Forestry Commission England

Forestry Commission England website development

28 Incomplete applications

25 SME, 3 large

58 Completed applications

51 SME, 7 large

Published: Monday 8 May 2017
Deadline for asking questions: Monday 15 May 2017 at 11:59pm GMT
Closing date for applications: Monday 22 May 2017 at 11:59pm GMT

Overview

Summary of the work: To redevelop the Forestry Commission England website (https://www.forestry.gov.uk/englandsforests) to ensure it is dynamic, straightforward to navigate, easy to search and a pleasure for users to engage with. The supplier will also be required to support and maintain the website as part of this work, with hosting also a possible requirement.
Latest start date: Monday 3 July 2017
Expected contract length: 24 months
Location: South West England
Organisation the work is for: Forestry Commission England
Budget range: The budget for this procurement is estimated at 400k – 500k (£400 FY17/18, £100k FY18/19) which will include all development, support, maintenance and hosting costs. Proposals must be inclusive of all travel and expenses.

About the work

Why the work is being done: Forest Enterprise England is an agency of the Forestry Commission and manages the public forest estate and the Forestry Commission’s commercial activities in England. The Forestry Commission England’s public-facing website must be disaggregated from the wider Forestry Commission and redeveloped as part of the digital engagement strategy to deepen awareness and understanding of Forestry Commission’s role and services across England and increase commercial income. The other areas of the Forestry Commission website (including Forest Research and Forestry Commission Scotland among others) are out of scope for this project. More information can be found in Appendix 1: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17tG7VaG7b5oB9KxBf9e-HRzJuFMiOzh3KG1mypODkQk/edit?usp=sharing.
Problem to be solved: The Forestry Commission website (built on the Lotus Domino platform) was launched 17 years ago and content has organically grown over time. Our new website requires disaggregating, modernising and improving the information architecture and content as well as the infrastructure across all devices from desktops to mobiles. This re-development will be undertaken concurrently with a redesign of the Commission’s IT infrastructure and branding work, and suppliers must ensure this work is in accord with and complementary to this activity.
Who the users are and what they need to do: The website is a crucial public engagement channel for the Commission, providing the digital interaction with visitors, families, timber buyers, jobseekers and event goers. Website functionality should be preserved and extended, accessibility standards met and usability of the website maximized for all users. Internally, the website must provide easy-to-use and straightforward web publishing templates for the 100+ distributed content creators within the Forestry Commission England staff. The Commission looks to the supplier for strategic guidance on the site direction, UX considerations and internal training support and as such the project must include these activities.
Early market engagement: No. There is no incumbent supplier.
Any work that’s already been done: Some requirements capture and internal stakeholder interviews have been completed, along with a branding exercise, the results of which must be incorporated into the website redevelopment.
Existing team: The supplier will work with the existing in-house Forestry Commission web and marketing team.
Current phase: Not applicable

Work setup

Address where the work will take place: Envisioned to be a mixture of on-site and off-site working. On-site at the Forestry Commission’s Bristol Offices, off-site at the supplier premises. Potential requirement to visit other Commission premises in the UK.
Working arrangements: Suppliers will be required to work on-site as required, although it is envisaged that the majority of the work will take place at the suppliers’ premises. The supplier will submit weekly reports to a nominated Commission representative regarding the status of the project, milestones met and any issues that may impact on timescales and cost.
Security clearance: Not required.

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions: First-phase development including conclusion of the Discovery phase and execution of the Alpha and Beta phases to be completed ready for go-live at the latest March 2018. This will be followed by a further 15 months of second phase development as well as support, maintenance and potential hosting services for the website.

The evaluation will process according to the DOS evaluation criteria:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-shortlist-digital-outcomes-and-specialists-suppliers

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: Demonstrable experience of the discovery phase of a similar project, including mapping of user journeys / stories and converting these into high-quality website requirements (4%)

Demonstrable experience of a website redevelopment that has led to proven improvements in one or more of: website traffic; brand perception; email data capture; conversion rate; sales metrics (4%)

Demonstrable experience of providing CMS strategic guidance along with an effective integration with an existing CMS. (3%)

Evidence of website development which supports photographs, video clips, other rich media as well as social media integration (3%)

Demonstrable experience of managing the entire project lifecycle, including the planning, design, development and delivery of projects in line with Government Digital Service Standards (3%)

Demonstrable experience of redesign and redeployment of websites in a mobile-first manner; to include how this was done and the improvements in business outcomes which resulted (3%)

