REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

FOR THE REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT OF WORKNOLA.COM

1100 Poydras Street, Suite 3475

New Orleans, LA
504.527.6900

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016

info@gnoinc.org
Facebook.com/gnoinc
Twitter: @gnoinc

WorkNOLA.com Redesign INTRODUCTION

Greater New Orleans, Inc. is a regional economic development alliance serving the 10-parish region
of Southeast Louisiana.
In April of 2011, the organization took ownership of the employment listing website
WorkNOLA.com, which had previously been managed by Make New Orleans Home.
GNO, Inc. is seeking the services of an experienced website design firm to redesign, develop,
implement, and provide hosting service recommendations for WorkNOLA.com. This project will
utilize posted listings and accounts from the existing website as well as new features, capabilities,
and different visual layout as suggested by GNO, Inc. and the firm selected.
Background
Greater New Orleans, Inc. plays a vital role as the regional economic development hub, serving to
coordinate, consolidate, and then catalyze economic development initiatives. The organizations
aim is to generate wealth and improve the quality of life in the region. Attracting and retaining
businesses, advocating for policies to improve the competitive climate, and ensuring the
availability of a high-quality workforce, GNO, Inc. intends to counter negative perceptions and
ensure that there is a clear understanding of the economic opportunities available in the Greater
New Orleans region.
The organization has embarked on a demand-driven human capital strategy in order to ensure
that the region meets workforce demands. Under that mission, GNO, Inc. has maintained the
employment listing site WorkNOLA.com in its current form but requires some enhancements in
response to the growing needs of our regions employers.
Project Objectives
The goal of WorkNOLA.com is to provide a simple but comprehensive no-cost employment
resource for the Greater New Orleans area while functioning as a marketing tool to demonstrate
the growing opportunities found in Southeast Louisiana.
The redeveloped site should expand on many of the core functions currently found on the site,
allowing for intuitive posting of jobs and applications by job seekers. Equally important is the
need for the site to take on a sophisticated design that would be an accurate representation of a
product created in a technology hub.
The website shall at minimum meet the following criteria:
Visually appealing layout that functions in desktop, laptop, and mobile environments.
WorkNOLA.com should feature a very obvious New Orleans look.
Easily updated CMS or or site administration environment from the front-end and backend for greater control over listings and accounts by applicants, employers, and GNO, Inc.
administrators.
Ability to accept a full range of resume formats for upload by applicants, added ability to store
more than one cover letter.
Site should be easily upgradeable.
The listing feeds should be able to be tweaked to include or remove job types, with custom
feeds able to be created for key industry or job-type pages.
Ability to run analytic reports on job listings to extract data on job openings and applicant
numbers in the market
The site should include a search-able workforce repository for professionals to showcase their
abilities, allowing educational institutions to determine training gaps and enabling employers
to easily determine the available and capable pool of local workers, while allowing local
professionals to become aware of employment opportunities

