Hi Marilynn,

Website RFPs come in all shapes and sizes but have some basic  
requirements. I offer my advice as someone who has responded to a lot  
of website RFPs over the years!

You need to define:
- your goals - what do you hope to accomplish with this website?
- your audience - who are you trying to reach?
- the features and functionality - what should site visitors be able  
to do there?
- your timeline - when you do want to have the site launched?
- your budget range - if $40,000 is the most you can spend say so -  
this way you'll get proposals you can actually compare with each  
other. People will have different approaches and recommendations for  
how to allocate the same resources and this will make it much easier  
for you to understand what you can get.
- a period of time before the proposals are due for two rounds of  
questions and answers distributed to everyone

You should ask bidders to provide:
- a description of the software and features they would use to help  
you achieve your goals
- how their approach will help you reach your intended audience
- a production schedule with phases and deliverables
- an estimated budget
- how they will staff this job
- information about the firm and the individual team members
- work samples
- references

Finally, if you provide all this information, and ask bidders to  
provide all this information, please respect the process and give  
everyone a reasonable amount of time,  4 weeks or so,  to pull it all  
together.

I hope this helps.

Best,

Robin


On Jan 16, 2009, at 2:12 PM, Marilynn Havelka wrote:

> I am currently working on two projects and was wondering if anyone had
> advise, resources to recommend  or documents that they might be  
> willing to
> share:
>
> 1. Maintenance Plan for Historic House Museum
>
> 2. request for proposal for development of a new web site
>
> Any info would be greatly appreciated.
> Thans in advance!
>
> Marilynn Havelka
> CAO - Ruthven Park National Historic Site
> 243 Haldimand Hwy #54, Box 610
> Cayuga, Ontario
> Canada
> Tel:  905.772.0560
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
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Robin White Owen
Web 2.0 Strategy & Implementation
M: 917/407-7641
T: 646/472-5145
E: [log in to unmask]
www.mediacombo.net




=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).