Demonstrable experience of providing an easy-to-use, simple interface for website content contributors to upload, edit and manage content (3%)

Demonstrable experience of hosting, maintaining and running large e-commerce websites (3%)
Nice-to-have skills and experience: Evidence of working with a large, distributed organisation and delivering value through redesign of a centralized website (2%)

Demonstrable experience of providing high-quality, high-availability website hosting services. Examples of websites currently hosted by the supplier should be provided (2%)

Evidence of further development of a customer website after go-live, with additional work packages and features introduced and the associated benefits outlined (2%)

How suppliers will be evaluated

How many suppliers to evaluate

Proposal criteria

Proposed approach, methodology and timescales, including team availability and responsiveness (20%)
Skills and experience of the team (10%)
How the bidder proposes to provide training and knowledge transfer to in-house web team for future publishing and development (4%)
How the bidder proposes to provide training and knowledge transfer for content publishers (4%)

Cultural fit criteria

How the bidder propose to work with a distributed organisation and deliver value through redesign of a centralized website (4%)
Evidence of working with government, visitor attraction and third sector organisations (4%)
Evidence of working with clients with different levels of technical expertise (2%)

Payment approach

Fixed price

Assessment methods

Written proposal
Case study
Work history
Reference
Presentation

Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

70%

Cultural fit

10%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

1. Is the procurement process that we: fill in the evidence questions, are shortlisted to write a proposal, and then further shortlisted to present? If this is the case, please could you let us know when you're likely to need the proposal submitted by? And, possible pitch dates?: The schedule for the assessment phase will be set after the initial sift phase is concluded. The proposal and pitch dates are likely to be due 2-3 weeks after this; however this is to be decided. Proposal and pitch will be considered together, and we anticipate that the proposal will consist of 20 or so slides which be presented by the supplier at the pitch.
2. Does the budget range include VAT?: Yes
3. What is the make-up of the Forestry Commission's in-house web and marketing teams?: The Forestry Commission’s marketing team consists of approximately 30 people. The team responsible for the website development is the Marketing Channels & Supporter Development sub team, which is made up of 12 people. This includes the web team (4 people), and the digital team (3 people), as well as Campaign leads, a Membership Manager and Administration support.
4. Approximately how many pages are there on the current site?: The England’s woods and forests website currently contains approximately 2,000 published pages. Alongside these pages we also have:
- PDFS (several thousands)
- Images (about 28,000)
- Press releases
- Multimedia files
5. Your table of contents mentions p15 for appendix9. However the document only goes up to page 14. Please can you confirm no pages are missing?: This is an error. There are no pages missing.
6. Can you please provide a copy of Appendix 1 as the link does not work.: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17tG7VaG7b5oB9KxBf9e-HRzJuFMiOzh3KG1mypODkQk/edit?usp=sharing
7. 7. You stated the current site uses Lotus Domino as the CMS. You've also listed the following in the skills and experience "Demonstrable experience of providing CMS strategic guidance along with an effective integration with an existing CMS." Can you clarify what your expectation or requirements are for "integration with an existing CMS"? (e.g. what CMS or other systems/technologies would need to be integrated): The future CMS is still to be determined; we are seeking guidance around this as one of the functions the supplier should fulfill, and we will be looking to the supplier to advise what is possible in the timeframe of the project. This should include transition away from the existing CMS to the future CMS as part of the engagement.
8. As a supplier are we able to engage with a specialist subcontractor as part of our bid: Yes – we are able to engage with a specialist sub-contractor as part of the bid, as long as you are the lead agency.
9. At this stage in the process, are we correct in saying that we just need to answer the 11 questions listed in the "Essential skills and experience" and "Nice-to-have skills and experience" sections with 100-word answers and submit them via this portal? You don't require any sort of more formal presentation at this stage?: That is correct.
10. Do you have a preferred CMS in mind for this project?: We have no preferred CMS in mind for this project; however we aim to abide by the Government Service Standard in this regard and use open standards and common platforms.
11. Would you like to stick to Lotus Domino? If no then have you evaluated CMS systems recently? And do you have a preferred list of CMS system?: We would aim to transition away from Lotus Domino in a controlled manner during this project, and expect the supplier to provide this service. We have undertaken no evaluations of CMS systems, and we have no preferred CMS in mind for this project.
12. Can you confirm when you will be able to answer clarification questions by? This will impact on our decision to apply and therefore devote resource to submit an application in time for Monday 22nd May.: All questions will be responded to by 19th May.
13. There are c. ‘15,500 PDFs (not all FEE)’. Will you be taking the opportunity to audit these for redundant/outdated/trivial ones and reduce the count before migration?: Yes, we are currently reviewing the number of PDFs with a view to reduce.