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016

General and Desired Enhancements

Desired features include, but are not limited to those listed below. Additional enhancements, at the
recommendation of the firms, are welcome and will be considered.
Account Management
Greater capability to manage jobs, account name, and details of each listing. Additionally,
if HR or hiring employee leaves, each company needs the ability to change their account
administrator easily.
Job applicants should have full ability to manage all aspects of their accounts - username,
password, avatar, profile, resume(s), cover letter, portfolio, professional attachments, ability to
be added to workforce bank.
Employers should have full ability to manage all aspects of their accounts username,
password, avatar, profile, applicant intake method, account administrator, social media sharing.
Site administrator should have full ability to manage all aspects of all user accounts (applicants
and employers) - usernames, password reset, avatar, profile, etc. This functionality should
include permission to add/remove jobs, change employer administrators, add or delete
accounts. Administrator should be able to change any aspect of any account or listing at any
moment.
Job seekers should be able to link social accounts, specifically LinkedIn, to access profile
information.
Site should include a detailed set of instructions and FAQ for users.
The ability for job seekers to save jobs they are interested in to apply for or send to contacts at
a later time.
Site Administration
Site administrator should have ability to analyze metrics of site at any given time (how often
listings are posted by industry, how many applicants in each industry, etc.)
Traffic tracking should allow for GNO, Inc. to easily monitor the activity of users for insight into
possible changes to terminology or hierarchy of the site.
The site must utilize an industry-standard CMS or site administration environment that is simple
to maintain and be able to accommodate a visual overhaul that utilizes typical web standards.
Site must be compatible with GNO, Inc. hosting servers or a new solution must be
recommended.
Site must utilize a solution for sending user emails during regular site activities (account
creation, job application, etc.)
Spam account prevention and management abilities should be included within the site
structure.
Site AdministraTOR ABILITIES
Manage the status and content of all employer and job seeker accounts, including to the ability
to create user passwords
Edit the content and visuals shown in all listings all site copy language that users are presented
with
The ability to control which feeds each job listing will appear in, to prevent users from
mislabeling jobs to seek higher visibility
Access to add fields used in job listings (i.e. industry names, job types, job functions, etc.) and
workforce directory listings
Add to any other pre-populated fields of data that users will interact with
The ability to edit messages sent in automated emails during account creation, job application,
etc.
Access to adjust overall site structure and styling are not expected

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016

SITE Functionality
Full integration with social media for easy sharing of listings by applicants and employers alike,
added ability to easily email a listing
GNO, Inc. will provide default imagery for listings of each job type to be used in social sharing
as a default, with the ability for employers to swap for a custom image
Provide comprehensive directory of local workforce for employers to search, with option for
account-holders to opt out (a la LinkedIn)
Data feed via RSS or API or embeddable modules for external sites to easily feature listings
The ability to sort jobs by category and/or industry, in addition to the ability to categorize jobs
by skill sets. Employers and job seekers could both search for skill sets.
List of employers in each industry, with links to their sites (not limited to ones that have jobs
posted)
Ability for employer to choose method of application either via WorkNOLA or to direct
applicants to their internal job portal. Also allow requests for portfolio/samples.
Allow employers to label each job as full-time, part-time, internship, volunteer or freelance to
be used as search criteria.
Similarly, the ability for job feeds to be created to feature job listings in only each of these
categories, allowing the main job feed to add or remove job or industry types.
Feature location in region as a major identifier for each open position (Metairie, Uptown,
Northshore, etc.), add among search criteria for applicants.
Job listings should be posted using pre-determined characteristics, chosen with radio buttons
or from drop-downs (i.e. required education level, experience, etc.) These fields should then be
able to be analyzed by the GNO, Inc. staff to track employer needs in the region.
Skills for each job and user profile should utilize tags as individual skills (i.e. budget analysis,
HTML programming, etc.) These fields should then be able to be analyzed by the GNO, Inc.
staff to track skill patterns.
Creation of a notification system that will email alerts when a user posts a resume that meets
the criteria that an employer is looking for, or if a job is posted that meets the skill-sets of an
applicant. Alerts should be useful for both employers and applicants alike.
Ability for employers to post jobs anonymously, allowing for the company name to be obscured
from job seekers but visible to the site administrators.
Job seekers should be able to upload cover letters and resumes, or the ability to type and style
cover letters and resumes within the administrator panel.
The ability for users to compile a group of job listings for sharing with contacts, students,
industry representatives, or similar third party audiences, to demonstrate employment
opportunities in the region.
Employers should be able to denote veteran hiring preferences for openings.
The ability for site administrators to query news sources for articles about the local job market,
to be featured in a news feed on the site.
The site should allow employers to post listings on multiple platforms easily without having
to create new listings for each platform by utilizing site scrapes, content caches, or similar
technology solutions.
Ability for client to manage messages displayed (on-screen and email) during account creation,
job posting, application, and similar activities.
The site should provide functionality for employers to utilize best practices for inclusive and
diverse hiring methods.
Job listings should include the option for employers to denote between choosing not to list
benefits vs. not offering any benefits.
Visual Enhancements
Layout should take advantage of space, feature more jobs per page in search results.
Site must be easy to navigate.
Site should have functionality to give higher visibility to paid, featured, or sponsored listings.
Assets featured on main homepage layout should be flexible providing ability to change areas

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016

of website around based on changing market.

