REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL Website Redesign, Development, and User Experience
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
Website Redesign, Development, and User Experience
FOR
The Ontario College of Family Physicians
Closing Date/Time: July 31, 2026 no later than 5:00 PM EST.
Late submissions will not be accepted. Receipt of submissions will be confirmed by email. Contact: Yara Salama, Director of Strategic Communications, OCFP at ocfp@ocfp.on.ca .
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS............................................ 12
INTRODUCTION
The Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) represents more than 18,000 family physicians and medical students, including residents, retired physicians, and approximately 15,000 members actively practising in communities across Ontario. Our members provide care across the full continuum of the health system, from community-based primary care to hospitals, emergency departments, long-term care, home care, and academic medicine.
As the provincial chapter of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the OCFP supports its members through advocacy, professional development, practice supports, and health system leadership. Guided by its 2024–2029 Strategic Plan, the OCFP works to strengthen family medicine and improve the health of Ontarians.
The OCFP's website is a primary touchpoint for members and a key platform for demonstrating the value of membership. It should enable family physicians to easily discover professional development opportunities, educational resources, and practice supports, while showcasing the OCFP's advocacy, leadership, and impact on behalf of family physicians across Ontario.
The OCFP is seeking a strategic digital partner to redesign, redevelop, and enhance the user experience of its public website, creating a modern, accessible, and engaging digital platform that supports the organization's long-term goals and evolving priorities.
BACKGROUND
The OCFP's current website was last redesigned in 2023. Since then, the organization's programs, advocacy work, and member-facing services have grown substantially. Internal review and member feedback have consistently identified the website as a barrier to accessing information. Key issues include the following:
- Professional development content, knowledge translation tools, and continuing education materials are scattered across the site with no central access point.
- Navigation labels are inconsistent and unintuitive.
- Content is heavily PDF-reliant rather than delivered through accessible, AODA-compliant web pages.
- No process exists for reviewing, dating, or sunsetting content.
- Active advocacy campaigns and outcomes lack a visible, engaging presence on the site.
The OCFP is undertaking this redevelopment to create a modern, intuitive, accessible, and member-centred digital presence. Guided by our 2024–2029 Strategic Plan, the redesigned website will serve as a strategic platform that equips family physicians with the information and tools they need to support patient care, strengthens the family physician community by connecting members to learn and share, and amplifies the collective voice of family physicians in Ontario. This investment will strengthen the OCFP's ability to support members while advancing family medicine across Ontario.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The successful vendor will help the OCFP achieve the following:
- Deliver a modern, professional design aligned with OCFP existing brand guidelines
- Create intuitive navigation structured around how members seek information
- Build a centralized Resource Hub as the primary destination for professional development, continuing education, clinical tools, knowledge translation resources, and self-directed learning. This is the priority feature of the new site.
- Ensure full AODA compliance and a shift away from PDF-reliant content delivery
- Deliver responsive, mobile-first design across all devices
- Establish content governance tools that allow OCFP staff to maintain, date, and sunset content without developer support
- Integrate with existing OCFP systems including event registration, Mainpro+ (professional development certification), and communications platforms
- Consolidate all website services including design, development, maintenance, and security under a single vendor post-launch
The redesigned website should serve as a strategic digital platform that strengthens the value of OCFP membership by increasing engagement with professional development opportunities, educational content, and practice supports, while clearly demonstrating the organization's advocacy, leadership, and impact on behalf of family physicians across Ontario. It should deliver an intuitive, accessible user experience, enable non-technical staff to manage content independently, and provide a scalable foundation that supports the OCFP's future growth and evolving priorities.
PROPOSED WEBSITE STRUCTURE
The following structure is directional, not final. The OCFP welcomes evidence-based recommendations from proponents.
1. HOME
Entry point to key content across the site. Key elements include a calendar-view of upcoming events, new tools and resources, advocacy highlights, the President's Message newsletter, and relevant communications promotions.
