An effective Request for Proposals (RFP) or Call for Proposals (CFP) not only outlines the goals and expectations of your project but also defines the framework within which potential vendors must operate. It goes beyond simply finding the right vendor to build your website or deliver a content management system (CMS) tailored to your needs—it's an opportunity to establish a partnership, support open source software, and contribute to a vibrant community ecosystem.
For many organizations, choosing open source software isn’t just a preference—it’s a strategic imperative. The advantages of free and open source software (FOSS) include cost savings, solutions tailored precisely to your organization’s needs, and robust security, strengthened by a vigilant community.
In this blog post, we’ll guide you through crafting an RFP that prioritizes open source solutions while tapping into the expertise of Drupal Certified Partners. We also offer a free, downloadable RFP template to help streamline the process, ensuring your project specifications attract top-tier vendors dedicated to innovation and contributing to the Drupal community.
The advantages of open source software

Cost savings: Open source eliminates hefty licensing fees, allowing organizations to allocate resources more efficiently. While there may be costs associated with customization and maintenance, the overall financial burden is often significantly lower.
Flexibility and extensibility: Open source platforms can be tailored to meet specific organizational needs. With access to the source code, developers can modify and extend functionalities without waiting for vendor updates or feature requests.
Enhanced security: Open source communities actively monitor and address security vulnerabilities. The collaborative nature ensures that security patches and updates are promptly developed and deployed. 
Alignment with organizational values: Open source promotes transparency, collaboration, and community-driven development. Organizations that prioritize these values find open source solutions to be a natural fit.
Case study: Swiss Government's open source mandate

A notable example of strategic open source adoption is the Swiss government's recent decision to prioritize open source solutions in public sector projects. This mandate not only underscores the benefits of open source but also sets a precedent for other governmental bodies. By embracing open source, the Swiss government aims to enhance transparency, reduce costs, and foster innovation within its digital infrastructure.
Finding the ideal service provider
Finding the right service provider that aligns with your vision is crucial to the success of your project. The right partner not only brings the necessary technical expertise but also understands your long-term goals, ensures smooth collaboration, and shares your commitment to quality and innovation. A well-aligned service provider becomes a trusted partner, invested in both your immediate needs and your future growth.
Here's why partnering with Drupal Certified Partners makes a significant difference:

Rigorous certification process: The Drupal Association evaluates potential partners based on their contributions to Drupal core, contributed modules, and themes. This ensures that only the most dedicated and skilled agencies receive certification.
Proven track record: Certified Partners have a history of successful Drupal implementations, showcasing their ability to handle complex projects with efficiency and expertise.
Commitment to the community: These partners actively contribute to the Drupal project through code contributions, module development, and participation and sponsorship in Drupal events and initiatives.
Verifiable capabilities: The Drupal Association provides verified letters of recommendation for Certified Partners to include in RFP responses, giving procurement teams trusted verification of their skills and commitment to the Drupal ecosystem.

