The Société de développement commercial (SDC) District Central would like to retain the services of a web development firm to implement its multi-step web strategy.

This tender specifies the needs of the SDC as well as the nature of the support that is expected from the selected firm.

1.   Presentation of the SDC District Central

The Société de développement commercial (SDC) District Central is the catalyst and the voice for the Ahuntsic-Cartierville business world. It represents the combined forces of 1,800 business leaders united to develop a sector with outstanding economic, urban and human potential.

The development strategy for the District Central was born out of a vision shared by business leaders, elected officials and civil servants from within the borough. Its mission is clear: breathe new life into this legendary district, make it shine on a broader stage and propel it to the very top of Montreal’s economic landscape.

THREE BUSINESS PILLARS

This new business district that is universal, underground and urban, is home to daring, creative and determined entrepreneurs. Thanks to them, we are moving from the textile sector to the design sector. We are transforming factories into urban manufacturing plants and we are solidly establishing the technology industry. In turn, the Marché Central and local businesses are bringing the area to life.

IN THE HEART OF THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL

The District Central is located in the heart of the Island of Montreal. It is bordered by highways 40 and 15, as well as Sauvé Street and St-Laurent Boulevard. Chabanel Street is the main artery of the territory, which includes five sectors of activity: The Marché Central and the Acadie, Sauvé, Saint-Laurent and Chabanel areas. (See Appendix I).

The District is accessible by two metro stations (Crémazie and Sauvé), three commuter trains, several bus routes and nearby highways. The area boasts high-quality buildings and offers many inspiring spaces to create, manufacture and innovate. With more than 2 million square metres of building space, nearly 1,800 businesses, over 3,100 business spaces and 25,000 commuter workers each day, this area now stands as Montreal’s 4th largest employment hub, and has the potential to accommodate up to 40,000 workers.

1.   Mandate of the firm

In order to achieve its objectives, the District Central would like to develop its WordPress Internet site. The development of its site will be carried out in multiple phases. The details of the phases subsequent to the one described in this document will be defined in the coming months jointly with our communications agency, our web placement agency (if necessary for SEO in particular) and the agency that implemented our CRM. The first phase (mentioned below) will serve as a test case. We are looking for an experienced, reliable, reactive, proactive and capable service provider to support us in the development of our IT tools over the coming years. The service provider will be responsible for:

• Analyzing the SDC site (coding, data security, hosting, etc.);
• Proposing a new web host (with support in case of breakdown or failure or server maintenance);
• Migrating the site’s web data;
• Putting the new “About us” page on line (text and pictures);
• Moving the current “About us” page into the site footer;
• Adding a page “They’re talking about the District Central” to the site footer (text and pictures);
• Optimizing the “Settle down here” page;
• Optimizing the following SEO points: broken internal images, broken links, pages with 4XX status, hreflang issues, addition of a site map page, optimization of JS and CSS files, optimization of a page with html/text ration, compressing site images.

2.   Deliverables

The firm retained will have to deliver the following elements:

• A broken down estimate of management costs and fees related to the mandate;
• The methodology and material considered (analysis, hosting, SEO);
• The required timeframes.

3.   Offer of service document

The offer of service document must consist of the following three parts:

• A presentation of the agency including the following information:
  • A presentation of its main experiences as a web development company;
• A presentation of professional resources who will be dedicated to the mandate and their experience (account managers, assistants and subcontractors);
• A work plan with the professional fees requested for each of the points mentioned above.

Important clarification: The web firm must have proven experience in the integration of web tools (CRM, Chatbot software) and in the development of back-end member spaces. During subsequent web development phases, the organization plans to redesign the site by integrating these points.

4.   Schedule

Sending of service offer: May 4, 2020

Submission of service offer: May 19, 2020

Selection of firm: May 22, 2020

Start-up meeting and briefing: May 26, 2020

Start of mandate: June 1, 2020

5.   Evaluation of bids received

The bids received will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Understanding of mandate
• Experience of firm
• Experience of professional resources dedicated to the mandate
• Work plan
• Fees

6.   Bid submission procedure

Firms invited to submit their service offer have until May 19, 2020 at 5:00 pm to submit their bid by email to the SDC at [email protected].

For any questions related to this call for tenders, do not hesitate to contact Gwen Formal by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 514-966-0548.