Start your 7-day free trial — unlock full access instantly.

Lead Closed

This opportunity is no longer accepting submissions.

FlemingtonGreen Risk

ClosedTechnology & Software

Flemington Borough Website Modernization

BID #: 2026-Web-01

ISSUED: 2/4/2026

DUE: 3/6/2026

VALUE: TBD

100

Rating

Risk Rank

Green Risk

AI-Powered Lead Insights

Executive Summary

Flemington Borough is soliciting proposals for a comprehensive website modernization project. The selected vendor will be responsible for the design, development, hosting, and ongoing maintenance of a secure, ADA-compliant, and user-friendly municipal website. Key requirements include adherence to WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards, full content migration from the existing site, implementation of digital legal notice archiving (LFN 2026-01), and a user-centered design approach prioritizing ease of access to critical functions. The project also mandates robust content management tools for Borough staff and a secure transition to a .gov domain. Proposals are due by 3:00 PM on Friday, March 6, 2026, with an anticipated website launch date of July 18, 2026. The Borough will award the contract based on a best-value determination, considering both technical merit and cost-effectiveness.

Web Content

Direct PDF document content.

Document Text

--- Document: RFP 2026 Web 01 Flemington Borough Website Modern Document ---
 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
Request for Proposal (RFP):  
Flemington Borough Website Modernization 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01 
Required Launch Date: July 18, 2026 
I. Project Overview 
The Borough of Flemington ("Borough") seeks proposals from qualified vendors to design, build, 
host, and maintain a secure, fully compliant, efficient-to-maintain municipal website that 
provides an engaging, satisfying experience for residents, business owners, property owners, 
contractors, and prospective visitors. 
II. Scope of Work & NJ Statutory Requirements 
The Borough seeks a vendor to provide a solution for its new municipal website. The vendor is 
responsible for all technical aspects of the transition from the current website provider. 
Proposals must demonstrate how the platform and services will satisfy the following: 
• 
ADA Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 Level AA): Per N.J. P.L. 2023, c.113, the site must be 
fully compliant. While the deadline for towns under 50,000 is April 26, 2027, the Borough 
requires "Compliance by Design" at launch. 
• 
Full Content Migration: Automated, manual, or hybrid transfer of the following, 
ensuring all migrated OCR-searchable and ADA-compliant PDFs remain so. To assess 
the scale of this effort, respondents are directed to analyze the public website at 
https://www.historicflemington.com/. 
o Web page content for all existing pages 
o Downloadable content including Public Notices, Bids, Forms, News and 
Announcements, Calendar, Events, Meeting Documents, Budgets, Paper 
Forms and Applications, Maps, Natural Resource Inventory Documents, All 
Borough Clerk and others sections’ downloadable files.  
• 
Digital Legal Notices (LFN 2026-01): The site must include a "conspicuous" link on the 
homepage to a dedicated Legal Notices page and a searchable archive for notices 
removed after their active period. 
• 
User-Centered Design: (UCD) The Borough requires a user-first architecture. The 
vendor must utilize UCD principles to ensure that the website's most critical functions are 
accessible within two clicks from the homepage. The design must be informed by actual 


 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
user behavior rather than municipal organizational charts. (e.g., "How do I pay a parking 
ticket?" rather than "Department of Finance"). The borough will provide the selected 
vendor with analytics to inform task analysis. 
• 
Technical Launch: Management of DNS propagation to transition from current 
commercial domain to a secure .gov domain. 
• 
Staff management: Easy-to-use tools for Borough staff to update page text, graphics, 
and photos; post files and documents; post emergency alerts; and create/update 
calendars— without vendor intervention. 
• 
Vendor management: Vendor hosting and maintenance of the site, including content 
management support when Borough requires it. 
• 
Deliverable Acceptance & Oversight: No phase of the project shall be considered 
complete, nor shall any progress payment be released, without written acceptance from 
the designated Council Member of the Communications Committee. The vendor 
shall submit a Deliverable Acceptance Form (DAF) for each milestone. 
• 
Staff Resource Protection: The project must minimize disruption to municipal 
operations. Staff participation (meetings, content verification, training) is strictly capped 
at 24 hours for all Borough employees combined over the course of the project. 
III. RFP and Project Timelines 
RFP Timeline 
RFP Milestone 
Dates 
RFP Release & Advertisement 
 February 4, 2026 
RFP Submission Deadline 
March 6, 2026 
Written Proposal Evaluation 
March 7 – March 16, 2026 
Live Vendor Demos 
March 24 – March 27, 2026 
Recommendation Prep 
March 30 – April 06, 2026 
Contract Award 
April 13, 2026 


