30DOE-S1884 RFP~2.docx

STATE OF NEVADA

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION

Purchasing Division 515 East Musser Street, Suite 300 │ Carson City, NV 89701 Phone: 775-684-0170 │ Fax: 775-684-0188

Request for Proposal: 30DOE-S1884 For College and Career Readiness Assessment

Release Date: 02/01/2022 Deadline for Submission and Opening Date and Time: 03/14/2022@ 2:00 pm Refer to Proposal Timeline and Submission Requirements for complete RFP schedule and submission instructions

Single point of contact for the RFP:

Joel Smedes, Purchasing Officer Phone, 775-684-0172 Email Address, j.smedes@admin.nv.gov

(TTY for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, 800-326-6868 Ask the relay agent to dial, 1-775-515-5173/V.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROCUREMENT

All applicable Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) and Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) documentation can be found at: www.leg.state.nv.us/law1.cfm.

Prospective vendors are advised to review Nevada’s ethical standards requirements, including but not limited to NRS 281A, NRS 333.800, and NAC 333.155.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The State of Nevada Purchasing Division, on behalf of the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) Student Achievement Division is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to administer a College and Career Readiness Assessment to all students enrolled in Grade 11.

This vendor will deliver and support this assessment and complete the necessary development, administration, scoring, and reporting services for the assessment as described in the scope of work and attachments.

This is a multi-year project, and the initial term of the contract will be for Four (4) years, the two (2) biennia: Fiscal Years (FY) 2023 - FY 2024 and FY 2025 – FY2026 as per Nevada Legislative Budget Cycle. Option to extend this agreement for the next biennium FY 2027 – FY 2028 will be upon the mutual consent of both parties and in accordance with state policy. The potential entire term of this contract is six (6) fiscal years. Proposal should include detailed cost proposals for each of the contract years, with projected budgets for contracts years beyond FY 2026.

The State intends to award one (1) contract in conjunction with this Request for Proposals (RFP), as determined in the best interests of the State. NDE shall administer contract(s) resulting from this RFP. The resulting contract(s) are expected to be for a contract term of four (4) years, with an option to extend for two (2) additional years, if agreed upon by both parties and in the best interests of the State, subject to the State Board of Education and Board of Examiners approval.

AGENCY BACKGROUND

The Nevada Department of Education is an executive state agency that works to provide comprehensive pre-K-12 programs and supports. NDE develops and implements education policy, conducts educator licensure, and supports students, families, schools, educators, and districts via programmatic and technical supports. This work supports our mission to improve student achievement and educator effectiveness by ensuring opportunities, facilitating learning, and promoting excellence.

See the Nevada Department of Education website for agency organization and functional units, office locations, and staffing.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

This College and Career Readiness Assessment must provide data and information to each student who takes the assessment in a manner that will allow the student to review the areas of his or her academic strengths and weaknesses, including, without limitation, areas where additional work in the subject areas tested on the assessment is necessary to prepare for college and career success without the need for remediation. This assessment must also allow teachers and other educational personnel to use the results of a student on the assessment to provide appropriate interventions for the student to prepare for college and career success.

The College and Career Readiness Assessment must be a comprehensive, valid, and reliable, holistic, and creative solution. Vendors are encouraged to provide information on related products or assessments that enhance the achievement of students in high school and provide multiple indicators of readiness for college and careers. Vendors are also encouraged to provide information concerning how teachers and other personnel can use the timely results of a student’s assessment to provide appropriate interventions for a successful transition out of high school at the classroom level, the school district level, the state level, and for parents and families. Vendors should demonstrate that the assessment is in alignment with the Nevada Academic Content Standards and should highlight any additional value of the assessment (such as acceptance as a college entrance exam, uses in regard to higher education remediation, or other benefits).

The vendor must deliver and support the College and Career Readiness Assessment in the manner that reflects large-scale assessment industry best practices in accordance with the “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing” (2014).

