Request for Proposal

Introduction

PDMA is the leading global association of industry practitioners and academic researchers of product innovation management promoting economic and professional growth through the discovery and dissemination of best practices in developing successful products. The association does this by sponsoring research, publishing academic research, organizing conferences, and providing platforms for its members to exchange ideas and work together.

Additional information about the association can be found in the appendices to this RFP; readers may also visit http://www.pdma.org/about_pdma.cfm to find out more about PDMA.

This is the Request for Proposal for PDMA's SPIN / Community site development. The following are the solution components:

1. Webinar / Webcasting Hosting (PDMA has decided on Adobe Connect; Webinars only need to be supported through registrations and payments)
2. Content Store and Social Networking Development (this includes the Drupal Front End and the Alfresco Archive)
3. Content Store and Social Networking Hosting (Hosting is an integral part of the RFP)

Please see the PDMA IT Projects file for an overview over the purpose of the different systems.

Project Overview and administrative Information

Technical Requirements

• The goal for the SPIN project is to provide a means for PDMA to monetize the content it aggregates through conferences, publications, and online events.
• The objectives are to provide tools for
  • organizing, archiving, and processing content in form of presentation files, documents, and recordings
  • presenting this content for sale to the general public and PDMA members
  • registered users to socialize with each other and work with the content being presented
• Critical success factors are
  • the availability of the store and existing content for sale in the June 2010 timeframe
  • the ability of AHQ (Association Headquarters, PDMA's Association Management company) staff to work with the site and the users to nurture a community
  • the ability of AHQ staff to maintain the content, while the Managed Hosting provider maintains the IT Infrastructure
• Critical technical requirements
  • e-Commerce capability, including the
    • integration of the event registration with the Webinar Hosting API Integration has been reconsidered. It is now only necessary to include an event (but not attendee) specific link to the webinar in the payment confirmation e-mail
    • integration of the store with the existing accounting system, Microsoft Dynamics GP Integration has been reconsidered. It is now only necessary to document a monthly export/import procedure to copy transaction data into MS Dynamics GP
    • availability of pricing on the basis of subscription, per-item, and user points
  • Integration of user profiles with existing Association Management System
  • If chosen as the preferred approach, Alfresco / Drupal interface and configuration of either system to work seamlessly with the other
  • Please see the SPIN Functional Requirements and Archive Features sections for a detailed breakdown of functions
  • Performance (see Gomez Benchmarks for US General News sites)
    • Average Response Time of 4.6 sec or less 
    • Average Availability of 99.92% or more
    • Average Consistency (Standard Deviation) of 4.13 sec or less
  • Capacity
    • At least 20Gb Storage (see attached bottom-up calculation)
    • At least 150Gb Monthly Throughput (see attached bottom-up calculation)

Management Requirements

Supplier Qualifications and References

• History of supplier's firm as well as any proposed sub-contractors
• Installation and maintenance offerings and capabilities
• Description of supplier's relationship with any sub-contractor firm
• Evidence that the supplier has the necessary technical skills, technical staff, and financial resources to perform the contract
• List of installed systems
• Names of customers with similar configurations, who can provide references, including contact names, and telephone numbers

Suppliers Section

Placeholder for suppliers to provide information that they feel is necessary but was not requested

Pricing Section

The pricing section should provide a breakout of:

1. All included products and services. If certain aspects of the scope for this RFP cannot be provided by the vendor, please indicate them.
2. Ongoing costs, such as hosting, maintenance, and recommended development/enhancement budgets.
3. Any phased payment expectations, such as for development and deployment.

Please see below for a sample breakdown:

Collaboration Opportunities

The Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) is the leading non-profit institution promoting economic and professional growth through global innovation and entrepreneurship to all involved in product development and management roles.

We have many collaboration opportunities, please see the attached writeup.

, and listed below are a few which can also be tailored...

1. Participation at the PDMA Technology Showcase at the 2010 Global Conference on Product Innovation Management in October http://conference.pdma.org/TechnologyShowcase.cfm
2. Branding opportunities on the current PDMA website & new SPIN site which will receive traffic from thousands of R&D, IT, Product Managers, and Innovation Leaders.
3. Branding opportunities on the PDMA e-newsletter that goes to more than 9,000 professionals.

Contracts and Licenses

• Payment Terms:
  • Payment after 90-day acceptance test period
• Subcontracting
  • "The supplier selected shall be solely responsible for contractual performance and management of all subcontract relationships. This contract allows subcontracting assignments; however, suppliers assume all responsibility for work quality, delivery, installation, maintenance, and any supporting services required by a subcontractor."
• Errors and Omissions
  • "PDMA will not be liable for any errors or omissions in supplier proposals. Suppliers will not be allowed to alter proposal documents after the proposal due date without permission from PDMA. PDMA may correct simple math errors and alert the supplier of the error, or if the error appears to be significant, PDMA may either disqualify the supplier or require the supplier to make the recalculation and resubmit the data."

Supplier Selection Criteria

1. Qualifications of respondent, including:
   
   • Demonstrated competence and professional qualifications necessary for successfully performing the work required by PDMA as stated in the RFP
   • Recent experience in successfully performing similar services, and the backgrounds and experience of the specific individuals to be assigned to this project
   • Standard hourly billing rates for the assigned staff, including any subconsultants; sub-contracts; project rate; or module design rate
   • Experience in integrating online bill payments into website content, and experience in making a website interactive, user friendly, informative, and attractive to the website user
   • Experience in content management website construction. Preference will be given to respondents who have developed successful websites for other non-profits. Please list the URL of any website you have developed for said organizations
   • Preferred would be a demonstrated creativity in non-profit website development
2. Understanding of the work required by the association
3. Value/Benefit of the Respondent’s proposal to/for the association
4. Completeness of responses to specific requirements of the RFP
5. Proposed approach in completing the work
6. Cost – broken down by phase and type of work
7. Extent to which the design concept reflects the objectives noted in this RFP
8. New equipment or license requirements that may affect short-term and long-term costs to the association
9. Evidence of Ability to Perform
10. References
11. Commitment to work with PDMA in addressing current and future needs with respect to website development, content, equipment and service requirements of association’s website
12. Willingness to work with PDMA in a long-term partnership ...

Appendices

1. PDMA Description
2. SPIN Features and Requirements
3. Archive Features
4. Information Architecture
5. Integration with Association Management System
6. API documentation for Webinar system (Adobe Connect, DimDim API Guide or Drupal DimDim Module, or other)
7. API documentation for Accounting system
8. User Experience Requirements for Webinar and Web Casting
9. PDMA Style Guide
10. Capacity Estimates

Issuers