EEN website - prepare for dev

Description

Summary of the work This project seeks to address the information architecture (including logged in/not logged in experience), user interaction (e.g. filtering/forms) and content template discrepancies that may be contributing to the EEN network’s lack of awareness among businesses looking for growth support. Latest start date Monday 24 February 2020 Budget Range The budget for this project will be up to £30,000 exc VAT and to include all aspects of the project. Why the Work is Being Done Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. There are a number of development needs for the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) website: https://www.enterprise-europe.co.uk/. EEN is a European Commission-funded proposition delivered by Innovate UK in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. EEN supports and invests in businesses and entrepreneurs with the potential and ambition to grow internationally. EEN is one of the ways Innovate UK drives UK business innovation, and aims to: • Remove barriers to scaling/growing (experience, money, knowledge, connections) • Open new markets and opportunities for UK businesses • Provide support focused on the specific needs of businesses • Be recognized as a proven, trusted and credible publicly-funded service for innovators stimulating the economy. EEN is not brilliant at communicating the benefits and services it provides to businesses who don’t yet know of the network. The content and overall journey of the website does not, we hypothesize, currently address what a new prospect is looking to have answered when they visit. As EEN transitions from European funding, the network will become fully part of Innovate UK - although a re-brand is not the focus of this tender. Problem to Be Solved The network’s advisory work is delivered across England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 21 partners. The website is intended as a central point for businesses looking for partnerships/funding/investment, and the main lead collection channel. Leads are assessed and businesses are matched with the appropriate opportunity. The website has been in its current form since 2017, but no longer serves EEN’s objectives: • No cohesion in conveying the purpose of the network/the ‘journey’ that a supported business will take (e.g. participating in accelerator-type programmes that ready them for further investment/growth) • High bounce rates/low engagement • An overwhelming number of ‘opportunities’ with no incentive to make an ‘expression of interest’ unless you are already clear on your business needs – with little focus on other types of success (e.g. consultancy) • Lack of business growth support content/services (direct funding/programmes) • ‘Dead-end’ journeys/interactions that feel confused (e.g. blog tags/where to go next) We need to address the information architecture (inc. logged in/not logged in experience), user interaction (e.g. filtering/forms)and template discrepancies that may be contributing to the network’s lack of awareness among businesses looking for growth support, which, when improved, can promote EEN as the place to go for business growth support. Who Are the Users UK businesses looking for support, including funding, partnership opportunities and growth-support programmes readying them for investment. Early Market Engagement Our objectives for this activity: • The first question we are looking to answer is: Do existing users of the EEN website (including companies who have successfully received support from the EEN) understand its purpose? Does it provide what they need? • The second question we are looking to answer is: How much of the website currently – including all key user journeys and points of conversion – supports EEN’s ‘offer’ and objectives, based on the answer to the first question and external expert analysis (you)? If they don’t, how should they? • The third question we are looking to answer is: What are they key things that need to be done to bring the website in line with current web standards and best practices? Including cyber security. • The fourth question we are looking to answer is: Who are EEN’s competitors, and what are they doing the same as us and differently to us? Work Already Done The website is already live. Existing Team The supplier will need to be aware that two complementary procurements are also ongoing for this project: analytics/tracking, and SEO. Current Phase Discovery Skills & Experience • Have a team experienced in undertaking research that determines how to proceed with web development. • Be able to review information architecture, user journeys and user interactions. • Be able to look at a web project holistically and not suggest changes for changes' sake. • Have delivered website improvements and update in line with a refreshed vision before. • Know how to work with Drupal CMS. Nice to Haves • Have in-house content/SEO expertise. • Have in-house analytics and tracking expertise. Work Location Innovate UK is based in Swindon. A small number of face to face meetings will be required, either at Innovate UK or the supplier's office. Working Arrangments The proposed scope of work is: • An initial piece of analysis by yourselves that starts to try to answer the questions listed above • A kick-off meeting (up to half day) to define the project deliverables/KPIs • A round of qualitative user