 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
Expected Project Timeline 
The vendor must deliver a full public release of the new Flemington Borough website not later 
than July 18, 2026. 
Project Milestone 
Dates 
UCD Discovery & Persona Mapping 
April 29 – May 13, 2026 
Website Build & Design Phase 
May 14 – June 8, 2026 
Staff Training & Migration 
June 9 – June 30, 2026 
Final ADA Audit & Sign-off 
July 1 – July 13, 2026 
Technical Go-Live Prep 
July 14 – July 16, 2026 
Technical Go-Live 
July 17, 2026 
DNS Port and PUBLIC RELEASE 
July 18, 2026 
 
IV. Submission Requirements 
• 
Respondents must be organizations, not individuals or sole proprietors. 
• 
Technical Proposal and Statutory requirements must be submitted in PDF file format. 
• 
Financial Proposal must be submitted in the provided Excel workbook format. 
• 
To be considered, vendors must submit all items in section V. Mandatory Vendor 
Submission Checklist no later than 3:00 PM Friday, March 6, 2026 by email as follows: 
Subject: “Website RFP Response | Vendor Name” 
To: 
cconner@historicflemington.com 
CC: 
bherbert@historicflemington.com, mkarrow@historicflemington.com, 
tlevitt@historicflemington.com 
Submissions will be opened and read in the Council Chambers at the Flemington Borough 
Hall on the date and time noted above. 
Only those RFP responses received prior to or on the submission date and time will be 
considered. 
Responses delivered before the submission date and time specified above may be withdrawn 
upon written application of the Respondent, who shall be required to produce evidence showing 
that the individual is or represents the principal or principals involved in the proposal.   
After submission date and time specified above, responses must remain firm for a period of 
sixty (60) days. 


 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
V. Mandatory Vendor Submission Checklist 
The following items MUST be included in the proposal. Failure to provide items marked 
"Statutory" is a non-waivable defect and will result in immediate disqualification. 
¨ Submission Checklist: Form provided. 
Technical Proposal & References 
¨ Executive Summary: Overview of the company’s history, founding date, and 
experience with NJ municipalities. 
¨ Satisfaction of Requirements: features, and services that will fulfill the 
requirements stated in Section II. Scope of Work & NJ Statutory Requirements.  
¨ Data Migration Strategy: Description of data migration approach, including tooling if 
automated. 
¨ Project Plan and Schedule: Activities, deliverables, and timeline, with full release to 
public no later than July 18, 2026. Must include risk management plan. 
¨ Staffing Plan: Resumes of the Project Manager and Lead Designer to be assigned 
to the project. 
¨ ADA Indemnification Statement: Detailed description of how the vendor protects 
the Borough from accessibility litigation. 
¨ LFN 2026-01 Compliance Plan: Specific workflow for the "Legal Notices" page and 
archive and conspicuous homepage link. 
¨ Case Studies with urls and Five (5) References: Must include at least three (3) 
current NJ municipal clients of similar size. 
¨ References must include name, contact phone number or email, and the 
case study related to the reference. 
Financial 
¨ Detailed Fee Schedule, itemized by: 
¨ Implementation, to comprise design, build, page content migration, and project 
management 
¨ Data migration 
¨ Recurring annual maintenance fees for years 1–5. Annual fee increases must not 
exceed 3%. 


 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
Administrative & Legal (NJ Statutory) 
All respondents must include the following documentation in their proposal. Failure to 
provide items marked "NON-WAIVABLE" will result in the immediate rejection of the 
proposal in accordance with New Jersey Local Public Contracts Law. 
Document 
Format 
Requirement 
NJ Business 
Registration 
Certificate (BRC) 
Vendor 
Provided 
NON-WAIVABLE. Submit a copy of your 
valid certificate issued by the NJ 
Department of Treasury. 
Ownership 
Disclosure Form 
Borough Form 
NON-WAIVABLE. Complete, sign, and 
return the enclosed form listing all owners 
of 10% or more. 
Affirmative Action 
Evidence 
Vendor 
Provided 
Submit a copy of one (1) of the following: 
• A copy of a valid Federal Affirmative 
Action Evidence Letter 
• A copy of a valid Certificate of 
Employee Information Report 
• A completed Initial Employee 
Information Report (Form AA-302) 
Non-Collusion 
Affidavit 
Borough Form 
Complete and sign the enclosed form in 
the presence of a Notary Public. 
Investment 
Activities Disclosure 
Borough Form 
Complete and sign the enclosed form 
regarding activities in Iran, Russia, and 
Belarus. 
ADA 
Acknowledgment 
Borough Form 
Sign and return the acknowledgment of 
the Americans with Disabilities Act 
requirements. 
 