14. We’re assuming the shop, here: http://theforestryshop.com/ is in scope. If that is correct, please can you tell us if the current range of items is representative of the full range and give us an idea of the volume and intensity of pre-Christmas sales? You mention a sales catalogue – can you provide a link?: The current Forestry Shop only stocks Christmas trees and accessories for sale online. Traffic is currently fairly small, with under 1,000 views over the Christmas 2016 period.
The shop is a potential growth area for the future and we plan to increase traffic and sales.
15. What integration is there between the shop and backend systems?: There is no integration between the shop http://theforestryshop.com/ or the box office https://boxoffice.forestry.gov.uk/en-GB/categories/forest%20live/3 and the website backend. They are delivered by third-party suppliers.
16. What form does sponsorship take?: Forestry Commission England works with a range of commercial partners to further our strategic objectives and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. This could involve sponsorship of a mountain bike trail to developing a new arts exhibition.
17. The DOS page says ’and improving the information architecture and content’ whereas the document says ‘Content development’ is out-of-scope. Will you be auditing and updating content as need be, prior to migration?: We will complete an audit of content prior to migration but are looking for a supplier who can work with us to develop a new approach to information architecture and a set of content principles to guide the direction of the new site.
18. Integration with systems: (a) Can you list all the systems the site will need to integrate with and give a thumbnail sketch of the level of integration? (b) What platform is the new CRM system?: We are looking to the potential supplier to provide us with options for the new platform for the website and the CMS that will support it. The future CMS is still to be determined.
19. We are not planning to co-locate developers or designers. Would, say, the project lead spending a day a week at your offices meet most of your need for on-site working? That (or fortnightly) works well for other clients (supplemented by calls, online tools etc.): We are not looking for the supplier to be based on-site but regular contact with the project lead is important. We would look to schedule regular (weekly or fortnightly) calls or meetings with the project lead to stay informed of developments.
20. What do you mean by ‘an effective integration with an existing CMS’? Do you mean demonstrating that we can integrate our new CMS with other systems/processes?: The supplier should demonstrate experience integrating with existing CMS systems, preferably Lotus Domino, as well as providing guidance around CMS best practice and providing a new CMS for use by the re-developed website.
21. Is the requirement to train the national web team so that they can train the 100 FEE devolved publishers (or is it for the supplier to do all training, for all 100 publishers)?: We would look for the supplier to develop a training program and supporting material to share with the website team. The internal website team would then deliver further training to devolved publishers.
22. You’ve requested “all current functionality be matched or exceeded”. Is there a list of all (non-standard) front- and back-end functionalities (hard for agencies to scope this, esp. back-end)?: It is expected that the supplier will undertake requirements capture work as part of the initial work of this engagement. All functionality will be provided at the assessment stage.
23. You mention “data and social media integration” - what is meant by “data” integration?: This is an error; “social media integration” is the relevant point here.
24. Is (all of) https://boxoffice.forestry.gov.uk in scope?: The Box Office pages are provided by a third party supplier, TopTix. We would like to review how this can be better integrated with the existing site as part of the project scope.
25. Is any of the site behind a log-in?: No part of www.forestry.gov.uk is behind a log-in although we have a check-point for datasets.
26. Typically what do you envisage the work 'on-site' would involve?: This would take the form of a regular series of update meetings, with additional working and information capture as required.
27. The Forestry Commission England describes a Discovery, Alpha, Beta, Live process. Can we assume there will be an assessment process after each phase? Who will conduct the service assessments to progress through each phase?: Whilst the Forestry Commission England is not required to strictly adhere to the GDS Service Assessment standards, we would expect some assessment at the end of each stage. The assessment would be internal to the Forestry Commission.
28. Will the Forestry Commission England also be following the gov.uk Digital Service Standards?: Forest Enterprise England is exempt from GDS controls, however we'd encourage suppliers to meet the relevant parts of the technology code of practice and service standard.
29. How do you currently recruit your users for tasks such as usability testing and face to face interviews?: All our main user testing events have been organised by suppliers.
30. Is there a reason for the latest “live” phase being March 2018 (assuming a successful Discovery/Alpha/Beta phase which allows this)?: Forestry Commission is devolving its shared services with Forestry Commission Scotland, Forest Research and Forest Services. The deadline for this programme of work is March 2018.
31. In 2.4 Web resource you list four members of the team, but also mention the site has been developed in-house. Are there more members of the team and would these members work on the project?: The 4-person web team has previously had additional development resource from an external contractor. Content is developed internally across the organisation.