Certified partners are contributing experts
When drafting your Request for Proposals (RFP) or tender, specifying a preference for officially certified implementation partners — such as Drupal Certified Partners — can dramatically elevate the quality of vendor responses. Drupal Certified Partners are distinguished not only by their expertise in deploying Drupal solutions but also by their active contributions to the Drupal project itself. This dual commitment ensures that these partners are intimately familiar with the latest developments in Drupal, enabling them to deliver solutions that are both innovative and sustainable. Moreover, by requiring a Drupal Certified Partner, organizations directly support vendor involvement with the open source community, fostering a collaborative ecosystem that drives continuous improvement and long-term success.
The flywheel effect: How partner contributions benefit everyone
Choosing a Drupal Certified Partner also supports the broader Drupal project by empowering top contributors to maintain and enhance the platform that underpins your organization's digital presence. These partners often invest more resources into contributing to Drupal core, contributed modules, and themes than they do into traditional marketing efforts. This investment creates a "flywheel" effect: as partners develop new features or improvements to meet your specific needs, these enhancements are reintegrated into the Drupal community, benefiting all users and ensuring the platform remains cutting-edge and secure. You benefit as well, though, as the community jumps on board to test, extend, maintain, and update the code that you (through your partner) contributed. This makes your code better in the long run at no additional cost to you.
About the Drupal Certified Partner program
The Drupal Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and sustaining the Drupal project, plays a crucial role in identifying and certifying these top-tier partners. Through evaluation of their contributions to Drupal core, contributed modules, and themes, the Drupal Association designates certain agencies as Drupal Certified Partners. This certification not only recognizes their technical prowess and commitment to the Drupal ecosystem but also provides procurers with verified attestations of their capabilities, simplifying the vendor selection process.
Testimonials and success stories
Organizations that have partnered with Drupal Certified Partners consistently report higher satisfaction levels, smoother project executions, and more robust and scalable solutions. These partners bring not only technical expertise but also a collaborative spirit that aligns with the open source philosophy, ensuring that projects are both innovative and sustainable.
Crafting your RFP for success
An effective RFP not only clearly defines your requirements and expectations, it also sets the boundaries within which potential vendors must operate. For example, specifying the need for mobile-responsive design ensures all proposals meet modern accessibility standards, while outlining strict data security requirements guarantees vendors prioritize protecting sensitive information. Additionally, specifying a preference for open source software like Drupal can impact your project's flexibility, cost, and alignment with organizational values.
Here's how to structure your RFP to prioritize open source solutions and Drupal Certified Partners:


Define project goals and objectives


Clearly outline what you aim to achieve with your website redesign or CMS selection.


Include specific functionalities, design preferences, and performance metrics.




Specify open source requirements


Highlight the importance of using open source software.


Explain how open source aligns with your organization’s values and strategy.




Mandate Drupal Certified Partner certification


State that only proposals from Drupal Certified Partners will be considered.


Provide information about the certification and its significance.




Outline evaluation criteria


Detail how proposals will be assessed, focusing on contributions to Drupal.


Include criteria such as technical expertise, project management skills, and community involvement.




Provide a clear timeline and budget


Offer realistic deadlines and budget ranges.


Allow flexibility for high-quality vendors to propose innovative solutions.




Include legal and compliance requirements


Address legal considerations such as data protection and accessibility standards.




Offer resources and support


Provide access to your organization’s content, branding guidelines, and technical documentation.


Encourage collaboration and ongoing communication.




Jumpstart your RFP with a ready-made template
The Drupal Association is proud to offer a downloadable RFP template tailored for open source website design and CMS selection projects. This template includes all the essential sections outlined above, along with customizable fields to suit your organization's unique needs. The template is also applicable to Request for Quotation (RFQ), Invitation to Bid (ITB), Request for Information (RFI), and Request for Tender (RFT) procurement processes. 
Download the open source RFP template
Many thanks to Vardot, a Drupal Certified Partner, for providing the inspiration for this post and the initial version of the template!
Strategies for evaluating vendor proposals
Evaluating vendor proposals can be daunting, especially when faced with lengthy submissions or a high volume of responses. A common approach is to use a weighted scoring system to compare proposals based on key criteria while ensuring your priorities and values are accounted for. Keep in mind that the best fit may not meet every criterion perfectly, but a vendor who aligns with your organization’s values and fully understands your vision can offer the greatest long-term success. 
Use these strategies to ensure a thorough assessment:

Alignment with goals: Make sure the proposal clearly aligns with your project’s goals and objectives.
Technical expertise: Assess the vendor's technical capabilities and experience with Drupal. Have they successfully delivered projects for clients similar to yours in size and industry? Looks for published case studies to verify their claims.
Community contributions: Check the vendor's contributions to the Drupal project. Their involvement can demonstrate both commitment and expertise. From the vendor's page on Drupal.org, you can see if they have contributed to or maintained modules that may be essential to your project.
References and case studies: Review client testimonials and case studies to gauge the vendor's reliability and quality of work. Drupal.org publishes case studies for Drupal Certified Partners to showcase their success stories.
Long-term support: elect vendors who offer ongoing support and maintenance to keep your website secure, up-to-date, and adaptable to future needs.

