[wp-pro] Requesting build bids for AllThingsD.com

[Beth Callaghan]

AT the suggestion of Toni Schneider, I'm posting the RFP for this build.

It's a challenging, rewarding and high-profile project.
We're looking for a well-seasoned, flexible WP team to build this  
site based on (excellent) designs by Mule Design. For reference, see  
www.allthingsd.com.

It's an aggressive schedule, true, but an incredible opportunity.

Please submit bids to:

Beth Callaghan
home: 415-661-6614  |  cell: 415-533-5651
beth_callaghan at yahoo.com
AIM: bc217

thanks.

Beth

allthingsd.comRFP for Build
allthingsd.com, a new Website launching Spring 2007 requests that  
development and engineering consultants review the RFP and submit a  
proposal for this project. Below are guidelines for the proposal and  
a project description.

Deadline for proposal: 2/20/2007

Deadline for deliverables: mid-March 2007

Deliverables:

Phase 1: Build quote including:
·             Server setup for development, live, and corporate  
support functions (hosting provided by WordPress)
·             Database setup
·             Full back-end build using Wordpress as a CMS
·             Full front-end development using Mule Design page  
design deliverables
·             QA/load testing

Phase 2: Maintenance quote (monthly) including:
·             ongoing back-end (CMS, functionality, features, bug  
fixes) support
·             ongoing front-end development (bug fixes, design  
tweaks, new features via extrapolation of existing design) and support
·             interface/management of relationship with hosting company

Proposal should include:
·             Statement of interest including a brief company profile  
and a description of any relevant work
·             Pricing/fees and terms for deliverables. Please price  
each separately if possible and enumerate any other necessary fees  
for the project.
·             Timeline. Project start: TBD; project end: TBD
·             Links to relevant samples of work. Please indicate  
which component your company completed. These may be e-mailed if  
necessary.

Please e-mail proposals to: beth_callaghan at sbcglobal.net

Project outline

Organization: allthingsd.com

Contact: Beth Callaghan, beth_callaghan at sbcglobal.net, cell:  
415-533-5651

General project overview: Allthingsd.com is the newest effort of Walt  
Mossberg’s and Kara Swisher’s combined decades of experience in the  
tech journalism business.

In 2002, after working together at the Wall Street Journal for many  
years, the pair started a new media conference called “D: All Things  
Digital.” It quickly became the premier conference in the tech  
industry, and a must-attend for all top tech and media players, with  
stage appearances by Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Sergey Brin,  
Meg Whitman, Barry Diller and many others. Their unscripted, up-front  
style of interviewing and commentary brought a welcome freshness to  
the standard conference format, and it has quickly sold out all four  
years in a row. The fifth D will be held in May 2007.

In a logical step, Mossberg and Swisher have decided to take the  
philosophy of D online, and to create the premier tech news and  
commentary Website for business readers and consumers alike.

Allthingsd.com will include blogs, but it will be much more than a  
blogging site. Any respondent to the RFP should be prepared to use  
Wordpress as a next-generation content management system, with the  
full flexibility and expertise to make it work as much more than a  
blogging platform.

Important aspects of the site:

·           The site will be the new online home and two-year archive  
for Personal Technology, Mossberg's Mailbox, and The Mossberg  
Solution -- Walt Mossberg’s weekly tech columns from the Wall Street  
Journal, which are widely considered to be the leading technology  
review columns.
·           The site will be the home of a new daily tech and media  
blog by Kara Swisher, who previously had a cutting edge weekly column  
in the Journal’s Marketplace section.
·           It will be the home of a new weekly video chat on all  
things digital by Swisher and Mossberg
·           It will feature guest blogs from industry leaders, such  
as the major figures who have appeared at the D Conference.
·           It will include a savvy, concise daily news summary, in  
text and video formats, presented by John Paczkowski, formerly of the  
San Jose Mercury News’s “Good Morning Silicon Valley.”
·           Since between the two of them, Swisher and Mossberg have  
probably reviewed every technology product, player and company out  
there (favorably or unfavorably), it’s important that the Website  
function perfectly from the outset.

Project specifications

CMS: Wordpress

Hosting: Wordpress

Functionality/partnerships to be integrated into build:
·             Brightcove video player for all standard on-site video
·             Sight Speed video player for head-to-head (side by side  
recording of video chat) video content between Mossberg and Swisher,  
as well as between various guests and Mossberg/Swisher
·             Feedburner for RSS feeds
·             Support for mobile/smartphone/blackberry users
·             Marketwatch inline and sidebar business news widget
·             Community functionality/related content functionality  
(Digg, Sphere)
·             Fully and intuitively searchable archive of 2 years of  
Walt Mossberg’s columns for the Wall Street Journal

Upon finalization of a build partner, Mule Design and Allthingsd.com  
will provide:

Information architecture
Full technical specification for CMS (Wordpress)
Branding and design, including fully-built CSS/XHTML front-end pages  
for a few key parts of the site