The web team will be involved in this project.
32. If you are evaluating suppliers at this stage who specialise in CMS implementation have you already assessed which CMS you are going to use?: The future CMS is still to be determined; we are seeking guidance around this as one of the functions the supplier should fulfill, and we will be looking to the supplier to advise what is possible in the timeframe of the project. This should include transition away from the existing CMS to the future CMS as part of the engagement.
33. Will you be open to re-evaluating the CMS choice at the end of Discovery?: The future CMS is still to be determined; we are seeking guidance around this as one of the functions the supplier should fulfill. It is envisaged this evaluation should take place in the Discovery phase.
34. It requires integration with a third party CRM, but this is not specified – what is it? Is there a preferred CMS or technical stack (.NET/php/java etc) within the organisation? Our assumption is that you want to move away from the current IBM/Lotus Domino platform. Please confirm.: Lotus Domino is the current CMS and the Commission would choose to move away from this to a better option as part of this project. We require the supplier to provide guidance and requirements capture around this as part of Discovery and ensure that this can be completed in the project timeframe. We anticipate that the supplier will need to initially integrate with the existing Lotus Domino CMS in the early stages of the project, and migrate to a new CMS once a decision is made on the future state of this component.
35. Does your 24/7 technical support requirement include CMS issues/enquiries or just server/hosting related issues. Our assumption is that critical server/hosting support would be 24/7 and non-critical CMS/content/functionality related issues would be dealt within standard office hours. Please confirm: We can confirm that this is correct.
36. What level of integration is needed with your current CRM? Simply data capture forms or something else?: Lotus Domino is the current CMS and the Commission would choose to move away from this to a better option as part of this project. We require the supplier to provide guidance and requirements capture around this as part of Discovery and ensure that this can be completed in the project timeframe. We anticipate that the supplier will need to initially integrate with the existing Lotus Domino CMS in the early stages of the project, and migrate to a new CMS once a decision is made on the future state of this component.
37. They list a lack of understanding of content principles as a weakness but do not want new content developed. They also expect significant uptick in traffic (20% YoY) that we do not think can be achieved from SEO alone and would require some kind of content strategy. They also mention “positive engagements” that would presumably rest on content development to some degree. Are they willing to accept content recommendations if not content itself?: Yes, we would be looking for the supplier to provide recommendations on the information architecture and a set of content principles to guide the direction of the new site.
38. Clarity around commerce features. The scope section mentions ‘E-commerce established’, is this linking/embedding to a existing third party platform or a new integration? The 3 main content areas (page 4 of the brief) specifies only one ecommerce features and appears to be a third party system that is out of scope (eTimber, page 11).: Integration with this eCommerce component is required.
39. They also mention on page 8 of the brief that the new site should be built to accommodate membership, event bookings, sponsorships and donations (in the future) - will these also be third party systems? Or will our system need to do this too?: Definitive decisions on these features have not been made, and we would look to the supplier to provide expert guidance in this area.
40. Is there a list of external systems (eg grants and licences)- p14, last sentence, plus Page 9 section 3.3. that need to be linked to- and with further information on how they need to be integrated?: These will be provided at the assessment stage.
41. Can you confirm if the support function will operate via the Internal web team? (and will not be dealing with all publishers, for example): Yes, internal support on publishing will be provided by the web team.
42. Could you please explain " ... effective integration with an existing CMS" as the documentation suggests a new CMS is required for the new FEE website? Could you please give an idea of the scale and scope of the e-commerce element of the project? for example, approx. how many product lines would you estimate? Thank you.: The future CMS is still to be determined; we are seeking guidance around this as one of the functions the supplier should fulfill, and we will be looking to the supplier to advise what is possible in the timeframe of the project. This should include transition away from the existing CMS to the future CMS as part of the engagement.
43. Could you provide the full presentation of marketing personas as mentioned in Appendix 2 of the brief? Thanks: Marketing personas will be provided at the assessment stage.
44. Can you please clarify on what you mean by 'an effective integration with an existing CMS' - which CMS needs to be integrated with?: Lotus Domino is the current CMS; however the Commission would choose to move away from this as part of this project. We require the supplier to provide guidance and requirements capture around this as part of Discovery and ensure that this can be completed in the project timeframe. We anticipate that the supplier will need to initially integrate with the existing Lotus Domino CMS in the short-term, and migrate to a new CMS once a decision is made on the future state of this component.