VI. Summary of Evaluation Scoring 
The Evaluation Committee will use the following 100-point rubric to rank respondents: 
Part 1: Technical Proposal 


 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
Category 
Weight 
Evaluation Criteria 
User-Centered 
Design (UCD) 
20% 
"Human-First" Methodology: Evaluation of the 
vendor’s plan for Top-Task analysis, persona mapping, 
and evidence that navigation is driven by user needs 
rather than municipal hierarchy. 
Statutory & 
ADA 
Compliance 
20% 
NJ Legal Mandates: Proven ability to meet LFN 2026-
01 (Legal Notice digital archiving) and WCAG 2.1 AA 
standards. Vendors must provide a written guarantee 
of accessibility and a roadmap for NJ-specific 
transparency pages. 
Technical 
Execution 
20% 
Implementation: Evaluation of the vendor's strategy 
for full content migration of historical records and 
pages, OCR processing for searchable PDFs, and 
management of the July 18th Saturday Launch 
(including DNS propagation). 
Experience & 
References 
20% 
NJ Municipal Track Record: Review of past 
performance with New Jersey municipalities of similar 
size (~5,000 residents). 
Total Cost of 
Ownership 
20% 
Financial Value: Assessment of the total 5-year cost, 
including implementation, hosting, security updates, 
and any caps on recurring annual fee increases. 
 
Part 2: Oral Presentation and Demonstration 
The vendors receiving the top three scores in the Technical Proposal will be invited to an 
Oral Presentation, where they will be expected to: 
• Show mockups of what the future Flemington.gov site could look like 
• Demonstrate a live site they built and currently maintain 
• Demonstrate the CMS backend 
• Present a detailed project plan 
• Describe the technical capabilities and limitations of the proposed solution 


 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
Rating criteria for the oral presentations are as follows. 
Criteria 
Weight 
Evaluation Benchmark 
CMS Intuition 
& Ease-of-Use 
35% 
Evaluation of the administrative "back-end." The 
system must demonstrate an intuitive interface 
allowing non-technical staff to execute core tasks 
(e.g., posting alerts, updating calendars) with minimal 
training. 
Project 
Management & 
Schedule 
35% 
Assessment of the vendor’s ability to execute the 
project to meet the July 18th Saturday Public 
Release. 
Design and 
Methodology 
(UCD) 
20% 
Creativity and aesthetics of design mockups. 
Demonstrated ability to pivot site architecture based 
on "Discovery Phase" findings, specifically regarding 
persona mapping and top-task navigation. 
Technical 
Proficiency & 
NJ Compliance 
10% 
Demonstrable proof of the platform’s ability to 
automate LFN 2026-01 legal notice archival and 
maintain WCAG 2.1 AA compliance through native 
software tools. 
 
Section VII: Composite Rating and Final Selection Methodology 
The Borough will award the contract based on a "Best Value" determination, which 
considers technical excellence, user-centered design proficiency, and cost-effectiveness. 
The final ranking of vendors will be based on a Composite Rating, which is the sum of the 
weighted scores from the Written Proposal and the Oral Presentation and Demonstration. 


 
 
 
RFP #: 2026-Web-01   Flemington Borough Website Modernization  
 
A. Composite Weighting Structure 
The final score for each shortlisted vendor will be calculated using the following weight 
distribution: 
Component 
Weight 
Source of Data 
Written 
Proposal Score 
70% 
Comprehensive review of the technical proposal, UCD 
methodology, NJ statutory compliance plan, and cost. 
Oral 
Presentation/ 
Demo Score 
30% 
Evaluation of the live CMS demonstration, staff ease-
of-use testing, and response to technical challenges. 
 
B. Calculation of the Final Composite Score 
The Evaluation Committee will normalize scores to a 100-point scale. The formula for the 
Final Composite Score is as follows: 
(Written Evaluation Score out of 100 × 0.70) + (Oral Demo Score out of 100 × 0.30) = 
Final Composite Score 
C. Post-Rating Procedures 
Upon completion of the Composite Rating, the Communications Committee will draft a 
Final Selection Report. This report will rank the vendors and provide a formal 
recommendation to the Borough Council. 
The Borough Council reserves the right to: 
• Reject all proposals as permitted by the Local Public Contracts Law. 
• Award the contract to a vendor other than the lowest bidder, provided the 
Composite Rating justifies the selection based on the technical and UCD 
requirements outlined in this RFP. 
-END-