Buying guide
Local Government: Partner Selection Guide
Local Government: Partner Selection Guide organizes the decisions that matter for municipal departments, small cities, towns, authorities, and public-service offices: the current workflow, ownership, implementation choices, rollout risk, and acceptance evidence.
Working artifact
Local Government ownership matrix
Complete the owner and evidence columns before implementation so access and maintenance do not become hidden project risks.
| System or capability | Owner question | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|---|
| WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces | Who approves changes affecting WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces? | Current export, access record, and acceptance result for department, service, and public-information websites |
| Document, GIS, calendar, and alert integrations | Who approves changes affecting document, GIS, calendar, and alert integrations? | Current export, access record, and acceptance result for agenda, minutes, notice, and document archives |
| Public records search and content governance | Who approves changes affecting public records search and content governance? | Current export, access record, and acceptance result for resident request and notification workflows |
Begin with the operating result
Residents cannot identify the responsible department. Confirm who encounters it, where it occurs, and what changed before it appeared. Then distinguish the visible symptom from dependencies such as WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces.
- Department, service, and public-information websites
- Agenda, minutes, notice, and document archives
- A documented boundary around WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces
Questions worth asking a provider
For Municipal & Local Government Websites, confirm account ownership, current exports or backups, recovery options, and recent changes before touching production. Preserve exact errors and timestamps that may disappear after a restart or update.
- How will you verify meeting records and notices are hard to search?
- Who owns the code, data, accounts, and documentation?
- What acceptance check closes department, service, and public-information websites?
A simple evaluation rubric
Frame the first scope around department, service, and public-information websites and one observable acceptance journey. Treat agenda, minutes, notice, and document archives as a later phase unless the evidence shows it is a true dependency.
- Document, GIS, calendar, and alert integrations
- Public records search and content governance
- Responsive and accessible web application delivery
Red flags
Repair fits when the core remains sound. Extension fits when the boundary around WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces is understood. Replacement fits when ownership, architecture, or operating risk prevents a responsible change.
- A fixed answer before requests arrive without location or service context is investigated
- No rollback or data-protection plan
- Vague ownership after launch