BACKGROUND: The Architect of the Capitol is the creator and caretaker of the US Capitol complex and for more than 200 years has applied ingenuity and craftsmanship to serve Congress, preserve history, and sustain the home of American democracy. The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible to the United States Congress for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the Capitol, Congressional office buildings, Capitol Visitor Center, the Library of Congress buildings, the Supreme Court building, the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Capitol Power Plant, and other facilities. AOC.gov is comprised of approximately 600 pages and serves as the public face of the Agency for more than 3 million visitors to the site each year. Approximately 70% of the visitors are from the United States and 30% are from sites around the world. AOC.gov is also the top site within Google for high profile searches such as - Capitol and - US Capitol. SYNOPSIS: The AOC anticipates issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for redesign of AOC.gov. This RFP will be issued in electronic format only and will be available on or about 1 April 2010 on Federal Business Opportunities (www.fbo.gov). Please be advised the 1 April 2010 date for solicitation posting is estimated and the actual posting date may be after the estimated date. Please address any questions to Jerrod Whittington, Contract Specialist, via email at
contact@example.gov. Telephone inquires will not be acknowledged or accepted. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This project seeks to transcend the typical, and reinvent AOC.gov, with an award-winning design, to become as visually stunning and as memorable as an in-person visit to the U.S. Capitol. This project will enhance the design of AOC.gov to be reflective of the stature and symbolism of the buildings of the Capitol and surrounding campus. The project will enhance the visitor experience for the wide-range of audiences accessing the site. Following an analysis and recommendation for design based on site metrics, audience profiles, and client goals, the selected vendor will develop web design templates for AOC.gov based on AOC brand standards that can be applied to the existing AOC.gov web content management system (PaperThin CommonSpot v.5). This design will include colors, fonts, layouts and navigation structure/information architecture for the AOC.gov home page and related sub-pages. The design shall support the mission of the AOC.gov site to inform and educate AOC stakeholders and the general public about the history, current operations and future plans for the Capitol Campus. An additional option within the project will be the application of the client-approved design templates across the AOC.gov site and assistance in search engine optimization/metadata to assist key audiences in accessing the content they are seeking.