research/usability testing framed against our questions • A debrief on these results • A workshop to run through analytics and SEO proposals • A workshop to run through suggested changes/improvements to the user experience in support of project objectives • Detailed documentation which can be used for EEN internal comms • Ongoing support from EEN Digital Lead Security Clearance N/A. Additional T&Cs You may need to agree to terms and conditions specific to Innovate UK. No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Team for the project and relevant skills • Current understanding of the UK's innovation market and the challenges it faces • Relevant past projects that can be demonstrated • How you will plan and manage this project • How you will deliver against our objectives, and track the success of doing so • Cost breakdown - how will you use this budget? Cultural Fit Criteria • Responds swiftly and clearly throughout a project • Has high standards and can also accept and work with the high standards of those initiating the project at Innovate UK • Is able to receive feedback constructively and work towards a solution accepted by all Payment Approach Fixed price Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20% Questions from Suppliers 1. Can you clarify to what development role will be required of the suuccessful bidder? We cannot find a specific development requirement in the published notice although an essential skill is 'Know how to work with Drupal CMS'. Depending on the outcome of the work, there may be budget to implement some of the recommendations (our preference). Therefore, expertise in Drupal (which the site is currently built on) as well as all current web standards including security is essential. 2. We are experts in Drupal IA, change implementation planning and project management but we would work with trusted specialists for specific UX research and possibly (but not necessarily) specific SEO. As it is difficult to know exactly where the focus of this project would be at this stage, is that an acceptable approach for you? Unfortunately this template doesn't make it easy to clearly convey our requirements! We would rather work directly with a supplier who has the requisite UX expertise. When we reference 'IA' we mean user-facing IA, not CMS IA. 3. How is Drupal related to this project?Is the current site based on Drupal or do you expect the new one to be based on it? Yes, the current site is built on Drupal.We are not building a new site. This is a procurement for improvements to the existing site. 4. Will you consider other CMS options e.g. WordPress? No. This is work to prepare for additional development on the existing website. 5. Please could more explanation be provided around this statement “The supplier will need to be aware that two complementary procurements are also ongoing for this project: analytics/tracking, and SEO.” and your nice-to-have questions regarding experience/knowledge of analytics and SEO. For instance, are you looking for a single supplier who has the skills for this requirement and SEO/tracking. Or, is you approach to have 3 separate expert suppliers but who have some cross-functional knowledge so that they work together to give you the best advice. What is your preference? We anticipate having 3 separate suppliers, but the supplier for this particular project will need to have some knowledge of analytics/tracking and SEO so that they can be amenable to and understand advice from the other suppliers. However, this is not the main focus of this particular piece of work - the priority is to understand how best to proceed with development to best serve users and EEN objectives. 6. Please could you advise the version of Drupal that the site is built in. Drupal 8. 7. Is there an incumbent supplier working on the EEN site currently? Yes. The site is live and maintained with support hours with the current supplier. 8. To aid in budget and resource forecasting, what is the expected length of this engagement? As long as it takes within the budget - we will need a budget breakdown as part of the response. We're talking months not years though. 9. With respect to "A round of qualitative user research/usability testing framed against our questions" – would you be expecting the supplier to also source participants for the user research/usability testing? We expect the supplier to be able to help us source participants for user research, and lead on usability testing. 10. A suggested output for the supplier is to run a workshop to run through analytics and SEO proposals – how do you see this tying in with the winner of the analytics/tracking SEO procurement piece? We do not necessarily have to run a 'workshop'. We simply expect all suppliers to be able to work in a complementary way to the recommendations of other, relevant suppliers. This is the same for the other suppliers. 11. Are you anticipating that this piece of work will need to be assessed by GDS as a discovery for a service? No - this has already been done when the service was conceived. We're now in the improvements phase. 12. When do you anticipate announcing which 3 suppliers have been selected for the next stage, and when will the deadline be for the written proposals? We are beholden to the deadlines set by this digital marketplace. Applications close Monday 3 February and I believe if you do apply you will be advised of further timelines.