Sanity.io Content Workflow Platform Implementation and Technical Services

⁠⁠⁠Requirements

1. Overview

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) invites suitably qualified suppliers to submit proposals for the implementation and technical configuration of Sanity.io as a content workflow control system. This engagement supports the DVA and Open Arms website content rewrite program across dva.gov.au and openarms.gov.au (PCS-03260).

The procurement is issued under the BuyICT panel arrangements. All respondents must comply with the BuyICT Head Agreement, including intellectual property, security, reporting and governance obligations.

2. Scope of Work

Phase 1 – Core Content Workflow System (Primary Engagement)

Phase 1 is the primary and mandatory engagement. The indicative budget is $120,000 (excl. GST) for a 12-month term, with an optional 6-month extension. Phase 1 requires:

• Configuration of a production-ready Sanity.io environment with two datasets – one for DVA and one for Open Arms – including custom workflow states, role-based access and structured content model
• Integration of Anthropic Claude as a first-class content authoring participant via the Sanity.io MCP server, enabling Claude to read, create, update and submit content for review
• Full implementation of the Sanity.io Content Agent for automated content governance, currency and accuracy monitoring, alerting and content health reporting
• Migration of approximately 900 DVA pages and 350 Open Arms pages from GovCMS (Drupal), including rich text, images and PDF assets
• Rich commenting and review system, automated workflow notifications and basic content preview capability
• A manual content transfer process enabling DVA staff to move approved Sanity.io content to GovCMS during the interim period
• A Phase 1A scoping and discovery activity covering Sanity.io licensing recommendation, application hosting recommendation (Vercel preferred) and formal acceptance testing plan
• Technical training, knowledge transfer and an ongoing support arrangement for the engagement term

Please Note: Sanity.io platform licensing and application hosting will be procured and funded directly by DVA. Suppliers must not include these costs in their proposal.

Phase 2 – Front-End Publishing Platform (Optional)

Phase 2 is optional, subject to DVA's determination following Phase 1 acceptance. The indicative budget is approximately $60,000 (excl. GST), exclusive of hosting, CDN and WAF costs. Phase 2 covers replacement of GovCMS with a modern front-end architecture reading directly from Sanity.io, built against DVA's established design system.

3. Key Requirements

• Sanity.io implementation experience, including Content Agent configuration and custom workflow
• Demonstrated AI integration capability, including experience with Anthropic Claude and MCP-based integration architectures
• GovCMS (Drupal) content migration experience
• Compliance with the Australian Government Information Security Manual (ISM) and Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF); all security artefacts required to support DVA's Authority to Operate (ATO) process are mandatory deliverables
• Web Application Firewall (WAF) configuration for Phase 1 and Phase 2
• Australian data residency strongly preferred; any exceptions must be disclosed and approved by DVA
• Formal acceptance testing across both phases, including functional, performance and user acceptance testing; DVA will independently commission penetration testing as a mandatory go-live gate
• Full knowledge transfer ensuring DVA operational independence following handover

4. How to Respond

Proposals must be submitted via the BuyICT panel in accordance with the RFQ documentation. Suppliers must provide a fully costed Phase 1 proposal and a separately costed indicative Phase 2 proposal. The full Statement of Requirements is available with this RFQ and must be read in its entirety before responding.