The vendor must include a data interaction reporting tool that Department Staff and other educational personnel can use to view student assessment results. This tool must have functionality to make student, school, district, subpopulation, and subgroup aggregations and comparisons.

Nevada's system of K-12 public education is comprised of 17 local School Districts and a Public State Charter School Authority. The assessment must be administered at the same time within each district high school or charter school, but each individual district and charter school have the option of selecting a different testing window. It is estimated that approximately 37,000 students will take the assessment each year, with that number likely to steadily increase with annual enrollment growth.

The vendor must deliver and support a College and Career Readiness Assessment with supports and accommodations to meet the needs of all students, including, but not limited to, English Learners and Students with Disabilities.

The vendor must deliver and support a College and Career Readiness Assessment that provides Individual Student Reports that are readily understood by the widest variety of education stakeholders including parents, guardians, caregivers, and students. The vendor must provide communication in a format that meets the needs of all stakeholders including student and parent directed communication and communication directed to the SEA, the LEAs, site administrators and all personnel involved with the assessment at any phase (pre-, during-, post-assessment). Communication directed at stakeholders would be minimally available in the English and Spanish languages.

Vendors should see the Nevada Revised Statute 390.610 that requires the State Board of Education to select College and Career Readiness Assessment for Grade 11. Vendors must provide documentation on how the solution fulfills all federal reporting requirements by the SEA.

SCOPE OF WORK

See SCOPE OF WORK attachment

ATTACHMENTS

ATTACHMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE.

Scope of Work Terms and Conditions for Services Federal Laws and Authorities

ATTACHMENTS FOR REVIEW. To be read and not returned (unless redlining).

Contract Form Insurance Schedule Data Sharing Agreement

PROPOSAL ATTACHMENTS. To be completed and returned.

Proposed Staff Resume Reference Questionnaire Attachments for Signature

Vendor Information Response Vendor Certifications Certification Regarding Lobbying Confidentiality and Certification of Indemnification

PROPOSAL TIMELINE

All questions regarding this RFP shall be submitted using the Bid Q&A feature in NevadaEPro by the deadline below.

The following represents the proposed timeline for this project.

All times stated are Pacific Time (PT).

These dates represent a tentative schedule of events.

The State reserves the right to modify these dates at any time.

PROPOSAL EVALUATION PROCESS

Proposal evaluation and scoring is conducted in accordance with NRS 333.335 and NAC 333.160-333.165.

Proposals shall be kept confidential until a contract is awarded.

In the event the RFP is withdrawn prior to award, proposals remain confidential.

The evaluation committee is an independent committee established to evaluate and score proposals submitted in response to the RFP.

Financial stability shall be scored on a pass/fail basis.

Proposals shall be consistently evaluated and scored based upon the following factors and relative weights.

Cost proposals will be evaluated based on the following formula.

Cost Factor Weight x (Lowest Cost Submitted by a Vendor / Proposer Total Cost) = Cost Score

Presentations

Following the evaluation and scoring process specified above, the State may require vendors to make a presentation of their proposal to the evaluation committee or other State staff, as applicable.

The State, at its option, may limit participation in vendor presentations to vendors above a natural break in the relative scores from technical and cost scores.

Following the presentations, the combined technical, cost, and presentation scores will become the final score for a proposal.

The State reserves the right to add additional criteria or presentations.

The State reserves the right to forego vendor presentations and select vendor(s) based on the written proposals submitted.

NEVADA-BASED BUSINESS PREFERENCE

The State awards a five percent (5%) preference to Nevada-based businesses pursuant to NRS 333.3351 to 333.3356, inclusive.

Nevada-based business is defined in NRS 333.3352(1).

The term ‘principal place of business’ has the meaning outlined by the United States Supreme Court in Hertz Corp v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77 (2010), typically meaning a business’s corporate headquarters.

To claim this preference a vendor must indicate it on their vendor account and submitted Quote in NevadaEPro.