Get the results you want with a targeted RFP
A well-crafted RFP is the foundation of a successful website redesign or CMS selection project. By prioritizing open source solutions and requiring Drupal Certified Partner certification, you ensure that your project is handled by capable vendors committed to both your success and the open source community. This approach not only enhances the quality and sustainability of your project but also supports the broader Drupal community, fostering an environment of continuous improvement and innovation.
Ready to create an effective RFP that attracts top-tier Drupal Certified Partners? Download our comprehensive RFP template today and take the first step towards a successful, sustainable, and community-driven project.
Start your project with confidence with this RFP Template!

Drupal CMS will come pre-installed with a set of modules and themes, using recipes, effectively replacing the "Standard" install profile. These recipes will provide the functionality that is considered must-have in modern CMSes, as well as what is deemed essential for our target persona and improve the overall user experience. 
We have been calling this the base recipe, which adds functionality on its own (e.g. installing the necessary core and contrib modules) and also selects other recipes to be applied by default. A while back we ran a survey to ask the community what features they felt were essential for the out-of-the-box offering and this has informed the inclusions. 
Along with the survey, we have done market research and benchmarking to see what our competitors include. But putting together a single proposal for the base recipe has proven challenging, because some features that we want are not yet available, or have some potential to conflict with Experience Builder or other upcoming initiatives. In some cases, contrib modules exist to provide a particular feature, but if it is not a high priority for our target user, we have left it out in order to focus our attention on what is. 
So this plan is for the initial release of Drupal CMS, scheduled for 15 January 2025. New features will of course be added to future releases, and we plan to launch new work tracks with this in mind soon.
Current state of the base recipe
If you are not up for parsing the recipe.yml file linked above, here is a summary of what it currently does:




What


Why




Installs a bunch of core modules and applies some core recipes


We are no longer using install profiles, so we have to add the foundational stuff somehow




Adds a redirect on access denied to the login form, and then to the original destination (via ECA)


So users can easily reach their intended destination even if their session has expired




Adds support for logging in with email in addition to username (via Login Email or Username)


So users don't have to remember a separate username. There is also an issue for supporting this in core, and when that lands we will no longer require a contrib module.
#111317: Allow users to login using either their username OR their e-mail address




Adds Gin as the admin theme


Because Gin provides a more modern UI, and as a contrib theme, is able to innovate faster than Drupal core admin themes




Adds Navigation (with a left-side menu) instead of the traditional admin toolbar


So the admin UI feels more modern and aligned with other similar systems. Navigation is an experimental module in core and has a roadmap outlining the path to stable.
#3421969: [PLAN] New Navigation and Top Bar to replace Toolbar Roadmap: Path to Stable




Adds a quick search for the admin menu (via Coffee)


So users can easily search for the admin page they are looking for.




Adds Trash module 


So users can recover deleted content




Adds Linkit support to CKEditor


So users can easily link to site content via search. Note there is an issue for adding a basic version of this in core, and we would prefer to use that. If it lands before 11.1, we will replace Linkit in the initial release.
#3317769: Drastically improve the linking experience in CKEditor 5




Adds a site dashboard (via Dashboard)


So users see a dashboard with relevant content when they first install, and when they log in (replacing /user as the default login page)




Adds focal point cropping to the image media type (via Focal point)


So users can select a focal point for their images to help them display nicely across aspect ratios




Adds Project Browser, Automatic updates, and Upgrade status


So users can add modules and keep their sites up to date from the UI, with no developer tools required




Adds some media management helper tools (Media entity download and Media file delete)


So the default media management experience is more intuitive. This will be extended and updated as part of the Media management track work.




Adds a Basic page content type


So every site has at least one content type available by default. See the full content strategy for more information.




Adds content cloning (via Quick node clone)


So users can duplicate content to easily create similar pages. This feature is a must-have, but the implementation is still up for discussion in #3474608: Evaluate cloning modules and #3477303: Create recipe to clone entities with ECA




Adds foundational SEO functionality: Pathauto, Redirect


Most sites require this functionality and the initial setup can be done generically




Coming soon
Some things that it does not yet include, but most likely will be in the initial release:




What


Why




Better default site search 


Drupal core search is very limited and not what site owners would expect from a modern platform. Drupal CMS will provide a more robust search experience using Search API. This is being done in the Advanced search work track, with the recipe in progress in #3468271: Add recipe for search backend




Autosave on forms (via Autosave Form)


So users don't lose their work. This feature is a must-have, but we wanted to ensure the approach did not conflict with Experience Builder's approach to the same problem.




