1-RFP CHILD NUTRITION SOFTWARE.docx

WASHINGTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Child Nutrition Software Program

WCSD-MH-005

Release Date: 24 April 2026 Due Date: 15 May 2026

Intent of Request for Proposal (RFP) This Request for Proposals (RFP) has been determined to be the appropriate procurement method to provide the best value to the Washington County School District (“WCSD” or “District”).

The RFP is designed to provide interested offerors with sufficient basic information to submit proposals meeting minimum requirements, but it is not intended to limit a proposal's content or exclude any relevant or essential data. Offerors are at liberty and are encouraged to expand upon the specifications to evidence service capability under any agreement. WCSD will not be liable for any costs proposers may incur in the preparation of this proposal From the issue date of this RFP until an Offeror is awarded a contract and the award is published, offerors are prohibited from any communication regarding this RFP with the RFP evaluation committee members, WCSD Board of Education members, WCSD employees, or associated individuals. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in disqualification.

This RFP is issued in accordance with the State of Utah Procurement Code, Utah Code Annotated (UCA) Chapter 63G-6a, and applicable Rules found in the Utah Administrative Code (UAC). If any provision of this RFP conflicts with the UCA or UAC, the UCA or UAC will take precedence.

PURPOSE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

The purpose of this request for proposal is to enter into a contract with a qualified contractor to provide their School Nutrition Management Software Systems. CCSD Nutrition Services is seeking a comprehensive software system that can provide point-of-service, menu planning, inventory control, financial accounting, direct certification, Free and Reduced Application processing, production records, special diets, and a lunch fee portal for families.

WCSD reserves the right to reject all proposals or waive any non-statutory informality. WCSD further reserves the right to make the contract award deemed by the WCSD Board of Education to be in the best interest of the district, regardless of the selection committee’s evaluation and scoring. The Board's decision to accept or reject the contract will be final.

Respondents are strongly encouraged to carefully read the entire request for proposal. It is anticipated that this RFP will result in a contract award to a single contractor.

CCSD currently utilizes the following systems in relation to our current school nutrition management system

· Powerschool

· ERP-Powerschool Business Plus

· Windows 11 or Chrome OS

ISSUING OFFICE AND RFP REFERENCE NUMBER

The District’s Purchasing Department is the issuing office for this document and all subsequent addenda, on behalf of the WCSD Child Nutrition Department. The transaction reference number is Solicitation #WCSD-MH-06. This number must be referenced in all proposals, correspondence, and documentation related to the RFP.

NOTICE: Wherever the term bid, bidder, bidding, or quote appears in this solicitation or reference is made to a bid, bidder, bidding, or quote, it shall be interpreted to mean offeror, as defined in 63G-6a-103(53). RFP, or Request for Proposals, as defined in 63G-6a-103(72), and the procurement shall be conducted subject to the provisions of 63G-6a-701-707.5.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT

The initial contract period resulting from this RFP will be 5 (five) years.

The contract may be extended beyond the initial contract period, annually, for up to an additional 5 (five) years, at the school district’s discretion and by mutual agreement.

WCSD reserves the right to review contract(s) on a regular basis regarding performance and cost analysis and may negotiate price and service elements during the terms of the contract.

It is anticipated that this RFP may result in a single contract award

TERMINATION RIGHTS

Any agreement resulting from this RFP may be terminated, without cause, or for any reason, by WCSD upon ninety (90) days' written notice to the Contractor, without prejudice to any other right or remedy WCSD may have. Failure of the Contractor to adhere to any of the performance requirements of any agreement resulting from this RFP shall be cause for immediate termination. Any agreement resulting from this RFP may be terminated for any reason by the Contractor upon ninety (90) days' written notice to WCSD.

Termination for cause may include, but is not limited to, failure to perform services in accordance with contract terms, failure to adhere to established laws, through no fault of WCSD. If, through any cause, the Contractor shall fail to fulfill in a timely and proper manner its obligations under this contract, or if the Contractor shall violate any of the covenants or agreements thereof, WCSD may, upon written notice to the Contractor, terminate the right of the Contractor to proceed under this contract with such part or parts thereof as to which there has been a default, and may hold the Contractor liable for any damages caused by reason of such default and termination.