2. ABOUT US
Who We Are; Leadership and Governance including Board of Directors and Annual Meeting of Members (Audited Financial Statements, etc.); Strategic Plan; OCFP Awards; Careers; FAQ.
3. POLICY AND ADVOCACY
Active campaigns and initiatives; advocacy priorities; submissions; position statements; and reports.
4. PRACTICE SUPPORTS AND CONTINUING EDUCATION
Subsections include:
- Resource Hub: Past session materials, summaries, self-guided recordings, and slides, searchable and filterable by topic, format, and audience
- Clinical and Practice Resources: Knowledge translation tools and practice-enabling resources
- Information on MainPro+ professional development certification
- Leadership Development including the OCFP Leadership Academy and the Family Physician-Administrative Leadership Partnership
- Communities of Practice including Changing the Way We Work, Practising Well, and Health Equity
- Peer Connect Mentorship
- Workshops and Webinars including Children's Mental Health, CFPC Exam Orientation, Osteoporosis and Fracture Prevention, and Long-Term Care Fracture Prevention Design requirements for this section:
- Tagging and filtering to support discovery across formats and topics
- Clear distinction between live and upcoming content versus on-demand and self-guided content
- Content governance tools enabling OCFP staff to add, update, archive, and sunset resources independently
5. NEWS AND UPDATES
From the President (President's Message newsletter); Newsroom (including media releases and official statements).
6. CONTACT US
Includes a media contact and inquiry form.
SCOPE OF WORK
The following phases and activities represent the OCFP's anticipated approach to the project. We welcome proponents' recommendations and look forward to working with the successful proponent to refine the methodology, validate the approach, and develop a project plan that reflects industry best practices while meeting the OCFP's objectives.
While key phases and activities are outlined below to provide structure, the OCFP encourages proponents to bring forward alternative approaches, innovations, and best practices. We are interested in what vendors with deep expertise in this space would recommend.
VENDOR TRANSITION AND HANDOVER
The OCFP currently works with two incumbent vendors: one for web design and development, and one for maintenance and security. The OCFP requires a single primary vendor and point of contact for this engagement. Proponents may use subcontractors or partners, provided the successful proponent remains accountable for all deliverables and services.
The successful proponent will manage a full transition from both incumbent vendors including:
- Technical discovery of the existing site in collaboration with current vendors, including review of hosting environment, CMS configuration, custom code, and integrations
- Documentation of any technical debt or undocumented customizations. All documentation becomes the property of the OCFP.
- Compilation and verification of all credentials and administrative access required to operate and maintain the new site. The OCFP will facilitate introductions to incumbent vendors.
PHASE 1: DISCOVERY AND UX RESEARCH
- Review of current website analytics, content inventory, and user feedback
- Stakeholder consultations with OCFP staff
- User research and usability testing with representative OCFP members, including consultation with a small family physician advisory group throughout the project and beta testing prior to launch. The OCFP will recruit participants and provide honoraria as appropriate
- Discovery report with findings and recommendations prior to design commencement
PHASE 2: UX DESIGN AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
- Finalized site map and information architecture
- Wireframes for all key page templates
- Visual design concepts aligned with OCFP brand identity
- At least two formal rounds of design revisions with OCFP staff
- Accessibility review integrated throughout
PHASE 3: DEVELOPMENT
- Front-end and back-end development of the approved design
- WordPress configuration and development enabling non-technical OCFP staff to create, edit, date, archive, and sunset content independently
- Resource Hub development with robust tagging, filtering, and search functionality. This is a priority deliverable.
