NIGP 98574: Software, Computer, Rental or Lease

NIGP 98574 Software, Computer, Rental or Lease is an Item code under which state and local governments procure cloud-based software subscriptions, SaaS platforms, and software licensing for specialized operational functions—including accessibility remediation, assessment delivery and analytics, student support management, policy and compliance administration, workforce scheduling, social media management, and cybersecurity tools. Recent solicitations show issuing bodies spanning higher education institutions, K–12 school districts, county property appraisers, state departments of veterans affairs and criminal justice, transit authorities, water utilities, local courts, and municipal departments, with activity concentrated in Florida, California, Utah, Ohio, Texas, Massachusetts, Colorado, Illinois, and the District of Columbia. Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida and the School Board of Seminole County have each issued multiple competitive RFPs and sole-source notices under this code within the past two months, indicating sustained procurement volume in K–12 assessment and student management systems. Solicitation types include RFP (for example, Hillsborough County Public Schools' RFP 26112 for Comprehensive Student Assessment Platform, due April 10, 2026, replacing Renaissance's School City platform), RFI (Valencia College's RFI 202612 for Accessibility Remediation Solution, due September 3, 2025), RFQ (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's RFP 117-26 for Workforce Scheduling and HOS Compliance Software, due October 13, 2026), sole-source notices under procurement-code exceptions (Hillsborough County's single-source notice for Curriculum Associates ELLevation, Seminole County's RFI for comprehensive student support systems), and cooperative purchasing (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' Sourcewell procurement of Atlassian products through SHI International, valued at $458,471.11).

Geographic activity is led by Florida K–12 districts and California counties, with significant secondary presence from Utah (Department of Environmental Quality e-permitting RFI, Department of Insurance Sircon procurement), Texas (TDCJ Photo and ID Card platform), Massachusetts (MBTA workforce scheduling), and Colorado (generative AI plan review systems). Most opportunities target three- to five-year terms with SaaS subscription models, integration requirements with incumbent systems (Salesforce, Canvas LMS, Student Information Systems, Azure Active Directory, Ping AIC), and mandatory security certifications (SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001, WCAG accessibility compliance). Set-asides appear in select solicitations: Hillsborough County Public Schools' assessment platform RFP includes a 20 percent Small Business Encouragement Program reinvestment goal for Tampa Bay–area certified small businesses; Orange County, California's social media and digital development RFPs offer 5 percent bid reductions for Local Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise certifications; and Massachusetts MBTA's workforce scheduling RFP weights supplier diversity at 25 percent of technical scoring. Pricing structures vary from fixed annual subscription fees to cost-plus models with per-unit or per-license billing; most solicitations require three- to ten-year total cost-of-ownership projections and firm pricing guarantees for initial contract years (typically zero increases in year one, capped at 3 percent thereafter). Pre-bid conferences, site visits, and Q&A cycles are standard; implementation timelines often span six to twelve months with go-live targets aligned to academic or fiscal years.