HTML email sending


So users can send nicely formatted emails without additional configuration. See #3480680: Handle sending email in Drupal CMS




Coming... sometime?
Some things we would like to include, but have some blockers:




What


Why




Better select lists


The default select list experience is suboptimal, however, there is not currently a viable non-jQuery solution for this. We would like to use the Accessible Autocomplete Element/Widget based on the Accessible Autocomplete library but there are technical limitations around managing front-end dependencies.




Sitewide alerts


This is a common feature request, but we don't want to implement something that will conflict with Experience Builder when it comes out, leaving sites with a problem to solve. We also feel it is a nice-to-have for our target person rather than a must-have.




What about [insert feature here]? 
This summary covers the base functionality only. So if there is something extremely obvious that seems like it's missing, it is probably covered in one of the other work tracks! Many of them have not yet completed their work, so there are still lots of exciting things to come. Each of the metas links to their current proposal, if they have one. The final track proposal for the initial release are due by 1 November.
If you've scoured the track proposals and the Drupal CMS issue queue and still feel that we're missing a killer feature that is easily included, and high priority for the marketer types that we are focused on, let us know via Slack, in #starshot, or create an issue in the Drupal CMS project.

Since Drupal CMS aims to enable marketers to build and launch websites quickly, Drupal CMS must offer out-of-the-box content types that are common across our target markets. 
This underlying content structure is the content model. Leading up to DrupalCon Barcelona, the Starshot leadership team highlighted the need to create an initial content strategy for Drupal CMS. Through collaboration with the Drupal CMS UX steering committee, we have developed a content model for the initial release.
These content types will be presented during site setup, and will also be available to add later on. As with much of Drupal CMS, the content types are powered by ‘recipes’, which will provide some additional functionality beyond the content types themselves, such as listing pages, menu links and even default content, where appropriate.
Content types for v1
All Drupal CMS sites will include a Basic page content type by default, to ensure users are able to create content even if they don't select any of the optional types. In addition to Basic page, the following content types will be available in the initial release:

Event
News article
Blog
Project
Case study
Person profile

For more detailed information about the content types and the process we followed to develop them, please see the full content strategy page.
Cristina Chumillas, the Drupal CMS UX lead, and I would like to thank everyone who contributed to developing this strategy and the accompanying documentation: Megh Plunkett, Emma Horrell, Niklas Missel, Lewis Nyman, Laurens Van Damme and Kat Shaw.
Incorporating SEO into the strategy
Since we're targeting marketers, we are making search engine optimization a top priority. Drupal CMS will provide an optional recipe for 'SEO tools'. By default, sites will have basic SEO functionality in place, such as default path alias patterns, hreflang metadata, and the ability to manage redirects.
The SEO tools recipe provides additional functionality such as meta tags, XML sitemap, and real-time SEO analysis of content. For meta tag optimization, this recipe also adds three new fields to each content type: SEO title, SEO description and SEO image. Currently these fields are in a collapsed fieldset on the node form, and are optional. If content is not provided, the meta tags will fall back to use the node title, description and featured image. 
Drupal CMS content beyond v1
Once the initial content types are available, we will work on expanding the content model in the second phase for later releases of Drupal CMS. Adding to the content model iteratively allows us to gather user feedback, make improvements, and adjust accordingly. We have some ideas for which additional content types to include later, and will have a better understanding of what content types are most desired once people begin building Drupal CMS sites.
If you have feedback on this proposed content strategy, or questions about it, please add it to this issue. We are planning to test this with users from the Drupal CMS target personas, and will provide more information when the testing is confirmed.

Join us THURSDAY, October 17 at 1pm ET / 10am PT, for our regularly scheduled call to chat about all things Drupal and nonprofits. (Convert to your local time zone.)
We don't have anything specific on the agenda this month, so we'll have plenty of time to discuss anything that's on our minds at the intersection of Drupal and nonprofits.  Got something specific you want to talk about? Feel free to share ahead of time in our collaborative Google doc: https://nten.org/drupal/notes!
All nonprofit Drupal devs and users, regardless of experience level, are always welcome on this call.
This free call is sponsored by NTEN.org and open to everyone. 