45. Do you have a preferred software stack you are looking to use (eg LAMP)?: We have no preferred software stack for this project; however we would look to use open standards and limit dependencies on proprietary components in line with Government guidance.
46. Are you happy to use open-source software, particularly for your CMS or do you want a commercial product?: We have no preferred software stack for this project; however we would look to use open standards and limit dependencies on proprietary components in line with Government guidance.
47. Please could you clarify what is meant by the following? "Demonstrable experience of providing CMS strategic guidance along with an effective integration with an existing CMS.": The supplier should demonstrate experience integrating with existing CMS systems, preferably Lotus Domino, as well as providing guidance around CMS best practice and providing a new CMS for use by the re-developed website.
48. Hello, do you have a preference of CMS? Would you prefer licensed or open source?: We have no preferred CMS at this stage. We would look to use open standards and limit dependencies on proprietary components in line with Government Digital Service guidance.
49. Are you looking to change CMS or upgrade the Lotus Domino platform?: Lotus Domino is the current CMS; however Forestry Commission England would choose to move away from this as part of this project. We require the supplier to provide guidance and requirements capture around this as part of Discovery and ensure that this can be completed in the project timeframe. We anticipate that the supplier will need to initially integrate with the existing Lotus Domino CMS in the short-term, and migrate to a new CMS once a decision is made on the future state of this component.
50. For 'Mobile (access from the forest)' do your staff have fairly uniform phones/handsets or a variety of tech? If fairly uniform can you indicate the type (eg smartphone/tablet) and OS (eg Android/Apple)?: Staff use Blackberry handsets but a review of mobile technology is taking place over the next 18 months.
51. Appendix 2 of the referenced Google doc mentions Marketing Personas presentation - can this be made available to us please?: Marketing personas will be provided at the assessment stage.
52. Where does the Forest Xplorer mobile app get its data and is that data, and the app itself, in scope?: The Forest Xplorer app is not in scope for this project. Data is sourced from our CMS.
53. You mention that you use personas but it's not very clear what you are doing with those. Do you want to serve personalized content for different personas?: During the Discovery phase we would like to understand more about our key audiences to develop a deeper understanding of what content is relevant to them. This could lead to us serving personalised content in the future.
54. Your document says that: [The CMS ] 'Should allow upload and management of tens of thousands of pictures; pictures should be managed centrally so size and quality are ensured as well as meaningful alt text' This sounds like a job better handled by a picture library and we note that you already have one and that development of it is out-of-scope. Are you anticipating tens of thousands of images being stored and managed in the CMS? What photo library are you using? Are you expecting the photo library to be integrated with the CMS? Does it have an API?: The development of the picture library is currently out of scope at this time; however we would look to the supplier for best practice guidance in this area.
55. Is the budget inc. VAT or ex. VAT?: Yes, the budget is inclusive of VAT.
56. Is there a need for Sign on to function seemlessly with existing Forestry Commission website, if so what technology is used?: We do not anticipate a requirement for seamless sign on with other websites.
57. Is the new architecture to be a clone of the current site structure - with just with a new design and user experience?: No, we would like to conduct testing during the Discovery phase to develop a revised information architecture for the website.
58. What's the size of your database - How much static content do you hold in terms of Megabytes: This information will be made available in the assessment phase.
59. Is booking for events expected on the FEE website or will it continue on FC website?: Events booking, such as Forest Live concerts and large-scale events will be a part of the FEE website.
60. Is there a booking API we will need to integrate with for booking concerts and other events or will it need to be built as a new function?: This will be confirmed at the assessment stage.
61. Have you thought about the experience design, what key features are you looking for?: We would like the supplier to provide recommendations after completion of a Discovery phase.
62. Will the website development be undergoing a GDS standards assessment? Does release of project funds rely on passing a GDS standards assessment?: Forest Enterprise England is exempt from GDS controls, however we'd encourage suppliers to meet the relevant parts of the technology code of practice and service standard.
63. The brief states: “We require integration with existing [CRM] platforms” – can we get more information on the CRM platform and the type of integration required?: Lotus Domino is the current CMS; however the Commission would choose to move away from this as part of this project. We require the supplier to provide guidance and requirements capture around this as part of Discovery and ensure that this can be completed in the project timeframe. We anticipate that the supplier will need to initially integrate with the existing Lotus Domino CMS in the short-term, and migrate to a new CMS once a decision is made on the future state of this component.
64. What’s the existing payment provider for online sales and is this remaining as is or subject to change as part of this project?: Capita is our existing payment provider. This is not subject to change as part of this project.