STANDARD CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Any contract resulting from this RFP will include, but not be limited to, the District’s Standard Terms and Conditions (attached). Exceptions and or additions to the Terms and Conditions are strongly discouraged.

Exceptions and additions to the Terms and Conditions must be submitted with the proposal response. Exceptions, additions, service level agreements, etc., submitted after the date and time for receipt of proposals will not be considered. Website URLs, or information on website URLs, must not be requested in the RFP document and must not be submitted with a proposal. URLs provided with a proposal may result in that proposal being rejected as non-responsive. URLs are also prohibited from any language included in the final contract document.

The District retains the right to refuse to negotiate on exceptions should the exceptions be excessive or not in the best interest of the District. Negotiations could result in high costs to the District or could adversely impact existing time constraints.

If negotiations are required, the contractor must provide all documents in MS Word format for redline editing. The contractor must provide the name, contact information, and access to the person(s) who will be directly involved in legal negotiations.

QUESTIONS

All questions or clarifications regarding the solicitation shall be submitted through the Utah Public Procurement Place (U3P). https://utah.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities and are subject to the deadline for submitting questions before May 22, 2026, 2:00 pm (MDT).

It is the responsibility of each respondent to ensure that its submission includes the information requested in any addenda. If any proposer detects any discrepancy, conflict or other error in these documents, they shall notify in writing through the (U3P) website and request clarification or modification of the RFP documents. Clarifications, interpretations, and answers will be posted on (U3P) and are considered addenda to the original request. Proposers are cautioned not to consider verbal modifications and are responsible for checking back periodically (U3P) for any addenda.

In the event that it becomes necessary for CCSD to revise any part of the RFP, an addendum will be added through (U3P).

PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORMAT

In proposals submitted, please provide a detailed response to allow the district evaluation committee to score your proposed solution and your company against competing solutions/companies for each of the items within the following scope of work.

All proposals must include a technical proposal and a cost proposal. Formats for both documents follow:

A. Technical Proposal Format Hard copies are to be tabbed by section

The executive summary shall include the name, title, email address, and telephone number of the offeror’s designated point of contact who is authorized to respond to questions and requests for clarification during the review process.

Tab 2. Mandatory Minimum Requirements PASS/FAIL SCORE

· The system is compliant with the USDA 2017 edition of the Eligibility Manual for School Meals.

· Must provide us with the ability to meet regulations as required by Utah code 53G-9-205.1 Start Smart Utah Program.

· The system must be able to receive basic student data from the District SIS (PowerSchool) and send required student data to the District SIS via SFTP connection or plugin. The times when data is sent and/or received must be configurable to occur multiple times daily, and the data being sent/received must also be configurable.

· System must run on Microsoft Windows 11 or newer, or Chrome OS

Tab 3. Licensing and SIS Capabilities - 200 points

· Receive basic student data from PowerSchool (our SIS) either through an SFTP connection or a plugin configurable to be done multiple times daily.

· If an SFTP connection is used, list all of the fields required and allowed in the data RECEIVED from PowerSchool and updated in the nutrition program. List how often the nutrition program will pull this data from the SFTP server.

· List the file formats allowed for SFTP.

· If a plugin is used, describe in detail what data is RECEIVED from PowerSchool and updated in the nutrition program, and how often it is pulled.

· Send student lunch balance data to PowerSchool via an SFTP connection or a plugin configured to run multiple times daily.

· If an SFTP connection is used, list all required and allowed fields in the data file SENT from the nutrition program to PowerSchool. List how often the nutrition program will send this data.

· List the file formats allowed for SFTP.

· If a plugin is used, describe in detail what data is SENT from the nutrition program and updated in PowerSchool and how often it is updated. List in detail what fields are being written to.

· Receive files of student photos and be able to upload and display those student photos as students come through the lunch line.

· Student photos are listed by student number and should be updated accordingly. Describe in detail how this is accomplished in your system.

· Send student lunch status (P/F/R) to PowerSchool via an SFTP connection or a plugin configured to run multiple times daily.

· If an SFTP connection is used, list how often the nutrition program will send this data.

· If a plugin is used, describe in detail what data is SENT from the nutrition program and updated in PowerSchool, and how often it is updated. List in detail what fields are being written to.

