Subject Question Answer

Frequent questions What CMS are you currently using? Is there a preferred CMS solution? Currently using Sharepoint and a Microsoft solution is preferred.

What is the budget for this project ? Budget will not be disclosed
The site currently has calculators for 1) Home Affordability (max price a buyer
Morgtage Calculators can afford; 2) mortgage payment calculator (monthly cost), and 3)Buy v. rent

Is there a timeline for this project?
Please define what do you mean by Compatible with: Constant Contact, HR
Career Software, Event invitation/registration software, HR software
Page 2 - Scope of services: There is a requirement that Site must be capable of
hosting video files (including long training videos). What is the expected size of the
Quality is more important than speed, we do not have a date in mind
Link to these - see also Q 147
After discussion, we will not host video files on the site, but use YouTube or
other option

CHFA business areas for Do we need to integrate with systems such as Loan Origination System, Asset
user engagement Management, Staff list search, Lender List,). If so, is it read-only iteraction or both Read only
CHFAs interest rate Do we need to create the web service for updating the interest rate on CHFA's Vendor will need to create a new web service for the interest rate. Rate must
publishing system website or is there any existing service which we can expose from website for update in real time and refresh if a user is on a page with rates.

Section 508's new version will be released in early 2016. The new version of
Section 508 will be based on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
Level A and AA. We would recommend complying with WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA
to comply with the future regulation, which will in turn make the section 508
compliant also. Kindly confirm we should consider WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA or
Section 508 for Accessibility scope?

Reference: http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-
Accessibility standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/proposed-rule Yes
As per HHS, PDF & office documents need to be accessible. Please provide the
number of such documents A sample PDF/office document will also be helpful to
Accessibility calculate the effort for making the PDFs accessible Not at this time
Accessibility compliance for 3rd party software mentioned under Page 3 is
Accessibility considered out of scope. Please confirm. Yes
Is there a tag management solution under consideration (
Analytics GTM/DTM/Ensighten/Tealium)? No
Are there any challenges that are being faced by the users with the existing
Analytics analytics reports? Unknown
Can you please elaborate on the kind of metrics and reports that needs to be
Analytics tracked for the using Google Analytics? All available
How would the internal and external users authenticate into the new website (e.g.
Authentication via Active Directory)? Open to options
Would you provide branding guidelines, logos, color themes, etc. that can be re-
used/enhanced by vendor? Or would the vendor be required to provide entirely
Branding new branding guidelines? Yes - CHFA will provide guidelines

Browsers What are the different targeted browsers for testing cross browser functionality?
Would you please email/share 2-3 photographs you intend to use on the new
website? We have experience where clients insisted on using their photographs,
which were of mediocre quality, and that led to mediocre-looking website. Since
then, we are very cautious of accepting projects where we have no say in how our
Content work will turn out.
All popular browsers
We have professional photographs of some of properties that are appropriate
for the website. We would not want to use our own in-house photos for the
website.

Provide calculators to determine mortgage payments, affordability,(see Q4);

allow users to navigate based on a set of choices - I am a (veteran, teacher,
What tasks - other than basics such as reading text, watching videos, submitting homebuyer). We would like to add the ability for property owners to create
simple contact requests, registering to receive updates (interest rate changes, accounts and log in and see their account balances. Currently there are no log-
Content news, etc.) do you want website visitors to perform on the site? in options on the CHFA site.
 Subject Question Answer
What database is used to maintain the current datasets? (i.e.: metro area, median
Content income, name of development, etc.) Currently data from internal systems uploaded into Sharepoint

How drastic of a reduction in site content does the CHFA anticipate? We have not completed site map, so this can not be answered accurately at
Content Approximately how many pages are anticipated to be migrated to the new site? this point. Our goal is to reduce the overall number of pages.

