2-Interrogatories and Cost Proposal Final.xlsx

XLSX spreadsheet 44 KB Posted Oct 28, 2025

Attached to: Bookstore Operations
Solicitation number: NC2527
Issued by: Cook County, Illinois

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Written by GovTribe AI · Oct 29, 2025

This is a Request for Proposal (RFP #NC2527) issued by City Colleges of Chicago for Online Bookstore Operations. The RFP solicits proposals for a comprehensive online bookstore service to support seven college campuses, with a response deadline of December 1, 2025. The contract seeks a vendor to provide a full-service online bookstore platform that includes textbook sales, rentals, digital materials, course material management, and supporting services for faculty and students. Key requirements include offering new, used, digital, and rental textbooks, implementing a book scholarship program, providing $40,000 in annual student book vouchers, supporting course material adoptions, offering buyback options, and creating a customizable website with robust reporting and analytics capabilities.

The pricing structure is proposed on a cost-plus fixed fee basis, with vendors required to detail pricing for various book formats, shipping costs, and potential commission arrangements. The RFP emphasizes technology capabilities, including support for multiple devices, integration with publisher systems, data security, and compliance with accessibility standards like WCAG 2.2. Additional requirements include providing dedicated account management, customer service support, technical infrastructure with disaster recovery capabilities, and comprehensive reporting tools. The vendor will be expected to manage various aspects of bookstore operations, including inventory management, digital course material access, student and faculty support, and providing flexible payment and ordering options across all seven City Colleges of Chicago campuses.

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Overview Tab

CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO

RFP #NC2527 - ONLINE BOOKSTORE OPERATIONS

Due Date: December 1, 2025 no later than 12:00pm (CDT)

1. This document contains the following tabs:

* Overview Tab

* General Interrogatories

* Technical Interrogatories

* Appendices A, B and C

* Fee-Cost Proposal

End of Sheet

General Interrogatories

CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO

RFP #NC2527 - ONLINE BOOKSTORE OPERATIONS

Due Date: December 1, 2025 no later than 12:00pm (CDT)

GENERAL INTERROGATORIES

Proposer's Name:

The Respondent MUST provide an answer to each of the requirements listed in the table below.

A ‘Yes’ answer indicates the Respondent will meet the stated business requirement.

A ‘No’ answer indicates the Respondent can NOT meet the stated business requirement,

A ‘Partial’ answer indicates the Respondent can ‘Partially’ meet the stated business requirement. Where a ‘Partial’ answer is provided, the Respondent should provide a brief explanation in the column provided.

Please note that certain inquiries may contain multiple components or sub-questions requiring separate responses.

If you answer “Partial” or “No,” please provide the clarification in the Explanation column for what can be done to meet the requirement.

1 Description Response (select one)

Yes/Partial/No	If Partial please explain	if Yes, Please provide details as appropriate
	Faculty Category
	1	Please describe the procedures for training faculty/administration on using the portal tool for submitting adoptions.
	2	What steps do you take for custom publishing services, as may be requested, including the development of course packs for faculty members, securing the appropriate copyright clearances, printing and binding of course packs, and distribution and sale of the course packs in the bookstore?
	3	What are your procedures for complimentary desk copies of the course(s) that have been submitted for adoption?
	4	What are your procedures for in-person customer service to faculty at all seven colleges at the start of each semester and towards the end of each semester?
	5	Describe the procedure(s) when faculty submit Art materials to the portal for adoption.
	6	Please provide your procedures and policies before implementing any fee increases for textbooks/materials or adding fees to the online bookstore. How will you inform faculty, administration, and students about price adjustments? Will the company provide advance notification to faculty, students, and administration, and through what channels will this information be shared with these stakeholders?
	7	Describe how the company would provide faculty with a dashboard and reporting system that allows them to view which students have purchased course materials and send reminders to those who haven't
	8	Please provide information regarding the pricing and markup structure for faculty members.
	9	What steps do you take to support the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) materials on the company's portal and online bookstore? Describe how the vendor shall provide OER as an option and offer resources to support faculty members who wish to use this option during the adoption period.
	10	Explain how faculty members can access and review past semester textbook adoptions using the vendor's portal?
	11	Describe how faculty can add notes during the textbook adoption process. Would these notes be visible to students in the online bookstore, and would they enable students to follow specific instructions from their professors? Will the portal notify faculty if their notes are changed during the adoption period? Please describe how your portal's features align with these requirements
	12	What are your procedures when faculty members negotiate pricing with vendors
	13	Explain how the vendor shall employ and assign a full-time dedicated account manager who shall assist all seven colleges.
	Library Category
	1	What are your procedures for each new book adopted in the portal by the colleges? Please describe how the vendor shall provide two library reference copies to all seven CCC libraries (eBook, paper, or rental format).
	2	Explain how the vendor must have the ability to place three orders per semester for library reference copies at all seven library colleges.
	3	What are the company's procedure of each semester? That the company is required to:

