Awarded to Shaw Trust Accessibility Services

Start date: Monday 9 September 2019
Value: £9,022
Company size: large
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

Website Accessibility Audit

9 Incomplete applications

7 SME, 2 large

15 Completed applications

14 SME, 1 large

Important dates

Published
Wednesday 24 July 2019
Deadline for asking questions
Wednesday 31 July 2019 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications
Wednesday 7 August 2019 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work
The scope of the audit should cover:
1. Testing a sample of our most used content on our website including some third party systems.
2. Producing a report identifying any accessibility issues and providing guidance and support for prioritising and fixing these issues.
3. Completing a re-audit.
Latest start date
Friday 23 August 2019
Expected contract length
6 months
Location
No specific location, eg they can work remotely
Organisation the work is for
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Budget range

About the work

Why the work is being done
We wish to engage an external supplier to carry out a detailed check on the most important content of our council websites to enable us to meet the accessibility standards outlined in the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This detailed check would form part of a combination of methods to check our web services for accessibility problems.
The initial audit, report and support meeting should be completed by 9 September 2019. The re-audit to be completed at an agreed time after fixes for identified issues have been applied.
Problem to be solved
Meeting the accessibility standards outlined in the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

As part of this we require our website to be audited against the WCAG 2.1 AA and AAA accessibility standards, and any issues using the most common assistive technology identified.

We require an accessibility audit report to be produced which we will share with both our non-technical staff and third party developers. We will then write an accessibility statement and plan addressing any issues identified in the audit report.
Who the users are and what they need to do
As a resident of the borough (with or without a disability) I need to access council services online so that I can apply for things such as council tax discounts, social housing or resident parking permits. I need to be able to make payments, report issues such as missed bin collections or housing repairs, and view information on things such as planning applications and bin collections.
As a local business owner (with or without a disability) I need to access council services online so that I can do things like make pay my business rates or apply for a license.
Early market engagement
Any work that’s already been done
In order to write our website accessibility audit we have reviewed our web analytics and website structures to identify a representative sample of the essential services which will need to be included in the audit.

The main websites we wish to audit are:
https://welhat,gov.uk
https://one.welhat.gov.uk/

depending on costs we may also wish to audit:
https://hatfield.welhat.gov.uk/
https://careers.welhat.gov.uk/
https://www.inwelwynhatfieldbusinessmatters.org.uk/

Our websites link to third party supplier systems such as Capita payment forms and council tax accounts, DEF planning register, modern.gov, NSL parking permits, Locata Housing Needs Register and Quince Associates tenant portal, parts of which should also be included in the audit.
Existing team
The web team includes:
Website Development and Intranet Manager
Digital Services Manager
Policy and Communications Manager
Current phase
Live

Work setup

Address where the work will take place
We are based in Welwyn Garden City. The work can be carried out remotely but we require a minimum of two face to face meetings, one to review the initial audit findings and one to cover any issues arising from the re-audit.
Working arrangements
The work can be carried out remotely but we require a minimum of two face to face meetings, one to review the initial audit findings and one to cover any issues arising from the re-audit.
Security clearance

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions

Skills and experience

Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.

Essential skills and experience
  • Have experience conducting Accessibility Audits on large websites
  • Have exprience of writing Accessibility Audit Reports which can be understood by technical and non-technical colleagues
  • Have experience of providing guidance and support to technical and non-technical staff to help address any issues identified in an Accessbility Audit
  • Have a detailed knowledge of the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 and what they require from an Accessibility Audit
  • Have detailed knowledge of the most common assistive technology and browser combinations and how to test with them
  • Have experience of conducting web acessibility testing with disabled users
Nice-to-have skills and experience
Have experience of working with local authorities

How suppliers will be evaluated

How many suppliers to evaluate
3
Proposal criteria
  • Technical solution
  • Approach and methodology
  • How the approach or solution meets user needs
  • How the approach or solution meets your organisation’s policy or goal
  • Estimated timeframes for the work
  • How they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them
  • Team structure
  • Value for money
Cultural fit criteria
  • Work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers
  • Take responsibility for their work
  • Can work with clients with low technical expertise
Payment approach
Fixed price
Assessment methods
Written proposal
Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

50%

Cultural fit

10%

Price

40%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Do you have a budget range for the audit?
Our estimated budget range is between £5,000 and £10,000.
2. Please can you confirm the name of the content management systems you use, if any?
The content management system used for both the https://welhat.gov.uk and https://one.welhat.gov.uk/ websites is the Goss Interactive platform.
3. Please can you confirm the positions of the individuals evaluating the responses?
The responses will be evaluated by the Web Team which includes the Website Development and Intranet Manager, the Digital Services Manager and the Policy and Communications Manager.
4. Please can you confirm the number of pages when you refer to 'Testing a sample of our most used content on our website including some third party systems'?
We estimate that 'Testing a sample of our most used content on our website including some third party systems' will involve between 50-60 pages. Some of these pages are simple content pages whilst others are more complex pages such as forms.
5. We have experience of conducting web accessibility testing with a range of users with disabilities. Is such testing a requirement of this opportunity?
It is not a specific requirement of the brief if you can ensure the testing will sufficiently audit our websites against the WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards (including AA and AAA) in other ways.
6. Please can you confirm the number of representative sample pages for the essential services which will need to be included in the audit for each of the following websites: https://welhat,gov.uk, https://one.welhat.gov.uk/, https://hatfield.welhat.gov.uk/, https://careers.welhat.gov.uk/ and https://www.inwelwynhatfieldbusinessmatters.org.uk/?
We estimate that the number of representative sample pages for the essential services across these websites, which will need to be included in the audit is between 50 and 60.