Request For Proposals

The Alliance of Women’s Business and Professional Organizations is a Massachusetts not-for-profit dedicated to increasing the economic power, influence and visibility of women. Each of the Alliance’s members is itself a women’s business organization, collectively representing approximately 25,000 business women statewide.

The Alliance seeks partners to assist in a dramatic redevelopment of its existing website (www.womensalliance.org). This Request for Proposals is an open invitation to for-profit and not-for-profit entities to review the information and criteria herein and reply by July 30, 2000. The Alliance may or may not consider additional partners thereafter depending on the quality and pricing of proposals received. Potential partners are welcome to submit proposals which address some or all of the needs expressed herein, and are encourage to propose opportunities we have not addressed but might find beneficial.

  1. KEY ELEMENTS

1. WEB MANAGEMENT TEAM: The Alliance seeks partnership with an experienced design, programming and e-commerce team which understands the extraordinary communication and commercial potential of the Alliance, its member organizations and its members’ members through better use of the web. It is possible that several respondents will be asked to work in combination with one another to comprise this team. Respondents should also be aware that the Alliance has several existing partners who we hope will remain part of this team, particularly Fleet-Boston Financial’s Women Entrepreneurs Connection, which is a Founding Sponsor of the Alliance and currently sponsors the existing website maintenance expenses and Desktop Publishing of Lexington, Mass, which produced a preliminary design for some improvements to the existing site and should be considered a likely provider for some of the design work on the improved website.

2. SELF FUNDING PROPOSALS: The Alliance anticipates that some commercial entities will propose for-profit relationships of mutual benefit, such that the Alliance will not need to provide "up front compensation" for the design and redevelopment of the Alliance’s website. For example, the Alliance is open to establishing links between the Alliance’s newly redeveloped web site and for-profit sites in exchange for site redevelopment services and ongoing "referral fees." The Alliance also anticipates one or more not-for-profit entities may propose mutually beneficial partnerships. All entities responding to this RFP must provide adequate commentary on such financial arrangements to allow the Executive Committee of the Alliance to evaluate the potential costs and benefits of partnership. Final contract specifications, however, may be negotiated thereafter if critical questions require further discussion.

3. STRATEGIC PLAN: The major initial deliverable the Alliance seeks as a result of this RFP is a well thought out, realistic strategic plan for redevelopment of its existing website to accomplish the following actions, some of which may be best accomplished through links to other sites and some of which may be best accomplished on the Alliance’s own newly redeveloped site. The Executive Committee and the Website Committee will work with successful respondents to finalize a strategic plan. We are a volunteer organization, however, and will need to rely on the expertise and professionalism of our partners for implementation. Desired outcomes of the plan include:

a. A voluntary means of on-line communication between the Alliance and its member organizations and its members’ members, with multiple user groups to be established voluntarily by the participants

b. A means by which member organizations or members’ members can without charge initiate subject-specific, on-line dialogues on subjects of concern to women in business. We also seek the ability to have those who initiate such inquiries also be able to tally the results, where appropriate (such as number of participants in favor or opposed to a specified policy)

c. Means of posting information and commentary of interest to the media by one or more member organizations

d. Means of posting on-line educational information relevant to the Alliance’s mission

e. Reasons to attract new members to the Alliance’s member organizations and means of joining on-line (for organizations seeking such an option).

f. Provision for business development opportunities for the Alliance’s members’ members, such as availability of on-line "offices", categorized by service or product provided

g. Continued provision of a coordinated calendar of events which are being sponsored by the Alliance’s member organizations, but with improved communications functions, such as automatic reminder notices, to enhance the reliability and completeness of this function

h. Means of on-line reservation for or sponsorship of such events

i. Ability to post and access job postings on-line

j. Access to products and services of interest to women owned businesses or women professionals, at prices reflective of the benefits of collective purchasing power. Establishment of on-line buyers’ cooperatives is likely to be among the effective approaches to this element of the plan.

k. Means of conducting and reporting on voluntary market research, with appropriate compensation to the Alliance and its member organizations

l. On-line conferencing capacity, preferably with the capacity to host multi-user presentations and to retain data for future review and comment

m. Generation of revenues to support the non-profit missions of the Alliance and its member organizations through combinations of:

i. Advertising

ii. E-Commerce

iii. Market Research

iv. Affiliate Programs (e.g. for-profit site links with "click through commissions")

The eventual website must ensure security and privacy for its users, including a means of preventing "spamming."

 

II. SERVICE COMPONENTS

The Alliance has identified four categories of services which are necessary for successful implementation of improvements to our website: site planning; site development; fundraising or establishment of financial relationships; and site maintenance and administration. Sub-categories of these necessary services are as follows:

■ Planning

    • Facilitate the finalization of a website strategic plan

    • Assess the existing web site and its links

    • Define target audiences and best means of reaching same

    • Assess needs and desires of current membership

    • Define marketing, creative and design objectives

    • Define design concepts and branding strategies

¦ Development

    • Functional specifications

    • Data base design specification

    • Data retrieval and search capability plan

    • Information architecture

    • Quality assurance plan

    • Apply creative and design concepts to application

    • Copy edit and proofread all client-supplied copy

    • Execute graphic design and branding strategy

    • Set up development environment

    • Set up staging environment

    • Set up production environment

    • Establish source control

    • Develop application -including coding, graphics, system plumbing etc.

    • Copy edit and proofread final product

    • Develop a marketing rollout strategy

■ Fundraising

    • Identify and assist in negotiating with potential sponsors for the web site

    • Identify and assist in negotiating with other partnerships for e-commerce or e-affiliations

■ Provide on-going support and administration definition and delivery

  1. RESPONSE INFORMATION: Respondents may reply to portions of this RFP as well as to the full RFP, and are welcome to propose innovations or options we have not defined herein. To receive maximum consideration by the Alliance, please reply by August 9, 2000 to both: The Alliance, P.O. Box 67183, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 and to info@womensalliance.org

 

The Alliance Calendar - Membership Information - Committee Chairs - Member Organizations - Officers - Feedback
Copyright 1998 The Alliance of Women's Business and Professional Organizations