1.	Provide two reference copies for all three library orders for each semester
2.	Update order status regularly
3.	Send shipping notifications
4.	Provide estimated delivery date ranges
5.	Supply delivery tracking information.

	Student Category
	1	What are your procedures for providing CCC $40,000 every year in book scholarship vouchers to be used at the online bookstore for students to buy textbooks/materials/merchandise?
	2	Could you please provide information about the refund process? If a student's class is canceled or if they drop a class by a certain date/week during the semester, are they eligible for a refund? And how will the refund impact the process if they are products that are delivered via your digital bookshelf powered by VitalSource?
	3	How do you let the students/faculty know that guide materials and videos are available on how to place orders from the online bookstore, and provide step-by-step guides and videos for students on activating eBooks?
	4	What are the vendor’s steps for providing qualified on-site representatives at all seven college locations to facilitate the textbook buyback process for students after each semester?
	5	Describe the steps your company takes to secure student and financial data, including encryption standards and methods supported, such as SHA-256 and SOC compliance
	6	What are the company’s procedures to create and support a voucher or charging system that allows student groups, identified by the colleges (need-based, student-athletes, scholarships, veterans, grants, strictly buying textbooks, Star Scholarship, CHA Scholarship, etc.), to charge course materials?
	7	What steps do you take to provide CCC students, free economy shipping for retail purchases of textbooks, course materials, merchandise, and supplies (excluding Marketplace items) that are directly related to the classroom experience? This includes order status updates, shipping notifications, estimated delivery dates, and delivery tracking.
	8	Please describe the vendor's buy-back option to students at least thrice yearly, corresponding to the fall, spring, and summer semesters. Please provide information regarding the videos and guides to help students with returns and refunds.
	9	Provide a buy-back option to students at least thrice yearly, corresponding to the fall, spring, and summer semesters. Please provide information regarding the videos and guides to help students with returns and refunds.
	10	Provide in detail how your company will provide excellent customer service for the students and faculty at the online bookstore.
	11	What steps does the company take to prevent duplicate purchases? What are the company's procedures for an alert system that notifies students during checkout if they have previously purchased the same course materials in current or past semesters? (Cengage, etc.)
	Course Materials
	1	Provide information regarding the full range of course materials, including but not limited to:
-	New Textbooks
-	Used Textbooks
-	Digital Textbooks
-	Custom Published Materials
-	Rental Textbooks
	2	What steps does the company take to provide enough course materials, custom-published materials, software, and related academic supplies and materials, as required by faculty for coursework, available for

purchase by students according to the schedule established by CCC?

3 Please describe an effective and proactive coordination with campus-designated personnel regarding course material adoptions.

4	What are your procedures regarding the course materials services to CCC's current or future distance learning programs?
5	Provide information regarding the maximum availability of used and rental textbooks.
6	Is the vendor able to provide state-of-the-art technology and emerging technologies for web-based course materials operations (e.g., online transactions, inventory status, registration integration, online textbook

rental, online buyback, etc.).

7	What are the vendor's policy and procedures for refunds to students on eBooks, Access Codes, and Access Cards?
Virtual Bookstore Website
1	Is the vendor able to provide support of the academic mission of the City Colleges of Chicago by providing efficient and effective online course materials services to students and faculty, including online buyback and online adoptions?
2	What steps do you take to provide easy access to online course materials?
3	Provide a proactive course materials strategy to compete effectively in the challenging university textbook environment.
4	Please provide information regarding a fully customizable website with all content under the City Colleges of Chicago's control.
5	Please describe a virtual store website that shall include,

but not limited to, the ability for customers to order and reserve course materials.