65. In regards to: Demonstrable experience of providing CMS strategic guidance along with an effective integration with an existing CMS. (3%) please can you confirm if the above is in relation to an existing legacy Content Management System you would like to integrate with?: Lotus Domino is the current CMS; however the Forestry Commission England would choose to move away from this as part of this project. We require the supplier to provide guidance and requirements capture around this as part of Discovery and ensure that this can be completed in the project timeframe. We anticipate that the supplier will need to initially integrate with the existing Lotus Domino CMS in the short-term, and migrate to a new CMS once a decision is made on the future state of this component.
66. Will consortia bids be considered? You mention a 'digital engagement strategy' that this development forms a part of. Can you share this strategy? How do you foresee the brand and IT work dovetailing with the website? What are the timescales for these projects? What is the likely dependency for the website on the IT? Does the IT project include a CRM system? Please describe the process undertaken to generate personas, and data they are based. On a collaboration scale of 1-5 where 1 is 'Hands-off', 5 working as one team, side by side, throughout. What do you envisage?: Consortia bids will be considered a long as there is a lead agency.
The digital engagement strategy is not available at this stage.
IT and brand projects will be working alongside the website development with a project manager coordinating plans.
The IT project does not include a CRM system.
Personas have been created based on existing visitor data.
We would expect a high level of collaboration on this project, scoring a 4.
67. Hi, some questions related to the branding exercise: Can you provide more information about the role, timing and outputs of the work with the branding agency? Can you share any existing brand perception / brand tracker surveys? Are there existing brand guidelines that would be relevant to the re-design or will these be updated as part of the re-brand?: This information is sensitive and not available at this stage of recruitment.
68. Hi, some questions related to the available insights and discovery work: Can you share the full presentation for the marketing personas? What audience research is already available and is there an appetite for conducting further research as part of this project? What stakeholder insight work has already been done? Are we right to assume that any required further work would be lead by the chosen agency as a distinct discovery phase? Would FEE or the appointed agency be responsible for recruiting user testing participants?: Marketing personas and further insight will be made available at the assessment stage. Further research will be commissioned to develop a deeper understanding of our new and existing audiences as part of the Discovery phase. The appointed agency would be responsible for recruiting user testing participants.
69. Is there any particular technology language or stack preference? Can you provide any further information about the technical integrations required (e.g. CRM, grants and licences)? You reference personalisation in section 3.3. Could you clarify your objectives for the functionality? Is there an aspiration for this to be controlled/integrated with your CRM, with the opportunity to use stored information in other digital marketing? What are the core technical skill sets of the in house team? Is the Xplorer App in scope? Does it have a dependency on the CMS to serve content or collect data?: We have no preferred technology stack or languages at this stage. We would look to use open standards and limit dependencies on proprietary components in line with Government Digital Service guidance.
It is anticipated that requirements around personalisation be refined during the Discovery phase of this project.
70. Can you confirm whether Discovery phase is in scope? If not, what is the current status of the Discovery phase? Please also share any outputs.: The Discovery phase is in scope for this project.
71. Do you have any personas apart from the general public?: No, marketing personas are based on our existing visitors.
72. Personalised content was mentioned: do you envisage that to be provided for the general public as well?: We do not envision personalised content for the general public, however we would consider this as value add.
73. Do you have a technology choice for the new CMS? Do you intend to keep IBM Domino?: Lotus Domino is the current CMS; however Forestry Commission England would choose to move away from this as part of this project. We require the supplier to provide guidance and requirements capture around this as part of Discovery and ensure that this can be completed in the project timeframe. We anticipate that the supplier will need to initially integrate with the existing Lotus Domino CMS in the short-term, and migrate to a new CMS once a decision is made on the future state of this component.
74. Does the eCommerce capability currently exist? How many transactions do you have annually?: eCommerce is currently managed via our Box Office pages through a third party supplier, Toptix. Commercial data is not available at this stage.
75. What mobile platforms do we expect the website to support?: The website should provide an excellent level of user experience on devices of all form factors, particularly smartphones.
76. Do you have any information regarding the peaks and troughs of the website usage? Any stats on concurrent users?: Web traffic increases during the launch of new Forest Live concerts, large events, Autumn, Christmas and new family trail launches such as The Gruffalo and Stick Man.