- Integration with existing systems including the event registration platform, MainPro+, and email and communications platform
- Performance optimization and security implementation including spam and phishing protections
PHASE 4: CONTENT MIGRATION
- Full archive of all existing content prior to migration
- Content audit and migration plan developed with OCFP staff
- Migration of approved content with OCFP responsible for content decisions
- Content governance framework including templates, review schedules, archiving protocols, and guidance on writing content that remains accurate and relevant over time
PHASE 5: TESTING, LAUNCH, AND TRAINING
- QA testing across browsers, devices, and screen readers
- User acceptance testing with OCFP staff
- Staging environment review prior to go-live
- Go-live and launch support
- Decommissioning plan for incumbent vendor relationships following successful launch
- CMS training (WordPress) for OCFP staff including written documentation and live sessions
- Minimum 90-day warranty period with bug fixes at no additional cost
- Transition to ongoing maintenance and security retainer following warranty period
PHASE 6: POST-LAUNCH MAINTENANCE, SECURITY, AND ANALYTICS
Following the 90-day warranty period, the successful proponent transitions to an ongoing retainer covering:
- Maintenance: Regular CMS (WordPress), theme, and plugin updates; minor content support with defined monthly hours; performance monitoring; broken link resolution; and monthly or quarterly site health reporting.
- Security: Continuous security monitoring; patch management and emergency response; SSL certificate management; malware scanning and remediation; uptime monitoring with defined SLAs; and regular security audit reporting.
- Analytics: Google Analytics continuity with preservation of historical data; monthly or quarterly reporting to OCFP staff; dashboard maintenance; and post-launch reviews at 30 and 60 days.
- Accessibility: Annual WCAG 2.1 AA audit with remediation recommendations.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
Proponents must address all of the following:
- CMS: The OCFP's website is built on WordPress and will remain on WordPress. Proponents must demonstrate strong WordPress expertise and describe their approach to configuring WordPress to support non-technical staff in managing content independently, including content governance and workflow capabilities.
- Hosting: Describe the hosting environment, uptime guarantees, backup procedures, and disaster recovery.
- Security: Describe your approach to SSL management, security updates, spam and phishing protections, and PIPEDA compliance.
- Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA and full AODA compliance required. Describe your testing process including whether it includes manual testing and testing with assistive technology users.
- SEO: Describe how on-page SEO best practices are built into templates and CMS workflows.
- Integrations: Describe your approach to system integrations. Detailed documentation will be shared with shortlisted vendors.
- PDF Reduction: Propose a strategy for converting PDF content to accessible web pages and describe how the CMS will support this ongoing.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCE HUB
The Resource Hub within the Practice Supports and Continuing Education section is the flagship priority of this project. The Resource Hub will serve as the central destination for self-guided learning, educational resources, webinar recordings, clinical tools, and practice supports.
Vendors with experience designing and building resource hubs, educational content libraries, or professional development websites for health organizations or professional associations are strongly encouraged to highlight this. It will be weighted in evaluation.
Proponents must address the following:
- Relevant experience: Describe your experience developing searchable resource hubs, educational content libraries, or similar solutions for professional associations, health care organizations, or educational institutions.
- Resource Hub approach: Describe your proposed approach to organizing, categorizing, and presenting Resource Hub content to support intuitive navigation, search, filtering, and long-term content management.
- Search and discovery: Describe your recommended approach to search and content discovery, including any enhanced search functionality you recommend. AI-powered search or content discovery features may be proposed as optional enhancements but are not required.
- Content management: Describe how your proposed solution will enable OCFP staff to independently create, publish, update, organize, and archive Resource Hub content without ongoing developer support.
PROPOSAL FORMAT
Proposals must not exceed 30 pages excluding appendices, resumes, and case study materials. All components below are required. Proposals that do not address all components may be disqualified.
1. ORGANIZATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- Corporate name, legal status, date of incorporation, and length of time in business
- Primary point of contact
- Proposed team members including hourly bill rates and lead and support roles clearly identified
2. UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROJECT
- Statement of understanding of the OCFP's needs and priorities
- Identification of risks, dependencies, or considerations
3. METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH
Proponents are encouraged to propose refinements or alternative approaches to the scope, structure and sequencing where these would improve delivery, reduce risk, or enhance user experience. Describe your proposed approach to delivering this project, including:
- Any recommended refinements to the proposed scope, website structure, or project approach, with rationale
- How you would phase the work and manage the project from discovery through launch
- A high-level project timeline, including key milestones and review points
- Your approach to transitioning services from the OCFP's current vendors, including risk mitigation
- Your approach to designing and implementing the Resource Hub, including key considerations for creating an intuitive and engaging user experience
- How your proposed WordPress solution and content governance approach will enable nontechnical OCFP staff to independently manage the Resource Hub and all website content
- Your approach to any required third-party system integrations
4. RELEVANT EXPERIENCE AND REFERENCES
Three case studies demonstrating:
- How you have improved user engagement, content discoverability, or website performance on comparable projects, including any measurable outcomes
- Experience with health sector or professional association clients
- Projects that included a searchable resource hub, educational content library, or professional development website, including experience integrating webinar or event management platforms (e.g., Zoom)
- Projects where UX research and user testing were integral
- Three professional references for comparable projects. Provide name, organization, title, phone, and email for each.
5. PROJECT GOVERNANCE AND DECISION MAKING
The OCFP will establish a defined governance structure for the project, including a core team and a senior decision-making group. The OCFP will provide consolidated feedback at key milestones and establish clear timelines for review and approvals. Proponents should describe how they will support efficient decision-making and manage feedback cycles throughout the engagement.
6. FEES
Both the project fee and the ongoing maintenance and security retainer are required. The OCFP intends to enter a contract with a single primary vendor. While proponents may have established partnerships or subcontractors supporting ongoing maintenance and security services, the successful proponent will remain the OCFP's primary point of contact and be accountable for all project deliverables and ongoing support. Proponents using subcontractors or partners must identify them in their proposal and describe the nature of the arrangement.
Proposals that do not include both the project fee and ongoing maintenance and security retainer may be considered incomplete.
Part 1: Project Fee (One-Time)
Provide an itemized breakdown by deliverable covering:
- Discovery and UX research
- UX design and information architecture
- Development including the Resource Hub
- Systems integration itemized by platform
- Vendor transition and handover
- Content migration
- QA, testing, and launch support
- Staff training and documentation
- 90-day warranty period
Also provide hourly rates for all proposed team members, a description of all anticipated expenses (which must be included in the quoted price), and any assumptions underlying the estimate.
Part 2: Annual Maintenance and Security Retainer (Ongoing) Provide a detailed retainer proposal describing and pricing:
- CMS (WordPress) and platform maintenance including frequency and scope
- Security monitoring including tools, frequency, and performance monitoring
- Security patching including frequency and emergency response time
- Uptime monitoring including guarantee and response time commitments
- Malware scanning and remediation
- Minor content support including monthly hours included and hourly rate for additional hours
- Analytics reporting, including frequency, format, and key performance metrics (e.g., website traffic, user engagement, resource usage, and search behaviour), along with any additional metrics recommended by the proponent
- Annual accessibility audit and remediation support
- Hosting management
Provide the proposed initial retainer term, available renewal options, the hourly rate for out-ofscope work, and proposed response time SLAs for critical, high, medium, and low priority issues. Please also indicate whether the annual retainer fee is fixed for the retainer term or subject to increases and provide examples of work that would be considered out of scope and billed at the hourly rate.
Part 3: Fee Summary
Provide a consolidated summary including the one-time project fee, annual maintenance and security retainer, and the estimated three-year total cost of ownership based on the proposed annual maintenance, hosting, and support fees. The three-year total cost of ownership will be used to evaluate the full financial commitment of each proposal.
Additional Fee Requirements
- All pricing is inclusive of all costs unless a formal written change order is agreed upon in advance with the successful proponent, based on new information/developments or change in project scope.
- Agreed-upon pricing remains fixed for the duration of the project and initial retainer term
- HST is extra and must be itemized separately
BUDGET, EVALUATION, AND TIMELINE
Budget
The OCFP has established a budget of approximately $130,000 to $150,000 excluding HST for the one-time project fee, inclusive of all phases and deliverables from discovery through post-launch support and the 90-day warranty period. This budget does not include the ongoing maintenance and security retainer, for which the OCFP has a target budget of approximately $30,000 annually.
