Werkzaak Rivierenland Opens Tender for Successor to Drupal Website

Dutch public body Werkzaak Rivierenland has opened a European tender to build a new website and CMS to succeed its current Drupal implementation. The procurement documents describe the existing site as outdated, harder to manage and no longer meeting the needs of internal and external audiences. TenderNed published the tender on 14 September 2026.

The tender does not require a move away from Drupal. The successor must be based on a mature open-source CMS with an active community, current security support, documented releases, demonstrated use by public or semi-public organisations and maintenance knowledge available from multiple suppliers. The supplier-experience criterion names Drupal, WordPress and a headless framework as examples of modern open-source CMS experience.

The procurement covers delivery of the CMS, development and implementation of a new framework, migration of existing content and integrations, hosting, technical management, maintenance and continued development. The new website is targeted to go live in the first quarter of 2027. The planned contract starts on 1 January 2027, runs through 31 December 2030 and includes three optional one-year extensions through 31 December 2033.

The technical-roadmap criterion asks bidders to show how they would lower complexity and the burden of custom work, avoid unnecessary new customisation, shorten the time needed to deliver features and give editors more flexibility without routine technical intervention. It also asks bidders to advise Werkzaak Rivierenland on the distribution choice within the proposed open-source CMS. The tender therefore leaves the CMS choice open within its technical and operational requirements.

Transferability is a separate set of requirements. The website, CMS, hosting setup, configuration, source code, templates, content structure, documentation and management processes must be transferable to Werkzaak Rivierenland or another supplier, while commercial components must not prevent a successor supplier from managing or extending the solution. The architecture must follow Common Ground principles, use API-first design and open standards, and must not unnecessarily restrict future headless or multichannel use.

At launch, the website and relevant CMS publishing functions must meet EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.2 levels A and AA. The supplier must demonstrate compliance through an independent accessibility assessment before go-live, with blocking and serious findings resolved unless Werkzaak Rivierenland accepts a documented exception. The CMS must also support editors in publishing accessible content.

The evaluation gives 400 of 1,000 points to price and 600 to quality. Within price, one-time implementation costs account for 50 points and ongoing service costs for 350 points. The procurement guide says implementation costs were deliberately given limited weight because an incumbent supplier could otherwise benefit from lower implementation effort based on prior knowledge of the organisation, processes and systems.

The corresponding EU notice was published on 16 September 2026. Bids close on 2 November 2026 at 10:00 CET. The tender does not name a preferred CMS, and the TED notice does not state an estimated contract value, leaving the successor platform undecided within the procurement requirements.