9-5410-002 RFP 27-0627E5-036 ONLINE INTERVENTION PROGRAM GR K-12 05.07.2026.pdf

BUFFALO PUBLIC SCHOOLS PROCUREMENT OFFERING

RFP 27-0627E5-036 ONLINE INTERVENTION PROGRAM GR K-12

Offering Summary

SUMMARY:

The purpose of this RFP is to provide the Buffalo Public Schools with a digital, rigorous, interactive, and adaptable intervention program which identifies students’ instructional needs in literacy. The literacy intervention must allow students to work independently at their own level of proficiency. BPS is searching for a comprehensive, integrated, full-featured program that uses a web-based platform and can be used on multiple devices in school or at home.

DESIGNATED CONTACTS:

Owner (Primary): Barbara Fassel, Director of Reading

Buyer (Copy To): Jason Giglio, Buyer, jrgiglio@buffaloschools.org

The dates specified on the timeline of this offering are subject to change via addendum

TIMELINE:

Release Date: 05/18/2026 8:00 AM Advertise Dates:

Questions Due*: 06/01/2026 4:00 PM - Website/BONFIRE 05/18/2026

Answers Posted: 06/05/2026 4:00 PM - Buffalo News 05/17/2026

Offering Closed: 06/15/2026 4:00 PM - Contract Reporter 05/18/2026

Presentations: TBD - Rocket 05/21/2026

Tentative Award: 08/01/2026 - Criterion 05/23/2026

Public Opening Time and Location: N/A

*Questions regarding this offering must be submitted via the online offering portal @ https://buffaloschools.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities

PROCUREMENT DATA:

Requisition: 3700247

BPS Commodity Code: 032I Software for Instruction

OFFERING DATA:

Dates are approximate and dependent upon the award date.

Initial Award & Contract Term: 07/01/2026 to 06/30/2027

Extensions: 5 possible 1 year extensions

Maximum Term End: 06/30/2032

OTHER OFFERING PARAMETERS:

Type of Offering: RFP

Basis of Award: Best value

Award may be split among respondents: NO

Award may be consolidated: NO

Subcontractors may be used: NO

Offering Summary

Insurance is required: YES

NYS DOL Prevailing Reference: N/A

Response Surety Required (“Bid Bond”) NO

Performance Bond Required: NO

Formal contract required: YES

Proposals valid for: 90 days past closing minimum

SUBMITTAL OPTIONS:

Please refer to the “Standard Terms, Conditions, and Disclaimers” document for more detailed instructions. Only one method of submittal should be used; mailed responses will be entered into the electronic portal by the BPS Purchase Department for evaluation/scoring purposes.

Submittals may be mailed OR submitted electronically per the instructions below:

Mailed or delivered responses must include two (2) printed copies and one (1) electronic copy.

Electronic submittal is ALLOWED (and encouraged) via BPS BONFIRE portal at:

https://buffaloschools.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=openOpportunities.

Technical assistance with submitting your response electronically is available by contacting the Buyer at the contact information listed on previous page.

Offering Specification

1) GENERAL INFORMATION

a. GENERAL DEFINITIONS: Please refer to “Standard Terms, Conditions, & Disclaimers”.

b. OFFERING SPECIFIC DEFINITIONS:

Scientifically Based Reading Research: In 2000, the National Reading Panel, made up of a variety of educational experts, put together a report that details the most important aspects of reading instruction. These five areas are phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Train the trainer (TOT) model: provide training to district coaches to turnkey back to staff at the building.

Science of Reading: A comprehensive, interdisciplinary body of over 50 years of research into how children learn to read and write.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part

99) is a 1974 U.S. federal law protecting the privacy of student education records. It applies to educational agencies and institutions receiving funds from the U.S. Department of Education.

c. VENDOR INFORMATION:

Qualified vendors are encouraged to submit a response for providing the goods and / or services described. If the vendor plans to subcontract any of the work described in the

Scope of Work the vendor must complete all response requirements for the subcontractor.

If a vendor plans a joint venture with another company and/or utilizes subcontractors, the vendor shall specify accordingly and complete all response requirements for each company involved in the offering response.

d. RESPONSES:

Any and all contracts awarded as a result of this offering are subject to the Terms &

Conditions stated in the offering. The submission of any other terms or conditions by a respondent may be cause for rejection of the response.

All responses should clearly state/include the following:

STANDARD REQUIREMENTS:

1. Completion of “Offering Questionnaire”, Question Set 1 “Standard Response

Requirements”.

2. Current Certificate of Liability Insurance.

3. Completed “Equal Employment Opportunity Employee Information Report”; form provided.

4. Signed “Non-Collusive Bidding Certification”; form provided.

5. Respondent must provide a list of at least three (3) client references and their contact information. References will be contacted at the sole discretion of the District.

