Regents to pay $20,000 to Ames firm for new website

The Board of Regents has agreed to pay a web application development firm based in the Iowa State University Research Park $20,186 to design and implement a new official board website.

Global Reach Internet Productions, which was founded in 1995 and has its headquarters in the Ames research park, was chosen for the gig from among five firms that submitted proposals. The firms' proposals ranged in price from $10,000-plus to more than $100,000 with multiple options to pay even more for additional services.

Among the applicants was Fusionfarm, a digital marketing company owned by The Gazette Company.

According to the contract signed last week, Global Reach will design, develop, and implement a new board website that will comply with the board's basic needs and legal obligations while also being easy to navigate and update, 'optimized for fast downloading.'

The firm also will review the board's existing site to determine which content should be transferred and improved, and representatives will train board staff on how to use it. The contract requires the firm to complete the work — Including website development, testing, and delivery — by July 11.

The $20,186 cost includes $8,000 for website design, layout, template development, and training; $1,200 for website content review and recommendations; and $5,750 for content transfer — among other expenses.

The board, which has not updated its website in eight or nine years, will pay half the total in the middle of the project and the rest after the board's 'final acceptance of all deliverables,' including testing and delivery.

Global Reach, according to its website, specializes in advanced web application development, web hosting, secure intranets, extranets, e-commerce solutions, technology consulting, and other types of website design and support.

Even though the company leases space in the ISU Research Park, it is a private firm, which means, 'There is no conflict of interest,' said board spokesman Josh Lehman.

The nine-member Board of Regents governs the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, University of Northern Iowa, and the state's two special schools. Combined enrollment at the universities in the fall reached 80,132, a number that has been growing despite dwindling state support.

The board had kept resident undergraduate tuition rates frozen since 2012 before recently approving increases for this spring at ISU and UNI and next fall at UI. In hopes of finding new revenue and saving on unnecessary expenses, the board in 2014 launched an efficiency review expected to save tens of millions across the campuses.

Heading into the 2016 Legislative Session, the board asked lawmakers for an increase of more than $20 million in state appropriations, but Gov. Terry Branstad recommended giving just $8 million more to the three campuses.