Should be responsive to adapt for tablet and mobile users.
Services to be Provided
Full visual re-design of site
Complete administrator and CMS or site administration environment overhaul
Migration of data from current site to new version
All technical and design aspects of the project
Training of GNO, Inc. staff, if necessary, to function as administrators of site
Uploading and configuration of all necessary files for site to fully function upon delivery
Complete setup and technical assistance with site for a minimum of 60 days from launch
Schedule of Events for Proposal
Request for Proposals 6/15/2016
Proposals Due 6/30/2016
Finalist Interviews 7/11/2016 through 7/13/2016
Project Delivery Deadline 9/15/2016
We expect to award this contract by July 15, 2016.
Please submit questions in writing to mwolfe@gnoinc.org (no deadline)
Proposal Guidelines and Requirements
This is an open and competitive process.
The proposal must contain the signature of a duly authorized officer or agent of the company
submitting the proposal.
If you wish to submit additional features or functions of the site, please do so in a manner that
identifies which fees represent the conditions outlined in this document and ones that your firm is
additionally recommending.
The price you quote should be inclusive. If your price excludes certain fees or charges, you must
provide a detailed list of excluded fees with a complete explanation of the nature of those fees.
If the execution of work to be performed by your company requires the hiring of sub-contractors
you must clearly state this in your proposal. Sub-contractors must be identified and the work they
will perform must be defined. In your proposal please provide the name, address, and EIN of the
sub-contractor. Greater New Orleans, Inc. will not refuse a proposal based upon the use of subcontractors; however, we retain the right to refuse the sub-contractors you have selected.
Provisions of this RFP and the contents of the successful responses are considered available for
inclusion in final contractual obligations.
There is a confidential budget for this project which will be adhered to during the selection
process. Finalists which exceed the undisclosed budget amount will be notified of their overage
status.
Proposal Submission
All proposals must meet all of the following criteria:
Your companys name, address, contact telephone number, main contact, and email address on the
cover page.

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016

Resumes of all individuals performing main duties on the project, with details on their roles and
responsibilities for the proposed project.
Proposal will be considered as a submission of the primary company, as listed on the cover. If there
will be sub-contracted vendors, please provide details on their involvement and the names of the
companies/individuals who will provide services for this project.
An estimated summary timeline and schedule for completion of each phase of the project,
including references to design approval, soft-launch, and other notable milestones seen in a typical
site launch.
A detailed work plan describing your approach to the design, management, and coordination of
this project. The description should include all tasks listed in the scope of work for all phases of
the project and a tentative schedule. Include a strategy for obtaining all content necessary for the
project including, but not limited to, GNO, Inc.s role in providing necessary content.
Written and/or visual design concepts which encapsulate your companys vision for the site, once
complete.
A comprehensive list of references and past web projects. This would include URLs for each
project and a point of contact which we can call or email. Detailed information regarding your
companys experience in website development, including any relevant experience with other
database-driven sites or similar projects.
A description of the qualifications and experience of the staff members that will be involved in the
project. Please identify:
The project manager
The proposed project team, including any sub-consultants,
Key personnel and the amount of time that they will be dedicating to the project
A highlight of the experience of the project team by individual team member
A description of how the project will be managed through to successful completion
A detailed cost estimate and proposal containing all technical specifications of the site, including,
but not limited to, all costs associated with the site transition and ongoing usage. The proposal
should contain the total project cost, as well as detailed line itemcosts for components/phases of
the project. All hourly rates and fees, charges, costs, and anticipated reimbursable costs must be
clearly stated.
Respondents are encouraged to contact GNO, Inc. with any questions or concerns. Final proposals
submitted are to be received by Greater New Orleans, Inc. no later than 4:00 p.m. CT on
Wednesday, May 16, 2012. Four printed copies of the proposal must be submitted and one digital
copy must be emailed to mwolfe@gnoinc.org.
Physical copies should be mailed to:
Greater New Orleans, Inc.
Attn: Matt Wolfe, Director of Brand and Marketing
1100 Poydras Street, Suite 3475
New Orleans, LA 70163
MWBEs are strongly encouraged to submit proposals. Additionally, applicants utilizing MWBEs as
sub-contractors are also strongly encouraged to apply.
Greater New Orleans, Inc. encourages submissions from teams of vendors, which can utilize
strengths or each other to perform the tasks defined in this RFP.