This preference cannot be combined with any other preference, granted for the award of a contract using federal funds, or granted for the award of a contract procured on a multi-state basis.

INVERSE PREFERENCE

The State applies an inverse preference to vendors that have a principal place of business in a state other than Nevada and that state applies an in-state preference not afforded to Nevada based vendors, pursuant to AB28 passed in the 81st session of the Nevada Legislature.

The amount of the inverse preference is correlated to the amount of preference applied in the other state.

Vendors who meet this criterion must indicated it on their submitted Quote in NevadaEPro.

This preference cannot be combined with any other preference, granted for the award of a contract using federal funds, or granted for the award of a contract procured on a multi-state basis.

MANDATORY MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Pursuant to NRS 333.311 a contact cannot be awarded to a proposal that does not comply with the requirements listed in this section.

NEVADA LAW AND STATE INDEMNITY. Pursuant to SB 445 of the 81st Session of the Nevada Legislature, any contract that is entered into may not: (1) Require the filing of any action or the arbitration of any dispute that arises from the contract to be instituted or heard in another state or nation; or (2) Require the State to indemnify another party against liability for damages.

NO BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL. Pursuant to NRS 333.338, the State of Nevada cannot enter a contract with a company unless that company agrees for the duration of the contract not to engage in a boycott of Israel. By submitting a proposal or bid, vendor agrees that if it is awarded a contract it will not engage in a boycott of Israel as defined in NRS 333.338(3)(a).

INDEMNIFICATION. Confirm vendor agrees to comply with required contract terms on Indemnification: "To the fullest extent permitted by law, Contractor shall indemnify, hold harmless and defend, not excluding the State’s right to participate, the State from and against all liability, claims, actions, damages, losses, and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, arising out of any breach of the obligations of Contractor under this contract, or any alleged negligent or willful acts or omissions of Contractor, its officers, employees and agents. Contractor’s obligation to indemnify the State shall apply in all cases except for claims arising solely from the State’s own negligence or willful misconduct. Contractor waives any rights of subrogation against the State. Contractor’s duty to defend begins when the State requests defense of any claim arising from this Contract."

LIMITED LIABILITY. Confirm vendor agrees to comply with required contract terms on Limited Liability: "The State will not waive and intends to assert available NRS Chapter 41 liability limitations in all cases. Contract liability of both parties shall not be subject to punitive damages. Damages for any State breach shall never exceed the amount of funds appropriated for payment under this Contract, but not yet paid to Contractor, for the Fiscal Year budget in existence at the time of the breach. Contractor’s tort liability shall not be limited."

CONTRACT RESPONSIBILITY. Awarded vendor shall be the sole point of contract responsibility. The State shall look solely to the awarded vendor for the performance of all contractual obligations which may result from an award based on this RFP, and the awarded vendor shall not be relieved for the non-performance of any or all subcontractors.

DATA ENCRYPTION. Confirm vendor will comply with State IT requirement that data be encrypted in transit and in rest.

STATESIDE DATA. Confirm vendor will comply with State IT requirement that State data assets must be maintained stateside and data will not be held offshore.

NEVADA BUSINESS LICENSE. Pursuant to NRS 353.007, prior to contract execution awarded vendor must hold a State business license pursuant to NRS chapter 76 unless exempted by NRS 76.100(7)(b).

DISCLOSURE. Each vendor shall include in its proposal a complete disclosure of any alleged significant prior or ongoing contract failures, contract breaches, any civil or criminal litigation or investigations pending which involves the vendor or in which the vendor has been judged guilty or liable.

CRITICAL ITEMS

In addition to the Scope of Work and Attachments, the items listed in this section are critical to the success of the project. These items will be used in evaluating and scoring the proposal. Vendor proposal should address items in this section in enough detail to provide evaluators an accurate understanding of vendor capabilities. Proposals that fail to sufficiently respond to these items may be considered non-responsive.

