The Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC), a program of the Environmental Research Institute of the States (ERIS), is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide ongoing website and information technology (IT) maintenance and support services. This RFP is for a two-year contract, July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2027, to provide services that include project management, website maintenance and development, support for ITRC’s membership management and collaboration systems and platforms, analytics, and quality assurance.
Proposals are due to ITRC by 5:00 PM EDT on April 30, 2025.
Please see the RFP for complete details on how to submit a proposal.
Questions about the RFP may be submitted before April 14, 2025. ITRC will periodically post questions and answers to this page.
Questions and Answers
1. Is there an incumbent agency/firm for this project?
Our current vendor is Allegiance Group + Pursuant.
2. The RFP document mentions accessibility implementations, does that include functionality for language translation toggling on the website?
Accessibility implementations in the RFP refers to compliance with Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility. Some of this work will be funded by federal government grant dollars. Per guidance from a federal funding agency, “Recipients are subject to the program accessibility provisions of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, codified in 40 CFR Part 7, which includes an obligation to provide individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations and an equal and effective opportunity to benefit from or participate in a program, including those offered through electronic and information technology (“EIT”). In compliance with Section 504, EIT systems or products funded by this award must be designed to meet the diverse needs of users (e.g., U.S. public, recipient personnel) without barriers or diminished function or quality. Systems shall include usability features or functions that accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities, including those who use assistive technology. At this time, the EPA will consider a recipient’s websites, interactive tools, and other EIT as being in compliance with Section 504 if such technologies meet standards established under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, codified at 36 CFR Part 1194. While Section 508 does not apply directly to grant recipients, we encourage recipients to follow either the 508 guidelines or other comparable guidelines that concern accessibility to EIT for individuals with disabilities. Recipients may wish to consult the latest Section 508 guidelines issued by the U.S. Access Board or W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (see https://www.accessboard.gov/about/policy/accessibility.html)
3. What is the monthly and annual website maintenance spend for the current web solution (please list breakdown detailing spend for hosting, maintenance, plugins, other technologies etc.)?
ERIS/ITRC directly pays service providers for these solutions including web hosting, plug-ins, marketing tools, membership management software, and related tools.
4. Although a bit of a touchy subject for most, we prefer a transparent approach when it comes to budgets. ITRC’s approximate budget for the project will be instrumental in properly staffing the project. A ballpark range at the least would be appreciated.?
ERIS/ITRC has some flexibility on our available budget for this project. We are interested in hearing your best proposals for the work and expert opinion on the anticipated level of effort and cost.
5. Who would the selected partner be interfacing with on a consistent basis, is there a plan to assemble a project committee/team of sorts if one doesn’t already exist?
The selected partner would be interacting with the ITRC staff on a consistent basis (https://itrcweb.org/staff/). The entire ITRC staff or an individual member(s) will work with the selected partner depending on the work/needs by ITRC or the partner. On occasion, the selected partner may interact with other ITRC vendors or service providers, which would be facilitated by ITRC staff.
6. Would this contract require the vendor to provide additional Microsoft 365 Support beyond just adding users to Teams?
- Example: Device Management, Security Monitoring, InTune Policies, Email
- Member365 will allow automatic assignment of Groups & SharePoint through the API. I’m just curious about whether you’d need a vendor to manage your entire Microsoft 365 tenant.
The vendor will not be responsible for providing tenant and device management, security monitoring, policy management and other Microsoft 365 Support; this is managed by ERIS/ITRC staff. However, it would be helpful for the selected vendor to have experience with Microsoft 365 admin center, tools and policies, and advanced tools for Microsoft user management and automation to assist ERIS/ITRC and recommend process improvements if needed.
7. Are there any preliminary criteria on the “Development of new WordPress tools & enhancements”?
- While this is certainly within our capacity to build under a fixed contract, the request leaves a lot of room for interpretation on degree of complexity. Depending on the complexity of the request, it could take longer to implement if we don’t have the right resources already allocated to the project.
ITRC completed research, redesign, and migration activities, and launched our current public WordPress (Version 6.7.2) website and theme in 2024. “Development of new WordPress tools & enhancements” for the selected vendor would be as-needed in response to ITRC staff’s requests for a solution and will include suggesting, installing, and managing new WordPress plug-ins, and/or creating or modifying our current blocks, plug-ins, themes, settings, and other WordPress tools. The vendor may also offer unsolicited solutions based on its knowledge of ITRC’s strategic direction and marketing needs throughout the project for ITRC to consider.
8. Microsoft 365 Support. Would you like us to serve as the support partner for Microsoft 365 (including Teams), or is that handled by another team? If so, how many active users would we be supporting?
