Web design, development and maintenance services of FSM Career and Technical Education & Skills and Employability Enhancement Project website At Government of the Federated States of Micronesia

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (INDIVIDUAL CONSULTING SERVICES)

Country: Federated States of Micronesia

Name of Project FSM Skills and Employability Enhancement Project (P176965)

Grant No.: IDA-D9870

Assignment Title: TVET website development

Reference No.: FM-NDOE-391686-CS-INDV

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the FSM Skills and Employability Enhancement (SEE) project and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The consulting services (“the Services”) as the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) website development includes effectively producing quality videos and graphic work in the education space in the FSM. The website developer will work directly with the SEE Project Manager, the National Department of Education (NDOE)’s IT Specialist and the Communication Specialist housed at the Central Implementation Unit (CIU).

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment is annexed to this document or can be found at the following websites:

FSM Department of Finance & Administration Website (https://dofa.gov.fm)
FSM Department of Education (https://national.doe.fm)
Devex (https://www.devex.com)

The NDOE now invites eligible individuals (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services (attach cover letter and CV, technical proposal, and financial proposal.). Firms’ staff may express interest through the employing firm for the assignment and, under such situation, only the experience and qualifications of individuals shall be considered in the selection process. The criteria for selecting the Consultant are:

Evaluation criteria

Submission evaluations will be conducted based on the outlined criteria with a total allocation of 100 points:

Quality of Work (40 points): Evaluation of the consultant’s portfolio will be undertaken to gauge the quality and excellence of the company’s previous projects. Submission of three relevant and most recent work samples is mandatory.
WordPress CMS Development Experience (25 points): The extent of experience in developing websites using the WordPress CMS will be assessed.
Team Experience and Qualifications (25 points): The qualifications and experiences of the proposed team, as detailed in their CVs, will contribute to this segment of the evaluation.
Timeline for Assignment Objectives (10 points): Evaluation of the proposed timeline for achieving the objectives outlined in the document will be conducted.

To proceed to the next stage of consideration, a minimum technical offer score of 70 percent must be attained. Additionally, the financial offer will contribute a maximum of 30 points to the overall evaluation.

The attention of interested Consultants (including firms) is drawn to paragraph 3.14, 3.16 and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers Fifth Edition, September 2023 (“the Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0900 to 1700 hours Pohnpei Time (Local Time).

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below by e-mail by 5pm, December 22, 2023, local time.

Hyunjeong Lee

SEE Project Manager

Project Implementation Unit

Email: hyunjeong.lee@national.doe.fm

CC to:

Central Implementation Unit: ciu.dofa@gov.fm

Annex

Contract for design, development and maintenance services of FSM Career and Technical Education & Skills and Employability Enhancement Project website

Terms of Reference

Background

The National Department of Education (NDOE) in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is implementing the FSM Skills and Employability Enhancement (SEE) Project, which is financed by the World Bank. This project has a primary goal of enhancing vocational education at the secondary level in FSM by improving access, quality, and relevance. To achieve this, the NDOE needs a service provider to design, develop, and implement a dedicated website for Career and Technical Education (CTE) and SEE Project. The scope of work for this assignment includes:

Research and analysis: Conduct an in-depth analysis of the current NDOE website, CTE webpage, and similar websites. Perform user research with the project’s primary audience to gather insights.
Design: Based on research findings and analysis, design the website’s functionality. This includes creating a user-friendly and engaging interface, ensuring real-time updates and data display, and simplifying the application process.
Development: Build the website using WordPress, focusing on interactive user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Ensure robust security measures are in place to protect user data.
Maintenance: Provide ongoing maintenance and support services for the website throughout the project’s lifecycle, which spans to June 2027.

The selected service provider will play a crucial role in making information about CTE and SEE Project easily accessible to the target audience while maintaining a high standard of security and usability. This project aligns with the broader objectives of improving vocational education in FSM and enhancing career opportunities for its citizens.

