Website Hosting and Development

Weston College is a leading further and higher education institution based in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, UK. With a strong reputation for excellence in education, training, and student support, the College serves a diverse community of over 30,000 learners annually across multiple campuses.

Renowned for its innovation, inclusivity, and high standards, Weston College delivers a broad curriculum ranging from GCSEs and A-Levels to vocational training, apprenticeships, and degree-level programs in partnership with top universities.

The contract will commence on 05/01/2026 for a term of 3 years + 1 year.

The contract is fixed price with the Contractor invoicing Weston College Group for one-twelfth of the annual cost on a monthly basis.

2. Operational Requirement:

Key Business Objectives

The aim of which must be to meet the objectives defined below:

1. To deliver a seamless customer experience from initial discovery to application/enrolment/payment (as applicable)
2. To provide a seamless user experience with a focus on mobile and accessibility
3. Act as the single source of truth for course information, managing an API to load and edit course pages on the website
4. Ability to showcase latest news and events
5. Provide insight into audience behavior

Please ensure that, within your proposal, you have costed and allowed for adequate contract supervision and management.

Assumptions

Several assumptions have been made in respect of the project brief and requirements:

• It is assumed that the Suppliers will meet all the requirements outlined in this document
• It is assumed that the Supplier selected will conduct their own discovery and requirements gathering exercise with College to ensure that all needs are met, not just those as defined within this document
• It is assumed that College will have the right to use the technology built as part of this project for other business units as required

Criteria

Website Development Support Server Hosting

weston.ac.uk Y - ongoing Y

ucw.ac.uk N - request only Y

weiot.ac.uk N - request only Y

construction-training-centre.co.uk N - request only Y

westonwintergardens.co.uk N - request only Y

forwardfutures.co.uk N - request only Y

thegreenhousewsm.co.uk N - request only Y

Current website infrastructure and management

• The website is managed by the Digital Marketing Manager with most front end development being carried out by two internal web developers.
• Additional members of the marketing team act as "content editors"' adding news stories and updating copy.
• The website is hosted via an AWS server, managed and maintained by a separate supplier.
• The website is based on a Drupal CMS
• The website is integrated with online applications via an API (provided via an external software developer, Tribal).
• Any developed code, tools or IP is owned by Weston College Group.

Handover

It is expected that any new supplier will propose a comprehensive mobilisation plan that will allow for a smooth transition of services working closely with the incumbent.

A list of Non-functional Requirements has been defined as below. The Group have used the MoSCoW method of applying expected priority to these requirements. Key: M (Must have), S (Should have), C (Could have) and (Would have). If you cannot meet the Must Have requirements please advise why, and how you will overcome this element of the project.