TERMS OF REFERENCE

ESAP Website Development

BACKGROUND

The Management Agency of the Ethiopia Social Accountability Program is planning to get a new website designed. The primary users of the site will be civil society organizations implementing social accountability in Ethiopia, development partners, social accountability experts, government officials, members of the press and the general public.

PURPOSE

As ESAP transitions from its second to its third phase of implementation, there is a need for a new dynamic website with strong functionalities and attractive content display that can be easily navigated by a variety of user groups and that functions as a dynamic, up-to-date data/information portal.

The aim for the new website development proposed in this ToR is to address this need. For this task, the MA is inviting proposals from reputable and qualified companies with a track record of success in developing websites.

DELIVERABLES

Design the ESAP website with a new visual look and enhanced functionalities to provide a better experience to users compared to the ESAP2 website;

Develop a plugin that allows integration of Monitoring & Evaluation data in the new website;

Develop a user manual and train the MA team to perform content upload, system maintenance and administration;

Provide administrative and technical support and quality control for a period of 6 months; and

Hand over full source code including all developed libraries to the ESAP Management Agency.

WORK SETTING

The work setting for the assignment will include different aspects:

Timing and duration of the assignment

The duration of the contract will be three months. The website development will be completed in three months’ time starting from the date of signing the contract. The

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user manual development and training of the MA team will be done during the third month of the contract.

Briefing/debriefing arrangements

Meetings will be scheduled with the MA team to brief the vendor on the necessary background information to develop each of the requested deliverables.

Reporting

The company will work in close consultation and under the supervision of a task team of the MA, comprising the IT expert, the M&E unit and PR & Communication expert. They will follow up the design process and report to the ESAP team leader.

WORK PLAN

1. Technical specifications

Following the ESAP Management Agency’s branding guidelines, the winning company is expected to design a new website and develop an M&E plugin capturing the following functionalities:

The company will develop a graphic concept and the visual language (typography, colors, pictures, graphs and general appearance) of the new website;

The website shall be fully functional for any type of device – desktop/laptop computers as well as hand-held devices such as tablets and mobile phones;

The website shall load fast taking into consideration various connectivity conditions in the country, be interactive and easy to navigate;

The front end or the web application shall use HTML 5, css3 and the modern front-end frameworks;

Consistent visual language shall be used on the new site by introducing fixed styles in templates, ensuring consistency in fonts, formatting, icons, images, layout techniques;

Standard page elements including header, footer, tabs, persistent navigation, contact us, email and page print options shall be included in the template designs;

The website shall come with good text, image and audio display modules;

The vendor shall create responsive CSS and graphic design elements for the website.

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The website shall have advanced search functions that can list out and avail all searched files;

The website shall have different templates for different menus; The website shall have the ability to link content and to add blog

posts; The website shall have tabbed content areas that allow visitors to see

news, popular articles, latest articles, most commented articles, etc.; Social media shall interface seamlessly with the website to make

ESAP visible to the world and to boost website traffic. There shall be a link on the website that leads to current popular and trusted social media channels to share contents that are on the website;

The page shall be able to embed code from websites such as You Tube, Vimeo/sound cloud, Moodle, etc.;

The page shall have a clear navigation path to find archived text, video and image content posted by ESAP. It shall also have a view of all publications that can be filtered by category;

The vendor shall develop a web-based Monitoring & Evaluation platform/plugin that includes an interactive map providing information about key SA indicators for each of the ESAP3 regions/woredas and the implementing partners. The M&E system shall compare data from up to 500 woredas and different regions in Ethiopia based on a certain number of indicators and display the information on a dashboard for website visitors.

Language options - the design and development of a bi-lingual website (Amharic and English);

The new site shall preferably be built in a Content Management System (CMS);

The website shall be hosted with a dedicated virtual machine, so that security updates and backups can be handled at the host’s end, or alternatively, equally suitable solutions shall be presented;

The site shall be compatible with various browsers including IE11+, Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari;

The website shall have direct mailing facility and subscription for the ESAP quarterly Newsletter;

The design shall include the configuration of Google analytics so that the MA will be able to track website visits and visitors (e.g. see how many people are coming to our website, from where, how long they're staying and much more);

The website shall incorporate security features required to offer protection against internet security risks;

The website shall allow for the sharing of content through various social media platforms;

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The site shall include a search function by news, type of publication, type of resource, events and others;

Integrate or link the site with other relevant platforms such as Moodle and an M&E system; and

ESAP's content editor shall have the ability to add and edit meta data.

2. Knowledge Transfer Develop a user manual and train the MA team to perform content upload,

system maintenance and administration.

