City of Kirkland
Request for Proposal
Shop Local Kirkland Website Development,
Subscription and Services Consultant
(SLK Phase 2)
Job # 37-21-CMO
Issue Date: Friday, October 29th, 2021
Due Date: Friday, November 19th, 12:00 p.m. (Pacific Time)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Notice is hereby given that proposals will be received by the City of Kirkland, Washington, for:
Shop Local Kirkland Website Development, Subscription and Services Consultant
(SLK Phase 2)
File with Purchasing, Finance Department, 123 5th Ave, Kirkland WA, 98033.
Proposals received later than 12:00 PM, November 19, 2021 will not be considered.
A copy of this Request for Proposal (RFP) may be obtained from City’s website at http://www.kirklandwa.gov/ Locate by clicking on “Business” at the top of the webpage and then “Doing Business with the City”. Call 425-587-3123 if you are unable to access RFP documents online.
The City of Kirkland reserves the right to reject any and all proposals and to waive irregularities and informalities in the submittal and evaluation process. This RFP does not obligate the City to pay any costs incurred by respondents in the preparation and submission of a proposal. Furthermore, the RFP does not obligate the City to accept or contract for any expressed or implied services.
A Service Provider response that indicates that any of the requested information in this RFP will only be provided if and when the Service Provider is selected as the apparently successful Service Provider is not acceptable, and, at the City’s sole discretion, may disqualify the proposal from consideration.
The City of Kirkland assures that no person shall, on the grounds of race, color, national origin, or sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity. The City of Kirkland further assures that every effort will be made to ensure non-discrimination in all of its programs and activities, whether those programs are federally funded or not.
In addition to nondiscrimination compliance requirements, the Service Provider(s) ultimately awarded a contract shall comply with federal, state and local laws, statutes and ordinances relative to the execution of the work. This requirement includes, but is not limited to, protection of public and employee safety and health; environmental protection; waste reduction and recycling; the protection of natural resources; permits; fees; taxes; and similar subjects.
PURPOSE OF RFP
The City of Kirkland, herein referred to as City, is soliciting proposals from qualified providers for web solutions, herein referred to as “SLK2,” that fulfill the City’s requirements for a secure, compliant, configurable, and feature-rich solution. The SLK website is mission critical to the Shop Local Kirkland initiative, an effort designed to assist Kirkland-based businesses and offer digital presence during and beyond the COVID-19 global pandemic, to encourage local shopping and patronage, and to consolidate business to business, education, training and procurement opportunities for local businesses. The City seeks expert implementation and deployment services to implement a pass through website that functions as a visually pleasing business listings directory; offers multiple options for linking consumers directly to businesses; accommodates easy administrative control over design, content and listings information; offers the capacity to accommodate incentive marketing efforts to drive traffic; offers the capacity for business to business interaction and resources; and is configurable for effective search engine optimization efforts.
The purpose of this RFP is to seek proposals from qualified proposers for a state-of-the-art Web CMS/MMS implementation, according to the minimum qualifications, minimum procurement requirements, and response forms set forth in this RFP.
The City requests firm-fixed-price proposals to design, develop and implement the website, provide professional services, implement a cloud service subscription and provide ongoing support services.
PROJECT PURPOSE
The long-term vision of the Shop Local Kirkland web platform is to provide an up-to-date, enticing, searchable gateway to connect consumers to local businesses in Kirkland. The purpose is to develop a ‘one-click-stop’ for consumers to access Kirkland-based goods, services and venues in all sectors and categories, through a visually pleasing, engaging and consumer-friendly portal enlivened with relevant content, offers and consumer-use incentives, and a range of business-to-business opportunities. The updated platform should seamlessly and logically leverage and connect users to the ExploreKirkland.com tourism portal and create a user experience that is a gateway to ‘all things Kirkland’ for the user to explore and engage with.
SLK is presently a web-based visual registry of Kirkland business listings. The platform’s innovation is that it connects businesses with critical ecommerce and delivery service providers and enables the digital transformation of small businesses. The platform accommodates multiple transaction and delivery options for flexibility of businesses to connect and fulfill with consumers.
SLK Phase 2 intends to leverage the City’s investment in this digital infrastructure to meaningfully support businesses and the community through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. This can be achieved by ensuring that the web platform: is contemporary, responsive, content-rich and easy to use; functionality supports staff efforts to create engagement strategies which drive consumers; offers business-to-business resources and features that add value to local enterprises. Such functionality includes but is not limited to that which enables incentive marketing, featured businesses, user-generated content, events and programs, consumer-driven search capabilities, business resources and opportunities, search engine optimization, and logical integration, beneficial with the City’s existing platform ExploreKirkland.com.
The SLK digital marketplace can only be effective for the local economy if it is useful and enticing to consumers. The SLK initiative will rely on a vigorous marketing campaign to drive traffic to the marketplace and onto members’ websites to purchase from or engage directly with businesses. The functions and features of the web platform must support such consumer engagement.
Jay Gewin
Purchasing Agent
425-587-3123
jgewin@kirklandwa.gov
City of Kirkland