Types of documents posted inlcude PDFs, PPT presentations, Excel workbooks

and forms. Some are only posted for a few weeks, other items can be archived
The Scope of Services section mentioned that the website should have space for after 1 year. If its possible to have an auto-archive option for certain types of
archives, organized by date, year, audience. Could you please elaborate on what documents (minutes, presentations, newsletters,) and set up exceptions for
content will be archived? Is it just documents, or will it be all current web page other document types (construction standards, Qualified Allocation Plans), that
Content content? would be useful.
The Scope of Services mentioned that the website should be compatible with third
party software. Will this be a total integration with the software, or a link to the
Content page where the software is installed? Link only
For developing the new Calculator feature for the website, Infinite will require
assistance from the CHFA staff. Will the CHFA staff be available to share inputs
Content during the Project Requirement Gathering stage? Yes
Please clarify what is meant by "website will be dynamic?
o How is dynamic defined? Do you mean controllable by a CMS (Content
content Management System)? Yes

Content Does the new site need the ability to email or print site content? Yes - section 508 requirement
Are RSS feeds output and subscription on certain sections of the site a
content requirement? Yes

Are there any re-branding efforts currently underway that would be included or
content integrated with this project? No

Do you have a formal content strategy already in place for the new website? Or is
Content Strategy the vendor expected to build the strategy as a part of Discovery phase? Yes - we'd like recommendatins from the vendor
Is there a current workflow for how CHFA will handle reviewing, updating and
Content workflow approving content as its added/migrated? Currently using Sharepoint workflows. Open to suggestions
Content/Services Which are the content/services that user can access without login? All are open
Are you looking for an overall firm fixed price for the entire project? Or are you
Contract Model looking at hourly rates of technical resources? Overall price with price breakdowns by task
Please provide some insights on the current platform and infrastructure that hosts
Current Platform the current application. Is CHFA planning to move to cloud? Not relevant to the scope of this project

Are there any custom forms or workflows in the current website that are to be
Current Platform replicated? Open to options

What would be the size of the current website (e.g. # of static/dynamic pages, # of
Current Website custom/core widgets/plugins, content types, users, roles, # of forms, etc.) Not available at this time
What is the typical frequency of update of content on the website (e.g. every day,
Current Website every week, etc.)? Every day
Can you indicate the amount of effort/timelines it took to build the current
Current Website website? Not available at this time

Would the vendor be required to migrate existing data/content into new website?
Data/Content Migration Or would you be responsible for re-writing/populating the content? YES. CHFA will rewrite content, but vendor will need to migrate
 Subject Question Answer

Do you have an idea of how much of the site content will be new and how much All exsiting site content to be revised/rewritten. Some may be like-to-like carry
Data/Content Migration will be carried over from the existing site? over but at this point we can't provide an accurate assessment.

Page 1 - Background: It is assumed that as an outcome of the Kaizen, a Content

Digital Content Inventory & Audit was conducted and that content gaps have been identified. Not available at this time

Page 4: By providing training to CHFA staff on revising copy does this mean an
Digital Content editorial style guide? Or is it documentation for using a CMS tool? Open to discussion

Digital Content Is there an existing Editorial Style Guide? Or is there a need to create them new? Open to discussion

Since new content will be added by a CHFA moderator, we anticipate the need for
a robust Content Strategy, including a content roadmap and editorial calendar
Digital Content outlining key updates. Is this in line with CHFA expectations? Open to suggestion
Does the current/new website require any support for monetary transactions (e.g.
Functionality Paypal)? No
General Any kind of Report or Dashboard is required in new website? Google Analytics
We have observed that Google Translate is being used to render the website in 5
languages. Can we assume that the same approach will be used in the new
Multi-lingual Support website?
What will be the level of interaction with third party softwares such as Constant Yes
Contact, HR Career Software, Event invitation/registration software, HR software.
Other Integrations Would a link to such software would suffice? yes
What kind of user base would be there for this application? (numbers, locations,
Performance Hit-rate on site etc) & what would be performance benchmarks/requirements, if
Requirements any? Unknown at this time

Please reconfirm that you want the vendor to maintain the website. Do you have
Post Production any prefernece on the kind of support coverage required (e.g. 18x5, 24x5, 24x7)? Yes, vendor to maintain webiste. Please quote for all SLA options.
Will wireframes be made available by CHFA? If not, please suggest an approximate
number of wireframes that need to be developed to represent the overall website
Presentation experience? open to suggestion
Wireframes to be created for both portrait and landscape orientations? Or only
Presentation Portrait orientation would be sufficient? open to suggestion

We are assuming that the new website will have new branding, and the Style
Presentation Guides and collaterals (logo, images, fonts) will be provided by CHFA. Yes
What are the specific operating systems, devices and browsers that need to be
Presentation supported? Please provide as a list Please check RFP
Do we need to provide custom templates for admin pages like content authoring
Presentation pages? Yes

