Request For Proposal

Request for Proposal 

Website Hosting Services |August 2021

Summary:

The non-profit Escondido Creek Conservancy is seeking proposals for professional services from licensed firms qualified to provide ongoing website hosting services, including maintaining and updating web hosting security and code to industry standards that can accommodate the immediate needs of the Conservancy’s websites www.escondidocreek.org and www.calsol.org.

The Conservancy’s websites contain basic pages, and donation collection pages that use embedded services to collect personal information. As such, having a high level of online security and consistently updated hosting services is paramount to our needs.

The Conservancy is seeking proposals from web hosting firms with expertise and staff readily available to help guide us as we undertake our work to preserve and restore the Escondido Creek watershed.

• The Conservancy is also accepting proposals for redesign and development to update www.escondidocreek.org; including the visuals of the site to a more modern style, the code of the site to industry standards, and finally, the effectiveness of the site at converting email sign-ups, donations and conveying the story of The Escondido Creek Conservancy to both current and prospective supporters.

Organization Overview: 

The Conservancy incorporated in 1991. The Conservancy has helped protect over 7,000 acres of wildlands, manages 3,000 acres, and is working to improve creek water quality to enhance wildlife habitat.  The Conservancy also annually implements outdoor educational programs to 5,000+/- students and provides compatible outdoor recreation to children and adults in North County.

Organization Operational Overview: 

The Conservancy currently has eleven full-time staff and 3 part-time staff. Originally, the primary focus of the Conservancy’s efforts centered on land acquisition and land management; more recently, land restoration has become an additional focus. In 2009 the Conservancy added an education department to implement education programs with local schools. Later, the Conservancy added marketing, development, and outreach to its core functions. The Board of Directors currently consists of twelve Board members who are actively engaged in the work of the Conservancy, both individually and in committees. 

Organization Fiscal Overview:

The Conservancy is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a charitable, tax-exempt organization pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  The Conservancy has a finance and operations director, a Finance Committee, and an Investment Advisory Committee to provide financial oversight. The Conservancy’s 2021 budget is $1,535,921.

Basic Services to Be Performed: 

The Conservancy’s issues that require legal counsel are generally mundane, much communication occurs over email, with occasional phone calls. Some examples:

1. Provide hosting spaces for our website: Maintain the online home where our website will be stored and displayed from.
2. Keep our website online and running: Maintain the server to ensure the Conservancy websites are operational, with minimal unexpected outages. An average of 99.9% uptime is expected.
3. Help us navigate the hosting dashboard: Help us navigate the hosting dashboard when necessary, and provide assistance or advice when making website updates.. 
4. Have the capability to back up hosting services: If the web host company’s online storage spaces and server resources are impacted, the web host should be prepared to provide an alternative back-up option to keep our websites online, limiting any breaks in service.*
5. Provide the opportunity to upgrade as we grow: As our site traffic and security needs increase, our web host should be able to grow with us, and provide additional storage space and server upgrades as needed.

*Priority will be given to proposals that include website backups automatically, and with the option to do so manually.

Your proposal should describe how you would provide general hosting and web services to the Conservancy on an ongoing monthly or hourly basis.

Additional Opportunity for Services to be Performed:  

In addition to our hosting needs, the Conservancy would consider a packaged contract to include technical web services regarding the maintenance, design and updates needed to effectively reflect the Conservancy on our respective websites.

Please include additional services offered with your proposal as a separate line item, and confirm any fee changes for packaged services.

Professional Experience:

Describe how and why your firm is different from other firms offering these types of  web hosting services This should include an explanation of the firm’s philosophy, size, structure, and qualifications with serving nonprofit organizations with a similar size and operations. 

Include a list of the relevant nonprofit and other clients the firm has served within the past three years & furnish the names and telephone numbers of any references whom we may contact.

Team Qualifications:

Identify the specific partners and managers who will be assigned to this engagement if you are successful in your bid. Provide their bios specifying relevant experience to the type of services requested. Also discuss your firm’s commitment to staff continuity, and provide information on your staff turnover experience in the last three years.

Fees:

Please provide a firm estimate of fees for the services to be rendered as well as provide any guarantees that can be made regarding increases in future years. 

Proposal Timetable: 

RFP distributed to web hosting firms by: September 1, 2021

Electronic responses due to the Conservancy by: September 30, 2021

Interviews held: week of October 1st, 2021

Legal services firm selected: October 2021 

These are target dates. Dates may be subject to change. 

Evaluation of Proposals:

While price is an important factor to a nonprofit organization, the Conservancy will evaluate proposals on price and the following criteria:

• Prior experience providing similar hosting services, including to similar organizations
• Qualifications of staff to be assigned to the scope of work
• Legal firm’s understanding of work to be performed
• References
• Completeness and timeliness of the proposal
• Your firm’s commitment to inclusion and equity

Requests for additional information should be coordinated directly with the Conservancy. Please reach out at [email protected].

Download a .pdf of the RFP.

Other Questions?

Contact us here, or at [email protected].