· Send the following student data required by USBE for any students on F/R lunch: Free or Reduced-Price Eligibility Source (SNAP, Other, Categorical, Income), program start date, program end date, and DWS SEBT Data Sharing Opt out. This data should be sent to PowerSchool via an SFTP connection or a plugin configured to run multiple times daily.

· If an SFTP connection is used, list how often the nutrition program will send this data.

· If a plugin is used, describe in detail what data is SENT from the nutrition program and updated in PowerSchool, and how often it is updated. List in detail what fields are being written to.

· Provide provisions for additional data to be sent to PowerSchool, as required by the Utah State Board of Education, either through the Plugin or SFT.

Tab 4. Implementation, Training, and Support - 50 points

1. Provide an implementation timeline to begin in June of 2026, with full implementation ready to launch by August 2026.

2. Must include an in-person training before the launch of the new system.

3. Ongoing support structure. Quick and reliable customer service.

Tab 5. Free and Reduced Application Processing Module - 175 points

1. User-friendly – parents should be able to easily submit applications online using any device.

2. Ability to backdate eligibility in accordance with federal regulations if necessary.

3. Generate eligibility letters, verification notifications, and electronically customize letters easily.

4. Able to process Direct Certification - Ability to automatically identify direct certification and extend benefits to other students in the household. Currently use an API to do direct certification. Must be able to continue with this process.

5. Allow the District to conduct verification in accordance with USDA guidelines - Provide notifications and reports to complete the state submission.

6. Applications in multiple languages.

7. Customizable reports for Free and Reduced Student Information.

Tab 6. Point of Service Module - 100 points

1. Operational on or offline.

2. Integrates across all modules to provide real-time system updates.

3. Customizable to best meet District and staff needs.

4. Ability to use on current hardware without the need to upgrade.

Tab 7. Online Payment System - 75 points

1. Ability to take payments through multiple forms of payment.

2. Quickly update student information and account balances with the POS

3. Low balance alerts sent by text or email, Pass/Fail

4. Recurring payment option for parents Tab 8. Reports - 100 points

1. Daily, monthly and year-to-date reports

2. Ability to customize reports

3. Tracks all information from all sites for all types of sales for federal and state reporting purposes

4. Reports accurately identify each sales transaction by time and date, student account, by program, school site, and be able to correct errors in a manner that adjusts financial accounting and provides a detailed record

Tab 9. Value-Added Services

· The following areas are preferred functionality but are not required in order to submit a proposal - 50 points

Menus, Nutrition Management

· Ability to standardize a variety of recipes for nutrition, portion and cost control

· Ability to decrease or increase recipe sizes to meet needs

· Ability to print daily, weekly, monthly and cycle menus with detailed nutrition information, paper and online.

· Ability to access USDA recipes and instructions that include HACCP processes for each recipe and Critical Control Points

Food Safety Monitoring

· Equipment and software to monitor food temperatures for HACCP requirements. Provide alerts when temperatures approach dangerous levels. These would be installed at each school and our central warehouse.

Digital Menu Boards and associated management app:

· Provide nutrition-based digital menu apps and school-specific campaigns for individual customers and/or digital menu boards installed throughout the district.

Tab 10. Protected Information

The Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA), Utah Code Ann., Subsection 63G-2-305, provides in part that:

the following records are protected if properly classified by a government entity:

(1) trade secrets as defined in Section 13-24-2 if the person submitting the trade secret has provided the governmental entity with the information specified in Section 63G-2-309;

(2) commercial information or non-individual financial information obtained from a person if:

(a) disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to result in unfair competitive injury to the person submitting the information or would impair the ability of the governmental entity to obtain necessary information in the future;

(b) the person submitting the information has a greater interest in prohibiting access than the public in obtaining access; and

(c the person submitting the information has provided the governmental entity with the information specified in Section 63G-2-309

(6) records, the disclosure of which would impair governmental procurement proceedings or give an unfair advantage to any person proposing to enter into a contract or agreement with a governmental entity, except, subject to Subsections (1) and (2), that this Subsection (6) does not restrict the right of a person to have access to, after the contract or grant has been awarded and signed by all parties:

(a) a bid proposal, application, or other information submitted to or by a governmental entity in response to:

(ii) a request for proposals . . .