Requirement Do you already have a detailed documentation for the requirements (e.g. Software
Documentation Requirements Specification document)? If yes, please share it. No
Please reconfirm if CHFA will be hosting the new website, and would provide
Scope necessary server space, SSL certificates, etc. Yes

Should the proposal also include cost for the Hardware and Software needed for
Scope setup of site infrastructure? Or would CHFA would be handling that internally No

Can end user of the site register themselves on the site and create their login Currently, there are no login credentials required. We would like to add a
Scope credentials? If yes, what all data can user save on the site for future use? portal for Property owners to view their account information.

Do you want the functionality of complaints redressal in the new website?

Scope Currently, on an average how many complaints are received on daily basis? No
 Subject Question Answer
How many unique templates are the 400 pages using ? Please provide details on
the templates being used in current system to understand the possibility of
Scope for migration reduction of pages Unknown
Apart from the 400 content pages, what's the approximate size and total number
Scope for migration of documents/images/videos to be migrated as is? Unknown
Are there any pages among the 400 pages, that requires authorized access? If yes,
Scope for migration are there any additional features in those pages? No
Page 3- Scope of services: Which search engine is currently being used for Search.
Provide more details in case the Search functionality and crawl is also to be re-built
Search with the new web site. Google
Which search engine is used currently by existing website? Do you plan to retain
Search the same search engine? Google - yes

Please specific the Security Requirements for the new website. Would you be using
a 3rd-party for conducting security testing before the new website goes live? What
Security type of authentication is implemented in existing application? No to 2nd Q, CMS authentication, open to suggestion
Would you require SSL certificates for your website? If yes, would the vendor be
Security responsible for procuring them? No
Would any of the data/content on the website be restricted by US Export Control
requirements (i.e. it can only be handled by US citizens)? If yes, please provide
Security some details. No
Page 3- Scope of services: How is the current SEO implemented. Do we need to use
SEO this AS IS or any optimization is required. Optimization is required
CHFA complies with State of CT date retention policy:
Site Administration What level of data retention does CHFA require (180 days, 1 year, etc)? http://ctstatelibrary.org/publicrecords/state
Site Administration How many staff personnel are expected to be trained on the new CMS? contributors and moderators to be trained as needed
How many staff members will have access to the Content Management system for
Site Administration updating web content? There are approximately 12 staff designated as contributors and moderators

Staffing Can the vendor provide some services from "offshore" (non-US) locations? Vendor will need us base to provide W-9 for billing purposes
Staffing Can the vendor provide some services from "onshore" (US) locations? Yes

Can the vendor place some staff members at your office location? This would
Staffing primarily be required for requirement analysis, deployment, training, etc. Yes
Does CHFA possess or has decided procure any licensed web content management
product (Adobe EM, SDL Tridion, Sitefinity, Drupal, Joomla, SharePoint etc.) to
host the new application? Are there any preferences or constraints that could
Target Platform influence the choice? We are open to options, and they must be quoted separately

What technology is being leveraged to compromise your current hosting

Technical environment (hardware, software, computer resources, storage, bandwidth, etc)? Not relevant to the scope of this project
Technical Will hosting at CHFA be on bare metal machines or virtualized? Not relevant to the scope of this project
How many environments does CHFA require (testing, development, production,
Technical etc)? At least 2 - testing and production
Technical Will the system require failover capabilities to a backup site? Not in scope of the rfp
What licensing/contracting agreements do you have with software, hardware,
Technical and/or service providers? Not relevant to the scope of this project
Please list hosting options separately along with security
Technical Would you be open to using our hosting environment as a solution? compliance/certifications

Technical What event invitation and registration software do you use? None are used on current site, but we would like to add on the new site

Technical What level of integration, if any, would you like with social media accounts? Social media feed on the Press release page

Technical What kind of compatibility do you want with your third party software? third party software will be linked or framed from the existing website
Technical What HR software are you currently using? Not in scope of the rfp
 Subject Question Answer
Technical What is the size of your existing site (pages, hosted files, etc)? No details available at this time
Is there any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) housed within the system, and
Technical if so, what legal regulations does CHFA need to meet? No