3. Support and Maintenance Administrative and technical support and quality control for a period of 6

months and a one-year additional warranty period if the website needs maintenance.

4. Source Code Handover Full source code including all developed libraries shall be handed over to

the ESAP Management Agency.

Process

The successful company will participate in briefing sessions with the ESAP MA team to understand the overall project and expectations;

Based on the briefing session and this ToR, the company shall develop a layout design concept for the site. The vendor will share a maximum of three proposals with the MA team;

The company shall adjust the concept based on feedback and comments from the MA team;

The vendor shall develop the visual concept and language for the site adapting it to the different components outlined in the section ‘technical specifications’ and adjusting it based on feedback and comments from the MA team;

Development of web sections and content upload; Final approval by the ESAP MA; and Test the site before the website goes live.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Vendor should demonstrate and provide examples of previous experience in the performance of similar services as follows:

Be a reputable firm with at least 4 years of prior demonstrable experience designing visually appealing and navigation friendly websites;

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Familiarity and relevant experience in using different Content Management Systems (CMS);

Have a broad knowledge of current web development technologies and design tools in the field, and new software and other web programming languages and programs including use of HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, Macromedia Flash, Java;

Have excellent knowledge of recent trends in graphic design, websites, including online video publishing and social media networking;

Demonstrate the ability to create innovative and visually appealing design.

Key professional staff qualifications and competence needed for the assignment:

Lead developer: The lead developer is responsible for the overall development process and assures that all code contributed is in line with coding standards. The lead developer has extensive experience (at least four years) in programming and CMS development.

The lead developer is an expert in the following scripting and coding languages and standards: PHP, AJAX, Java Script, HTML (including version 5), CSS (including version 3). The lead developer is an expert in the use and configuration of the below applications: Word Press CMS, MySQL Database and Apache web server. Experience with other related applications is an advantage.

The lead developer is an expert in the use and configuration of the below products and techniques: Search engine optimization, Google Webmaster tools, Google developer tools, Mobile device adaptation.

Graphic designer: The vendor will have a team of graphic designers with prior experience on designing websites with a solid portfolio of at least 5 years of experience.

Graphical integrator: The graphical integrator supports the development team with the integration of graphic design and CSS elements. The graphical integrator has at least four years of experience with the CMS integration of responsive CSS and graphic design. The graphical integrator is an expert in the below scripting and coding languages and standards: HTML (including version 5), CSS (including version 3), PHP, Java Script (including JQuery).

TIMELINE

Deliverables DeadlineSubmit an inception report _________Finalize front-end development _________Finalize back-end development _________Integrate the website with the M&E _________

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systemDevelop a user manual and train the MA team

_________

Handover full source codes to the ESAP MA

_________

Provide 6 months service after website has become operational

_________

If you have the required qualifications and are interested in this contract, please submit:

A proposal describing previous work your organization has undertaken in this area with contact addresses of previous clients;

A portfolio of previous work of web design with similar functionalities; CVs of the lead developer, graphic designer and graphical integrator in

charge of this project to be included in the proposal; A financial offer to address the work; the proposed lump-sum fee should

indicate the breakdown of all costs. This fee should be inclusive of ALL considerations.

EVALUATION AND SELECTION PROCESS

Submissions will be evaluated in consideration of the following evaluation criteria:

Evaluation Criteria – total 100 points

The degree to which the firm’s proposal meets technical specifications. [20 points];

The portfolio presented by the firm will be evaluated to assess the quality of the company’s work as relevant to the tasks described in this ToR, along with a minimum of three testimonials from previous clients [20 points];

Experience and qualifications of the team proposed to deliver the work by the company. This part of the evaluation will be based on the CVs of the individuals comprising the team that need to be shared by the firm in their proposal [20 points];

Experience in developing Monitoring & Evaluation applications and interactive map [30 points];

Timeline to deliver the objectives of the assignment based on the deadlines provided in this document [10];

In order to qualify for further consideration, the company must accomplish a minimum score of 70 percent in the technical offer. The financial offer will account for a maximum of 30 points.

Each of the submissions should be made in two separate envelopes for technical offer and financial offer (indicating; DO NOT OPEN IN ADVANCE).

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Offers that are not submitted separately will be deemed as disqualified and will not be assessed further.

Please submit proposals to the ESAP MA office located on the 2nd floor of WMA Sets building on Cape Verde Street, Bole, Addis Ababa in front of Washington Hotel on or before November 8, 2019, 4:30 pm. Any submissions made after the deadline will not be accepted.

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