Website Accessibility Audit and Remedial Work

Description

Summary of the work An indepth accessibility audit of the PCC's website, to include user testing/ testing with assistive tech. Remedial work to bring the website to at least WCAG 2.1 AA standards by 23rd Jan 2023 Latest start date Thursday 1 December 2022 Why the Work is Being Done The PCC's website has been monitored by the Government Digital Service and some issues were found. We are looking for an accessibility audit and support in fixing the issues (in line with our external web suppliers) to bring us to at least WCAG 2.1 AA standards by 23 January 2023 Problem to Be Solved To ensure the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner website meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards or higher Who Are the Users As a member of the public living in the West Mercia area, I need to understand the role of the PCC and how I can contact them so my voice can be heard. Early Market Engagement A quote has been obtained from our web suppliers (formation) to complete a full manual audit and carry out remedial work. They would also carry out a final audit to ensure all fixes have been made and complete an accessibility statement, as well as providing ongoing support to ensure the site remains accessible. We have also asked them to quote for additional user testing. Work Already Done A basic audit has already been carried out by the web suppliers formation. the Government Digital Service have also carried out some basic monitoring. Both found a number of issues. The PCC's communications team have carried out some very basic improvements, but do not currently have the skills or capacity to get the website to the standard required. Existing Team Working with the PCC's Communications and Engagement Team and the web supplier Formation. Current Phase Live Skills & Experience • Understand Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA standards) • Have experience of Accessibility Audits • Be capable of working to the deadline Nice to Haves • Understand Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AAA standards) • Be capable of carrying out remedial work • Be experienced in carrying out remedial work Work Location Whilst the PCC's Communications and Engagement Team are based in Worcester and the web suppliers Formation are based in Warwick, this work could be completed remotely. Working Arrangments Work can be done remotely, but regular updates and reports would be needed. The work must be completed by 23rd January 2023 Security Clearance Unknown No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 10 Proposal Criteria • Ability to carry out audit • Ability to meet deadline • Experience in carrying out audits • how the approach or solution meets user needs • how the approach or solution meets your organisation’s policy or goal • how they’ve identified risks and dependencies and offered approaches to manage them • Value for money • Ability to carry out remedial work • Experience in carrying out remedial work Cultural Fit Criteria • work as a team with our organisation and other suppliers • take responsibility for their work • share knowledge and experience with other team members • be transparent and collaborative when making decisions • can work with clients with low technical expertise Payment Approach Time and materials Assessment Method • Work history • Reference Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 70% Cultural fit 5% Price 25% Questions from Suppliers 1. What is the budget for this please? For the auditing phase in the region of £1000.For remedial work in the region of £1500-£2000 (Dependent on findings of auditing phase)For a final audit in the region of £250. 2. What are the issues that GDS and formation have found with the website? The Government Digital Service Report found the site is partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA. There are some things which are not fully accessible. The full report can be found here:Accessibility report for www.westmercia-pcc.gov.uk (accessibility-monitoring.service.gov.uk)The formation report carried out in August 2022 found 1523 pages with accessibility issues. This report can be shared in full with the successful supplier. 3. Can you share the GDS and formation reports with us please The Government Digital Service Report found the site is partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA. There are some things which are not fully accessible. The full report can be found here:Accessibility report for www.westmercia-pcc.gov.uk (accessibility-monitoring.service.gov.uk)The formation report carried out in August 2022 found 1523 pages with accessibility issues. This report can be shared in full with the successful supplier. 4. We cannot provide the remedial work but do provide written recommended fixes as part of our report. We can also offer consultancy support and advice during the fix period. We would recheck the fixes once made. Would you consider a proposal of this nature? Yes we would consider a proposal of this nature for the auditing phase of this work. 5. Can you clarify the CMS and version of the CMS you are on to help understand our ability to support remedial works. The site is wordpress, version 6.0 6. Can you please give the budget for this project? For the auditing phase in the region of £1000.For remedial work in the region of £1500-£2000 (Dependent on findings of auditing phase)For a final audit in the region of £250. 7. Is the work an expansion of the current findings (described in work that’s already been done)? Yes, we would look for a supplier who can do a more extensive audit of the website and potentially carry out or assist with remedial work. 8. Please could you give an indication of what the budget is for this project? For the auditing phase in the region of £1000.For remedial work in the region of £1500-£2000 (Dependent on findings of auditing phase)For a final audit in the region of £250. 9. How many examples should suppliers provide in their answers? Please can we have some more clarification around this question 10. The opportunity refers several times to ‘remedial work’. Can you please clarify your definition of this? For instance would this be a re-audit of the website sometime after the client made recommended changes? Or would remedial work mean actually re-coding the site to fix the issues (ie actual front-end development work ) means – is that doing a re-audit of the site? Or actually coding / re-coding the site (ie doing dev)? These are very different activities and clarification on these (or other) definitions would help. There are two stages to this. The first stage would be a more extensive audit building on the work that has already been done. The second potential stage, the remedial work, would mean some front end development work to fix the issues and bring the site to WCAG 2.1AA compliance ahead of the deadline in January. 