23-001408

Submitted by fratecm on
Post Date/ Solicitation Issue Date
Closing Response Date
Proposed Award Date
Project Title
Monsido website optimization software
Contracting Office
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Contact Points

Primary Contract Specialist

Cheryl
Leone
cleone@mail.nih.gov

Secondary Contracting Officer

Dionne
Draper
dionne.draper@nih.gov
NAICS Code Number
511210
Software Publishers
Small Business Size Standard
$41,500,000
FPDS Classification Code
7A21
Single-Sole Source Determination
I hereby determine that the website optimization software listed herein is available from only one source.

 The material or service must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit, and function) with existing systems presently installed. The current equipment is the NIMH content management system (Drupal 9), and the new item/service must coordinate, connect, or interface with the existing system by using a deeplink integration with Drupal.  Monsido is capable of integrating with the Drupal production instance (pubprd.nimh.nih.gov).

The essential characteristics of the Monsido Premium Package that limit the availability to a sole source are that it provides a unified solution (all-in-one) for identifying and prioritizing website issues, fixing errors on the platform with direct integration into NIMH’s backend content management system, and monitoring.

Only this suggested source can furnish the requirements, to the exclusion of other sources, because other vendors may provide software that can address one issue (e.g., a broken link checker), but do not have the ability to comprehensively monitor and repair the overall website in an integrated fashion with dedicated support for customization.
Background/Description of Requirement

The Electronic Communications Branch (ECB) within the NIMH Office of Science Policy, Planning, and Communications (OSPPC) oversees the design, development, and management of the enterprise-wide NIMH public website and the NIMH intranet.  ECB posts timely and accurate information to these sites, ensures NIMH information is accessible to individuals with disabilities, and seeks to improve the user experience for all digital communications channels.  The NIMH website is expected to perform seamlessly and reach audiences 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Each year, the NIMH website reaches millions of individuals across the country and the globe who seek information on mental health illnesses, research topics, news, clinical trials, job announcements, and more.   

To evaluate, update, and implement continuous improvement to this impactful, wide-reaching website, and other communications channels, ECB requires the use of various tools and software.  In particular, an all-in-one platform that would enable ECB to optimize the NIMH public website governance, quality assurance, accessibility compliance, and search engine optimization (SEO) is desired.

  1. Background Information and Objective:  The NIMH website is a highly visible, trusted, and key communication channel for disseminating information to the public about the science of mental illnesses and why it matters.  To maintain the public trust, authenticity, accuracy, and timeliness of the content ECB posts on the website, the latest tools for optimizing the user experience are necessary.  Additionally, to maximize the website user diversity and inclusion, the website must comply with Section 508 regulations, which specify Federal compliance standards for individuals with disabilities.  One such tool is Monsido software, which provides ongoing maintenance, scanning, and reporting on the NIMH website.  Additionally, OSPPC’s Science Writing, Press, and Dissemination Branch creates content and advises on website strategy; as such, they will also use various aspects of Monsido.

 

Salient characteristics: Monsido’s Premium Package provides an easy interface and custom dashboards for monitoring the NIMH website’s overall performance.  This package is needed since it will provide a unified solution for identifying and prioritizing website issues, fixing errors on the platform with direct integration into NIMH’s backend content management system, and monitoring.  This tool will address: (1) accessibility [e.g., counting issues and identifying pages, checking PDFs for accessibility issues and remediating]; (2) quality assurance [scanning for broken links and images, misspellings, and inaccurate content; (3) statistics [tracking analytics on website traffic, visits to the website along with insights on visitor behavior; (4) SEO [scanning website for errors and optimizing search tags]; (5) prioritized content [marking website content by tier based on number of views and links pointing to it; (6) heartbeat [monitoring real-time web performance and providing alerts of issues such as crashes or slow response; (7) governance [setting policies and rules for content to be consistent; locating content infringements; finding and correcting terms]; (8) inventory [providing digital asset management for documents, links, images, forms, etc.]; (9) management [managing multiple domains and user group access; sending specific reports to team members]; and (10) page assistance [enabling personalization for changing formatting, fonts, etc.].

Additionally, Monsido is capable of integrating with the NIMH content management system (Drupal 9). 

Finally, Monsido offers unlimited training and support, including in-app chat support, to assist with questions or issues. 

 

 

Interested parties may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.

All responses must be received by closing date and must reference the announcement. Responses may be submitted electronically to the attention of the contract specialist. Fax responses will not be accepted.

All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency.