The Secretariat is pleased to announce that, following negotiations, it has signed a contract with Tincan Ltd. Tincan will work with ICA to take forward the development of a new and effective ICA website.

The dissemination of the call for bids was as wide, open and international as possible. Almost 60 bids were received in response to the call from across the globe. Following the consultation of the ICA Secretariat and Website Committee on these bids, four companies with excellent proposals were invited to interview at the Secretariat offices in Paris. The interviews took place on 19 March 2009. Present on the panel were members of the Secretariat and the Website Committee along with an external representative from the Association of French Archivists. The short-listed companies had half an hour to present their achievements and the solutions proposed. This was followed by a series of questions from the panel. The companies were evaluated on the quality of the service, including project management, communications, and problem-solving skills as much as on the technical solutions proposed.

Following the interviews, the Secretariat decided to open final negotiations with UK-based Tincan Ltd as the first choice of provider. Tincan gave an excellent proposal and presentation offering a high-quality service and solution. With more than 10 years’ successful experience in building information-rich, membership-based sites for international and multilingual audiences they are well-qualified to deliver a new website to ICA’s international user base. In addition, they demonstrated a keen understanding of international-level advocacy, communications and community-building and applied this experience relevantly to ICA’s website development project. ICA will become part of a valued community of Tincan clients that comprises primarily of charities, NGOs and Not-for-profits. Tincan also has strong and convincing project management, team structure and communications skills. They responded very well to some tricky questions from the panel and posed some thoughtful questions to the panel in turn, demonstrating a real interest in the activity and operation of ICA.

Tincan has proposed a solution based on The Webbler, a flexible and powerful Content Management System (CMS) that will greatly enhance ICA’s web presence and performance. The CMS is built using entirely open source tools. To ensure reliable, high-quality and sustainable development of the system, The Webbler has not yet been made available to the open source community as a whole but it is readily available to all Tincan clients following the end of the contract. In the UK, the Webbler is successfully used by charities and NGOs such as the National Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Panos London, Minority Rights Group International and many others.

Following the selection, a second meeting was arranged with Tincan who were delighted at their success at interview. More questions were asked of the company and of the solution and finally the contract, including a clear set of deliverables, was thoroughly negotiated. The contract was signed by both parties on May 6 2009. The project has now commenced in earnest with the final launch date set for the end of October. The ICA Secretariat is convinced that Tincan will provide a high-quality service in helping ICA achieve a highly-functional but easy-to-use website that will act as an interactive network and collaborative space for ICA’s international membership. The Secretariat wishes to thank the Website Committee for their time and valuable contributions that were fully appreciated and considered throughout the decision-making process.

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The International Council on Archives (ICA) is seeking a creative company with a proven track record to develop a new website that will be a leading platform for archives and records professionals throughout the world. Further details on the call to bid for the creation of a new ICA website are available in the attached document. The closing date for bids is Monday February 23 2009.

*We invite you to forward this document to any colleagues or companies who may be interested in bidding.*

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