6 Provide information regarding effective strategies to reduce the cost of course materials to students by minimizing shipping costs and providing a wide selection of used textbooks, textbook rental titles, and digital textbooks/course materials.

Book Rental Program
1	What are your procedures for a book rental program for our students that offers multiple options, including third-party payments? Explain how to accommodate third-party payers. Provide information on the return process, lost or damaged materials policy, and student instructions for the rental process. Students should not use personal credit cards for only the book rental process.
Integrated Data Analytics/Reporting Solutions
1	Explain how the company would provide dashboards and reports as part of the solution, as well as the ability to personalize and customize reports and

marketing services.

2	Provide information regarding the ability for staff to print in real time about activity, availability, and manage other related data.
3	What steps does the company take to provide Adoption data (Course submission status, Submission rate, department summary courses, courses not using materials, Department summary-submitted courses, etc.)
4	What are your procedures for providing information regarding a report showing the payment methods available on the order form (scholarship, book voucher, credit card, etc.)
5	Explain how the company will provide data on the average response time to students /faculty on issues or questions
6	What steps does the company take to provide data/reports in real time to view the names of staff members who create book vouchers?
7	Please provide information regarding the data/reports in real time for commission penalties.
8	Explain how the company will provide data/reports on adoption and order volumes over time (e.g., identify peak ordering periods, average length of faculty adoption before semester start, average length of student ordering time before semester start)
Invoice report/data
1	What steps do you take to provide revisions to the invoice payment expectations, regarding penalties and commission?
2	Please provide information regarding the invoice payment terms.
3	What are your procedures for the proposed commission and payment process?
4	What are the procedures for your company's outline tools for invoice automation capabilities?
5	Please describe the invoice distribution system to be ready on day 1 of the contract.
6	What steps do you take for invoicing and reporting by college, program, and department?
7	Explain how the company provides real-time reporting of all paid and outstanding invoices.
8	Please provide information regarding real-time reporting on book buy-backs.
9	What are your procedures for providing real-time reporting of outstanding payments tied to individual invoices?
10	Please describe how your company provides a real-time report of order payment shows within the order form (scholarship, third-party book voucher, credit card, etc.)
11	What steps do you take to provide a real-time report of all payments received from CCC, and where the payments were applied
12	What are your procedures for providing a report on all vouchers created per semester per student, along with the ability to audit and receive invoices from book voucher purchases?
Other
1	What is the maximum number of concurrent users your site can support? Additionally, can your banking system handle high transaction volumes during peak semester periods?
2	Does the online bookstore customization of text, color palette, or branding for each of the seven colleges?
3	What is the staff numbers of dedicated call center representatives available to help students and support them over the phone?
4	How will your company handle instances where an e-book does not work?
5	Please describe the notification procedures that are in place when students and faculty encounter technical difficulties with the online bookstore or course materials portal. How are users informed about system issues, and what steps should they take when problems occur
6	How many resources will be available to support peak ordering times
7	Describe what other student educational materials shall be available on the website. Common student needs include Art supplies/kits, Photography, Medical supplies, Nursing Kits, Uniforms, and General School Supplies, among others. Please describe your supplier management processes and pricing approach for student materials
8	Discuss your ability to interface with publishers to provide complimentary access to digital course materials at the start of the term.
9	Is your system compatible with all devices/browsers (e.g., Apple, Android, Google Chrome, Firefox)? Which devices and browsers do you support for students and faculty when accessing the online bookstore and portal?

Technical Interrogatories

CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO

RFP #NC2527 - ONLINE BOOKSTORE OPERATIONS

Due Date: December 1, 2025 no later than 12:00pm (CDT)

TECHNICAL INTERROGATORIES

Proposer's Name

Please respond to the groups and questions below by indicating Y-Yes or N-No (for each bullet point) and providing appropriate details in the table. The table needs to be completed in the format provided. You can expand the space for details and additionally reference attachments if you need more space.

Please note that CCC is only interested in SAAS (Software-as-a-Service/Cloud-based) solutions.

