5-Project Management for ERP Implementation.docx

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Project Management Services for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementation Solicitation #: DB27-005

This Request for Proposals (RFP), having been determined to be the appropriate procurement method to provide the best value to the Granite School District (“GSD” or “District”). The RFP is designed to provide interested offerors with sufficient basic information to submit proposals meeting minimum requirements but 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. GSD will not be liable for any costs proposers may incur in the preparation or presentation of this proposal.

No contact is to be had with any district employees or Board of Education members during the RFP process through contract award regarding the RFP. Contact is to be made through the Purchasing Department only.

This RFP is issued in accordance with 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 firm to provide project management services for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. It is anticipated that this RFP may result in a contract award to a single contractor.

BACKGROUND

Granite School District is a large school district located in Salt Lake County, Utah. GSD serves over 52,000 students across 84 campuses. GSD has been using the current ERP system for over 30 years. GSD is seeking proposals from qualified, specialized project management firms to oversee, coordinate, and execute the implementation of an enterprise-wide software solution.

The project drivers for the new system include:

· The current ERP system is considered a legacy software solution, and the District is seeking to move to a cloud-based system.

· The industry trend is to provide access with web and app-based delivery models that are not available with the current ERP system.

· Leadership requires real-time data visibility and advanced analytics, which are currently heavily restricted or require intensive, custom programming to extract. District personnel find the information and capability of the current ERP system limited, which significantly increases the time it takes for new employees to be productive.

· As a result of current limitations to functionality and access to data, District personnel have developed workaround processes that are impacting business and are difficult to support.

· Ecosystem interoperability is severely constrained, rendering modern third-party software integrations technically prohibitive, limited, or completely unavailable.

Features the District is interested in implementing include:

The selected firm will function as the master project integrator, bridging cross-functional lines between Human Resources, Budget/Finance, Payroll, and Information Technology (IT) to ensure standard-setting, timely and within-budget completion of critical platform initiatives.

I. ISSUING OFFICE AND RFP REFERENCE NUMBER

The District’s Purchasing Department is the issuing office for this document and all subsequent addenda relating to it, on behalf of the Business Services Department. The reference number for the transaction is Solicitation #: DB27-005. This number must be referred to on all proposals, correspondence, and documentation relating 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(52), RFP, or Request for Proposals, as defined in 63G-6a-103(70) and the procurement shall be conducted subject to the provisions of 63G-6a-701-707.5

II. LENGTH OF CONTRACT AND PERFORMANCE REVIEW

The Contract resulting from this RFP will be for duration of project implementation and up to six (6) months after the “Go Live” date.

The District 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 term of the contract.

III. PRICE GUARANTEE PERIOD

All pricing must be guaranteed for the length of the project. Following the guarantee period, any request for price adjustment must be for an equal guarantee period and must be made at least 30 days prior to the effective date. Requests for price adjustment must include sufficient documentation supporting the request. Any adjustment or amendment to the contract will not be effective unless approved by the Director of Purchasing. Granite School District will be given the immediate benefit of any decrease in the market, or allowable discount.

IV. 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 (see Attachment A). Exceptions and or additions to the District’s Standard Terms and Conditions are strongly discouraged.

Exceptions and additions to the Standard 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, not in the best interest of the District, negotiations could result in excessive costs to the state, or could adversely impact existing time constraints.

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

V. DETAILED SCOPE OF WORK

The firm will be required to deliver the following artifacts and measurable outcomes throughout the contract period:

Phase I: Planning & Needs Assessment

· Comprehensive Master Project Plan: A full-scale project charter detailing defined scope, cross-departmental targets, work breakdown structures (WBS), and resource allocation matrices.

· Risk Log & Mitigation Framework: A dynamic matrix identifying potential implementation risks, security considerations, and structured contingency plans.

· Communication & Data-Sharing Protocols: A formal communication plan detailing standard routing, data alignment schedules, and technical expectations between the district and the software vendors.