Our expectation is that the selected vendor will support the Microsoft Graph API connector running on Azure and the Team platform. Our Member365 and Microsoft platform members total approximately 2,000 users.
9. Member365 Support Scope. The scope mentions integration and API synchronization—just wanted to get a sense of where things currently stand. Is there a backlog of work in this area already, or are you looking for ongoing support as needs arise? Would you prefer we build Member365 API work into the monthly retainer, or handle it separately as project-based development? Also, can you confirm whether you’re using the full Member365 suite?
We are utilizing Member365’s Business Plan with an optional API add-on (https://member365.com/pricing/). Our API synchronization mostly involves maintenance, but there are currently also a few requests for enhancements.
Regarding the monthly retainer, ERIS/ITRC has some flexibility on our available budget for this project. We are interested in hearing your best proposals for the work and expert opinion on the anticipated level of effort and cost. Proposer may propose an all-inclusive flat rate for project, an hourly rate to be billed as needed, or some combination of the two. If proposing a flat rate, the contractor should specify exactly what will and will not be included in the rate. If proposing an hourly rate, the contractor should provide a realistic estimate of the anticipated hours that will be required to provide the support.
10. Would you like us to include a set amount of anticipated development hours in the proposal, or simply include dev rates and bill for development as needed outside of the monthly support?
The Proposer may propose an all-inclusive flat rate for project, an hourly rate to be billed as needed, or some combination of the two. If proposing a flat rate, the contractor should specify exactly what will and will not be included in the rate. If proposing an hourly rate, the contractor should provide a realistic estimate of the anticipated hours that will be required to provide the support.
11. Are there any platforms beyond WordPress, Member365, Microsoft Teams, or GA4 that we should be prepared to support?
Our main public website on WordPress running on WP Engine. In addition, we have 36 WordPress sites running on Linode, and custom middleware application running on Linode and Cloudflare (WAF and CDN).
12. Are there specific times of year or initiatives that typically result in heavier support or development needs?
The first quarter of the federal fiscal year, October – January, is our typical peak period for support needs each year.
13. Have there been any known performance, security, or functionality issues we should be aware of? We did notice that the site is currently scoring relatively low in performance audits, so we anticipate there may be some initial optimization and accessibility work needed. Is there an existing backlog of tasks, bugs, or issues that we should factor in as we plan for onboarding?
Security. WordPress requires diligent core and plug-in updates to address ongoing security or other issues that emerge.
14. Is there a particular reason this was the right time to seek a new support partner?
ERIS/ITRC recompetes support contracts for services after 3 to 5 years.
15. Is there a budget? That context helps us shape our proposal realistically.
ERIS/ITRC has some flexibility on our available budget for this project. We are interested in hearing your best proposals for the work and expert opinion on the anticipated level of effort and cost.
16. Could you provide a bit more detail on the type of support needed for the Member365 platform?
- Use of the platform to help manage membership, events and other CRM-related functionality.
- Migration of data when necessary.
- Work with the API layer for systems integration.
- Troubleshoot when necessary with the Member365 team.
17. Will there be a transition period or knowledge transfer support from the current vendor to ensure continuity?
Yes. ERIS/ITRC is planning a minimum of 30 days for transition and knowledge transfer between the current vendor and selected vendor for this RFP. This will ultimately be dependent on the final agreement with the selected vendor and ERIS/ITRC’s contract with our current vendor.
18. What volume of custom code, integrations, or legacy components in the current WordPress and Member365 platforms (post member login?) that the contractor should be aware of?
- A custom middleware application exists that integrates Member365 with the cloud Microsoft Teams and Office platform. This application supports key functions for synchronizing users between the Teams environment and Member365.
- Custom WordPress plug-in that support guidance document web sites.
19. Is ITRC interested in exploring a new hosting provider, beyond the current WP Engine Service?
ERIS/ITRC is not actively exploring a new hosting provider.
20. What are the current website traffic volumes monthly?
itrcweb.org traffic per month:
- 113,000 Unique Visitors
- 4.61 million Total Requests
- 289GB Total Data Served
21. Has the website experienced any downtime or availability issues in the recent past?
No.
22. What are the primary metrics or goals for analytics reporting (e.g., user engagement, downloads, member activity)?
Recently, ITRC has focused on high level GA4 / website analytics for web page views and users on a quarterly and annual basis. We are continuing to learn about GA4 and look forward to utilizing other analytics provided by Member365 and Microsoft tools.
23. Is there a target budget range for this contract, and how will price vs. qualifications be weighted in proposal evaluations?
ERIS/ITRC has some flexibility on our available budget for this project. We are interested in hearing your best proposals for the work and expert opinion on the anticipated level of effort and cost.