77. Hi some questions related to content and wider marketing: You have listed content development as out of scope - is this because of a perception of budgetary restrictions, or other reasons (please specify)? Are SEO, paid search, social or other forms of digital marketing expected as part of this project? What are the current annual figures for online sales, email data capture and conversion rate? One of the key KPI's is to increase traffic, do you envisage the scope of work increasing to involve campaign work or other traffic drivers? Can we have access to the referenced picture library?: We would be looking for the supplier to provide a set of content principles to guide the direction of the new site, rather than content production due to budget constraints and internal resource available to cover this area.
Digital marketing is out of scope for the project.
Sales and marketing data is not available at this stage.
The picture library is available to access by the public: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pictures
78. Are software licences included? 2. Please overview your ecommerce requirements? 3. Is ForestXplorer app inscope? 4. Have you any user research? 5. Is 24/7 support required? 6. Does budget include any content migration, rehoming "Forest Research" and "Shared" content included? 7. What are traffic volumes (average and peak)? 8. Excluding IBM Silverpop, are there any external software integration points? 9. Is support for multilingual content (e.g. Welsh), load/ penetration testing? 10. Pages are built in PageBuilder, do you mean the SiteOrigin plugin for Wordpress or another system? How does this system interface Domino databases? 11. When is pricing needed?: Any software licenses should be included.
Further ecommerce requirements will be provided at the next stage.
We have provided the user research that we can share.
24/7 support will be required for the public-facing website itself.
Content migration will only be necessary from the CMS, however this part of the project will require some Discovery work to firm up requirements.
We plan to share traffic volumes with the sifted suppliers at the assessment stage.
We will discuss details of the current implementation with the successful bidder.
Pricing is needed at the assessment stage once the sift has been completed.
79. Are you able to share any analytics? 11. Other than IBM Silverpop, are there any external software integration points for the system? 12. Do you require any support for multilingual content (e.g. under the Welsh Language Act)? 13. Do you require load and penetration testing, or do you have separate provisions for these?: We are unable to share any analytics at this time. We plan to share such information with the successful bidder only.
We do not currently require support for multilingual content.
We anticipate that user testing, load testing and penetration testing will form part of the assurance for the website, and will be included in the supplier plan.
80. Are there any security requirements (BPSS / SC) for the team working on the website? 2. Are you able to disclose what CRM system you are looking to integrate with? 3. Would you be happy for the supplier to work from a nearshore location with work onsite as and when required?: There are no security requirements for the team working on the website.
Lotus Domino is the current CMS; no decision has been made around the future CMS.
81. Will your internal stakeholders be primarily represented by a single product owners? • Please define the cope of ‘E-commerce established’ on page 11 of the brief • Can you qualify ‘Knowledge transfer for low level maintenance’ product • We are aware there are 100+ publishers. How many unique publishers CMS should allow or should be able to handle at the same time. • Are you looking at building any other template/feature mentioned in Website brief document? • Is there any preference for technology used in development ;ie Java, Microsoft or LAMP?: The stakeholders will represent themselves.
eCommerce functionality should be provided.
Forestry Commission England would aim to provide 1st and 2nd line support, however this has not been decided.
Detailed requirements should be determined during the initial Discovery phase.
We have no preferred technology stack or languages at this stage.
82. At this stage of the process we believe it is valuable to consider both an open source and a licensed platform cloud solution so that during detailed requirements we can assess the overall best Total Cost of ownership – are you happy for us to develop the proposal with both options at this stage? • Are you looking for any other CMS feature other than editing and publishing content like workflow, content versioning etc. If yes please provide the details. • Do you have an existing mapping license agreement with Google?: We have no preferred technology stack or languages at this stage and are happy for bidders to provide options for this.
Detailed requirements should be determined during the initial Discovery phase.
83. Do you have a specific site uptime requirement or reliance specification e.g. 99.7, 99.9? • We assume 24/7 tech support only for P1 issues where site is completely down and all other can be taken up during normal business hours only. Please confirm. • Will we base our UX design and user testing on the personas identified in Appendix 2 • Will each of the 100 publishers require separate logins or do some share access details and rights? Thank you: 99.9% uptime would be most desirable in this case.
24/7 tech support for P1 issues is correct.
Some sharing of logins could be possible, however it would be preferable for individual accounts to be provided.
84. Are most of the audience UK and Europe based? • Do you have existing user testing groups – or would these need recruiting? • What is your existing CRM system with which we will integrate? • Do you have an estimate of the amount of data in GB (e.g. imagery, PDFs etc) that will need migrating and hosting? • Are you looking for a fundamentally redesigned online brand? i.e. should we expect to include a number of design concepts in the design phase, one of which will be carried into full design implementation?: Most of our audiences are based in the UK.