	ID #	Category	Sub-Category	Cloud-Hosted Model
(IaaS/PaaS/SaaS)	Yes/No	Please provide details as appropriate
	1	Application	Reporting	•	List and describe all reports included in the base application.
•	Please differentiate between transactional versus analytical reports
•	How do you manage reporting access?
	2	Application	Reporting Tools	•	Do you provide an ad-hoc reporting tool? Is access to this tool limited by user groups or other method?
•	Do you provide real-time reporting?
•	Is a separate reporting environment available for high-volume analytics? Is this required?
•	What online and offline file formats are supported (pdf, MS-Word/Excel, XML, etc.…)
	3	Application	Data Extract/Import	•	Do you provide a tool to extract or import information from/to your system?
•	If so, what formats are supported (pdf, MS-Word/Excel, XML, etc.…)
•	Are there any system constraints or limits to the amount of information that can be imported/extracted?
•	Is there information that cannot be imported/extracted?
	4	Application	Access to Data Model	•	Do you provide a data model (diagram) and/or data dictionary for your application?
•	What options are available for CCC to access your system data? Do you allow backend database or system updates or is it view-only?
•	Do you provide delivered APIs to access information? Please describe their functionality.
•	Do you provide tools to allow CCC to “mass update” high volume information as appropriate?
	5	Application	Integration/Interface	•	List integration and/or interfaces delivered with the standard system.
•	What information do you need CCC to provide to your application (required versus optional)? How frequently? What formats are acceptable?
•	Describe any delivered integrations available with 3rd parties (e.g., PeopleSoft)?
•	What forms of secure transmission do you support: sftp? ssl? ftp with pgp? Other?
•	What integration options are available (real-time services, batch, near real-time, etc.…)?
•	Do you utilize the following technologies: SOAP, REST, SAML
	6	Application	Configuration/Customization/Branding	•	For an average client, what is the percentage of customizations versus configuration?
•	Give an example of a common customization or a situation where a customization is required (i.e., something that cannot be configured as delivered)
•	Provide two examples of “complex” customizations.
•	To what extent can CCC “brand” the application (differentiate between customization and configuration)?
•	What skill sets are required to configure the application (how much training is required and what training/support materials are delivered)?
•	Who performs the customizations (CCC and/or Vendor)? If CCC is allowed to customize, what is allowable to avoid violating the licensing agreement/warranty?
•	What programming expertise is required to customize the application?
•	Describe all the areas that can be “configured” (e.g., setup, transaction processes, security, workflow, online validations, etc.…)
	7	Application	Workflow/Approvals/Proxy	•	Does your application allow configurable workflow?
•	Does your application allow workflow approvals (multi-levels)?
•	How does your application handle workflow proxy?
•	How does your application handle escalations?
	8	Application	Transaction Audits	•	What types of transaction audits are available with the standard system? What information is not audited?
•	Do the delivered transaction audits affect system performance?
•	Is the audit data readily available for access? To whom?
•	At what point do you purge the audit information?
	9	Application	Transaction Audits
Data Integrity/Validations	•	Explain in detail how the application maintains data quality and integrity (address online, batch, etc.…)
•	For situations where there is not an “edit” to maintain data quality/integrity, what other safeguards are available as delivered (e.g., reports, periodic batch validation programs, etc.…)
	10	Application	Operations/Scheduling	•	How are interfaces, reports, and other batch processes scheduled, and the results distributed?
•	Differentiate between CCC and Vendor responsibilities and access.
	11	Application	Communications (Email)	Do you have email capabilities (single user, mass email)? Please elaborate
	12	Network	LAN/WAN	•	Provide connectivity requirements for the hosted solution if the Internet is not the recommended solution.
•	Provide network bandwidth requirements for the various functions within this application
•	Does this application work with caching servers? Is there a specific configuration needed?
•	Is a dedicated circuit required?
•	If yes, is the connection encrypted, provide detail?
	13	Network	Firewall Rules	•	Describe the ports needed to communicate with this application.
	14	Network	Redundancy/Failover/Load Balancing	•	Explain what safeguards are in place to minimize the risks of failure (address appropriate tiers)
•	Explain your load balancing capabilities (address appropriate tiers)
	15	Network	Data/Flow	•	Provide a diagram of data flows through the various tiers and systems in the environment. Include ports and protocols of those data flows.
	16	Servers	Hardware Requirements	•	Provide high-level documentation of your hardware architecture – Address the following categories: Servers, Memory, CPU, Virtualization, Operating System, Storage, etc.…)
	17	Servers	VPN	•	Does your application encrypt the session between the server and the end user?
	18	Storage/Environments	Environments Required (Dev, QA, Prod, Training, Production Mirror, etc.…)	•	What environments are standard?
•	Describe each environment
•	Discuss how the environments are maintained (i.e., upgraded, cloned, refreshed, etc.…)
•	Explain the process to migrate data between various environments (e.g., setup data from Dev to QA). Do you provide delivered scripts and/or processes?
•	Can CCC request additional environments as needed for the build-out as well as future needs (e.g., Development, Testing, Production, Training, etc.…)? What database platform do you utilize?
•	How do you determine the initial database size? How do you adjust for actual and planned growth?
•	How much space is included in the standard offering for each environment?
•	What is the incremental cost for additional environments and/or space requirements?
	19	Storage/Database	Data Purge, Retention, Backup, Restore, and Recovery	•	Discuss your data archive, purge, and retention strategy as it relates to various tiers.
•	Discuss your backup, restore, and recovery strategy as it relates to various tiers.
•	What is provided as part of your standard offering?
•	Will our business be subject to mandatory purging and/or archival?
•	Complete Appendix A and B (please see below)
	20	Remote Hosting	Disaster/Recovery, Business Continuity	•	Discuss your Disaster/Recovery (DR) capabilities and architecture.
•	Do you have a business continuity template or initial plan?
•	How often do you test Disaster Recovery with each client?
•	What is the maximum data loss in the event of catastrophic system failure?
•	How long will the system be down (i.e., timing for switching over to secondary system/application and bringing it online)?
•	What are your SLA’s related to DR?
	21	Remote Hosting	Data Center Capabilities	•	Where is the data center located? If there are multiple, please specify primary, alternate(s)
•	Is the data center owned or leased?
•	If leased, please provide details around agreement with 3rd party (including major terms and expiration dates).
•	Who manages and maintains the data center?
•	Is the data center secure? How do you maintain security? Please detail and address following areas at a minimum:
o	Network Security
o	Server Security
o	Application Security
o	Physical Security