· Comprehensive Needs Assessment: An assessment report of functional requirements for a replacement ERP application. This will include developing a comprehensive understanding of current District enterprise resource planning applications and technologies.

· Master Implementation Schedule & Tracking Framework: A comprehensive, milestone-driven chronological timeline detailing critical paths, phase dependencies, and a dynamic progress-monitoring mechanism to track schedule variance and project velocity.

Phase II: Development of Request for Proposal (RFP), Vendor Selection and Readiness Assessment

· Request for Proposal Document: Assist with 1) development of a Request for Proposal document based upon an agreed procurement strategy with the District’s Procurement Department, 2) participate in the competitive procurement process for selection of the qualified vendor and ERP solution, and 3) develop a readiness project plan.

· Contract Development: Assist with contract negotiations with the selected vendor, and assist with the preparation of documents for contract approval.

Phase III: Project Management for Implementation and Installation of the ERP System

· Overall Project Management Oversight: Provide overall project management during the complete implementation phase, alongside the District Subject Matter Experts (SME’s).

· Main Expectations of Project Manager During Implementation Phase:

· Oversee data conversion/migration monitoring

· Identify project risk and issues

· Provide recommendations to mitigate risk

· User acceptance testing

· End-user training

· Change management

· Project closeout and post-implementation support for the new system

· Project Manager Responsibilities:

· Managing, leading, and coaching the project team

· Manage the interoperability of the components between ERP Software and other systems currently utilized

· Provide technical expertise and support during the selection process for the elements of the ERP Software

· Assist in contract negotiations with ERP Software vendors

· Develop the project implementation strategy, project budget, and project standards, along with the vendor’s project plan and schedule

· Generate, manage, and track all project documentation (including sharing with the ERP Steering Committee)

· Manage resources to ensure the project is on schedule, on budget, contains the full project scope, and has met the quality expectations laid out for the project deliverables

· Obtain user understanding and commitment to established goals and work plan; providing executive management with a validation to that commitment

· Verify and approve project deliverables

· Identify risk and issues and provide recommendations to mitigate risk

· Define and adhere to “Checkpoints” and “Milestones” during the course of the project

· Manage project level issues to resolution

· Manage and filter issues for elevation to the project team

· Advise Steering Committee immediately of any significant setbacks in the project plan

· Proposing and implementing remedial actions to ensure the project “stays on course” to established completion dates

· Work with appropriate department heads to assign inter-departmental resources as needed

· Communicate project status to the project team and other stakeholders

· Acquire, assign, and maintain oversight of project resources and facilities

· Oversee the development of training materials

· Oversee change management activities

· Cultivate the development of a single harmonious project group involving all of the members of the Software firm’s Project Manager, Implementation Consultant, and the District

· Daily liaison with vendor staff and District project team

· Sequence and schedule tasks for each module

· Provide weekly status reports to the project team

VI. COMPANY QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

To ensure the selected firm possesses the highly specialized enterprise capabilities required by a large public educational agency, proposers must meet the following mandatory minimum requirements at the time of submission:

· Demonstrated K-12 Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of experience providing primary project management or oversight for ERP/large-scale software rollouts within public school districts or equivalent large-scale public agencies (serving 40,000+ students or 5,000+ employees).

· Personnel Credentials: Lead personnel assigned directly to the district must hold active, industry-recognized professional credentials in project management, such as a Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI) or a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).

· Designate a single, dedicated Lead Project Manager to our account for the duration of the project, and the Lead Project Manager must hold the required PMP or CSM credential.

· Technical Literacy: Proven operational knowledge of ERP architectures, system integration techniques, corporate business intelligence utilities, governmental fund accounting, and specialized tracking applications.

· Local Mobility: Team capability to accommodate on-site meetings and travel between the district administration offices and various school locations as required.

VII. ANTICIPATED SOLICITATION TIMELINE

VIII. QUESTIONS

All questions must be submitted through the Utah Public Procurement Place (“U3P”). Answers will be given via the U3P site.

