Modernizing a Mission-Critical Federal Website Platform and User Experience (UX)
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relies on NRC.gov to keep the public, licensees, and federal partners informed on nuclear safety and regulatory activity. With roughly 40,000 web pages and 53,000 PDF files on a single domain, the site is a large, high-stakes public resource which was running on an aging, costly Kentico CMS platform. Under a five-year, single-award BPA, NRC selected RIVA Solutions to modernize the platform, execute a full UX redesign, and take on day-to-day content strategy and digital analytics.
The Challenge
NRC faced a set of compounding technical, compliance, and operational demands:
- Aging CMS Platform: NRC.gov ran on the Kentico COTS CMS, requiring a full migration to a modern, open-source system (Drupal)
- Zero-Downtime Requirement: The migration had to preserve every existing public URL and launch without production outages.
- Elevated Accessibility and UX Design: The new site needed to exceed Section 508 and align with OMB M-23-22 and USWDS requirements for a better user experience.
- Multi-Vendor Coordination: NRC needed a single team managing hosting, CDN, and platform issues across separate vendors.
- High-Volume Content Operations: Editorial workflows had to support 125 or more concurrent authenticated users across tens of thousands of pages.
- Continuous Security Compliance: The platform had to launch and operate under an active Authority to Operate on a FedRAMP Moderate boundary.
The Solution
RIVA Solutions partnered with NRC’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to modernize NRC.gov, combining a full platform migration with an ongoing UX redesign and daily O&M support.
- Full Drupal Migration: Migrated NRC.gov from Kentico to Drupal 10, since upgraded to Drupal 11, on Acquia Cloud Enterprise Gov, a FedRAMP Moderate authorized platform.
- On-Schedule, Zero-Outage Cutover: Delivered the Drupal 10 go-live with zero production outages during cutover.
- Parallel UX Redesign: Ran a full UX redesign alongside day-to-day O&M, migrated three secure sites, and integrated the Public Meeting Notice System while preserving every existing URL. New design launches in Fall 2026.
- Single Point of Engagement: Took ownership of triage across Drupal, Acquia hosting, and Akamai CDN and WAF, backed by a JIRA-based ticketing system and defined response SLAs.
The Result
The modernized NRC.gov Drupal platform launched on schedule and continues to operate under a consistent, measurable service standard:
- On-Time, Uninterrupted Launch Migrated 40,000 pages and 53,000 PDF files with zero production outages during cutover.
- Ongoing Platform Currency Upgraded to Drupal 11 post-launch with no service disruption.
- Faster Issue Resolution Established a 1-hour email and 5-minute phone response standard, resolving standard issues within 48 hours.
- Stronger Accessibility Posture Remediated heading hierarchy, ARIA role, and color contrast issues, exceeding Section 508 requirements.
- Consistent Governance and Reporting Sustained weekly and monthly status reporting, with meeting minutes delivered within five business days, since award.
- Upcoming UX Redesign Launch The full UX redesign is on track to launch in Fall 2026.
Looking Ahead
RIVA Solutions remains committed to supporting NRC’s digital modernization beyond the initial migration. With Drupal 11 in place and a scalable content architecture established, RIVA will lead a complete content rationalization and transformation effort, paired with significant content governance improvements and continuous refinement driven by CX metrics and digital analytics. RIVA will also apply AI tools to streamline the full content management and publishing lifecycle, positioning NRC.gov to take on new integrations and evolving compliance requirements as they arise.
Partner With Us
For federal website modernization, RIVA draws on our Integrated Digital Experience (iDX) framework, pairing HCD, UX design, and Drupal CMS expertise with FuseFlow AI to deliver secure, accessible, and resilient digital platforms. Reach out to Chief Digital Officer Sean Fitzpatrick to learn more.
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