Projects

Open Source Matters is seeking a contractor to deliver Milestone 6a of Joomla's STF-funded accessibility programme, replacing today's inconsistent batch and content language filter implementations across the Joomla admin with a single, accessible, design-system-based pattern. The result removes a significant source of accessibility barriers in everyday admin tasks and gives extension developers a ready-made, accessible pattern they can reuse instead of building their own batch and filter UI.

Introduction and Background

Open Source Matters, Inc. (OSM), the non-profit organisation supporting the Joomla project, is selected for funding from the Sovereign Tech Fund (STF) to deliver a structured, 20-month accessibility improvement programme across the Joomla CMS. The programme covers independently contracted milestones, ranging from expert audits and remediation work to documentation, testing infrastructure, and community enablement.

This RFP covers Milestone 6a: Standardised Batch & Content Language Filter in Administration

Standardising the patterns for batch and content language filter functionality, and aligning them with accessibility best practices, removes a significant source of accessibility barriers in everyday admin tasks. For extension developers, the standardised system provides a ready-made, accessible pattern they can reuse instead of building their own batch and filter UI.

Milestone 6 builds on the core components from Milestone 2a (consumed via the initial alpha release) and on the remediation backlog from Milestone 1b and the test protocols from Milestone 1a. It runs in parallel with Milestone 2b, so the contractor must be prepared to adopt the stable Milestone 2b release as it becomes available within the milestone window.

Scope of Work

The contractor is required to deliver all deliverables described below. Scope and acceptance criteria are fixed. The budget is to be quoted as a fixed price, based on the applicant's approach and team composition.

Deliverable 1: Standardised Accessible Batch Action System

Create a standardised, accessible batch action system across all admin list views. This must:

• Replace the current inconsistent implementations with a single pattern, respecting backward compatibility requirements.
• Use the design system components from Milestone 2a (consumed via the initial alpha release, and aligned with the stable Milestone 2b release as it becomes available)
• Provide consistent keyboard navigation, focus management, and screen-reader feedback for batch selection, batch action selection, and result feedback

Deliverable 2: Backend-Wide Content-Language Filter

Improve the backend-wide content-language filter that allows administrators to filter all list views by language. The improvement must:

• Apply consistently across all admin list views
• Reduce the number of items multilingual content teams need to navigate
• Conform to WCAG 2.2 AA, with proper labelling, keyboard operability, and screen-reader feedback

Deliverable 3: Extension Developer Integration Documentation

Document how to integrate the standardised batch and filter patterns into extension developers' own components, so that third-party admin list views offer the same accessible experience. The documentation must include at least one worked integration example.

Deliverable 4: Documentation and Milestone Report

Maintain the programme documentation framework and produce the milestone completion report in the format agreed at kick-off.

Contract Details

Milestone reference: Milestone 6 (Cluster F: Admin UX)

Contract type: Service agreement with OSM.

Dependency: Builds on the design system from Milestone 2a (via the initial alpha release) and on the remediation backlog from Milestone 1b. Runs in parallel with Milestone 2b; the contractor must be prepared to adopt the stable Milestone 2b release within the milestone window. Outputs must conform to the test protocols from Milestone 1a.

Duration: 2 months (1 February 2027 to 31 March 2027).

Delivery date: 31 March 2027.

Payment terms: Full payment upon acceptance of all deliverables.

Budget: To be quoted by the applicant as a fixed price, based on the scope described.

Eligibility and Required Skills

Applicants must have experience in the following areas

• Joomla core development, in particular with admin list views, batch actions, and the filter system
• Building accessible administrative interfaces in accordance with WCAG 2.2 AA and WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices
• Adopting an evolving design-system release (alpha to stable) within a single delivery cycle
• Accessibility validation with assistive technologies (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver) and with automated tools such as axe-core
• Working with multilingual content in Joomla, including the content-language filter and multilingual list views
• Clear technical writing for extension-developer documentation, including worked integration examples

Skills the applicant should have

• Understanding of the design tokens and components from Milestones 2a and 2b

Skills that would be nice to have

• Prior experience standardising or refactoring inconsistent UI patterns across a large admin surface
• Coordination experience with parallel design-system workstreams (in this case Milestone 2b)

How to Apply

Proposals must include the following

• A brief description of your organisation or team and relevant Joomla admin and accessibility experience
• Examples of comparable admin UI standardisation or accessible filter/batch action work, with links where possible
• At least one reference from a comparable project engagement
• Your proposed approach and methodology for the standardised batch action system, the filter system, and the backend-wide content-language filter
• A clear description of how you will adopt the Milestone 2a alpha at the start of the milestone and integrate the stable Milestone 2b release as it becomes available
• Identification of any potential schedule risks or bottlenecks, including any dependency on the timing of Milestones 2a, 2b, and 1b
• A timeline showing how the two-month delivery period will be structured
• Your fixed-price proposal for the full scope

Proposals should be submitted by email to the address published alongside this RFP. The submission deadline is 30.11.2026.

Selection Process

Proposals will be reviewed by a small selection committee comprising community members.

Evaluation criteria are:

• Technical quality: depth and rigour of the proposed standardisation methodology
• Accessibility expertise: demonstrated experience with WCAG 2.2, WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices, and assistive-technology testing
• Design-system fit: a credible plan for consuming the Milestone 2a alpha and aligning with the Milestone 2b stable release within the milestone window
• Developer enablement: quality of the proposed integration documentation and worked example for extension developers
• Team composition: Preference will be given to proposals submitted by teams rather than individual contractors.
• Timeline: a realistic plan for delivery within the two-month period
• Price: value for money within the fixed contract envelope

The selected team will be asked to sign a standard OSM service agreement. Work can begin once the agreement is signed and the Milestone 2a alpha release is available.

Community Support

Every milestone in this programme includes access to an experienced Joomla community maintainer if you need it. If you have questions about the codebase, about an accessibility standard as applied to Joomla's specific implementation, or about how something works within the Joomla ecosystem, you can ask. This support is funded through the project's Community Accessibility Reserve, a dedicated budget set aside to help contractors succeed. The maintainer's role is to guide and not to supervise. You are not on your own.

Questions

Questions about this RFP may be submitted by email to the address published alongside this RFP prior to the submission deadline. Answers to questions received will be shared publicly so that all applicants have equal access to information.

Submission Timeline

Terms

This RFP is published as part of the STF-funded Joomla Accessibility Programme application that is in progress. Submitting a proposal does not guarantee selection. OSM reserves the right to cancel or amend this RFP at any time.

• The RFP can be withdrawn at any point without reason.
• No compensation will be given to any entity submitting a proposal or working on a proposal.
• The vendor selected for this proposal will be solely at the discretion of Open Source Matters, Inc.
• Open Source Matters, Inc. reserves the right not to award any applicant if no proposal meets the expectations or requirements set by this RFP.

For all communication with OSM use [email protected] as email address.