Request for Proposals (RfP): Development of a mobile app for parliamentarians

1. Background

The IPU

Established in 1889, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments and  with its 179 Member Parliaments and 13 Associate Member Parliamentary Assemblies, is a global forum for parliamentary dialogue, cooperation and action.

The IPU advances democracy and assists parliaments and parliamentarians throughout the world to fulfill their mandates.

The current IPU strategy 2017-2021 calls for an IPU contribution to peace building, conflict prevention and strengthening security, including taking action on counter-terrorism and disarmament. In this regard, the IPU governing bodies agreed to the creation of a High-Level Advisory Group on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism (HLAG), which serves as the global parliamentary focal point for efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism, and  related parliamentary activities. The role of the Group is to guide the Member-driven plan of action for parliaments to address terrorism and prevent violent extremism, as well as to bridge the significant gaps in the implementation of relevant IPU and United Nations resolutions.

Current web presence

IPU’s website (www.ipu.org) is based on Drupal 8 CMS and hosted on Pantheon.

2. Purpose

The Mobile App will be the link to achieve interconnectivity between the IPU and national parliaments. It will be a tool for outreach and visibility which would replicate the web platform and the Global Parliamentarian Network which the IPU is currently developing. Features would include secure login with access to all relevant documentation in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Counter-terrorism Legislation Database and secure space for members of the HLAG. The Mobile App would also provide an overview of the activities and products that the IPU is in the process of implementating or developing, and those which have already been implemented or developed in the field of counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism. At the same time, it will be an application through which users can obtain first-hand information, as well as news notifications and information about events related to counter-terrorism or prevention of violent extremism.

The interface – perfectly adapted to mobile devices – will allow parliamentarians to navigate from their mobile or tablet with simplicity and optimal use, making information more easily and quickly accessible to parliamentarians.

The chosen vendor will be asked to develop a comprehensive, easy handle, design for the IPU Members. The emphasis should be on usability, accessibility, and strong visuals –particularly as the build is interactive by its nature. The App will be a tool to facilitate networking and document consultation, and a means of receiving notifications for delegates to meetings.

The IPU expects the selected vendor to:

• Advise the IPU proactively on the development of the project.
• Analyze and identify full features and technical requirements.
• Develop a frontend interface aligned with https://www.ipu.org. 
• Develop an interface aligned with the database of Legislation: UNODC SHERLOC (sherloc.unodc.org).
• Develop access to the Global Parliamentarian Network as well as to the web platform which will be designed later.
• Integrate a security system for access to documents restricted to certain users.
• Integrate the platform as a subdomain of https://www.ipu.org.
• Provide technical support to the main Administrator and user support, in case of need, during the transition period.

The IPU expects the platform to:

• Have a “clone” or “copy” function as there will be multiple events.
• Support multiple languages – English and French, as a minimum.
• Export the data (Excel and CSV) to be consumed by other third-party software.

3. Functional requirements

Account creation and authentication

Users must be able to create an account with both primary and secondary email addresses. The administrator(s) should have the possibility to “reject” persons not entitled to have access to this application. 

Required fields when creating an account

Fields include: name; photo; IPU membership category (Member, Associate Member, Permanent Observer); name of the committee/ commission they belong to in their parliament; whether they are members of any IPU groups or committees; and other relevant information as parliamentarians.

Additional functions

Future-proofing of the system, i.e. it should be possible, at a later stage, to add functions in order to allow parliamentarians to make or have access to other kinds of information, events, etc.

Import/export

The system should allow the administrator(s) to import and export datasets in CSV and Excel formats. There should also be an interface to allow the administrator(s) to export the precise data they require – including to compare datasets and generate reports.

Multilingual content and translation workflow

The Mobile App should support multilingual content in English and French (as a minimum), as well as special and non-Latin characters. It should be possible to enter free text in either English or French without switching interface languages, or moving to another screen.

Users and permissions

There should be different levels of users: user (parliamentarian); super-user (members of the HLAG and IPU Staff –who will have special access to different information); other users  (who will only see public information relating to events, or news).

Users should be able to delete their account, manage their password, retrieve it if forgotten/lost, and add a secondary email address. The administrator(s) should be able to create user accounts. The system should provide a trace log to record and store all user operations.

Communications

The Mobile App could automatically generate and send a multilingual message to users about important news or future meetings or events.

The administrator(s) should be able to send communications to users (rejections, if not entitled to attend a meeting; follow-up if some information is missing; or any other information).

