Title
a. Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to execute a non-standard Software-as-a-Service Subscription Agreement with Siteimprove, Inc. for support services in the administration of the County website in the amount of $9,620 for the period of January 13, 2020 through January 12, 2021;
b. Accept non-standard contract provisions as recommended by the Director of Information Technology; and
c. Authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to sign four (4) one-year renewals to the yearly subscription under the same or similar terms as needed.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve and authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to execute a non-standard Software-as-a-Service Subscription Agreement with Siteimprove, Inc. for support services in the administration of the County website in the amount of $9,620 for the period of January 13, 2020 through January 12, 2021;
b. Accept non-standard contract provisions as recommended by the Director of Information Technology; and
c. Authorize the Director of Information Technology or his designee to sign four (4) one-year renewals to the yearly subscription under the same or similar terms as needed.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
It is requested that the Board of Supervisors authorize the Director of Information Technology to sign a non-standard Agreement with Siteimprove, Inc., to provide the County of Monterey the following services for the County’s website:
- Quality Assurance to identify website quality issues, allowing County departments to work proactively to eliminate typical mistakes such as broken links, misspellings, and consistency issues.
- Accessibility with PDF scanning to check County website content and PDF files for accessibility compliance.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to identify technical and content-related issues affecting search engine rankings and traffic to the County website.
- Web site monitoring service that reports on County website availability and performance around the clock.
- Usability service that provides data to understand County website users’ experience with Heat Maps, Scroll Maps, Click Maps, Online User Survey, and Internal Search Statistics.
The County’s website is used by all County Departments to provide information to residents, visitors, and businesses of Monterey County. The website allows users to request services, register businesses, report issues, and contact relevant County departments. The website also provides online payments of fees and taxes, amongst other services. During emergencies, the County website is updated to provide the public with immediate guidelines. In addition, the County’s website is a primary resource for County employees, in that it provides employment policies, MOUs and benefits, as well as employee email access. For these reasons, it is critical that the content posted on the County website be reliable and accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability.
The proposed agreement will allow Siteimprove to continue to provide support for the County website and will ensure that the County website is equipped with the latest tools and technologies for quality assurance and accessibility.
The proposed agreement does contain non-standard language, which is not standard to the County, but standard in the industry, and poses minimal liability as recommended by the Director of Information Technology.
AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel and Risk Management does not approve this agreement due to the vendor-generated non-standard terms.
FINANCING:
The funds for this Agreement have been included in the FY19-20 Adopted Budget for the Information Technology Department, ITD 1930, Budget Unit 8433, Appropriations Unit INF002. Transactions relating to each fiscal year will be included in each respective Recommended Budget.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
The services provided pursuant to this agreement will support the quality and accessibility of the County’s website.
__Economic Development
X Administration
__Health & Human Services
X Infrastructure
__Public Safety
Prepared by: Lynnette Beardsall, Management Analyst II, 759-6938
Approved by:
_____________________________________Date:_________
Eric Chatham, Director of Information Technology, 759-6920
Attachments on file with Clerk of the Board: Agreement