Objective

Overall Objective: To develop an interactive, functional appealing website. Specific Objectives:

Analyze similar websites and propose the best interface.
Design the website
Develop the website
Maintain services

Scope of work

Objective

Assignments and requirements

a. Research and Analysis

Assess the current website structure and contents for ease of accessibility, quality of contents, user-friendliness, ease of maintenance/update, information retrieval, etc.
Review other similar websites with application submission features to benchmark good practices in layout design, navigation, usability, website monitoring, updating and management, security assessments and frequencies, and end-

to-end web development andmanagement process flows.

b. Design

Ensure that the website design aligns with the SEE project brand strategy.
Based on our target audience (males and females between the ages of 15 to 65, medium to lower wealth quantile, located in all FSM states), suggest a website structure and features that cater to their specific needs and effectively convey the intended communication messages.
Collaborate closely with the SEE Project team (including the Project Manager, NDOE CTE and IT Specialists, and the Central Implementation Unit’s Communication Specialist) at crucial stages to guarantee that the branding and design are coherent with the project’s fundamental concepts.
Develop three mock-ups to offer an excellent UI, a flexible navigation and search function, and an intuitive application process. Create a warm and inviting website that enhances accessibility to skills and services through engaging storytelling, as this is a crucial element for our audience and must be portrayed accordingly.
Ensure that the site interface is responsive, displaying all functions consistently across various devices, including laptops, mobile phones, and tablets.
Include a results dashboard on the landing page to display key indicators, for example: progress on performance

grants implementation, overall project achievement, progress on development of FSA

c. Development

General requirements

Under the overall supervision of the Project Manager and NDOE IT specialist, the consultant will:

The site should follow international accessibility standards
Ensure that the system is optimized across all layers to minimize page load time and maintain functionality in low-bandwidth environments.
Employ effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies to improve the website’s visibility on Google’s search engine result pages (SERPs)
Set up the Google analytics dashboard to include basic information, such as Bounce rates, Pageviews, top Referrals, etc.
Ensure the website is easily discoverable in English.

Functionalities

Integrate the website into the existing NDOE website and reciprocally link back to the CTE/SEE website.
Integrate social media components, including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Implement interactive elements such as polls and surveys to encourage user engagement.

Proposed sections for the website

Note: The following proposed sections will be finalized in consultation with the Project Team. The content for these sections will be provided by the Project Team, and new sections may be added during the project’s progression.

Proposed sections: Whatis CTE? / SEE Project / Interactive Map/ Partners / Stories / Resources / Announcements.

**What is CTE?:**This section willprovide a comprehensive understanding of CTEand its significance within FSMand beyond.
SEE Project:
- Provide detailed information about the SEE Project, its goals, and its contributions to the development of FSM’s education system.
- Include a results dashboard on the landing page to display key indicators, for example: progress on performance grants implementation, overall project achievement, progress on development of FSA
Interactive Map: Display an interactive map of states/schools involved in the SEE Project with categorized lists of services for each state upon selection.
Partners: Highlight information about CTE partners and key SEE partners with brief introductions and links to their respective platforms.
Stories: Feature compelling stories from the field, including human-interest stories, images, and videos, to be shared across the CTE/SEE website, NDOE’s and partners’ social media platforms.
Resources: Share CTE and SEE-related resources in both web-presentable and downloadable formats, optimized for low-bandwidth environments.
Announcements
- Events: Announce national and international CTE events for broader dissemination and participation.
- CTE Jobs: Display job postings related to CTE and vocational education.

Browser Compatibility

The public website and the content management system (CMS) should be compatible with all browsers, supporting at least their two most recent versions.

Content Management System, software development, security and hosting

The selected vendor should collaborate closely with the content team with the PIU/NDOE and provide a straightforward mechanism to ensure regular content updates aligned with the website design. Additionally, the vendor should offer advice on the necessary technical specifications for the content wirework.
The vendor must adhere to the Government of FSM’s Web Security Policy and Security recommendations checklist if any.
The vendor should conduct training sessions for the Project Implementation Unit (PIU)/NDOE focal point(s) on website maintenance and content updates.
The source code of all versions should be delivered to the PIU/NDOE team.

Hosting

The website will be hosted on virtual machines procured by the SEE project.

Copyrights

The domain name and all site-related matters are the copyrights and property of the PIU/NDOE.
The source code for the website and mobile application should be handed over to the PIU/NDOE after delivering the final version.
Handover documents, including the maintenance plan, security details, hosting information, and any other information related to the website, should be provided.

