The Heritage Council of Ireland is seeking proposals for the redesign and relaunch of the heritage portal website to enhance design, user-friendliness, and search engine optimization while facilitating user-driven content creation. The project aims to improve the website's functionality, branding, and overall appeal, ensuring it serves as a key resource for cultural heritage professionals in Europe. Interested web development firms are invited to submit tenders by May 18, 2012, outlining their strategies and associated costs.

1. SPECIFICATION OF
REQUIREMENTS FOR
A REDESIGN &
RELAUNCH OF THE
HERITAGE PORTAL
WEBSITE.
Issued By:
The Heritage Council of
Ireland – An Chomairle
Oidhreachta.
Church Lane
Kilkenny
Ireland
Issued on:
Monday, 07th May 2012

2. TENDER CONTENTS
1. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................... 2
2. PROJECT OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................. 2
2.1. OVERHAUL DESIGN & FUNCTIONALITY OF SITE................................................................................. 3
2.2. INCREASE USER FRIENDLINESS .......................................................................................................... 3
2.3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION ........................................................................................................ 3
2.4. MOVE FROM EDITOR-DRIVEN TO USER-DRIVEN CONTENT CREATION ............................................. 3
2.5. HOSTING SOLUTIONS ......................................................................................................................... 4
3. VISION FOR THE HERITAGE PORTAL SITE .................................................................................................. 4
4. COSTING .................................................................................................................................................... 4
5. TIMESCALE ................................................................................................................................................ 4
6. TENDER ASSESSMENT CRITERIA................................................................................................................ 4
7. SUBMISSION OF TENDER .......................................................................................................................... 5
8. QUERIES .................................................................................................................................................... 5
9. ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ........................................................................................................................ 5
10. NOTICE TO TENDERERS ........................................................................................................................... 6
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3. 1. BACKGROUND
As part of its involvement in the European Joint Programme Initiative on Cultural Heritage and
Global Change (JPICH)1, The Heritage Council of Ireland has recently taken over management of the
Heritage Portal website (www.heritageportal.eu).
The Heritage Portal was created as part of a previous European project, called NET-Heritage
(www.netheritage.eu) and aims to provide an online forum for the dissemination and exchange of
news, opportunities, information, research findings and questions/answers among the cultural
heritage research community in Europe.
The NET-Heritage project concluded in late 2011 and after a period of negotiation regarding the
future of the Heritage Portal website, it was agreed that this should be taken under the remit of the
newly-launched JPICH initiative. The Heritage Council of Ireland is Ireland’s representative on the
JPICH and is responsible for Communications and Dissemination issues relating to the initiative, as
such the Heritage Portal falls within The Heritage Council of Ireland’s work package.
The Heritage Portal site has therefore been transferred from the management of the Arts and
Humanities Research Council in the UK (who were responsible for its development under the NET-
Heritage project) to The Heritage Council of Ireland.
The Heritage Council of Ireland has reviewed the site and found that a thorough re-design, re-
organisation, re-branding and re-launch are necessary in order for the site to fulfill its aims and
intended purpose, and to meet the expanded needs of the JPICH relative to NET-Heritage.
Tender submissions are therefore sought from specialised web development and web design firms
in order to carry out this work.
2. PROJECT OVERVIEW
Proposals are required for a strategy to:
 Overhaul the design (appearance) and functionality of the site
 Increase "user-friendliness"
 Improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
 Facilitate move from editor-driven to user-driven content creation
 Provide/advise on viable hosting solutions/server facilities for the site
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The JPICH is an EU-level initiative aimed at fostering increased collaboration and coordination between all
European member states, and associated countries, in the area of Cultural Heritage research. Further details are
available via the programme’s website: www.jpi-culturalheritage.eu
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4. 2.1. OVERHAUL DESIGN & FUNCTIONALITY OF SITE
The current design lacks visual appeal and the site functionality is not intuitive. An overly-‘busy’
home page and lack of clear branding contribute to a poor first impression for new visitors to the
site. We require innovative proposals for:
- Increased design quality of the site (visual appeal)
- Simplified and rationalised information architecture
- Clear and persuasive branding
The site is built in Joomla!™ using the core Joomla CMS with a number of additional components
(JomComment, JomSocial, JoomFish, JoomlaPack, Form2Content, Search, XMap) and plugin
extensions (Azrul System Mambot for Joomla, JoomlaCloner, Fabrik Search Extension, Direct PHP,
JomSocial for Fabrik Extension, Language Packs).
A full assessment of the current site components will be required, the versions updated where
necessary, items discarded where no longer required, or added if newly required.
2.2. INCREASE USER FRIENDLINESS
Feedback from target users has been that the site is not user friendly. This lack will be partly
addressed through 2.1 above (simplified and rationalised information architecture, clear and
persuasive branding) as well as 2.3 and 2.4 below. Additional items to consider more specifically
may include:
- Increased interoperability with social networks.
- RSS Feeds.
- Increased ease-of-use for the social tools and user login areas of the site.
- Optimisation for mobile media (smartphones, tablets).
2.3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
The current site is not well optimised for search. We will require:
- A full assessment of the site from a search perspective.
- A comprehensive SEO strategy, tailored to the site.
2.4. MOVE FROM EDITOR-DRIVEN TO USER-DRIVEN CONTENT CREATION
For the site to be sustainable in the long term it needs to become user-driven, with visitors signing
up to become active contributors and generating content for the site themselves. A comprehensive
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5. strategy – including aspects of the re-design, re-branding, information architecture, increased user-
friendliness and SEO – will be required in order that the site does everything possible to facilitate
this shift.
