451 integration use case RFP Reference: Section 2.2 – “Includes, but is not limited to, Element451 which is our CRM.”

Please describe the intended use case for the Element451 integration. What outcomes are you hoping to achieve (e.g., forms capture, lead routing, event registration, personalization, content targeting, analytics)

Element 451 is really just a link and not an integration piece. The link takes the students to the Element site. Not really an integration.

Other third-party integrations RFP Reference: Section 2.2 – “Integrates well with other ASU-Mountain Home software.”

Could you please list all existing third-party systems that must integrate with the new CMS or website, and provide the use case/scenario for each integration?

Our calendar system.

Usability testing participants RFP Reference: Section 2.2 – “Vendor will conduct usability testing.”

Will ASU-Mountain Home provide participants for usability testing, or should the vendor recruit participants? If ASU will provide participants, approximately how many user groups and participants should be included?

One

Subdomains in scope RFP Reference: Section 2.2 (Scope).

Are subdomains (e.g., https://events.asumh.edu/) included within the scope of design and implementation? If yes, please confirm which subdomains are in scope.

Our calendar system.

Training audience RFP Reference: Section 1.1 – “Include training of college personnel.”

To help us propose appropriate training, please describe the teams who require training, the approximate number of people, and their skill levels/roles (e.g., developers, site administrators, content editors, approvers)

Seven to ten will require training.

On-site support within 24 hours RFP Reference: Section 2.2 (Support expectations).

Could you please provide more detail on the scenarios in which ASU-Mountain Home would require on-site support within 24 hours? In addition, can you confirm whether on-site support within 24 hours is a

mandatory requirement, or whether remote support is acceptable for most incident types?

This refers more to if the site goes down and we need to get in touch with someone to get it fixed after hours. We would like to have a good response time on this so our site isn’t down for a long period of time. There isn’t a need for on-site support within 24 hours. It would just be for some outage of the site. We would like to have a good Service Level Agreement on the site.

Please provide a list of all URLs that are included in the scope.

www.asumh.edu

Please provide all 3rd party integrations that must be supported in the new website. 

Element 451

Can you share information on the core web team who will be managing this project; specifically, number, background and experience with website redesign projects? 

ASUMH’s IT & Marketing departments.

Does ASUMH prefer OpenSource or a proprietary CMS? Do technology preferences exist?

We prefer to stay away from proprietary CMS if possible. We would like flexibility. All other preferences should be outlined in the RFP

What specific qualities are you looking for in an agency partner?

Good communications skills, easy to work with, and has open and honest discussions with us.

Will web guidelines for the brand be provided to the winning bidder? 

Yes

Which department(s) are primarily responsible for the website? 

ASUMH’s IT & Marketing departments.

Can you elaborate on the desired level of autonomy the core team might have on the project? Specifically, ability to make project decisions/approvals and if multiple levels stakeholder involvement should be considered within the timeline?

ASUMH will work with the apparent winner of the RFP to determine the needs of the new site.

In terms of web content creation, do you have a photographer/videographer and content writer on staff? 

ASUMH’s Marketing department.

Can you provide examples of higher education websites or even those outside of higher ed that you aspire to / favor and why?

ASU-Beebe’s website, it is clean and easy to navigate.

Do you have an intranet and/or portal for current students? Is that in the scope of this redesign?

This is not part of this scope. We already have an intranet for students.