Evaluation
Criteria
Points
Adherence to RFP requirements
Pass or Fail
Organizational qualifications and proposed team
15
Understanding of the project
10
Methodology and approach (incl. Resource Hub strategy)
30
Relevant experience and references
20
Budget including project fee, retainer, and three-year total cost of ownership
15
Ongoing maintenance and security capability
10
Total
100
RFP Selection Process Schedule
Description
Target Date
Vendor questions due
5:00pm EST, July 10, 2026
OCFP responses issued
July 17, 2026
Proposal closing date
5:00pm EST, July 31, 2026
Shortlisted proponents notified
Aug 24, 2026
Presentations, interviews, and demonstrations of relevant comparable projects
Sept 8-11, 2026
Preferred proponent notified
Week of Sept 14, 2026
Contract negotiation and execution
Sept 14-25, 2026
Project kick-off
Sept 28, 2026
Project Timeline
The successful proponent is expected to commence work on September 28, 2026. The redesigned website must be fully implemented, tested, and publicly launched no later than May 1, 2027. Proponents must include a high-level project schedule outlining key milestones and dependencies between project kick-off and launch. Following a 90-day warranty period (during which the vendor will address any post-launch defects at no additional cost) the engagement transitions to the annual maintenance and security retainer.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
The final selection will be at the sole discretion of the OCFP. Only shortlisted proponents will be contacted regarding the next stage of the evaluation process.
Submission Requirements
Proposals must be received by July 31, 2026, by 5:00 PM EST. Late submissions will not be accepted. Receipt of submissions will be confirmed by email.
Submit to: Yara Salama, Director of Strategic Communications, OCFP at ocfp@ocfp.on.ca
Subject line: RFP Submission - OCFP Website Redesign
Proposals must be submitted as a single PDF or clearly organized document package; include a signed statement of authorization to bid from a principal of the responding organization; and disclose any relevant conflicts of interest or pending lawsuits. All submissions become the sole property of the OCFP.
Communications
Questions must be received by July 10, 2026, by 5:00 PM EST. Questions received after this deadline will not be accepted.
Submit to: Yara Salama, Director of Strategic Communications, OCFP at ocfp@ocfp.on.ca
Subject line: RFP Question – OCFP Website Redesign
TERMS, CONDITIONS, AND CONFIDENTIALITY
General Terms
Submission of a proposal constitutes acceptance of the terms and conditions of this RFP. All submissions become the sole property of the OCFP. The OCFP retains full ownership of all deliverables including source code, design files, content, data, and all other outputs upon final payment.
The OCFP reserves the right to:
- Select any or all proponents for interviews, presentations, or demonstrations of relevant comparable projects
- Terminate the selection process at any time without further obligation
- Modify requirements and communicate changes to all proponents in writing
The OCFP is not responsible for any costs incurred by proponents in preparing their proposals.
OCFP Obligations
- OCFP staff will provide timely, consolidated feedback at each stage of the project
- The OCFP will designate one primary point of contact throughout the engagement
- The OCFP will provide brand guidelines including logo files, colour palette, typography, and visual identity standards at project kick-off
- The OCFP will provide access to current website analytics including Google Analytics historical data, content inventory, and system documentation to shortlisted vendors upon request.
- The OCFP will facilitate introductions to incumbent vendors at the outset of the engagement
Successful Proponent Obligations
- Designate one point of contact for the duration of the engagement
- Immediately advise the OCFP if any circumstances may cause timelines to be missed including the May 1, 2027 launch deadline
- Not assign this agreement without prior written consent of the OCFP
- Maintain adequate professional liability and general liability insurance throughout the engagement
- Cooperate professionally with incumbent vendors throughout the transition
Confidentiality
All matters related to this RFP and the selection process are strictly confidential. The proponent agrees not to publish, reproduce, or divulge any information obtained through this process without prior written consent of the OCFP. Access to confidential information must be restricted to staff who require it on a need-to-know basis. These obligations survive the conclusion of this process and any resulting engagement.
Required career level
- Executive/Leadership
Years of experience (Optional)
- 5 - 10 years of experience
Required languages
- English