Job Opportunities in Switzerland

1. Background
Established in 1889, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the world organization of parliaments – a global forum for parliamentary dialogue, cooperation and action.
The IPU advances democracy and assists parliaments and parliamentarians around the world to fulfil their mandates.
The IPU promotes and defends democracy and the rule of law. It develops parliamentary standards, disseminates information on good practices and helps make parliaments and MPs more effective. It defends the human rights of members of parliament and promotes respect for universal values, norms and principles. The IPU works in support of gender equality and the participation of women, minorities and indigenous peoples in political and public life. It assists parliaments in coping with a growing international agenda and in contributing a parliamentary dimension to the work of the United Nations and similar multilateral institutions.
The Organization is financed primarily by its Member Parliaments (180 Members and 15 Associate Members) out of public funds and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
The IPU website can be accessed at https://www.ipu.org
2. Objective
The IPU organizes several events throughout the year.
The Organization’s main biannual events are its Assemblies, which take place in March/April and October each year. Assemblies attract 1,500+ delegates (170 to 190 delegations) from its Member Parliaments, Associate Members and Permanent Observers. Each delegation has a coordinator who is designated to complete online registration. The IPU also holds two to three smaller conferences annually, which take place at various times of the year, each with an attendance of 250-500 participants. The IPU currently uses an event registration system that captures and manages participating delegation information. In addition, it has a web and mobile application that serves as the central means for delegates to receive updates, access documents and other key information, as well as offering the possibility to communicate or network with IPU staff and other attendees.
The objective of this Rf P is to solicit competitive proposals from vendors that can provide the IPU with a comprehensive and easy-to-use platform for managing participant registration and its accompanying web and mobile application for its events. The successful vendor will potentially provide a fully multilingual events platform (English and French initially, with the possibility of adding other languages on request) for the IPU Assembly in the second semester of 2024.
3. Audiences
The main audiences of the IPU web and mobile applications are its Member Parliaments from all over the world. Secondary audiences include IPU partner organizations (UN agencies and civil society) as well as media, academics and students.
4. Required Vendor Services
The IPU expects the selected vendor to:

• develop or provide the software platform and infrastructure to host the Event Registration System (ERS) and participant registration data;
• set-up the mobile application with the IPU developer i OS and Google Play accounts;
• set-up the event registration system and web application with IPU organizational web domain (ipu.org);
• import IPU event delegate user information from the Cvent Events Registration Platform, and carry over access credentials;
• identify and analyze business and technical requirements, and proactively provide the IPU with best practices and and recommendations;
• set-up all necessary security measures;
• set-up initial content sections and functions of the mobile application;
• improve existing event registration taxonomy and fields;
• develop visually appealing and user-friendly interfaces aligned with IPU’s visual identity and branding guidelines (see annex) for its event registration system, and web and mobile application;
• securely integrate IPU registration data with the mobile and web application;
• export custom lists to mail service applications such as, but not limited to, Mail Chimp and Zoho;
• conduct pre-launch user acceptance testing;
• provide continuous maintenance and upgrades to the platform; and
• provide technical support, documentation, and training to the IPU Events Team for managing the platform.

5. Required Platform features and functions
Event Registration System (ERS)

• Account creation, management, and authentication. Users must be able to create an account with both primary and secondary email addresses – as not all delegates create their own accounts – so that information may be sent to two parties associated with one user. The administrator(s) should have the option of limiting people registering for events and the possibility to “reject” persons not entitled to attend the event.
• Creation and management of custom registration fields and participant categories. The platform should allow synchronization of registration fields and participant categories for between events. It should also allow independent sets of fields and categories for different events.
• Functionality for uploading images and other documents, with custom controls to set parameters for uploaded files. Administrators or organizers should also be able to download the photos with basic details like name and country in order to produce Assembly ID badges.
• Functionality to register individually or as a group with specifiable levels of participation
• API & OAuth functionality. The ERS should link via a push-pull API to allow data accessibility between the platform and systems like email services and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
• Autofill function for registration fields. Previous participants can opt to use autofill registering for other IPU events to speed up the registration process.
• Additional functions. Options for future-proofing of the system, i.e. it should be possible, at a later stage, to add functions in order to allow delegates to make hotel bookings, add flight details, etc., so as to have a one-stop online event system.
• Data import/export. The system should allow administrators to import and export datasets in CSV and Excel formats. There should also be an interface to allow the Administrator to export the precise data they require – including to compare datasets and generate reports.
• Creation of event registration pages. Four months prior to the opening of the Assembly, the online registration system should go live. The administrators should be able to create the Assembly ERS without any input from the system developer. Delegations will be given a deadline of two weeks prior to the event to register using the ERS, after which access will be made private to allow the finalization of the Provisional List of Participants. Late registrations will need to be coordinated by email.
• Clone event registration pages and field customization. It should be possible to copy a particular event registration page to avoid having to re-create an entire page from scratch. It should be possible to modify event-specific registration forms by IPU’s administrators and also allow for the creation of new fields and dropdown lists.
• Data management: Preview, scheduling, recycle bin. It should be possible to preview an Event Registration page in a test environment before it goes live. A scheduling feature for publishing the registration for an event at a set time is needed. It should be possible to retrieve accidentally deleted event registration pages.
• Multilingual content and translation workflow. The ERS should support multilingual content in English and French (as a minimum), as well as special and non-Latin characters. It should be possible to enter free text in either English or French without switching interface languages, or moving to another screen.
• Users and permissions. There should be four levels of users: user (client), super-user – external and internal users - who need to consult registrations and other information available; event hosts (parliaments), who will only see information relating to their event, and (IPU) administrators who work on the ERS back-end.

