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Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) recommending the Board:
1) Award Request for Proposal 22-915-037 to the Proposer identified as appropriate by the evaluation panel, Granicus LLC, for the provision of website redesign and site management services through its Software as a Service Content Management System platform called OpenCities to HHSA’s Public Health Division and the Information Technologies Department; and
2) Authorize HHSA to negotiate a three (3) year Agreement for Services with Granicus LLC for an estimated budget not to exceed $350,000 for the term of the Agreement of Fiscal Years 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25, and return to the Board for approval of the agreement upon completion of negotiations.
FUNDING: 100% California Department of Public Health State funding allocation authorized pursuant to the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021, appropriated for the COVID-19 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Enhancing Detection Expansion for years one and two, and 100% Federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding appropriated to HHSA Public Health for year three.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
The El Dorado County (County) Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Public Health Division (PHD) has developed a strong public health system that supports healthy communities and advances County initiatives that support the prevention of illness, disease, and injury. Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and with the additional tasks required by the PHD to support additional and associated work loads, the PHD experienced difficulties updating its website in a timely fashion as most changes had to go through the County Information Technologies (IT) Department or through an external vendor. These delays had an impact on the PHD’s ability to provide timely public health announcements through its website.
As a result of the realized website shortcomings, the HHSA PHD consulted with the County IT Department to discuss the website deficiencies and identify system enhancements. During the website improvement discussions, the County IT Department revealed that the County as a whole would like to redesign its entire website to enhance user experience, simplify content management and provide better information and services to its community while meeting high standards for design quality and visual appeal. Given the magnitude of such a project and the resource availability, the County IT Department intends to complete this objective in phases. As such, and to avoid further potential delays, it was determined that HHSA PHD needs a website system that is easy for departmental users to update without needing IT or vendor support for most changes. The website must be easy for the public to navigate and find the information and services needed. The ideal solution will include professional services to evaluate, redesign, optimize, and migrate relevant content to the new system/platform.
Therefore, on February 17, 2022, the Chief Administrative Office (CAO) Procurement and Contracts Division, released Request for Proposal (RFP) 22-915-037, which was requested by the HHSA PHD under advisement of the County IT Department, to solicit providers to redesign the HHSA PHD website and the County’s homepage, along with providing website management services. Eleven (11) proposals were received which met the requirements of the RFP. These proposals were evaluated by a panel of 3 raters, including members of the HHSA PHD and County IT Department who have knowledge of website service needs. As a further evaluation tool for the panel to select the most successful Proposer to perform the website services, a secondary evaluative component was added, in which the top 2 ranking Proposers participated in an evaluative interview.
This evaluative interview required each Proposer to respond to pre-determined questions and prepare and present a presentation on prior government website projects that the organization had completed for similar projects. As a result of the RFP evaluative processes, Granicus LLC was selected as the highest ranked Proposer. Granicus LLC proposed its Software as a Service (SaaS) web Content Management System (CMS) platform called OpenCities, which does not require custom development, allows both the County and PHD websites to be fully developed and update the existing content, and can be launched within a 5-7 month timeframe to meet the County IT Department and HHSA PHD expectations.
OpenCities was founded as a web CMS in 2008 and focuses exclusively on supporting local governments by building websites, intranets, and digital services, powering more than 500 websites for over 120 cities and counties. Examples include the City of Folsom and the City of Palo Alto. OpenCities clients range from several of the 10 largest cities in the United States to small cities and counties ranging from 10,000 to over 800,000 in population. OpenCities also provides training and governance workshops specifically tailored to each type of government user and will provide County staff the tools, appropriate workflows and permissions to change homepage images, add forms and services, change the style of web pages and user interfaces to the site when needed, and manage the pages and navigation of the redesigned sites. Both the County IT Department and HHSA PHD have determined that Granicus LLC has the capacity and experience to provide the website redesign and site management services and believe the OpenCities platform will meet the needs for the project.
HHSA is requesting the Board approve the award of this RFP to the qualified Proposer, Granicus LLC, to provide website redesign and site management services to the County and HHSA PHD, and is requesting authority to enter into negotiations with Granicus LLC for an Agreement for Services with a 3-year term for the OpenCities platform.
HHSA will return to the Board with the final Agreement for Services for approval.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should the Board decline to award RFP 22-915-037, HHSA PHD will be unable to meet needs for updating its current website and the County will be unable to update its homepage, which could result in ongoing difficulty in meeting the needs of the community, and cause communication gaps in posting public information to both websites.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION:
No Prior Actions.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Chief Administrative Office Procurement and Contracts Division and Information Technologies Department.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact related to the award of the RFP, as the Agreement to be negotiated will be brought to the Board for approval once finalized. Services provided will be funded by the HHSA PHD’s California Department of Public Health State funding allocation appropriated for the COVID-19 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Enhancing Detection Expansion for year one and two of the Agreement, and 100% Federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding appropriated to HHSA Public Health funds will cover year three. This funding is included in the Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget request and will be included in subsequent fiscal year budget requests, upon approval of the final Agreement.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS:
No action required.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT:
Healthy Communities, Improved Health, Well-being, and Self-sufficiency of El Dorado County communities, residents, and visitors.
CONTACT
Daniel Del Monte, Interim Director