CONTRACT FORM. The State strongly prefers vendors agree to the terms of the attached Contract Form as is. Ability to agree to contract terms is a high priority to the State. Vendors who cannot agree to the contract as is must include a redlined Word version of the attached Contract Form with their proposal response.

INSURANCE SCHEDULE

Confirm vendor will comply with attached Insurance Schedule. If not, please explain which areas are causing non-compliance and attach a red line if necessary.

Awarded vendor shall maintain, for the duration of the contract, insurance coverages as set forth in the fully executed contract.

Work on the contract shall not begin until after the awarded vendor has submitted acceptable evidence of the required insurance coverages.

Failure to maintain any required insurance coverage or acceptable alternative method of insurance shall be deemed a breach of contract.

VENDOR BACKGROUND

Company background/history and why vendor is qualified to provide the services described in this RFP.

Provide a brief description of the length of time vendor has been providing services described in this RFP to the public and/or private sector.

VENDOR STAFF RESUMES

A resume shall be included for each proposed key personnel, see Proposed Staff Resume.

A resume shall also be included for any proposed key subcontractor personnel.

SUBCONTRACTORS

Subcontractors are defined as a third party, not directly employed by the contractor, who shall provide services identified in this RFP. This does not include third parties who provide support or incidental services to the contractor.

Proposal should include a completed Vendor Information Response form for each subcontractor.

Vendor shall not allow any subcontractor to commence work until all insurance required of the subcontractor is provided to the vendor.

Vendor proposal shall identify specific requirements of the project for which each subcontractor shall perform services.

How the work of any subcontractor(s) shall be supervised How channels of communication shall be maintained How compliance with contracts terms and conditions will be assured Previous experience with subcontractor(s)

VENDOR FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The information requested in this section is designated as confidential business information by the Administrator pursuant to NRS 333.020(5)(b) and is not public information pursuant to NRS 333.333.

This information should be submitted as a separate attachment, flagged as confidential in NevadaEPro.

Proposing vendor shall provide the following financial information and documentation:

Dun and Bradstreet Number Federal Tax Identification Number The last two (2) full years and current year interim:

1. Profit and Loss Statements

2. Balance Statements

BUSINESS REFERENCES

The information requested in this section is designated as confidential business information by the Administrator pursuant to NRS 333.020(5)(b) and is not public information pursuant to NRS 333.333.

Vendors shall provide a minimum of three (3) business references from similar projects performed for private and/or public sector clients within the last five (5) years, see Reference Questionnaire.

The purpose of these references is to document relevant experience and aid in the evaluation process.

Business references should return Reference Questionnaire directly to Single Point of Contact via email.

Business references will not be accepted directly from proposing vendor.

The State will not disclose submitted references, but will confirm if a reference has been received.

The State reserves the right to contact references during evaluation.

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

This section identifies documents that shall be submitted to be considered responsive. Vendors are encouraged to review all RFP requirements to ensure all requested information is included in their response.

Proposals must be submitted as a Quote through NevadaEPro, https://NevadaEPro.com.

Vendors are encouraged to submit a single file attachment per proposal section if possible.

Technical proposal information and Cost proposal information shall not be included in the same attachment.

Cost proposal attachment shall not be flagged as confidential in NevadaEPro.

Additional attachments may be included, if necessary, but are discouraged and should be kept to a minimum.

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

Title Page Table of Contents Response to Mandatory Minimum Requirements Response to Critical Items Response to Scope of Work Proposed Staff Resumes Other Informational Material

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. If necessary. Attachment should be flagged confidential in NevadaEPro.

Title Page Table of Contents Trade Secret information, cross referenced to the technical proposal

COST PROPOSAL

VENDOR FINANCIAL INFORMATION. Attachment should be flagged confidential in NevadaEPro.

SIGNED ATTACHMENTS

Vendor Information Response Vendor Certifications Confidentiality and Certification of Indemnification Certification Regarding Lobbying

OTHER ATTACHMENTS. If necessary, not recommended.

REFERENCE QUESTIONNAIRES. Not submitted directly by vendor.

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