o	Database Security
o	Data/Information Security (Personal Identifying Information - PII)
o	Operating System Security
o	Shared versus Dedicated Environments
	22	Remote Hosting	System/Application Availability	•	Describe what system availability guarantees you offer and the costs associated
•	How do you backup your guarantee? What are the consequences of not meeting the guarantee?
•	Define how the guarantee applies to all hosted applications, systems, and/or tiers
•	Do you currently offer High Availability (HA)? If so, please provide separately the options and costs-related
•	If no, do you have any plans to offer HA within the next two years? If yes, please provide as much details as possible.
	23	Remote Hosting	Audit and Compliance	•	Please describe in detail what type of auditing (SAS 70, SSAE 16, SOC 1, 2, or 3, etc.…) you adhere to.
•	Please provide the dates and types of your most recent audits (if more than one type) and who they were conducted by.
•	Detail any major deficiencies that were identified and how they were remedied.
•	Please describe your audit schedule and when your next audits will be conducted?
•	When was the most recent 3rd party audit performed and can you provide the results to CCC?
	24	Remote Hosting	Maintenance	•	Provide a schedule of your data center maintenance schedule for the upcoming calendar year and include planned system downtime/durations
•	Discuss unplanned maintenance:
o	Process
o	Communication to CCC
o	Alerts
o	RCA – Root Cause Analysis
	25	Remote Hosting	Monitoring	•	What monitoring tools do you offer?
•	Which tiers/areas are monitored?
o	Hardware System Availability
o	System Connectivity Availability
o	Communication Protocol Delivery
o	Network Reliability and Performance
o	Operating System Availability
o	Database Access Availability
o	OLTP Performance
o	Batch Processing Performance
o	Other
•	Please describe the alert process and timing
•	What is the demarcation point (vendor/CCC)?
•	Does your monitoring extend to CCC? Are there additional costs for the end-to-end monitoring?
•	What access will you provide to CCC (dashboard, reports, etc.…) and what is the frequency of updates?
•	Discuss what tools and/or applications do you utilize to ensure maximum system availability?
•	How do you proactively identify potential issues?
	26	Remote Hosting	Infrastructure Architecture	•	Describe the physical hardware environment and architecture, including servers, storage, and software you will utilize and/or provide as part of the agreement. Please diagram the initial state, as well as what it might look like based on the 5-year growth projections.
•	Please clearly differentiate which resources/tiers are dedicated to CCC versus what will be shared with other organizations
•	Do you utilize virtualization? Please explain.
•	What capital upgrades are you undertaking or plan to make within the next two years? How will this impact the agreement and costs?
•	How do you maintain a current system (latest patches, releases, hardware/software, etc.) – Please discuss CCC versus Vendor roles, responsibilities, and costs.
	27	Security	Various tiers - Access, Roles	•	Explain how you provision users and restrict access for various tiers by roles and responsibility (authorization)?
•	Do you have the capability to import user access roles from other systems?
	28	Security	LDAP/AD, Single Sign-on (SSO)	•	Discuss your system’s ability to utilize LDAP or AD to authenticate and/or authorize? Is this delivered or does it have to be built?
•	Discuss examples of single sign-on (SSO) capabilities to provide seamless user access as they transition between multiple systems and/or applications
	29	Security	Database security	•	Explain how highly confidential data is maintained and encrypted during storage
	30	Security	Data Center/Physical Security	•	Provide an overview of your data center and its operations and controls
•	Discuss physical security to limit unauthorized access to that data center
	31	Security	Intrusion Detection/Virus	•	What safeguards are in place to prevent malicious 3rd party attacks and intrusion?
•	Do you have automated logging for all application activity?
•	How do you ensure that your system is current to prevent all malware?
•	How does your application prevent threats such as SQL injection?
	32	Security	General	•	What security logs does the host provider maintain and which tiers?
•	Upon request, the vendor needs to provide CCC access to security logs
•	What security standards and methods are utilized (SSL/VPN Tunnel, Antivirus, Encryption, etc.)
•	The vendor shall provide applicable Service Organization Reports (SOC II type 1 and 2) or complete the CCC Audit Checklist if it does not perform SOC testing
	33	Data Security/Risk	Open Data Source	•	Do you use open data sources in our application?
•	How do you ensure security?
•	How do you ensure stability (i.e., adjust for 3rd party changes)
•	How do you use open data sources?
	34	Implementation	SDLC – Methodology	•	Discuss your implementation methodology – What are the phases, tasks, responsibilities, and deliverables
•	Discuss your post-implementation activities and support as part of the standard offering
	35	Implementation	Preliminary Project Plan	•	Provide a preliminary project plan for CCC taking into consideration our requirements (with assumptions). Include major milestones and key deliverables
	36	Implementation	Project Charter and other deliverables	•	As appropriate, provide a sample charter and some representative project deliverables
	37	Implementation	Vendor Tasks/Responsibilities	•	What are the high-level tasks required of CCC and the vendor?
	38	Implementation	Change Management, Training, Communications	•	Is change management included in your standard offering? Discuss your change management strategy, responsibilities, dependencies, and tasks
•	Is communication included in your standard offering? Discuss your communication strategy, responsibilities, dependencies, and tasks
•	Is training included in your standard offering? Discuss your training strategy, responsibilities, dependencies, and tasks
•	What post-implementation training do you provide and to what audience? How often are the classes? Where are they located? What training options are available? Who conducts the training?
	39	Ongoing Maintenance	Project/Application Documentation	•	What documentation do you provide for the project implementation and ongoing use?
	40	Ongoing Maintenance	Upgrades, Releases, Patches	•	What is the most current release? When was it first available? When is the next release scheduled? What is currently included in the next release?
•	What major functionality or bug/fixes are you currently planning to implement in the future?
•	Describe the process for customers to provide input into your future releases
•	Discuss your patch, upgrade, and release strategy and address the following: Frequency, Time to Apply, Roles and Responsibilities, Dependencies, Testing, Contingency/Rollback, etc.…
•	Describe your process for providing release notes (timing, formats, content)?
•	Discuss how a change (configuration or customization) moves from request, development, testing, and production.
•	Describe your change control and version control process.
•	Describe what is included in your maintenance agreement as it relates to application/system bug/fixes.
	41	Ongoing Maintenance	Support/Call Center - Response, Resolution, Escalations, Hand-off (CCC and Vendor) - SLAs	•	Provide a sample Service Level Agreement document specifying response and resolution times for Production/Non-Production (based on various severities/priorities/tiered support)
•	Complete Appendix C, (see at the end of the questions)