Join the call: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81817469653


Meeting ID: 818 1746 9653
Passcode: 551681


One tap mobile:
+16699006833,,81817469653# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,81817469653# US (Houston)


Dial by your location:
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)


Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kpV1o65N



Follow along on Google Docs: https://nten.org/drupal/notes

View notes of previous months' calls.

Join us for the return of DrupalCon Asia
A landmark event in Signapore.
Register for DrupalCon

It’s time to dust off those suitcases and start thinking about where your passport is - DrupalCon Singapore 2024 is just around the corner, and this year’s event promises to be amazing! From 9-11 December, our much-anticipated event will bring together the brightest minds and most passionate contributors from the Drupal community for three days of innovation, learning, and inspiration at the luxurious Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, Singapore.
Whether you're a seasoned Drupal expert or just beginning to explore its possibilities, DrupalCon Singapore 2024 has something for everyone. And with the iconic Lion City as our backdrop for the first time, there's no better place to dive into all things Drupal!
What’s happening at DrupalCon Singapore 2024?
From inspiring keynotes through engaging sessions to interactive workshops and the inaugural Drupal Asia Splash Awards, this event is not one to be missed. Here’s a taste of what’s in store across three unforgettable days at DrupalCon Singapore 2024.


Day 1 Keynote: The Driesnote
Our Day 1 keynote speaker is Dries Buytaert, the visionary founder of Drupal. Dries will deliver his highly anticipated “Driesnote,” offering his insightful view on the state of the Drupal project and the open-source ecosystem. This keynote has become a tradition and a must-see for anyone attending.


Day 2 Keynote: Drupal CMS Panel – A Fireside Chat
Day 2 continues with a special fireside chat-style panel discussion featuring key Drupal leaders. The panel, moderated by Gábor Hojtsy, will dive into the future of Drupal and answer your most pressing questions. This is your opportunity to hear directly from the experts about what’s in store for Drupal and how you can shape its future. 


DrupalCon Singapore 2024 Full Agenda
Check out the detailed schedule on our website for the latest on the agenda. Our final program is still in the works, with additional sessions to be added as they become available. 


Contribution Day on Wednesday, 11 December
A cornerstone of DrupalCon events is Contribution Day, where attendees can grow and learn by helping to make Drupal better. Contribution Day has a variety of options to get involved from marketing, event organization, design and development. 


Birds of a Feather (BoFs)
If you love engaging in informal, self-organised discussions, Birds of a Feather sessions are for you! BoFs provide the perfect setting for connecting with like-minded attendees who share your interests. Whether it’s a specific technical challenge, design philosophy, or anything in between, or there could be a BoF for that!


Splash Awards
This year, we’re taking things up a notch with the debut of the Drupal Asia Splash Awards! We’ll celebrate the incredible work and creativity of the global Drupal community by recognising outstanding projects built with Drupal across various categories.


Save big on Drupal Training
Want to deepen your Drupal expertise? Our professional Drupal training sessions will be delivered on Wednesday, 11 December.
Here’s the deal: If you purchase both a conference ticket and a training ticket together, you’ll save over 40% on your conference ticket! This is a limited-time offer, so if you're looking to level up your skills while attending DrupalCon Singapore 2024, sign up today.
Explore Singapore while you’re there!
As if DrupalCon Singapore 2024 isn’t enough, the Lion City is a destination brimming with potential. Between sessions, explore Marina Bay Sands, feast on world-famous street food at Hawker Centres, or take a sunset stroll through the stunning Gardens by the Bay. There’s no shortage of adventures awaiting you in this dynamic city!
 
Secure your spot today
DrupalCon Singapore 2024 is proudly presented by the Drupal Association, the Drupal Asia Steering Committee, and a team of volunteers from all over the world who are working tirelessly to make this event extraordinary.
Whether you’re attending to sharpen your skills, make lasting connections, or simply enjoy the energy of the Drupal community, we can’t wait to see you there! Grab your tickets now and join us for what’s set to be the Drupal event of the year.