11. Thank you for sharing the evaluation weighting. Can you also please provide the indicative budget for this project, e.g. a maximum already allocated or range expected. For the auditing phase in the region of £1000.For remedial work in the region of £1500-£2000 (Dependent on findings of auditing phase)For a final audit in the region of £250. 12. The opportunity mention the company Formation, strategic marketers that built the current site who have already provided a quote for auditing the site they created and doing ‘remedial work’. As incumbent suppliers for this initial stage and potential stage 2 proposal would Formation have certain advantageous information or familiarity to WMPCC? Would WMPCC prefer the audit done by an independent party that did not create the site being audited? We are open to offers. We have already obtained a quote from Formation and their knowledge of the site is an advantage, however there are also advantages to having the audit in particular completed by an independent party. We are also open to having an independent party delivering or supporting the second phase of the work. 13. Is there any flexibility in latest start date being Dec 1st, considering that closing date for applications is 18 November, with stage 2 proposal for 10 suppliers after that and appointment probably last week of November? Suppliers may already have client commitments planned / resourced.Would a later start than Dec 1st be possible as long as project is completed by 23 January? Yes there is flexibility around the start date as long as the 23rd January deadline is met. 14. Is the 23rd January deadline for the audit and remediation related to a deadline that GDS have given you following their review? If not, what is driving this date? Yes this is the deadline set by GDS for the website to be compliant. 15. For scoping purposes, is this the website that is to be audited: https://www.westmercia-pcc.gov.uk/? Yes 16. Approximately how many representative page types/templates would need to be manually audited? (a list of URLs is useful if you have one) Approximately 60 pages, including news section with approx. 700 posts. List of URLs can be supplied. 17. The brief mentions that the proposal from the existing web supplier would provide “ongoing support to ensure the site remains accessible”. Would this need to be included in our proposal in addition to the initial audit, remediation and re-audit? If so, this might be difficult to estimate, so would day rates be required? Our main focus is on the audit and remediation phases. Whilst ongoing support could be helpful, it is likely that this would be delivered by the existing suppliers working internally with the communications team. That said, if this is a service that you offer, you may wish to include this within your proposal and, as this is difficult to estimate, day rates would be the best way to quote this. 18. For remediation, the brief states: “support in fixing the issues (in line with our external web suppliers)”. What is the expected relationship with the existing web supplier and what are the assumed responsibilities? This relationship would be determined with the web suppliers. We would expect both the external web supplier and the successful contract to determine the most efficient and effective way to deliver the improvements to the accessibility of the website. 19. Will there be an opportunity to talk with your team about the project, for example once you have shortlisted suppliers, but before you come to a decision to award the contract? Yes happy to have a conversation about how this can be delivered. 20. Do you have a timeframe after 18 November for the shortlisting process and can you detail how this will work? We will follow the shortlisting process as set out by the Digital Marketplace, to find the supplier which is best able to deliver our requirements, with the best value for money. 21. Your notice does not include any budget information. Are you able to share what working budget you have allocated for this work? For the auditing phase in the region of £1000.For remedial work in the region of £1500-£2000 (Dependent on findings of auditing phase)For a final audit in the region of £250. 22. You note an existing provider has already quoted for this work. Has the decision therefore been made not to work with them on this specific piece of work? The existing supplier have provided a quote, and are being considered for this work along with other possible third party providers. All suppliers will be considered fairly. 23. What’s the expected contract length and budget ? There is no specific start date as long as the work is delivered ahead of the 23rd January deadline. Budget is as follows: For the auditing phase in the region of £1000.For remedial work in the region of £1500-£2000 (Dependent on findings of auditing phase)For a final audit in the region of £250. 24. Do all pages on the website need to comply with WCAG 2.1 AAA standards? As per guidance from the DWP Accessibility Guide:“Some of the impacts of making your service AAA will involve changing how a user interacts with your service and will go against security and GDS patterns, however, some will be fulfilled by default.”Could you please confirm what level of compliance is required as this will influence the response? No, all pages must meet WCAG 2.1 AA Standards only. Additional compliance to WCAG 2.1 AAA standards would be a bonus, where possible, but is not a requirement. 25. What is the current CMS? Wordpress, version 6.0 26. What is the indicative budget for this work? For the auditing phase in the region of £1000.For remedial work in the region of £1500-£2000 (Dependent on findings of auditing phase)For a final audit in the region of £250. 27. The bid requires a supplier to provide “remedial action” – are you expecting the supplier to carry out development work on the website themselves or to work with and direct the current web supplier in carrying out development work as identified by the review? This relationship would be determined with the web suppliers. We would expect both the external web supplier and the successful contract to determine the most efficient and effective way to deliver the improvements to the accessibility of the website. 28. Please confirm if the website is mobile responsive? Yes 29. Does audit need to be performed on prod environment? If yes, how frequently are changes updated to the environment. Yes, updates are made to the website on a daily basis (mainly to the news section) but can be paused for a short time during the audit. 30. Please share the browser usage statistics so that we can customize the accessibility compatibility matrix. Over the last year, 22792 users of which:Safari 6,437 (28.06%)Chrome 6.273 (27.35%)Edge 3,391 (14.78%)Safari (In app) 2,579 (11.24%)Android Webview 1,756 (7.66%)Internet Explorer 1,244 (5.42%)Samsung Internet 871 (3.80%)Firefox 301 (1.31%)Amazon Silk 42 (0.18%)Opera 28 (0.12%) 31. Please confirm if mobile apps are used No mobile apps are used 32. Do you need support in development to remediate defects? If yes, please specify the technology stack. No the support is needed to remediate the existing site.