Intellectual Property

All information and assets related to the platform will be the property of the PIU/NDOE. The vendor is required to submit all source code and documentation to the PIU/NDOE.

Licensing

Open source technologies must be used to avoid any licensing costs. These details can be further refined, modified, and amended during discussions between the developer and the PIU/NDOE regarding the technical and financial aspects of the platform development.

Project Management

Weekly or as-needed check-in calls and meetings with the PIU/NDOE team during the design and build of the website will be conducted to review and provide feedback on each deliverable.

Assignment and deliverables

Key tasks

Expected deliverables

Timeframe/Delivery

date

Payment

Conduct research on the current website, user groups, required functionalities, and content

Present design direction for approval

3 weeks

50% of total contract

Design 3 mock-up websites based on design research, including technical review of the wireframes, for desktop

and mobile phones

Present 3 mock-up options for selection

3 weeks

Build an interactive prototype of the selected wireframe
Conduct user testing and A/B testing with the existingwebsite
Finalize the interactive prototype through at least 3 rounds of testing
Identify applicable limitations of WordPress
Propose a centralized monitoring mechanism which should address corrective action planning to manage/mitigate identified risks and

issues.

1 week

Build a CMS
Implement the ability to display, add, and manage real-time data sources through API endpoints.
Develop two separate application submission systems, ensuring the safe storage of

applications.

Deliver the first version of the CMS

3 weeks

Conduct training/demo sessions for the PIU and NDOE on website updates

and maintenance

Complete the training/demo

End of development phase

30% of total contract

Address and resolve all

identified bugs and issues

Provide the final website

along with the source code.

End of development

phase

Website maintenance plan for 2024-2027

Handover documents:

Maintenance plan
Security
And any other information related to the website

End of development phase

20% of total contract

Project management

Conduct weekly check-in calls with the PIU and NDOE team to review progress, discuss ongoing tasks, and provide feedback on deliverables during the design and build

phases of thewebsite.

Ongoing

Total

12 weeks

Duration of assignment

A total of 12 weeks (tentatively from February 23, 2024 to May 17, 2024)

Evaluation and selection process

Submission evaluations will be conducted based on the outlined criteria with a total allocation of 100 points:

Quality of Work (40 points): Evaluation of the consultant’s portfolio will be undertaken to gauge the quality and excellence of the company’s previous projects. Submission of three relevant and most recent work samples is mandatory.
WordPress CMS Development Experience (25 points): The extent of experience in developing websites using the WordPress CMS will be assessed.
Team Experience and Qualifications (25 points): The qualifications and experiences of the proposed team, as detailed in their CVs, will contribute to this segment of the evaluation.
Timeline for Assignment Objectives (10 points): Evaluation of the proposed timeline for achieving the objectives outlined in the document will be conducted.

Proposal submission

Prospective applicants are requested to submit the following documents as part of the Expression of Interest package:

Cover Letter and CV: A succinct cover letter (limited to one page) along with a comprehensive Curriculum Vitae.
Technical Proposal: This must encompass three of the most pertinent recent work samples. Additionally, provide a provisional timeline detailing the anticipated deadline for the expected outputs.
Financial Proposal: A clear and detailed financial proposal.
Qualifications

UX/UI Design

Visual design sensibility that is clean, simple, and sharp, with the ability to edit as needed.
Demonstrate a systematic, disciplined, and analytical approach to problem-solving, paying close attention to detail.
Experience in design and functional requirements gathering.
Experience in the development of information architecture and UX design.
Experience in designing for Word Press (latest versions).

Technical Development

Experience in design and Word Press theme development.
Experience in the development of responsive theming for desktop and mobile devices on Word Press.
Experience in theme planning and architecture based on existing development.
Experience in implementing Word Press websites.
Experience in multilingual sites with additional complexity.
Experience with website based dashboards.

Project Management

Competent in planning, scheduling, and monitoring their own work.
Possesses an excellent understanding of the project context and objectives through:
- Creation of a physical product (prototype).
- Validation, including testing and debugging.
- Development of activities, milestones, and timeline.
- Ongoing maintenance.