Thursday 1st Jun 2023

Request for proposals – Cumbria Chamber of Commerce website

Background

Cumbria Chamber’s current website, www.cumbriachamber.co.uk, has been in operation for some years and is now in need of an upgrade. We are therefore looking to implement a new site, working to our existing Chamber branding which is clear, fresh, modern and easy to navigate. It should be both professional and approachable.

Please note that this site is focussed on “Chamber” activities only. We operate separate sites, which we will link with, for Cumbria Business Growth Hub (business support) and Made in Cumbria.

Main aims

The site will:

Present Cumbria Chamber of Commerce as a modern, inclusive and forward-thinking membership organisation for all Cumbrian businesses.
Clearly communicate our membership offer, with a simple customer journey for prospective members to join, while also promoting other services and projects.
Improve member engagement with the website and promote member services.
Provide an effective vehicle for communicating Chamber opportunities and messages, including policy.

Specific requirements

Specific requirements are:

A visually appealing and user-friendly website, aligned with our brand identity
High performance with fast page load times to enable seamless browsing across multiple devices
SEO, the website’s structure, metadata, and content must be optimised to improve rankings on SERPs and increase organic traffic
The website will be integrated with third-party tools including Google Analytics, social media, online forms, etc
Our event/training booking system and members’ portal is handled by Rubi CRM so the website will not need these functions, but it will need integrated with Rubi where appropriate
To implement security measures to protect the website against potential threats
A user friendly content management system (e.g. WordPress) which we can update ourselves, plus development support available if needed in future
Training for relevant Chamber staff on how to use the new site and best practices

You will be required to:

Consult with the Chamber to create and propose initial ideas for website redesign
Consult with the Chamber to finalise and agree designs
Deliver a finished website in line with the above requirements ready to be populated with written content (copy may be provided by either the Cumbria Chamber team or yourself subject to final agreement)
Source relevant images and/or video content, free from any ongoing copyright or royalty costs

Content of submission

Your submission should cover as a minimum:

Initial proposal for the new site and an example or examples of how pages would look.
Description of your delivery methodology/planned approach
Timescales with draft project plan
Track record and relevant experience including examples of similar work and at least two relevant referees
Pricing, broken down into the constituent elements (development, additional future maintenance support per hour, security certificates, hosting, and any additional costs e.g., plugins)

You should ensure that your responses also cover the following points:

Demonstration of sufficient staff resources
An outline of any other contracts you may have which will impact on your ability to deliver this programme, and how this will be managed
Identification of any potential risks in delivery of service, contained in a risk register, along with mitigation strategies for each

Criteria

Where we believe there is a conflict of interest we reserve the right not to consider your quote and not to award the contract to you.

Submissions will be reviewed on the basis of:

Relevant track record, experience and expertise
Staffing levels
Management processes
Pricing
Proposed website design

Please note that designs will be considered indicative only. Following contract award we will work with the successful bidder to agree the look, feel and design of the site.

All tender submissions will be assessed on merit. However, it is expected that the successful applicant will be a full Chamber member prior to commencing the work and through the duration of the ongoing maintenance contract.

Instructions for submission

Submissions should be sent by email to Joe Sanders, joes@cumbriachamber.co.uk marked ‘Confidential – Tender Enclosed’ to reach us by no later than 9am on 16^th June 2023 with the intention for successful/unsuccessful responses being sent week commencing 19^th June 2023.

The Chamber’s rights

The Chamber reserves the right to:

Waive or change the requirements of this opportunity from time to time without prior, or any notice, being given
Seek clarification or documentation in respect of a submission
Disqualify any proposal that does not comply with the instructions in this brief
Disqualify any proposal that is guilty of serious misrepresentation in relation to its proposal or the bid process
Withdraw this opportunity at any time or re-invite submissions on the same or any alternative basis
Choose not to award any contract or accept the lowest or any tender as a result of the current procurement process
Choose not to award a contract to any organisation it views as a competitor or to have another conflict of interest
Make whatever changes we see fit to the timetable, structure of content of the procurement process

Bid cost

The Chamber will not be liable for any bid costs, expenditure, work or effort incurred by a tenderer in proceeding with or participating in this procurement, including if the procurement process is terminated or amended by the Chamber.