Technical What are the current/historical statistics for site visitors/traffic? October 2015 - roughly 32,000 visits (excluding staff) , 60% new, 40% returning
What is the expected growth of the site, both in terms of hosted content and site 50% increase in visits and reduced bounce rate. We hope to reduce, not
Technical visitors? increase hosted content.
Technical Is there API documentation for the database(s)? not applicable
Are there any specific Platform requirements? for example only Microsoft (.NET
Technical ASP) or its up to a vendor to suggest? Microsoft web based solutions are preferred
Since it will be hosted by CHFA, what type of hosting platform (Microsoft or Unix
Technical type) and resources CHFA is planning to utilize for new website? Mircosoft
How many people are currently maintaining the website and can you provide their
Technical areas of expertise? Not applicable
How are you hosting the website; onsite with your own servers or through a site
Technical similar to the likes godaddy.com etc? Onsite
Technical Will the Publishing system need to be rewritten or rebuilt? Rewritten
Technical What hosting language are you currently using (.net, PHP, etc.) .net
Will the code supporting any of these dynamic pages be available to pick up from
Technical where appropriate? If so, for which pages? question is unclear
Do any of these dynamic pages communicate with third-party applications or
database to work properly? (Besides the Home Mortgage Program Interest rates,
which was discussed in the RFP document). If so, please explain the nature of the
Technical communication. Currently data from internal systems uploaded into Sharepoint

Please describe expectations for how cfha.org will integrate with the Lender log in
for Loan Reservation System. Will cfha.org simply link out to the Lender Log In as
an external application? Or is cfha.org expected in any way to store and/or verify
user login credentials? Will the los.chfa.org application remain as is, or is design or
Technical development work associated with that application part of this RFP in any way? Yes - link out
What technology is CT Housing currently using to manage/deploy their existing
Technical websites Microsoft
Technical Is there an MBE or WBE preference? See RFP, MBE/WBE are encouraged to apply
Is there a preference for the website to be hosting internally or externally? Is there
Technical a hosting provider preference? Hosting internally

Technical Do you have a technology preference? i.e. .NET, Linux, etc. .net
What web and technology resources does CHFA have, and what role do you
Technical anticipate them to have in the project? Microsoft technology and hosting. Product will be hosted on site
Some of the parameters listed under Service Level Agreement (bullet #1 on p.7)
include services that are related to hosting and not website design and
development. Does CHFA require that the chosen web development firm also
Technical provide hosting services? No
Can you provide the names of the HR Career Software, Event invitation/registration
software, and HR software that are referenced in the RFP that the new site will
Technical need to be compatible with? Not available at this time
Please confirm that development or enhancements to CHFA's Single Family Loan
Technical Origination System is NOT included in this project? Not included in this project

The RFP mentions that CHFA will host the new site, can you provide details on your
Technical server structure (i.e. do you support Windows server, LINUX servers, etc.)? Windows servers
For the mortgage rates the RFP mentions that CHFA will require the site to
integrate with internal systems, can you provide technical details on these systems
Technical or a data sample? See RFP
 Subject Question Answer
Many of the third party systems on page 11 of the RFP document simply link off to
these third party systems, will the new site continue to just link off or do you
Technical anticipate additional integration requirements? Link only
We noticed that the current site is written in ASP.NET. Is it a requirement that the
site stays on this platform and if so, what is the backend language (C++, C#, VB,
Technical etc)? Microsoft technologies are preferred
There is a directive that states "CHFA must own the code" - with this in mind would
it be acceptable to build the new site on top of an open-source CMS or web
Technical framework such as Wordpress or Django? Open to suggestions

CHFA stated that no particular content management system has been selected..
Technical will you consider an open source platform? Web framework is preferred

Technical ODBC database? Any known security issues/concerns connecting the website? No
Looking at current site it seems it is developed on MOSS 2007, Is CHFA looking for
migration and redesign to Latest version of SharePoint (i.e. SharePoint 2013 or
Technology Office 365 SharePoint Online) or Drupal? Open to suggestions

Technology Are there any custom solutions deployed on the SharePoint site. If yes, how many? No
Are any third party components deployed on SharePoint farm, like Nintex/K2,
Technology InfoPath forms etc. No