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016

Confidentiality
Vendors who provide services to Greater New Orleans, Inc. and/or its partners, stakeholders, and
users of WorkNOLA.com may receive confidential and proprietary information (Confidential
Information) from the Greater New Orleans, Inc. and/or or its partners, stakeholders, and users
of WorkNOLA.com. Vendors will be required to sign an agreement stating that all information
received from either the Greater New Orleans, Inc. and/or its partners, stakeholders, and users
of WorkNOLA.com will be kept confidential and shall not, without prior consent of Greater New
Orleans, Inc. and/or its partners, stakeholders, and users of WorkNOLA.com, be disclosed or used,
other than to provide services to Greater New Orleans, Inc. and/or its partners, stakeholders, and
users of WorkNOLA.com in connection with the vendors work.
Selection Process
All submitted proposals will be considered. Vendors which meet the requirements below, in no
particular order, will be entered into the selection process:
Organizational Capacity
Experience and References
Description of Services and Deliverables
Design Concept
Pricing
Compatibility with proposal guidelines
Greater New Orleans, Inc. has chosen not to disclose budget parameters surrounding this project,
citing an extensive record of paying a fair market rate for creative and digital media services.
Moreover, due to the complex nature of this project, any interim internal budgeting will be adjusted
to match estimates provided by suitable vendors if necessary.
Additionally, there will be an interview process to screen vendors that meet the majority of these
guidelines. The number of vendors chosen to be interviewed will be determined by both the overall
number of submissions and vendors which are eligible for the selection process. Vendors who are
not chosen will be notified by Greater New Orleans, Inc. in a timely manner.
Scoring System
Point Factor 1: Quality of Proposed Design concept (20 points maximum)
Is the concept usable and appealing?
Does the concept allow for the site to function as intended?
Does the design sufficiently and creatively promote the region and the digital sophistication of
the Greater New Orleans area?
Is the implementation strategy feasible and effective?
Point Factor 2: Professional Experience of Team (20 points maximum)
How innovative is the team?
Team experience in web design and database management
Examples of past performance on similar projects
Has the team taken on a project of this scale?
What special capacities does the team possess in regards to the completion of this site
redesign?
Have the provided references favorably recommended the team?
Point Factor 3: Familiarity with Content (5 points maximum)
Is the team knowledgeable of workforce assets and industries in the region?
Does the team understand the workforce issues in the region?
Has the team offered insight that helps better accomplish the site goals

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016

Point Factor 4: Proposed Work Plan (10 points maximum)

Does the team have a reasonable methodology and schedule for completion of the Scope of
Work?
Does the team have the capacity needed to accomplish the Scope of Work within the allotted
time frame?
Point Factor 5: Technical compatibility and improvements (20 points maximum)
Is the proposal compatible with the current site configuration and user data?
Does the proposed Scope of Work address all desired enhancements?
Does the proposed Scope of Work address additional enhancements?
Will this redesign represent a significant usability increase for the site?
Point Factor 6: Proposed project budget (25 points maximum)
Do cost estimates correlate to project scope and deliverables as defined in the RFP?
Are adequate assumptions for cost estimates included?
Does budget reflect most efficient and effective use of funding?
Total points possible: 100
Eligible applicants include for-profit entities, not-for-profit entities, or joint ventures. All
applications must include the information requested in this RFP. Upon review, GNO, Inc. may
notify that additional information or clarification is necessary.

WORKNOLA.COM REDESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT 06.15.2016