Hosting, Maintenance and support of Sitecore based sites

IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support (Hosting, Maintenance and support of Sitecore based sites)

International Post Corporation, Brussels

Estimated value excluding VAT €700.000

Estimated duration: 5 years with potential to extend a maximum of two extensions of one year

Deadline for receipt of expressions of interest: 20/03/2024 20:03:20

Requirements – Certification/Regional Restrictions:

• Sitecore Gold or Platinum partner for EMEA

• ISO27001 or equivalent security credential

• Physical hosting and processing of data in EU/EEA

Objective and Scope of the RFP: In Q2 of 2024, our current Sitecore-based website Maintenance and Support Agreement will come to an end. It is necessary to ensure that our current offering addresses the current market conditions, security challenges and best practices for our hosted web services.

In scope: The objective of this RFP is to select and contract a supplier partner for the Agreement for the Provision of Maintenance and Support for Hosted Web Services. In scope of this request are the internet and intranet sites of IPC, including:

• Adaptative and Evolutive Maintenance

• The web-service provider selected will be taking over the maintenance of the website and applications run in Sitecore.

• The maintenance is currently done on a request basis from IPC.

• It includes: debugging, error fixing, improvement of site responsiveness, indexation problems, issues with MyIPC, security issues.

• Technical and security change requests as needed

• Monthly provision of minimum 4.5 days for maintenance and development

• Monitoring

• The web-provider is expected to put in place tools to monitor the site performance, responsiveness and security and take preventive measures to ensure its security.

• Tracking and resolution of incidents pertaining to the hosted web services

• New features and new projects

For new projects, the web-service provider will be involved from the conception phase up to the technical implementation of the project. As IPC’s business and needs evolve, we need to adapt the website to the needs of our stakeholders. It includes:

• Development of new features on the front-end

• Improvement of templates in the back-end Sitecore to facilitate the work of content users.

• Updates on the statistical database.

• Support in expanding and improving the website setup

• All new functionalities should be fully secure and involve pen-testing and fully in line with the GDPR.

• On top of this, IPC also commissions bigger projects on an ad-hoc basis, beyond the monthly SLA.

• Consultancy, guidance and strategic advice

• IPC expects the web-service provider to provide strategic, functional and technical advice to projects we develop, as well as to the website usability in general and new features and the evolution of the web.

• Training of IPC staff on Sitecore elements if needed, development of manuals/support material.

• Hosting and licensing

IPC’s website is hosted on Microsoft Azure Cloud.

• Our current web agency provides hosting-related services including hosting maintenance, monitoring, backup and antivirus. This is expected of any bidding supplier.

• Licensing

• Software and hosted hardware upgrades

Out of Scope: This RFP is not intended to cover those services which IPC continues to support ourselves, including:

• Level 1 support (for end users)

https://www.ipc.be/-/media/documents/public/CPN-For-Sitecore-IPC.pdf: Hosting, Maintenance and support of Sitecore based sites