SOLICITATION INFORMATION
ISSUING AGENCY CITY OF HOMEWOOD, ALABAMA
Issue date November 2, 2026
Questions deadline November 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Qualifications due November 20, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Submission method Email to CityManager@homewoodal.org
Procurement contact Alison Paliescheskey - 205.332.6104
Alison.paliescheskey@homewoodal.org
PROJECT OVERVIEW The City seeks a qualified technical partner to operate and improve City-owned digital platforms and produce accessible, reliable public meeting broadcasts and archives. Services must be coordinated with City staff and the separately selected communications strategy/content provider.
PURPOSE AND PROCUREMENT APPROACH The City of Homewood seeks statements of qualifications from experienced professional firms to provide the services described below. This RFQ is one of two separately issued solicitations. Firms may respond to either or both RFQs; the City may select different firms or the same firm for both, based on separate evaluations. The selected provider must coordinate with the provider of the complementary services and designated City staff. This solicitation requests qualifications and a proposed service approach; the City may request detailed pricing from shortlisted firms before contract negotiation.
CITY OVERSIGHT AND COORDINATION The City will retain control of communications policy, official approvals, accounts, records, and digital assets. The City Manager will direct administrative and operational messaging, with coordinated roles for the Mayor, Council, and departments as established by the City. The contractor shall identify a single account lead, use City-approved workflows, and collaborate with the other communications services provider without transferring decision-making authority.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
• Provide website hosting, security, backups, software updates, uptime monitoring, and ongoing
technical maintenance for City-owned websites.
• Support website design, page creation, content implementation, search functionality, analytics
configuration, and search engine optimization where appropriate.
• Assess and maintain website accessibility, including ADA-related digital accessibility practices and remediation workflows.
• Provide technical support for online forms, citizen portals, content management systems, and approved integrations.
• Propose response-time standards for routine, urgent, and emergency website updates and incident escalation.
• Produce livestreams for City Council, committees, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Adjustments, and other meetings identified by the City.
• Provide audio/video recording, on-screen graphics, captions and accessibility support, publishing, indexing where available, and archival delivery.
• Maintain and support meeting-room audiovisual and production systems; identify City-owned versus contractor-owned equipment and maintenance responsibilities.
• Prepare disaster recovery and service continuity plans for websites, meeting streams, recordings, and archives.
• Assist with transition and transfer of credentials, files, source materials, archives, technical documentation, and equipment records at contract end.
EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
• Inventory and technical baseline for websites, domains, hosting, software, integrations, and meeting production systems.
• Website maintenance, accessibility, cybersecurity, backup, and incident response plans.
• Documented service-level commitments, support escalation paths, and recurring technical performance reports.
• Reliable meeting production schedule, published recordings and captions as specified, and searchable/accessible archives as agreed.
• Disaster recovery plan, asset and equipment responsibility matrix, and exit/transition package.
SPECIFIC QUALIFICATIONS AND WORK SAMPLES
• Demonstrated experience with municipal/government websites, accessibility, security, hosting, and public-meeting video operations.
• Links to relevant government or municipal websites and examples of at least two livestreamed or recorded public meetings, describing the firm's role.
• Names and credentials of proposed web, security, accessibility, and audiovisual production personnel; backup staffing and support arrangements.
• Description of proposed hosting architecture, content management system, recovery methods, and audiovisual equipment assumptions.
REQUIRED RESPONSE CONTENTS
• Cover letter signed by an authorized representative; legal name, office location, and primary contact.
• Firm background, relevant experience, and at least one comparable municipal or government references, including contact information.
• Project team organization chart, names and roles of personnel assigned to Homewood, resumes, estimated availability, and all proposed subcontractors.
• Detailed understanding of the scope, proposed work plan, implementation sequence, communications/coordination approach, and sample service levels.
• Relevant work samples or links as specified below, including the firm's precise role in each example.
• Description of cybersecurity, records, accessibility, continuity, and ownership practices relevant to the scope.
• Identification of anticipated third-party software, licensing, hosting, equipment, and pass- through costs, where applicable.
• Disclosure of actual or potential conflicts of interest and any material litigation or contract terminations relevant to the services.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
CRITERION WEIGHT
Relevant municipal/government experience 15%
Approach and work plan 20%
Assigned team and qualifications 20%
Demonstrated work and technical capability 25%
Service levels and responsiveness 10%
Price/value, if requested during selection 10%
SELECTION PROCESS The City anticipates reviewing submissions against the criteria and may invite selected firms for interviews, demonstrations, reference checks, and subsequent fee proposals. The City reserves the right to seek clarifications, negotiate scope and terms, reject any or all responses, cancel or reissue this RFQ, and make an award only if in the City's best interest, subject to applicable law and approvals.
ANTICIPATED CONTRACT STRUCTURE The contemplated agreement is an initial one-year term, with possible renewals subject to satisfactory performance and City approval for an additional two years. The final agreement should establish a defined annual base scope and fee, a rate schedule for optional or additional services, measurable response times and deliverables, and procedures for approval of out-of-scope work. The final terms, insurance, indemnification, termination, public records, records retention, data protection, and other legal requirements will be reviewed by the City Attorney.
OWNERSHIP AND TRANSITION All City accounts, domains, credentials, analytics, contact lists, records, archives, content, source materials, templates, and other City-funded deliverables must remain under City administrative control, subject to applicable third-party licenses. The selected contractor must document systems and workflows, provide orderly transition-in and transition-out support, and return or transfer City materials promptly at expiration or termination.
INSTRUCTIONS AND RESERVATIONS Responses should be submitted by the stated deadline in searchable PDF format unless otherwise specified. Firms are responsible for verifying delivery. Questions must be directed only to the designated procurement contact. The City may issue written addenda; firms are responsible for acknowledging them. Costs of preparing responses are the respondent's responsibility. The City may treat submitted materials as public records to the extent required by Alabama law; respondents should not assume confidentiality merely by labeling material proprietary.
PRE-ISSUANCE ITEMS TO CONFIRM
City staff and legal/procurement counsel should confirm procurement method, statutory
advertisement requirements, evaluation/pricing sequence, insurance terms, records provisions,
scope inventory, dates, and approval authority before public issuance.
