Consultancy for Development of Government of Saint Lucia Web Portal

published by NICTO on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 12:00

Ministry of the Public Service & Human Resource Development

 

CONSULTANCY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF

 SAINT LUCIA WEB PORTAL

 

The Government of Saint Lucia makes a request for proposals to provide consulting services to the Ministry of The Public service & Human Resource Development toDevelop the Government of Saint Lucia Web portal.

Objectives

The Access Government portal will support the e-Government strategy to provide an online 24/7 user-centric full service Centre.  In order to enhance this access point as the primary mode of doing business with Government, the portal will provide a secure environment that promotes transparency and privacy for the user. 

The objective of this consultancy is to

(a)   To design a new template for the Access Government portal according to e-Government web design standards;

(b)   To implement an integrated content management system for the central Government portal, serving the needs of Government Ministries and departments;

(c)    To migrate existing content to the new content management system; and

(d)   To develop general websites for three Government agencies as pilot cases for the implemented content management system at the initialization phase;

(e)   Conduct training with relevant stakeholders on the use of the content management system.

Qualification Requirements and Evaluation/Performance Criteria

The consulting firm should meet the following minimum requirements of 5 years experience in the following:

(i)           Design and implementation of Content Management Systems for Government Agencies at the national level; experience at the regional level would be an asset;

(ii)         Demonstrated knowledge and experience with ICT including computer network architecture, databases, web technologies;

(iii)       Strong expertise and knowledge of institutional change, challenges of policy reform, public sector reform and capacity building; in the Caribbean and/or OECS would be an asset;

(iv)        Experience in designing, deploying and supporting systems with a focus on open standards, interoperability and accessibility;

(v)          Excellent English oral and written communications skills;

(vi)        Extensive government business process knowledge and in aligning technology with the business vision;

(vii)      Engaging the appropriate technology subject matter experts within government institutions to drive the technology roadmap and achieve business objectives; and

(viii)    Demonstrated leadership, project management and team working skills.

 

Specific Key Staff with required Experience

Project Manager / Portal Architect

  • Bachelor's degree in computer science or Professional Equivalent or equivalent combination of education and experience relevant to the assignment;
  • At least 8 years experience in technology organization in large corporate or consulting environment, of those years at least 5 years focused on technical architecture, strategy, and client facing applications;
  • At least 5 years experience with the definition of systems and technology architecture for government ministries and agencies;
  • At least 5 years hands-on experience in architecting highly trafficked, highly available, DR (disaster recovery) ready Web solutions;
  • Experience working with Business and Technology teams to architect and design solutions for highly complex business and technology programs with focus on client facing applications using Internet and distributed technologies;
  • Strong knowledge of Web Services, Enterprise Service Bus, and Service Oriented Architecture;
  • Good understanding of Web Server, Application Server, Load Balancing, Sizing, Clustering, Access Management, Single Sign-on, Session Management, and related technologies;
  • Good understanding of key database concepts as applicable to application architecture;
  • Knowledge of Portal technologies is preferred;
  • Operations process optimization experience;
  • Experience with related technologies from various vendors would be desirable;
  • At least 5 years progressive experience in Systems Analysis and Design, Software or Systems Development, and ICT project management in a related field;
  • Experience in the design and implementation of Enterprise Content Management Systems; experience at the regional or local level would be an asset; and
  • At least 5 years experience with national, regional or state government intuitions in the development and implementation of web portals and web sites.

 

Application and Database Developer

  • Bachelor's degree in computer science or Professional Equivalent or equivalent combination of education and experience relevant to the assignment;
  • Experience with integration and middleware technologies is a plus;
  • Extensive experience with large environments, multiple operating systems, multiple database management systems, and networked technology;
  • Thorough understanding of Internet architectures on distributed platform and experience with 3rd party reporting products and portal technologies a must;
  • Proficiency with two or more of the following: JQuery, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, XHTML Java/J2EE/JEE, PHP, Python, Pearl, Ruby (Rails), XML, C/C ++, SQL and/or PLSQL, Web Services;
  • Experience with a variety of operating systems including Linux, UNIX and Microsoft Windows is desirable;
  • Familiar with OO, UML and/or other design/analysis methodologies.

General Responsibilities and Duties

Scope of the Consultancy

  1. Development of a new design template:

The design of the portal should follow established web site standards of the Government of Saint Lucia.  Specific focus should be on the improving usability and interactivity within the portal in order to enhance the user’s experience, and ensure sustainability of the portal through increased user uptake.