•	How do you adjust your employee resources for peak times?
•	Describe your help desk support activities and process. How would you coordinate with CCC’S centralized Service Desk?
•	Are there penalties if SLAs are not met? Describe.
•	Describe the support team (work location, offshore/offsite, working hours, etc.)
	42	Ongoing Maintenance	Warranties	•	What do you warranty as part of your standard offering?
	43	Ongoing Maintenance	Availability: System, Application, Network, Servers, etc.…	•	Discuss your guaranteed application and system availability (percentage)
•	Discuss your planned outages (address all tiers)
•	How flexible is your maintenance windows, and can it be integrated and/or coordinated with CCC?
	44	Other	Web 3.0 capabilities	•	List and describe your Web 3.0 capabilities? Provide examples.
	45	Other	Scalability - Various Tiers	•	Describe how your architecture (system resources) supports peak times and considers various concurrent activities (online, batch, services, reporting, etc.)
•	Provide your performance SLA’s and describe the process, impact, and timing to scale (planned and unplanned)
	46	Other	Smart/Mobile Device Capabilities	•	Does your application support smart and/or mobile devices? Can you provide examples?
	47	Other	Stress/Performance assurances/peak times	•	Discuss your strategies for performance/stress testing to ensure maximum system efficiency during normal and peak times
•	How do you ensure adequate network bandwidth?
	48	Other	Additional software licenses	•	Is there specific 3rd party software required for your application?
	49	Other	Client hardware/software/version requirements	•	Detail specific client workstation and/or software versions and requirements (e.g., web browsers, desktop memory, display resolution, etc.)
	50	Government Regulations	HIPPA, SOX, FERPA, GDPR, Security, Data Retention	•	With which government requirements/mandates do you comply (HIPPA, ADA, Section 508, FERPA, GDPR, etc.)?
•	Clearly delineate between Vendor and CCC responsibility as it relates to compliance with government law, regulations, contracts, etc.
	51	Legal	Electronic Signatures	•	Discuss if and/or how your application utilizes and facilitates electronic signatures. Provide an example.
	52	Value-added		•	Provide a listing of all Vendor value-added offerings.