GRAMA provides that trade secrets, commercial information or non-individual financial information may be protected by submitting a Claim of Business Confidentiality.

To protect information under a Claim of Business Confidentiality, the offeror must: provide a written Claim of Business Confidentiality at the time the information (proposal) is provided to the district and include a concise statement of reasons supporting the claim of business confidentiality (Subsection 63G-2-309.

A Claim of Business Confidentiality may be appropriate for information such as client lists and non-public financial statements. Pricing and service elements may not be protected. An entire proposal may not be protected under a Claim of Business Confidentiality. The claim of business confidentiality must be submitted with your proposal on the form which may be accessed at:

http://purchasing.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/confidentialityclaimform.doc An entire proposal cannot be identified as “PROTECTED”, “CONFIDENTIAL” or “PROPRIETARY” and may be considered non-responsive if marked as such.

To ensure the information is protected, you must include all protected information in Tab 10 of the proposal response. Any protected information incorporated in other sections of the proposal response may result in release of data at no fault of the District.

All materials submitted become the property of CCSD. Materials may be evaluated by anyone designated by the District as part of the proposal evaluation committee. Materials submitted may be returned only at the District’s option.

B. Cost Proposal Format

The proposal must be set forth in such a way that it will allow the merits of the proposal to be evaluated in conjunction with applicable cost. Please review the Best and Final Offers section below to ensure you properly submit your cost proposal.

XII. SUBMITTING YOUR PROPOSAL

All submitted proposals will consist of a technical proposal and a cost proposal. These documents must be kept separate.

Both Technical and Cost Proposals must be received by the posted due date of June 5, 2026, no later than 2:00 pm (MDT). Proposals received after the deadline will be late and ineligible for consideration.

All proposals must be submitted electronically through the original solicitation. No in person, email or regular mail submissions will be accepted.

NOTICE: By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, the offeror is acknowledging that the requirements, scope of work, and the evaluation process, outlined in the RFP, are fair, equitable, not unduly restrictive, understood, and agreed to. Any exceptions to the RFP content must be protested to the purchasing agent prior to the closing date and time for proposal submission.

PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA

A committee will evaluate proposals against the following weighted criteria. Each evaluation criterion must be addressed in detail in the proposal. All proposals in response to this RFP will be evaluated in accordance with the Utah Procurement Code, rules, policies, and the evaluation criteria established in the RFP.

The evaluation committee will be composed of qualified Child nutrition specialists, information systems specialists and administrators. Each member will personally review all materials submitted for approval. The committee will then review all evaluations and submit the final recommendation directly to the WCSD Board of Education. This multi-level evaluation process involves numerous people

WEIGHT EVALUATION CRITERIA - 1,000 points

25% Cost

20% Licensing, Technology, and SIS

50% Technical Criteria Tabs 3-9

5% Value Added Services

The understandability and comprehensiveness of the information supplied in this RFP will affect the evaluation of the above criteria.

ORAL PRESENTATION AND PRODUCT DISCUSSION WITH OFFERS

An oral presentation by an offeror to clarify a proposal may be required at the sole discretion of the District. However, the District may award a contract based on the initial proposals received without discussion with the Offeror. If oral presentations are required, they will be scheduled after proposals are submitted. Oral Presentation and Product Discussion Presentations will be made at the offeror's expense.

BEST AND FINAL OFFERS

Vendors should offer their best offer in the original technical and cost proposals. The use of a Best and Final Offer process is regulated by Utah Code 63G-6a-707.5 and will only be used if:

a. no single proposal adequately addresses all the specifications stated in the request for proposals;

a. all proposals are unclear or deficient in one or more respects;

b. all cost proposals exceed the identified budget or the procurement unit's available funding; or

c. two or more proposals receive an identical evaluation score that is the highest score.

It is important to understand this so as not to anticipate that a best-and-final process will allow a vendor to “sharpen their pencil” in a subsequent phase.

AWARD OF CONTRACT

Award shall be made to the offeror whose proposal is the most advantageous to the District, taking into consideration price and the other evaluation factors set forth in this request for proposals.

The District reserves the right to award the contract(s) to a technically qualified lower cost offeror(s) in the event the high scoring offer is determined not to be the best value offered to the District, based on a cost benefit analysis.