IX. PROPOSAL RESPONSE FORMAT

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

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

Tab 1. Executive Summary. The one or two page executive summary is to briefly describe the offeror's proposal. This summary should highlight the major features of the proposal. It must indicate any requirements that cannot be met by the offeror. The reader should be able to determine the essence of the proposal by reading the executive summary. Protected information requests should be identified in this section.

Tab 2. Detailed Response. This section should constitute the major portion of the proposal and must contain at least the following information:

1. A complete narrative of the offeror's assessment of the work to be performed, the offeror’s ability and approach, and the resources necessary to fulfill the requirements. This should demonstrate the offeror's understanding of the desired overall performance expectations. Clearly indicate any options or alternatives proposed.

2. A specific point-by-point response, in the order listed, to each requirement in the RFP. In this response, the vendor will clearly outline how they will meet contract expectations.

Tab 3. Protected Information. All protected information must be included in this section of proposal response. Do not incorporate protected information throughout the proposal. Rather, provide a reference in the proposal response directing reader to the specific area of this Protected Information section.

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:

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).

If you submit a proposal containing confidential information you must submit an electronic “redacted” (excluding protected information) copy of your proposal response. Copy must clearly be marked “Redacted Version.”

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:

https://purchasing.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/Claim-of-Business-Confidentiality-Updated.pdf 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 3 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 Granite School District. 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.

X. 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.

XI. SUBMITTING YOUR PROPOSAL

Proposals must be received by the posted due date and time. Proposals received after the deadline will be late and ineligible for consideration.

Proposals must be received electronically through U3P or in hard copy. If submitting in hard copy for this RFP, one original and two identical copies of your proposal must be received at Granite School District Purchasing Department, 2500 S. State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84115.

All submitted proposals will consist of both a cost proposal and a technical proposal. For the electronic proposal submission you should attach one document in U3P, a document titled “Technical Proposal”.

When submitting a proposal electronically through U3P, please allow sufficient time to complete the online forms and upload documents. The solicitation will end at the closing time listed in the RFP. If you are in the middle of uploading your proposal at the closing time, the system will stop the process and your proposal will not be received by the system.

Electronic proposals may require uploading of electronic attachments. U3P’s site will accept a wide variety of document types as attachments. However, the District is unable to view certain documents. Therefore, you MAY NOT submit documents that are embedded (zip files), movies, wmp, and mp3 files. All documents must be attached as separate files.

NOTICE: By submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, 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 content of the RFP must be protested to the purchasing agent prior to the closing date and time for submission of the proposal.

XII. PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA

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

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

XIII. DISCUSSIONS WITH OFFERORS (ORAL PRESENTATION)

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 the submission of proposals. Oral presentations will be made at the offerors expense.

XIV. SHORTLIST

Unless there is a successful offeror based on the initial review of the responses, the evaluation committee will develop a shortlist of the highest scoring offerors based on the stated criteria. To be included on the short list an offeror must have a total score of no less 70% in the technical criteria. Vendors with a score lower than a 70% will not be considered further in the evaluation. The shortlist of offerors may be asked to prepare a presentation and/or provide additional information prior to the final selection.

XV. 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. Vendors who score more than 70% in the technical criteria will move onto cost evaluation and then award negotiations.

COST PROPOSAL FORM

GRANITE SCHOOL DISTRICT

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Project Management Services for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementation Solicitation # DB27-005 Score will be assigned as follows:

1 = Poor, inadequate, fails to meet requirement 2 = Fair, only partially responsive 3 = Good, meets minimum requirement 4 = Very Good, exceeds minimum requirement 5 = Excellent

Firm Name:

Evaluator:

Date:

Score (0-5) Weight

Points

X7

X5

X4

Total

*Purchasing will use the following cost formula: The points assigned to each offerors cost proposal will be based on the lowest proposal price. The offeror with the lowest Proposed Price will receive 100% of the price points. All other offerors will receive a portion of the total cost points based on what percentage higher their Proposed Price is than the Lowest Proposed Price. The formula to compute the points is: Cost Points x (Proposed Price/Lowest Proposed Price).

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