JISC invites tenders for site revamp

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) is seeking tenders from content management systems (CMS) suppliers to revamp its website in the coming year.

JISC is funded by further and higher education (FHE) funding councils, and offers strategic guidance, advice and opportunities in using ICT cost-effectively to deliver teaching, research and administrative technologies.

In recent years its focus has expanded from advisory services on implementing network and ICT infrastructure to encompassing content deals. Last month it signed a deal with Reed Elsevier for the supply of its abstract and indexing database, Scopus, at discounted trial rates for two years.

Information about all its deals and partnerships is available on the site.

According to JISC web development co-ordinator, Ben Whitehouse, the site currently has a large amount of content – over 20,000 information pages and 7-8,000 downloadable documents – though this is expected to be reduced in the overhaul.

"We plan to have a major audit of content and reduce it sizeably in the rebuild," said Whitehouse. "Some of the content that is not reused will be placed into a National Archive service that colleagues are currently working on. "

Whitehouse said the organization was looking for a CMS that is "modern, robust and built on open standards, such as those for interoperability defined by the W3C consortium". JISC's site is currently built on a bespoke system based on ColdFusion technology.

The deadline for tenders is 14 October, with a winner expected to be announced by mid-November. JISC is aiming to launch the new site next summer. " Our overall aim is for improved usability, and to bring the site forward in terms of wider use of web services by exporting to PDAs and other devices," said Whitehouse. "We are looking for a development platform that can fit that bill."

View the JISC website here.

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