2.5. HOSTING SOLUTIONS
The site is currently hosted by Clook Internet Ltd. in the UK. We require advice on the advisability of
moving to an Irish hosting provider (and costings for same) as well as the provision of ongoing
technical maintenance and a technical help-desk function.
3. VISION FOR THE HERITAGE PORTAL SITE
The Heritage Portal aims to become a single point of contact for heritage professionals, researchers,
organizations and enthusiasts across Europe. Content should be generated spontaneously by the site’s
users, with The Heritage Council retaining an editorial function only.
4. COSTING
While The Heritage Council is not obliged to accept the lowest bid or any bid in this process, the
need to deliver value for money in an era of dramatically reduced public expenditure should be
borne in mind by all tenderers.
Itemised costs relating to all elements of the proposal should be included, with any ‘optional extras’
clearly highlighted as such.
5. TIMESCALE
A timescale of approximately 3 months from the awarding of the contract is envisaged. An exact
deadline will be set in consultation with the successful tenderer and included in the project
contract.
An outline and breakdown of the timeline to implement a re-designed and re-branded website
should be included in any submission. On-going consultation should be included in the process.
6. TENDER ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
All tenders will be assessed on their response to the brief outlined in 2. above. The Heritage Council of
Ireland are seeking innovative design solutions, which will facilitate the Heritage Portal site in achieving
the vision summarized under 3. above. In addition, the following assessment criteria will be applied to
all submissions:
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6. Criteria Scoring
Understanding of the brief 10
Skills and experience of project team 20
Design Solution 40
Total Cost and Value for Money 30
Total 100
7. SUBMISSION OF TENDER
All tenders are to be submitted via the Postbox function on the e-tenders website. Documents are to be
submitted in PDF format. Closing date for receipt of tenders is 5pm on Friday 18th May 2012.
Tenders submitted by any other means – including email, fax or post – will not be accepted.
8. QUERIES
All queries are to be submitted via the Questions and Answers area on the e-tenders website. The
closing date for receipt of queries is 4pm on Thursday 17th May 2012.
Queries submitted by any other means – including email, fax, post or phone – will not be accepted.
9. ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS
In order to provide a fuller picture to tenderers of the needs and vision of The Heritage Council of
Ireland for the Heritage Portal site, two additional documents have been included with this
Specification.
1. An informal questionnaire, providing a series of questions and answers relating to the mission of
and the target audience for the Heritage Portal site. Tenderers should note that this document
was produced as the result of an informal ‘brainstorming’ session and is provided here for your
information only. It should not be considered in any way fixed or binding.
2. The most recent Google Analytics report for the Heritage Portal site.
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7. 10. NOTICE TO TENDERERS
The Heritage Council of Ireland is inviting tenders from interested parties who wish to forward
proposals relating to the Heritage Portal website and online needs as outlined above. The Heritage
Council of Ireland reserves the right to update or alter any information contained in the document
at anytime.
It will be a condition for the award of the contract that the successful tenderer must be able
to produce a Tax Clearance Certificate within seven working days of being requested. Where
a Tax Clearance Certificate expires within the course of the contract, the Heritage Council
reserves the right to seek a renewed certificate. All payments under the contract will be
conditional on the contractors being in possession of a valid certificate at all times.
Under the Finance Act 1987, withholding tax must be deducted from payments for
professional services. This tax, which is at a rate of 20%, will be deducted from payments
made to the consultants in respect of work carried out and will be remitted to the Irish tax
authorities. This tax is refundable on application to Revenue, Claims Branch, Dublin Castle,
Dublin 2.
It will also be a condition of the awarded contract that CVs be submitted along with
evidence of previous commissions.
Please note: The Heritage Council of Ireland will remain the sole owner of all end products
e.g. domain name, brand, creative concepts, ideas, and any other related items or
documents, irrespective of whether or not the contract is terminated prior to its
completion.
Please note: all substitutions or deviations from the tender brief must be agreed with The
Heritage Council of Ireland.
The Heritage Council of Ireland retains the right to withhold payment where a contractor
has failed to meet his contractual obligations in relation to the delivery of service to an
acceptable level of quality.
The Heritage Council of Ireland reserves the right to go to tender again, or to terminate the
contract at any stage, on payment of reasonable and agreed costs accrued to the date of
termination.
The Heritage Council of Ireland requires that all information pursuant to this invitation to
tender will be treated in strict confidence. Under no circumstances may information be
disclosed to other parties without the express permission of The Heritage Council of Ireland.
Any conflicts of interest involving a contractor must be fully disclosed to The Heritage
Council of Ireland.
All tenders are to be submitted using the Postbox function on the e-tenders website. All
documents should be submitted in PDF format. All tenders should arrive no later than
5.00pm on Friday, 18th May 2012.
It is the responsibility of those submitting tenders to ensure the tender has been received
on time. Submissions may not be made by fax, email or by post. Late tenders will not be
accepted.
All tenderers are asked to note that The Heritage Council of Ireland is subject to the
Freedom of Information Act.
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8. Each candidate, by submitting its tender, acknowledges and agrees to be bound by the
provisions of this document.
The Heritage Council of Ireland is not obliged to accept the lowest or any bid.
The Heritage Council of Ireland
An Chomhairle Oidhreachta
07th May 2012
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