Example of offerings:

o	Account Management
o	Advisory Services
o	Database and Server administration, Tuning, Monitoring, Capacity Planning, or Performance
o	Third Party Integration Support
o	Programming and Customization Services
o	Extra environments
o	Extra storage
o	Licenses
o	Additional Tools
o	Training
o	Other
	53	Legal	Exit agreements (tasks/responsibilities)/ Data agreements	Contractual:
•	Please describe in detail the policies and procedures for termination of services, including any fees, charges or penalties.
•	Please discuss ownership of data and transfer of data back to CCC in the event of termination
•	Please provide a high-level plan that details tasks, responsibilities, and time/duration guarantee
•	What is your policy on maintaining, securing, and distributing (internal/external) CCC data
•	In addition, describe your policies and procedures for the disposition of CCC data on devices not returned to CCC.
	54	Legal	Data sharing/Ownership agreements	Contractual:
•	Please discuss ownership of data and transfer of data and explain the sharing agreements.
	55	other	WCAG 2.2, Level AAA or higher	Describe how you comply with the government requirements/mandates of Web Content accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA higher? Please discuss Accessibility Conformance Documentation with the guidelines WCAG 2.2 AA. If any accessibility gaps are identified, provide a remediation plan. What will be your procedures for providing ongoing updates and resubmitting Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates(VPAT)As accessibility regulations and standards evolve, CCC reserves the right to update its requirements to align with the most current version of WCAG or other applicable federal and state accessibility standards. Compliance with updated standards will be required as a condition for product renewals, extension, or re-bids.

