City Website Redesign - Addendum #1 Questions and Answers

Request for Proposals (RFP)
City of Ballwin Website Redesign and Development

1. Introduction
The City of Ballwin, Missouri is seeking proposals from qualified, experienced firms to design,
develop, and implement a new official City website. The City seeks to create a dynamic website
that is designed and organized in a manner that: allows visitors to easily find and access
information; acts as a marketing tool for the City to highlight its programs, events and services,
as well as its amenities and attractions to potential residents and businesses; is mobile-friendly;
is easy to update and modify; and is able to incorporate components and integrate with
third-party applications.
2. Project Overview and Objectives
The new City of Ballwin website should:
Be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and WCAG 2.1 Level
AA standards.
Provide a clean, modern design that reflects the City's brand and values.
Be intuitive, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly.
Integrate seamlessly with existing third-party platforms.
Improve the City's ability to communicate timely and accurate information.
Allow City staff to easily manage and update content.
Alerts and Notifications - display alerts prominently on the website with notifications sent
via email and text messaging to subscribers
Content scheduling - set dates for content to automatically publish and expire
"I want to ..." functionality
Site Statistics - Analytics and site audit reports (preferably not Google Analytics)
Social Media Interface with multiple channels (preferably Instagram and Facebook)
Live Edit - Add, edit and move content directly on the front end of the site without the
need to utilized or be trained in writing HTML or CSS code
3. Scope of Work
A final scope of work will be developed with the City and the respondent submitting the selected
proposal ("The Firm") at the time of selection. The following acts only as a preliminary scope to
generally communicate the City's expectations. The City wants to completely redesign its
website so that residents, businesses, and visitors, both current and potential, can easily
navigate and access information, register and pay for classes and programs, and complete any
necessary City forms. This RFP is for web design and hosting services. Proposals should
include or account for but not limited to the following:
3.1 Discovery and Planning
Review of the existing City website.

Stakeholder interviews and needs assessment.
Information architecture and site mapping.
Content strategy recommendations.
3.2 Design and User Experience
Design a unique, attractive website to completely fulfill all City requirements either in this
RFP or in discussions with the City following the selection of a Firm, consistent with City
branding.
Design a unique home page for the City website. Design should be simple, aesthetically
pleasing and allows users to easily access relevant information.
Mobile-first, responsive design for all devices.
Clear navigation and intuitive user experience.
Accessibility-focused design elements.
Alerts and Notifications - display alerts prominently on the website with notifications sent
via email and text messaging to subscribers
Include a highly-functioning search capability that allows the user to search the whole
site or subsections within the site. The search should not be integrated with Google
search
3.3 Development, Technical and Administrator Requirements
The website must:
Be ADA compliant and meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
Be compatible with modern browsers and mobile devices.
Use a secure, scalable content management system (CMS).
Meet industry best practices for security and performance.
Include content scheduling - set dates for content to automatically publish and expire
Have Browser-Based Administration - update, delete, and create content from any
device with Internet access
Include the ability to schedule news highlights to go up and come down at a certain time.
Include the ability to hide/delete pages with no worries that they will later show up in a
Google search.
Include user-friendly vanity URLs that can be organized. Website content editors at the
City should be able to set up friendly links themselves, and they should be easy to
change, organize and search the short URLs. Ideally, there should also be a way to set
up approvals for these short URLs.
Ability for website content editors at the City to permanently delete pages.
Have RFP/RFQ/Bid Posting
Have ability to live Edit - Add, edit and move content directly on the front end of the site
without the need to utilized or be trained in writing HTML or CSS code
Ability to turn pages off and on depending on the time of year and have them not turn up
in a Google search when they are off.

Ability to preview any changes made to content before publishing to the websites. This
should apply to all types of content, including but not limited to: pages, calendar events,
news and FAQs.
Ability to archive pages and content.
Ability to define a review schedule for all content, prompting the site editors to review
published, non-date sensitive content periodically to ensure all items remain accurate.
Website content editors' system should allow for City to be able to post an unlimited
amount of content at no extra cost to City.
The site must allow multiple levels of review and approval of content, before the
information is published on the site. Must have a minimum of two levels of approval. This
should be able to be turned on or off depending on various factors.
The website must utilize a responsive design to display on varying monitor sizes-tablets
and all mobile devices (Windows, Android, iPhone, etc).
Any additional features the respondent feels would improve the City website or the transition
process. It is expected that the Firm works with the City to develop a site that best meets the
needs of the City. We will look to the Firm to provide municipal-specific direction from their
experience working with multiple cities or other government entities.
3.4 Required Integrations
The website must include compatibility and integration with the following platforms:
RecTrac (Parks and Recreation registrations and programs)
Municode (City Code and Ordinances)
MyGov (Online services, payments, and forms)
3.5 Universal Calendar Feature
The website must include a universal calendar that:
Pulls and displays events automatically from RecTrac, Municode, and MyGov.
Allows events to be filtered by category, department, or date.
Displays events in a user-friendly calendar and list format.
Updates dynamically as events are added or changed in the source platforms.
3.6 Content Migration and SEO
Migration of existing website content as directed by the City.
Identification of outdated or redundant content.
Search engine optimization (SEO) best practices.
Be ADA compliant and meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. Also, the site should
provide an ongoing way to maintain a compliant website (automated if possible).