Users should be able to delete their account, manage their password, retrieve it if forgotten/lost, and add a secondary email address. Administrators should be able to create user accounts. The system should provide a trace log to record and store all user operations. The IPU primary administrator (registration@ipu.org) should be automatically informed of any cancellations.

• Communications. The ERS should automatically generate and send a multilingual message confirming that registration for a particular event has been completed (non-binding).

The administrators should be able to send, via the ERS, communications to the users (rejections, if not entitled to attend; follow-up if some information is missing; validation when registration successfully completed, etc.).

• FAQs. On the ERS landing page, users will be able to access a Frequently Asked Questions page.
• Usability. Given limited human resources, the solution proposed should be easy to manage, requiring minimal training and staff hours for upkeep.
• Compatibility / Responsiveness. The ERS needs to be fully mobile-responsive, and touch-device friendly. It should also support the following web browsers and operating systems:
  • Web Browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari.
  • Operating Systems: Windows, Mac OS, i OS (i Pad and i Phone), Android
• Accessibility. The platform should conform to all applicable W3C standards including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and any other relevant Technical Specifications for mark-up. It should have usability and accessibility provisions for users with and without disabilities.
• Performance. The Event Registration System should load within a reasonable timeframe for people with limited connection speeds.
• Onsite Check-In and Information Verification. The Event Registration System should provide an onsite mobile app compatible with mobile devices such as tablets that registrants or event organizers can utilize to check participants in, verify and update registration information that will synchronize with the existing registration database.
• Ability to upload and manage badge templates and print participant badges. The Event Registration System should provide an interface for event managers or administrators to upload or design badge templates. The platform should have provisions for uploading and managing multiple badge types depending on participant categories. It should also allow intuitive controls for printing badges for participants on or offsite, and be compatible with various types of printers and paper stock.
• Security and updates. The selected vendor must be versed in the latest security best practices, ensure compliance with international data protection regulations (e.g. GDPR) and IPU personal data protection policies, and ensure the platform is free of known vulnerabilities. There must be a clear workflow for applying security updates, and for running regular automated backups that would make a restoration of backups possible. Administrators and organizers should be alerted for security issues and updates. All system logins should be SSL secured, and the platform should be accessible over https only.
• Hosting, The system should be cloud-hosted, preferably the vendor should host the system on the IPU’s behalf.
  
  Web and Mobile Application
• Allows both open and restricted access to event information through user login and security levels.
• Allows management of mobile application users and access credentials.
• Ability to customize the mobile application’s colours, logos and design to match the IPU’s visual identity.
• Fully multilingual capability (initially in English and French) for the mobile application’s interface, including labels, content, email messages and notifications. Provision for manual customization of translations must also be available.
• Storage and archiving of all event and participant information.
• Ability to clone events or create templates when creating or managing events for the mobile application.
• Allows the upload of files, text, images and links.
• Allows custom content pages and sections.
• Allows custom content layouts for mobile application pages.
• Allows embedding of videos and other multimedia on created pages.
• Allows upload and management of speaker bios and photos.
• Allows upload and management of event sessions in a central calendar format, with links to the respective session pages containing information such as files, speakers, relevant links, room location, etc. Users should also be able to register for event sessions using the calendar.
• Ability to set security levels for uploaded content.
• Allows upload and management of venue maps or floor plans that provide users with visual guides/directions to event session locations. Venue maps and floor plans should allow linking to event sessions.
• In-app chat with participants individually or as a group.
• In-app social networking with participants.
• In-app polling and voting.
• Includes robust security measures to protect sensitive information.
• Ensures compliance with international data protection regulations (e.g. GDPR) and IPU personal data protection policy.
• Can ensure access for countries with restrictions such as China and North Korea.
  6. Expected overall deliverables
  Under the overall guidance of the IPU Conference Services team, the supplier will be responsible for the development and deployment of the IPU Events Registration System as well as the Mobile and Web Application with the required features and functions laid out in section 5; and supporting it with the services listed in section 5. All participant and event data, visual assets, uploaded content in the form of files, images, videos and text are the sole and exclusive property of the IPU. The supplier acknowledges and understands that the app must be designed to be accessible internationally.
  

Selection criteria
Vendors will submit video recordings demonstrating their respective web and mobile applications to the IPU Conference Services team. Additionally, links or sample “proofs-of-concept” may also be provided. Vendors will also submit a proposal document (in PDF format) outlining all features and services provided with all corresponding fees and costs. Selection will be based on the presentation and/or proof-of-concept that best meets all listed features and services with the most competitive pricing.
Timeline and submission guidelines
The deadline for all proposals is 30 September 2024.
Proposals will be evaluated immediately thereafter and the provider chosen by 15 November 2024. The launch of the platform will be 1 March 2025
Project start and planning: 1 December 2024
Production time: 1 December 2024 - 28 February 2025
Delivery of the first Beta version/platform prototype: 1 February 2025
User acceptance testing, platform changes/revisions: 1 February - 28 February 2025
Delivery of the final version: 1 March 2025