Appendices A, B, C

CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO

RFP #NC2527 - ONLINE BOOKSTORE OPERATIONS

Due Date: December 1, 2025 no later than 12:00pm (CDT)

APPENDICES A, B and C

Proposer's Name

Appendix A: Backup
	Description	Timing, e.g. Daily, weekly, monthly etc.
Baseline	Pre-Production Image
Daily Incremental Files	Data changes during the period all tiers all environments
Full Data Files	All resident data files all tiers all environments
Applications	All application files (full data files including cold backups)
Operating System	All O/S configuration files – all tiers all environments
Database	All database – all tiers all environments.
Fall Back Copy	At request of the Board when a change is made to a the Board system a copy will be made before the change.

Appendix B: Retention
Description	Retention Period
Baseline
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Annual
Key Calendar Dates

Appendix C: Support
Environment	Priority	Tech Response Time
Production	High
Production	Medium
Production	Low
Development/Test	High
Development/Test	Medium
Development/Test	Low

FEE-Cost Proposal

CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO

RFP #NC2527 - ONLINE BOOKSTORE OPERATIONS

Due Date: December 1, 2025 no later than 12:00pm (CDT)

FEE/COST PROPOSAL

Proposer's Name

Having carefully examined the scope of services, requirements, and conditions affecting this Request for Proposal, the Proposer shall provide a Fee/Cost Proposal in which the Proposer will perform the services requested. Your proposal must identify and detail all other pricing structures, costs, or fees (i.e., licensing, professional/consulting services, on-going maintenance, etc.)

(The book prices charged under this contract shall be determined on a cost-plus fixed fee basis. Please indicate the percent fixed fee.

Please list illustrative prices for the following sampling of books/custom packages, as well as associated shipping costs. If the ISBN has been superseded by a new edition, please indicate that effect in your proposal and provide pricing for the new ISBN.

Book Cost
ISBN	New	Used	Rental (Semester)	Digital (eBook)	New + Digital (eBook)	Next Day Delivery	2 Day Delivery	5‐7 Day Delivery
9780357700037
9781323902868
9781680048865
9780133764185
9781337738286
9781285858166
9780133944112
9780357700044
9780135780275
9781260095470
9781260412970
9781265455644
9780138029999
9780321199911
9780137551224
9781260408195
9780135903575
9781264450411
9780135308714

Materials Cost
Product Category Student Materials	Discount Percent (%) off Publisher list Price	Markup (%) on student materials/Supplies	Other Cost
Educational Related Audio and Visual product
Art Supplies
Medical program
Uniforms
General School Supplies
Industry items as requested by faculty
Other (describe other proposed catalog items)
Proposer must include with cost proposal, all freight costs associated with the shipment of various quantities of textbooks and related educational products.
Optional: Having carefully examined the Scope of Service, Requirements and Conditions affecting this Request for Proposal, the undersigned proposes the following commission program/financial benefit for CCC related to online bookstore sales. CCC is open to non-traditional arrangements that the Proposer may define here.

Describe:

Spirit Store

Having carefully examined the Scope of Service, Requiremets, and Conditions affecting this Request for Proposal, the undersigned proposes to operate spirit store locations for the following proposed base rent/franchise fee and/or commissions arrangement.

Base Rent/Franchise Fee Flat Payment Proposal (describe):

AND / OR

If you are not proposing commissions to CCC, please indicate “N/A” below.

Product Category	Commission % to CCC
Lab Coats
Medical Supplies
General School Supplies
Calculators
Flash drives
Note cards
Notebooks
Pens
Art Supplies
Various spirit and promotional wear items: T- shirts, Sweatshirts, Polos, among other items
Various spirit and promotional product items: laptop bags, drawstring bags, caps, hats, pens, portfolios, among other items
Other (describe)

Other Costs (detail and itemize):

Please detail the cost of your services, identifying all costs, including one-time fees, recurring fees, subscription/ license costs, etc.

validation data

Yes

Partial

Yes

File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated Oct 29, 2025.