AustinGO, the project to redesign the city of Austin Web site, is back on track after city officials announced the first of two requests for proposals Monday.
The first of the proposals is aimed at organizations that deal with technical architecture and design concepts of Web sites. Their work will be the basis for the second proposal, which will focus on the technology and implementation of the project, city officials said.
“We are expecting the new design to enhance our transparency, improve navigation and allow for easier access to data,” said Doug Matthews, city spokesman. “There is an abundance of useful information on the site — it’s just not easy to get to.”
This announcement allows the project to move forward after its postponement by the City Council in March. Council members chose to wait because of a controversy involving Austin residents and CIGNEX Technologies, the California-based Web-development company that was originally chosen as the winning vendor in a public bid. Many residents did not like the decision because it outsourced to a company outside of Austin.
The City Council hopes this action will spark local Web designers to push for participation in the project and increase competition for the bid among companies.
“I believe that our new, two-part [request for proposal] process makes more sense, and is also much more likely to give local vendors a chance to participate in the project, which is a priority for me and the rest of the City Council,” said Mayor Lee Leffingwell in a statement.
Vendors will have until Sept. 17 to register and apply for the first phase of the project, but Matthews said this is not the only measure being taken by the city to improve online capabilities.
He said the city began to use blogs and social-networking sites, such as Twitter, to increase the number of ways people can access information about Austin. An e-mail list service system has also been set up to increase awareness about local activities.
“These other online resources allow us to reach out to Austin without having to wait a year for the vendors to complete their work,” Matthews said.
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