FAQs

On the Mobile App landing page, users will be able to access a FAQs page.

4. Non-functional requirements

Usability

Given limited human resources, the solution proposed should be easy to manage, requiring minimal training and staff hours for upkeep.

Compatibility / responsiveness

The Mobile App needs to be fully responsive, and touch-device friendly.

The browsers and operating systems to be supported for testing purposes are:

• Google Chrome, Windows and Mac platform
• Apple Safari, Mac and IOS platform
• Firefox, Windows and Mac platform
• Edge, Windows platform
• IOS browser
• Android browser

Accessibility

The solution should conform to all applicable W3C standards including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and any other relevant Technical Specifications for mark-up.

Performance

The Mobile App should load within a reasonable timeframe for people with limited connection speeds.

Security and updates

The selected provider is asked to employ the latest security best practices; ensure the Mobile App is free of known vulnerabilities; and ensure there is a clear workflow for applying security patches in the future, and for running regular automated backups that would make a (recent) restore possible. The system should be able to download security patches and system updates. The system should alert the administrator(s) when such patches/updates are available. All system logins should be SSL secured. The application should be accessible over https only.

Technical architecture

The system should be cloud-hosted; preferably the vendor should host the system on behalf of the IPU.

Only open-source code or an out-of-the-box open-source solution should be used to create the Mobile App. Minimal customizations are preferred to simplify future updates.

Future vision for the Mobile App of the IPU

After the development of the Mobile App, which could be the first phase, the app should have the possibility to increase its functionality to allow visitors to:

• Make publications,
• Have a link with other platforms,
• Interact with other members,
• Use or link with other applications, such as social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, among others)

6. Expected deliverables

For the purposes of this RfP, overall tangible project deliverables are listed below. A final list of deliverables is to be negotiated with the selected agency.

Project management: Provide a dedicated Project Manager to help lead requirements, gather activities, document key decisions, and track project milestones and deliverables, using project management software such as (e.g. Basecamp, Drive, Trello, or Slack).

Project analysis / Discovery: Analyse documents provided by the IPU, consult with IPU staff and/or organize meetings as necessary to detail requirements and propose appropriate solutions. Provide a report of the discovery phase for sign-off by the IPU.

Project plan, roadmap, release plan: Detail a project plan for each of the stated requirements/features identified following the project analysis. Detail a production schedule using an iterative approach with listed milestones.

Visual design: Design in line with the existing brand equity of https://www.ipu.org – particularly the events landing pages.

Please note that all source files and images developed for this build must be delivered to the IPU as layered design files in PSD or EPS format.

Technical architecture: Detail full technical requirements including technology standards and practices to be used, integrations, migration plans, dependencies, digital security and code documentation practices for each of the products. Files: Word documents.

Front-end and back-end development: Build an intuitive and highly usable platform for website features under version control (Git).

Documentation: User manual and developer documentation outlining modules used, code customizations and any other relevant information must be provided.  

Testing and QA: Complete QA, bug, compatibility and usability testing of the platform and website features as per agreed browsers/OS, with warranty. For usability testing, the IPU can provide 5-10 testers from among its user community.

Training: Provide on-site end-user contributor training and administrator training to staff for each of the administration interfaces.

Maintenance: Provide recommendations for ongoing maintenance, backups and operation of the Event Registration System.

7. Project timeline

The following timeline is provided for guidance and is subject to change without notice:

Deadline for submission of clarifying questions: 28 April 2020
Deadline for the IPU to respond to questions: 5 May 2020
Deadline for RFP submissions, no later than 5 p.m. CET, 18 May 2020
Proposals will be evaluated immediately thereafter.
Interviews will be held mid-May 2020.
The project should start end of August 2020 at the latest

The Mobile App (first iteration) is expected to go live no later than October 2020. At this time, the improvement of existing taxonomy and fields, as well as the complete development of the application, such as the necessary security fields, and the complete link with the different web pages and database should have been completed.

Preliminary examination of proposals

IPU will examine proposals to determine whether they are complete with respect to minimum requirements as outlined in the “Format for Proposal” section. IPU may reject any proposal at this stage.

8. Selection criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Quality of responses to stated requirements
• Past experience on similar projects, specifically:
  • Designing and developing registration/login-only systems
  • Migrating content from external sources and legacy systems
• Ability to adequately resource the project to meet stated deadline
• Quality of design portfolio including other relevant platforms
• Estimates for post-deployment maintenance, support and upgrades including hourly rates for services
• Financial sustainability of both product and company
• Overall cost and cost-effectiveness