The Drupal Association has published this guest blog on behalf of HeroDevs.
The official end-of-life (EOL) date for Drupal 7 is January 5, 2025. However, as outlined in the PSA issued on June 7, 2023, the Drupal Security Team announced a change in their support strategy that would take effect before the official EOL date. Starting August 1, 2023, they implemented a reduced support structure for moderately critical Drupal 7 issues.
Why the Reduced Support Structure Matters
When a Drupal 7 module is marked as unsupported, it means that no further updates or security patches will be provided. This situation can leave your site vulnerable to potential security risks and negatively impact performance. As highlighted in the PSA, the Drupal Security Team follows a structured process: they first notify maintainers and provide them with a two-week window to respond and address the issue. If maintainers do not act within this timeframe, the module may be marked as unsupported, and support will cease altogether. This can create significant challenges, particularly for sites reliant on these modules. 
HeroDevs’ Proactive and Comprehensive Approach  
At HeroDevs, we understand the urgency of this issue. We’ve proactively stepped in to bridge the gap by forking and maintaining modules that are no longer supported by their original maintainers, with Drupal 7 Never-Ending Support. Our approach means that even as official support dwindles, your modules continue to receive the necessary updates and fixes. By taking over security maintenance, we help keep your site secure and operational, allowing you to focus on what matters most without worrying about vulnerabilities or disruptions.
Forking and Maintaining Unsupported Modules: HeroDevs has already begun forking and maintaining modules that have been dropped by their original maintainers in the last year. This approach makes sure that essential functionality remains intact and that any emerging security vulnerabilities are promptly addressed. By doing so, we help maintain the security and integrity of your site even as support from the Drupal community wanes.
Guidance for Custom and Legacy Modules: While custom modules and unique code are not covered under the standard SLA, HeroDevs provides guidance and support to help you integrate and maintain these solutions. We collaborate with you to ensure that your custom developments are compatible and functional with our Drupal 7 NES offering.
Maintaining Compatibility and Functionality: Beyond just security patches, HeroDevs works to test the compatibility of your modules with the evolving web landscape. We address compatibility issues and provide a seamless experience for developers working with legacy systems. This comprehensive support approach helps you avoid disruptions and maintain smooth operations.
Conclusion
As the Drupal 7 ecosystem transitions into its extended support phase, HeroDevs is committed to delivering robust and proactive support for unsupported modules. Our dedication to maintaining security, functionality, and compatibility means you can rely on us to safeguard your Drupal 7 site and navigate the end-of-life transition with confidence. With HeroDevs by your side, you can focus on planning your migration or upgrades while we handle the challenges of unsupported modules. Contact us to learn more about Drupal 7 NES.

PORTLAND, Ore., 22 August 2024—The Drupal Association is pleased to announce Tag1 Consulting as a partner for the Drupal 7 Extended Security Support Provider Program. This initiative aims to support Drupal 7 users by carefully selecting providers to deliver extended security support services beyond the 5 January 2025 end-of-life (EOL) date.
The Drupal 7 Extended Security Support Provider Program allows organizations that cannot migrate from Drupal 7 to newer versions by the EOL date to continue using a version of Drupal 7 that is secure and compliant. This program complements the Association’s Drupal 7 Certified Migration Providers Program, which Tag1 is also a participant in, that helps organizations find the right partner to transition their sites from Drupal 7 to Drupal 11.
Tag1’s Drupal 7 extended support offers proactive security and compatibility updates for D7, backed by their team of top Drupal contributors and security experts who led its creation and evolution. With their support, users can continue running D7 as long as they need.
“We’re very pleased to add Tag1 to our Drupal 7 Extended Security Support Program,” commented Tim Doyle, CEO of the Drupal Association.  “Tag1 brings a wealth of experience with Drupal and the Drupal Community, and we’re happy they’re applying their expertise to Drupal 7 support.” 
As organizations prepare for the transition from Drupal 7, Tag1 Consulting will provide the necessary support to keep their sites secure and operational.
“As one of the oldest and most well-known consulting companies in the Drupal ecosystem, we're proud to offer trusted support for Drupal 7 after its end of life,” said Jeremy Andrews, Tag1’s CEO. “Our team is dedicated to helping organizations keep their sites secure and running smoothly, with the same expertise and care that we've brought to the community for over 20 years.”
More information on Drupal 7 Extended Support from Tag1.
About the Drupal Association
The Drupal Association is a nonprofit organization that fosters and supports the Drupal software project, the community, and its growth. Our mission is to drive innovation and adoption of Drupal as a high-impact digital public good, hand-in-hand with our open source community. Through various initiatives, events, and programs, the Drupal Association helps ensure the ongoing development and success of the Drupal project.
About Tag1 Consulting, Inc.
Tag1 is a global technology consulting firm and recognized leader in the Drupal community. Known for our innovative work with top-tier organizations and our pivotal contributions to the Drupal platform itself, we provide unmatched expertise in key areas such as Drupal architecture, performance, scalability, and security. With over 100 team members across 20+ countries, we are the only organization with experience providing Extended Support for Drupal after End-of-Life, proudly having provided commercial support for Drupal 6 for over six years beyond its EOL. The largest and most well known users of Drupal, with the most demanding security needs have relied on Tag1’s Extended Support including Acquia, Pantheon, Fortive, Symantec, Capegmini, the Drupal Association and Drupal.org.