What test management tools are available? What are the tools stack available for
Testing Test life cycle (Test Management, Automation/Performance testing etc.)? Open to suggestions
Is any Service virtualization currently in place and what type of products are being
Testing used? Not relevant to the scope of this project
Would you like to release the new website in a Beta phase for end-users, while the
existing website is still in operation? If yes, what would be the duration (e.g. 2
Timelines weeks)? No

Are there any specific tools for project management, defect management, and
testing that you already have, and would like the vendor to use while executing the
Tools project? E.g. HP Quality Center, Bugzilla, JIRA, Asana, etc. Open to suggestions
What your preference for user training - onsite classroom or through video
Training conferencing? open to options
How much time do you anticipate for conducting User Acceptance Testing (e.g. 8
UAT weeks)? Open to suggestions
User Roles and What are different user roles which we need to consider? Please describe
Permission permission matrix for them Contributors, moderators, end users
Is CHFA open to negotiating the indemnification clause? As drafted, the
indemnification is open to broad interpretation. Will CHFA entertain a limitation on
the indemnity for actions directly related to the technical development of the site,
and limitations on monetary damages, such as no indemnification for punitive and
Vendor indirect damages? Not at this time
Will we have to meet in person anytime before or after the contract is awarded? If
Vendor so, do you have an estimate of how many times? Yes and number of meetings can't be estimated at this time.
Vendor How long of a service agreement would you like? Up to 3 years

You state that you would like the project managers references, What would you
Vendor like for these references; names of people?; companies previously worked at? Projects the manager has worked on.
Will meetings with assigned CHFA staff require in person/on-site presence, or will
Vendor remote communications be acceptable? Both will be needed.
The current architecture appears to be fairly complex. Would you be open to
having an onsite (your offices) workshop to review what content is to be retained
Vendor on the new website and develop a user-centric IA Yes on site discovery will be required
 Subject Question Answer

Vendor Does redesign of the loan origination system fall within the scope of the project? NO

Will personnel resume be enough included with links from the private sector
Vendor projects or is there a need for government website links of past projects? (pg.6) Yes, we need links of prior projects
Our firm has a long standing partnership with a staffing agency that supplies
personnel in the specific areas of expertise needed for each of our project; would
you consider such personnel as subcontractors, thus eliminating our qualification
Vendor to bid? See RFP page 6 and sample contract attached to RFP

For question "Provide, in tabular form, information on the employee

composition of your firm indicating the total number of employees and the total
number and percentages of minorities and women employed and their titles."
What is "Tabular form" & can it be a sole-proprietor firm with freelance support
Vendor from our staffing agency partnership? (pg. 7) An excel chart showing employees. If sole proprietorship, see RFP.
Can proof of insurance be provided based on the liable amount needed by the
client after the contract has been awarded or is proof of insurance required as part See RFP pages 21-22. The successful firm wold need to submit proof of
Vendor of the bid package? insurance and endorsements prior to signing a contract.
Is CT Housing expecting a Software proposal and a Services solution to support the
Vendor RFP Requirements? Services - yes, software -yes
Vendor Is there a preference for local versus out of state vendors? No
Vendor Can the work be performed offsite with some onsite meetings? Yes

Vendor Will an out of state vendor be considered? Yes

In evaluating responses to this RFP, will any preference be given to Connecticut-
Vendor based firms? No
Under "Project Deliverables" on p.4, the RFP states that the applicant will be
required to meet with CHFA staff with twenty-four hours' notice. Can this meeting
be conducted remotely (e.g., via WebEx or conference call), or must it be
Vendor conducted in person? Yes
Bullet #8 on p. 6 Is it required that respondents have prior experience building
Vendor websites for government entities? No it is not required, but it is a plus.

Vendor Would you be open to ideas of functionality not outlined in RFP? Yes

Page 3 - Website must be compatible with "third party software such as Contact
Contact, HR Career Software, Event invitation/registration, HR software". Is it just
redirection to outlinks or data transaction between applications. What is the
Vendor integration approach utilized now? (Web Service/API etc).
Integrations a)Constant Contact - Constant Contact API for sign up
b)HR Career Software - framed application
C)Event invitation/registration - not using any software currently
d)HR Software -
<<Add if any other>> Loan Origination System is a link
a) End Users public website
b) Content Contributors -
c) Moderators -
a) Content Testing (Y/N) - Y
b) Security Testing (Y/N) - Y
c) Performance Testing (Y/N) - Y
Subject Question Answer