3.7 Training and Documentation
Training for City staff on website administration and content updates.
Written documentation and user guides.
3.8 Testing and Launch
ADA compliance testing.
Cross-browser and device testing.
Final review and approval by City staff.
Website launch and post-launch support.
4. Vendor Qualifications
Proposals should demonstrate:
Experience designing municipal or government websites.
Proven expertise in ADA-compliant web development.
Experience integrating third-party platforms similar to RecTrac, Municode, and MyGov.
Ability to meet project timelines and provide ongoing support.
5. Proposal Requirements
The City will consider proposals from Firms with specific experience and success in website
development preferably for municipalities. Selection of a proposal will be at the sole judgment of
the City. All proposals must include:
1. Firm name, address, telephone number, and contact person(s) email address.
2. A timeline indicating the expected completion time of key steps and of the entire project
from the execution of the contract agreement. Key steps should be briefly described.
3. Brief history of Firm, including number of years of experience.
4. Examples of similar projects, preferably municipal websites.
5. Description of the Firm's processes and method of approach.
6. Description of ADA compliance approach.
7. Details on required platform integrations and universal calendar solution.
8. Pricing structure and cost breakdown: The Schedule of Fees must include a total
not-to-exceed contract proposal amount. Please be very explicit in listing and describing
any services or items not covered in the proposal fee amount. The proposal fee should
be broken down to include major fee categories.
a. Pricing Categories (indicate one time fees and recurring fees):
i. Website Design
ii. Implementation
iii. Training (Indicate Onsite, Virtual or both)

iv. Hosting/Annual Fees
v. Optional Services
vi. Indicate hourly rates for work outside the scope, additional content, or
future development and enhancements
9. References from at least three recent clients
It is the goal of the City to design a website that best meets the needs of residents, businesses,
visitors, staff, and other stakeholders. Improvements or suggestions to any condition in the RFP
are welcome and should be explained in your proposal. Requirements are somewhat flexible
and could be altered given a better idea or method..
6. Project Timeline
RFP Release Date: February 19, 2026
Questions Due: March 13, 2026
Responses to Questions Issued: March 20, 2026
Proposal Due Date: March 27, 2026 at 3:00 p.m.
Vendor Selection: April 13, 2026
Project Start: ASAP after April 13, 2026
The City reserves the right to modify this schedule at its discretion.
7. Submission Instructions
Proposals must be received no later than March 27 at 3:00 p.m. Late submissions will not be
accepted. Firms are responsible for checking the City's website for the issuance of any
addendums prior to bid closure.
Proposals should be submitted electronically in PDF format to:
Megan Freeman
Marketing & Communications Specialist
City of Ballwin
1 Government Ctr., Ballwin, MO 63011
8. Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Understanding of project goals and requirements.
Quality of proposed design and technical approach.
Experience and qualifications of the vendor.
Demonstrated ability to meet ADA compliance standards.

Experience with required integrations.
Cost and overall value.
References and past performance.
Completion time and length of design process
9. Terms and Conditions
The City of Ballwin reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals.
The City may waive any informalities or irregularities in the proposals.
All costs incurred in the preparation of a proposal are the responsibility of the vendor.
The selected vendor will be required to enter into a contract with the City of Ballwin.
10. Additional Information
Firms may be selected for interviews or questioned for clarification. However, the City may
choose to proceed without interviewing any Firms. The City reserves the right to request
additional information from any respondent after submission of the proposal including but not
limited to: additional design templates, clarification of submitted materials, to allow for
corrections of misinformation or omitted information. Upon selection, the final contract amount
will be subject to negotiation to determine the exact scope of services to be provided and final
contract fee. A contract outlining all relevant terms shall be executed for both parties. Selection
does not guarantee award of the contract. In the event the Firm and the City fail to agree to a
contract, the City will choose from the remaining respondents or cancel this Request for
Proposals, and solicit another RFP. All aspects of the scope of services and pricing may be
subject to negotiation.
The City reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel or modify the RFP in part or in its
entirety. The City reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject any or all proposals, or
portions thereof, to waive technicalities or deficiencies in any or all of the proposals.
City of Ballwin, Missouri