Sourcing web developers for a project digital portal

 STEP Digital Portal Brief

Program Overview

The STEP program, implemented by Palladium, a leading development company, is seeking a web development company for the creation and maintenance of a website and portal for a new project in Lebanon. The Subsidized Temporary Employment Program (STEP) is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and set to launch in early 2018. STEP is a 3-year program which aims to incentivize businesses across Lebanon to expand production and create new jobs for low-skilled Lebanese and Syrian workers. STEP is expected to achieve this through the provision of finance and employment incentives for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as a flexible package of technical assistance to facilitate access to Business Development Services (BDS).

STEP is collaborating with a number of local partners to deliver the program’s main objective of creating new jobs by supporting SME growth. These are Lebanese financial institutions, BDS providers, and M&E specialists who will provide direct financial and technical support to the selected SMEs, support the tracking of job creation targets, link job-seekers to SMEs, monitor working & safety standards in SMEs, etc.

Digital Portal

A user-friendly multi-purpose multilingual (Arabic/English) online platform and website is required to support the project’s core activities. There will be staged process for the portal. The immediate priority is the development of the program website and an application portal, the portal should be mobile friendly, and the development company is also required to develop a basic or lean version of the Web application (iPhone/iPad & Android compatible). The online platform will be linked to the project’s social media (e.g. Facebook) and support videos and contents which highlight success stories and news bulletins.

The Website and application can be used by SMEs to apply for support (eg. grants, loans, BDS services) or where STEP’s partners can submit applications on behalf of the SMEs. This must commence at program start early January 2018, and must be completed in a period of 10 weeks, followed by around 2 weeks for piloting, testing, and refining; the current target date for completion of the application is March 30, 2018.

From program inception, the call for SME applications, that include but not limited to posting, evaluating, refining, rejecting and approving, opportunities for SME grant awards, tracking and analyzing job impact per sector and subsector, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) functionalities, and a Job section that includes: posting job requirements for a position to be filled (job boards), basic career and job-search advice, ability to locate and fill out a job application or submit resumes. Broader CRM, portfolio management, advanced job application functionalities section, will be built in parallel or after these first milestones. The job component and opportunities section of the application can also be linked to online local job portals. The easy to use and navigate Website and application offer and the ability for individuals, and companies to securely access the app, register, create profile, login, plus the ability to view relevant updates/success stories.

A key function of the portal is to manage and monitor the entire SME journey, from the moment they apply for support screening of applications, selection, grants disbursements, and tracking and monitoring of progress and performance thereafter. The platform must have a content management system to allow non-technical administrators to navigate, easily maintain, and make changes, query, and report in visual and tabular format the data. In addition to automation, the application offers export and import functions, allowing partners to securely import & export their beneficiaries data. The STEP admin team can view, comment, place the beneficiary/applicant under a pending waiting approval stage, reject, or approve the SME beneficiary for receiving matching grants and or BDS, in addition to easily and visually tracking opportunities and job impact.

The digital portal may evolve into a spin-off job portal business

The primary audience for our website is businesses and local partners (financial institutions and business development service providers) who will coordinate, solicit, and submit applications. Given the likely high volumes of applications 2 / 2 (targeting 1000 applications in Year 1 alone), it is essential to have a strong back-end to support the selection and tracking of applicants, and the portfolio management of several hundred SMEs. We also note that there will may be a blend of online and offline applications and it would critical for the portal to be able to import application data and export from and to program partners. The development company is required to have 5 years of proven experience in developing large complex content management online applications/solutions (Web and Mobile) in addition to demonstrating the development company’s ability in providing first-class customer support.