Drupal Starshot seeks track leads to drive key project components. Apply by July 31st and help bring Drupal Starshot to life!




The Drupal Starshot initiative has been making significant progress behind the scenes, and I'm excited to share some updates with the community.
Leadership team formation and product definition
Over the past few months, we've been working diligently on Drupal Starshot. One of our first steps was to appoint a leadership team to guide the project. With the leadership team in place as well as the new Starshot Advisory Council, we shifted our focus to defining the product. We've made substantial progress on this front and will be sharing more details about the product strategy in the coming weeks.
Introducing Drupal Starshot tracks
We already started to break down the initiative into manageable components, and are introducing the concept of "tracks". Tracks are smaller, focused parts of the Drupal Starshot project that allow for targeted development and contributions. We've already published the first set of tracks on the Drupal Starshot issue queue on Drupal.org.
Example tracks include:

Creating Drupal Recipes for features like contact forms, advanced search, events, SEO and more.
Enhancing the Drupal installer to enable Recipes during installation.
Updating Drupal.org for Starshot, including product marketing and a trial experience.

While many tracks are technical and need help from developers, most of the tracks need contribution from designers, UX experts, marketers, testers and site builders.
Recruiting more track leads
Several tracks already have track leads and have made significant progress:

Matt Glaman is spearheading the development of a trial experience.
The marketing team, led by Suzanne Dergacheva, is crafting product marketing documentation.
Martin Anderson-Clutz has been appointed as the track lead for event management.

However, we need many additional track leads to drive our remaining tracks to completion.
We're now accepting applications for track lead positions. Interested individuals and organizations can apply by completing our application form. The application window closes on July 31st, two weeks from today.
Key responsibilities of a track lead
Track leads can be individuals, teams, or organizations, including Drupal Certified Partners. While technical expertise is beneficial, the role primarily focuses on strategic coordination and project management. Key responsibilities include:

Defining and validating requirements to ensure the track meets the expectations of our target audience.
Developing and maintaining a prioritized task list, including creating milestones and timelines.
Overseeing and driving the track's implementation.
Collaborating with key stakeholders, including the Drupal Starshot leadership team, module maintainers, the marketing team, etc.
Communicating progress to the community (e.g. blogging).

Track lead selection and announcement
After the application deadline, the Drupal Starshot Leadership Team will review the applications and appoint track leads. We expect to announce the selected track leads in the first week of August.
While the application period is open, we will be available to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to reach out to us through the Drupal.org issue queue, or join us in an upcoming zoom meeting (details to be announced / figured out).
Looking ahead to DrupalCon Barcelona
Our goal is to make significant progress on these tracks by DrupalCon Barcelona, where we plan to showcase the advancements we've made. We're excited about the momentum building around Drupal Starshot and can't wait to see the contributions from the community.
If you're passionate about Drupal and want to play a key role in shaping its future, consider applying for a track lead position.
Stay tuned for more updates on Drupal Starshot, and thank you for your continued support of the Drupal community.

— Dries Buytaert