The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 08/03/2023 and took up the request to award the city’s website redesign and servicing contract to Revize.
The contract was a four-year contract. The initial year one cost for creating the website and getting it up and running would be $92,500, and ongoing service cost for each of the three remaining years was $16,400, for a four-year total of $158,100 which was less than the $178,396 figure quoted by the city’s existing website contractor Granicus. Committee members expressed some concerns that the quoted price was a little low, but after discussing those concerns with IT Director Corey Popp, they ended up voting unanimously to approve the contract.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Director Popp reviewed the process utilized to arrive at the recommendation to go with Revize. The city received 20 proposals. He, the CMS Analyst, and the Manager of Communications and Public Engagement conducted a panel review and scored all the proposals which they weeded down to the top 3 scorers as well as the highest scoring local supplier in the state of Wisconsin, which was located in Green Bay.
Those four suppliers conducted demonstrations for staff members in Communications, Community and Economic Development, Information Technology, Parks and Recreation, Police, and Public Works. Per Director Popp, “[O]verwhelmingly unanimously Revize came to the top of the four demonstrations as being the company that everyone was most comfortable with, both the public side that we viewed and the back-end content management system that they would be using to create content.”
Revize’s proposal was also more cost-effective than the city’s current vendor, Granicus, with total costs over 4 years coming in $20,000 lower.
The committee members asked a number of questions about Revize.
Alderperson Patrick Hayden (District 7) asked if Revize would end the fragmentation currently experienced with Appleton’s website. Director Popp answered that was the long-term hope, but that the Parks and Recreation website (which, due to branding issues, historically had not fit well with the rest of the City of Appleton’s website) would remain with their current provider for now.
Alderperson Hayden asked whether the city or Revize would own the code for the new website. Director Popp responded that Revize would own the code, but the city would own the content.
Alderperson Hayden was concerned about the low price and wondered if the cost of support could end up being more than what the city was expecting. Director Popp was comfortable with the level of support Revize provided but noted that the one thing that would not be covered by the contract would be modifications. Content could be updated, but the format would remain the same. However, after four years, at renewal time, the city would have the option for a free refresh or redesign of the site.
Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) asked about the feedback staff had received from the nine references they had reached out to regarding Revize. Director Popp says that the feedback was largely positive, but that one municipality indicated they had enough issues with Revize that they were now going through the RFP process again to find another vendor. Director Popp noted that the IT Director at this city had been new, which perhaps was a factor.
Alderperson Croatt noted that the online reviews about Revize were mixed, particularly in terms of customer service. Director Popp was comfortable with Revize’s customer service, and that they offer 24/7 portal support and email support, and 8am to 8pm telephone support. Additionally, he noted that Revize was perhaps a better sized company to work with Appleton rather than Granicus. Granicus was a national company with over 1,000 employees that handled very large accounts. By national standards, Appleton was a small city, so Revize, with only around 100 employees, could be more personal, particularly in regard to the building of the website. City staff would actually be able to review various websites Revize had put together, find the one they liked best, and work with that specific designer on Appleton’s new site.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) stressed that one of the issues with the current website was that it was not user friendly for residents and information was not easily found even if that information was on the website. Both she and Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) hoped that a Common Council representative would be able to participate in the process of building the website and provide feedback that they receive from their constituency.
Director Popp could not speak for the Mayor’s Office, but he expected that would probably happen.
The committee voted 4-0 to approve the contract with Revize.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1114020&GUID=1A4E33B0-70F5-4182-BEC9-7B5020D559D4
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