[eluser]BrianDHall[/eluser]
Just a recommendation, but you may find you get much better results if you leave it up to the person you hire to pick the platform they prefer after giving yourself an education. Basically give your basic spec as you have done so here, and ask them, "So, what would you do to build this application to fit these needs, and still be able to support changes, maintenance, and new features?"
CI is for building this solution from scratch. If you insist on that, that's fine - but if a developer has the knowledge and experience to go, "Jeesh, the XYZ system has all but one of the features you want, and I could whip that out in a few days, so we'd just need to do basic configuring and then move straight to how you want the site to look (template) and what you want to say (content) - and you can add the content yourself if you want".
It might not be that easy, as in my job my predecessor worked for 3-5 months in Joomla and built a system that was total crap and ended up being best to scrap entirely. The only thing I kept was the CSS/HTML template from Joomla, and now I realize its the cause of my site seeming a bit slow.
Insisting on certain tools and then looking for a craftsman is like picking a hammer and trying to find someone to swing it - you better hope you picked the right hammer, even without a full understanding of construction. Better to get a good craftsman and ask them what tool they should should be used.