The portal design will:

  • Provide a consistent look and fee to all published Government web sites
  • Facilitate ease of access through clear user-friendly navigation menus, search facilities
  • Compliance to the design standards framework of the Government of Saint Lucia

The following tasks will be undertaken:

                                i.            Review of existing Government of Saint Lucia web design standards

                              ii.            Design of web portal templates based on input from relevant stakeholders

 

  1. Integrated Content Management System

The portal architecture will separate content from navigation and visual design, allowing the establishment of a flexible information architecture and presentation on multiple devices thereby ensuring accessibility and portability.   The implemented portal will be based on the following three premises:

·         infrastructure

foundational technical and policy environment which supports interoperability of systems, facilitates improvement in internal business processes, and ensures the security and privacy of users.  Main characteristics are:

-   Resilient technical infrastructure

-   Security infrastructure for user authentication and authorisation

-   Allow for integration with future technological advances

-   Adaptable to meet future capacity needs

-   Support payment infrastructure requirements

-   Adhere to Government of Saint Lucia interoperability framework

 

·         content

easily accessible and understandable quality information which is relevant to the needs of the user including:

-   provision of personalised services within a secure section of the portal to authenticated users

-   Enhanced information for access to online and offline services

 

·         information management

enabling web content management system which allows for efficient collection, organisation, and dissemination of information. Storage of content will be in compliance with metadata standards to ensure effective information search and retrieval. This will include:

-   Implementation of centralised content management system

-   Ministries/Departments directory

-   Contacts directory for public sector employees

-   Searchable directory of a subset of downloadable forms

-   Searchable directory of information on a subset of offline services

-   Improved search facility for the portal

 

The following tasks will be undertaken:

i.                    Review of the existing Government of Saint Lucia web portal and other major web sites

ii.                  Review of requisite documents including: Government of Saint Lucia (GOSL) Web Portal Strategy, GOSL metadata standards, and GOSL e-Government strategy

iii.                An assessment of the infrastructure requirements for implementation of the portal, and recommendations made based on results of the assessment

iv.                 Development of the Government portal according to specified requirements

 

  1. Migration of existing content

Content for the portal (including content for respective online directories such as contacts directory and Ministry/Department directory) will be derived from two sources:

i.                    Existing Government portal

ii.                  Content database

The content stored in separate electronic databases will be migrated to the new content management system according to the GOSL metadata framework. 

 

  1. Development of websites for three Government agencies

The content management system (CMS) will facilitate content updates for individual Government agencies.  As a pilot, the implemented CMS will allow for the inclusion of three individual Government agency websites in addition to the central Government portal.  Previous consultancies established the overall design, layout and content for the full agency websites to be developed as part of this consultancy.  The specific tasks are:

·         Review of requirements for agency websites as established from previous consultancies

·         Design of agency websites according to developed design requirements

·         Establish content update processes for agency websites within the new content management system

·         Migrate existing content of Government agencies to the CMS

 

  1. Conduct training

A critical component of the consultancy is effective transfer of knowledge to the relevant stakeholders including, but not limited to:

·         National Information and Communication Technology Office

·         Government Information Service

·         E-Government task force

·         Web administrators of respective Government agencies.

 

Specific Deliverables:

·         Initial assessment report to determine technical infrastructure/platform to be used

·         Report – Work Plan for development of the portal

·         Designspecifications for the portal

·         2 Design templates options for selection of a final design for the portal Graphical User Interface (GUI)

·         Centralized content management system for main Government portal

·         Three agency websites (Ministry of the Public Service and Human Resource Development, Office of the Prime Minister, and Government House)

·         Systems Architecture including application programming interfaces (APIs), CMS framework, database schema and source code for development of the portal

·         Training material and capacity building workshops in content management/update and technical support (including Training Reports)

·         User and Administrator manuals for the portal (and associated CMS)

 

Reporting Deliverables

The Consulting Firm will be required to submit all reports in English.  Reports and documents relevant to the Consultant’s services, evaluation notes, computer programmes, etc. shall become the property of the Government of Saint Lucia.

 Duration and Estimated Time Input:

The Consultancy for the needs assessment, design and implementation of the Government of Saint Lucia Web Portal Content Management System will take approximately four calendar months.  The estimated work effort is approximately ninety (90) working days.

 

All proposals/tenders should be submitted to the:

 

Secretary Departmental Tenders Board

Ministry of the Public Service & Human Resource Development

2nd Floor

Greaham Louisy Building

Castries, Waterfront

Saint Lucia

Tel: 1 758 451 7238

Fax Number: 1 758 453 1519

 

To reach no later than December 2nd, 2011

Interested persons may contact the National ICT Office at Telephone

1 758 451 7681 for more information on the RFP