"I've come at this issue from both sides; I was a school technology director at a pre-K-12 day school in upstate NY until 2000 and since then have produced websites, often for schools, through my consulting firm. A few things I would recommend that you include in your initial Request For Proposal:"
1. A clear statement of who is to be in charge of the project is a big help.
I’ve worked on projects where I served in a “general contractor” role, coordinating the work of internal people from the school, other outside consultants (a designer, perhaps, who has produced other print materials for the school), and vendors of technology products that the school wants to integrate into its website. I’ve also, on the other hand, worked in situations where the client wants to manage the product in-house where they have enough experience and knowledge of what they want to be able to use my firm and other consultants in a more limited manner or has another firm, perhaps an ad agency, directing the project. This decision — that is, who is to direct the effort — is, in my opinion, the key point to settle before you write the RFP.
2. Regardless of whether the project is to be directed from someone at school or by a consultant/outside agency, realize that the project will demand significant amounts of time from school staff.
Determine who these folks are and establish a clear sense of their responsibilities with respect to the site redesign project. Cover all the bases: who will sign off on design drafts, who decides in what order faculty names are listed, who will supply/write copy for the various sections, etc.
3. Whether you do it in-house or have an outside firm do it, be sure that one of the first steps of the project is an examination of the needs of all intended audiences and the construction of an appropriate architecture for the site.
Getting the architecture, that is, the outline of the site’s organization, established, early in the development cycle, will make the rest of the project—graphic design, copy writing, programming—flow smoothly. It often helps to have an outside consultant work with you on this, since he comes to the project with an outsider’s view — he will be quick to pick up on “insider language”.
4. Is the graphic design of the site to be the cart or the horse?
If you have recently redesigned the school’s visual image - logo, letterhead, etc. - then you should expect to pay less for the design part of the website project, since much of this is already done. On the other hand, a school’s need for an overhaul of its visual image often drives a site redesign project; if so, coupling these two things - visual branding update, website redesign - together can save you some money if you find a firm to do both.
5. Insist on user testing, and make sure that the testing comes early in the project lifecycle.
The best-looking, fastest-loading site draft is great — until you realize that users can’t find school contact information, can’t figure out how to get to that overview of the Upper School that you spent a week writing, and can’t decipher the instructions on the “give online” form. I’d recommend that you test a draft of the site with users from all constituency groups: students, parents, faculty, alums, etc. Leave enough time in the project schedule for significant revisions of site drafts after the user testing—then test again.
6. Think about your content management needs.
Do you have the technology skills, and the time, in-house to make updates to the site? Should a content management system or CMS be part of what you’re looking for? Will the firm that builds the site maintain it for you; if so, what is the cost? Nailing down this decision should precede the RFP.
7. Consider setting standards for the way the site’s code will be built.
Adhering to web standards - see www.webstandards.org and accessibility standards - see www.w3.org/WAI/ ensures that, to the greatest extent possible, your new website will be accessible to the greatest number of users, using any variety of user agents such as computer browser, PDA, phone, screen reader. Furthermore, the production of a site with these considerations in mind tends to result in sites that load faster, are easier to change in the future, and are indexed more successfully by search engines.