We do not have an existing user testing group and would require the supplier to recruit.
We will review and reduce current content before migration. This is outlined in Appendix 1.
Brand direction is still in development.
85. Have you got designs already in mind or do you require this stage in the project? Do you have any preference with regards to open source or proprietary CMS solutions? If proprietary do you have any qualifying criteria for the CMS product vendor? Is the site required to integrate into any other sites or web services? If so please can you explain technologies and what they do? E.g. grants and licences, payment gateways etc: We require the supplier to produce designs.
86. Does the site need to be multilingual? Will you require any data migration in order to bring some of the pages/images/PDF's that already exist across or will you be adding the content manually yourself?: No, the website does not need to be multilingual. We will require support with data migration.
87. Can you explain how you translate the Domino content into live pages. Additionally if the CMS is out of scope, how do you envisage new content requirements to be implemented within the CMS.: The mechanism for translating the Domino content into pages does not need to be described in the response. The CMS is in scope, as described in previous answers.
88. We don’t understand ‘Will we need the system to connect to current external systems like grants and licences’ – at the end of the document. Can you clarify?: The existing website is connected to other systems/databases from simple linkage to sharing data over the internal network. We are looking at the potential supplier to review those connections, either to replicate the set-up or advise for new ways to deliver the required services.
89. What is meant by “Trail maps (interactive)”, or is there a URL you can point to for this?: We currently provide maps of our trails as PDF documents. The aspiration is to deliver online interactive trail map (probably ESRI based). We are looking for advice on the optimum way to do it.
90. How is the site currently hosted? What percentage of the proposed year 2 budget would be absorbed by this if the hosting remained the same?: The site is currently hosted in-house but we are in the process to move it to the cloud.
91. Are there any annual software costs associated with the current Lotus site and CMS?: There are no software costs associated with the Domino website; however we have a small annual cost for publishers’ licences.
92. Will the migraiton use an API platform or will direct data access be provided?: Migration requirements will depend on the new website and CMS but there is a Lotus Notes API if required.
93. What format is used for saving the existing pages on the current platform?: Web pages are dynamically generated and delivered using HTMl / CSS / JavaScript. HTML and data are stored as Domino in the Domino databases.
94. What interactive features are needed on the site? Maps, event feeds etc: Features are to be agreed as part of the requirements for the information architecture, usability and content. Currently the website provides an array of features such as maps, text searches, automated navigation, feeds, etc.
95. What payment gateway integration is expected, is there a preferred partner being used?: We do not have integration at the moment and payment is delivered by a third-party. Capita is our existing payment provider. This is not subject to change as part of this project.
96. The brief states: "We need the system to connect to current external systems like grants and licences” – can we get more information about the requirements?: The existing website is connected to other systems/databases from simple linkage to sharing data over the internal network. We are looking at the potential supplier to review those connections, either to replicate the set-up or advise for new ways to deliver the required services.
97. Hi can you please confirm if the following sub-domains are included or excluded from this project? https://boxoffice.forestry.gov.uk/ https://dialogue.forestry.gov.uk/ https://englandconsult.forestry.gov.uk/ http://theforestryshop.com/ http://news.forestry.gov.uk/ Are there any other sub-domains of forestry.gov.uk or other domains we should be aware of that are part of this project?: Our presence on the Internet is primarily through our current Domino website but we also use third-parties to deliver specific areas such as consultations. We would like the supplier to look at our information across all areas and advise if there would be a better way to do it. The Intranet (http://news.forestry.gov.uk) is out of scope.
98. Hi, some questions related to the CMS: Is there a preferred CMS or shortlist of CMS's? How do people connect to the current CMS platform if accessing remotely (e.g. do they go through a VPN or over direct over http)? Should the cost of any software (such as CMS licenses) be included within the overall budget? How often do content editors update content on the site? / what number of concurrent users will be editing content at any one time? Do you require 24/7 tech support to include supporting users accessing the CMS?: We have not decided yet what the CMS will be. Our publishers access our current CMS through their corporate browser on the internal network. All costs should be included in the budget. Content can be updated daily (three times a day) although not all content requires to be updated at the same rate. We have 100+ publishers overall but we do not monitor how many are on the system at a given time. We require support for publishers during standard work hours.

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