6. Cost proposal in the requested format.

7. Optional items as required by responses to the “Offering Questionnaire”, including but not limited to:

a. “Disclosure Narrative”, any format.

b. “Debarment Narrative”, any format.

c. “Certifications” such as MBE/WBE/SDVOB

d. “Policy 5414 Compliance Narrative”, any format.

e. “Subcontractor Documentation”, any format.

f. “Anti-Lobbying Narrative”, any format.

8. Respondents may submit any other information they consider relevant to their response to this offering by using the “Other Vendor Information” document upload.

2) SCOPE OF WORK

Buffalo Public Schools currently serves approximately 30,000 kindergarten through grade 12 students. The District is seeking a digital literacy program that supports learning opportunities for struggling students based on the Science of Reading. Students will be provided with a device on which they will use this self-guided program to practice literacy skills. This program should be compatible with the district devices. The program should be interactive, engaging with grade appropriate content and should also be adaptive based on student needs as identified by an initial placement test or diagnostic. Students in grades K through 12 will be expected to use the program independent of a teacher as it will target skills rather than curriculum content.

Programmatic Requirements:

• Students are able to work independently within program resources

• Initial placement test or diagnostic that places students at the appropriate level for independent practice.

o Program is adaptive to meet student needs

• Program provides targeted development of literacy skills as identified:

o Phonemic Awareness o Phonics/Decoding o Fluency o Vocabulary o Comprehension

Reporting Requirements:

• Must provide capability for teachers to track student progress.

• Must provide reports for teachers to see student growth and areas of need for reinforcement.

Requirements for Meeting the needs of all learners:

• Must include text to speech capabilities.

• Must include age-appropriate content, despite literacy level.

• Must include an initial placement test or diagnostic assessment to provide targeted instruction and practice opportunities based on student results (examples include practice with phonemic awareness, phonics activities, etc.).

Technological Compatibility Requirements:

• Must include vendor updates to materials, software or program at no additional cost and provide information on how often content is updated.

• Must interoperate with student information systems currently used by BPS.

• Must be able to access the program on a home computer / device.

Professional Development Requirements:

• Vendor must provide a professional development plan both for the implementation and support of implementation – including assessment administration, interpretation of results and data analysis, and navigation of the reporting suite. Training sessions should be interactive, align to SBRR, and immediately transferrable to classroom practice.

• Vendor must provide professional development in person or through a variety of learning platforms including webinars, synchronous and asynchronous sessions.

• Vendor must demonstrate ability to train large groups of people (30-40 participants).

• Vendor must provide ongoing training and support to individual schools.

OFFERING SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:

a. COURSEWARE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

1. The system will have administrative support/tools which shall include:

i. Daily synchronization capability with online District student data and information system

ii. Support from client services department

iii. Technical support for end users

iv. Role-based access levels to designated District and school personnel

v. Ability to monitor student participation and progress monitoring (progress monitoring reports)

2. The reporting suite features are to include:

i. Growth by district, grade, school, classroom, and student

ii. District, school, grade-level, and student proficiency by measure/subskill

iii. Student proficiency by measure/subskill

iv. Student proficiency comparison to grade level

v. Technical support for reporting features

vi. Customizable reports that depict student deficiencies and strengths, export/import to District data systems, ability to export/import reporting to District data systems, ability to export reports to multiple formats (batch data, excel, PDF, etc.)

b. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

1. The vendor’s system will support user single sign-on capability (Buffalo Schools utilize Microsoft Active Directory, Clever)

2. The system must be compatible with, including but not limited to internet browser

Google Chrome, Edge, and Internet Explorer

3. Must be compatible with Windows 7 and higher, Macintosh MAC OS 10.5x and higher, and IOS.

4. The vendor will develop system-wide, role-based security and user access security

5. The system must provide support for HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) in all functions where usernames and/or passwords are transmitted

6. Vendor should provide mobile access technology and security. System should be available on mobile devices (smart phones, iPads, tablets, etc…)

7. Enrollment data of students automatically and automatic roster upload based on

Infinite Campus SIS.

8. Meetings and professional development must be delivered/compatible with Microsoft

TEAM or Zoom platforms.

c. DATA IMPORT/EXPORT REQUIREMENTS

1. BPS requires an interface that accepts text or csv files connections for uploading, importing, and exporting student data. BPS utilizes Infinite Campus as its student information system, and the system may be required to support an automated interface with the BPS developed Data Dashboard.

2. The system must provide BPS with the ability to import data from other district-level data systems (i.e., Infinite Campus, the BPS developed Data Dashboard, and our other education data warehouses). Imports should be automated on a nightly basis.

Types of data include student demographic data, scheduling data, roster information, teacher assignment information, HR data, and performance/observational data.

3. The vendor will provide BPS with the full data extract via automated process to lead into the BPS Data Dashboard. Vendor may be called upon to partner with BPS resources to support the loading of data into other data systems.

d. DATA INTEGRATION REQUIREMENTS

1. The data must be fully accessible (exportable in .pdf, .txt, and .csv) to the district upon installation and throughout the term of the agreement.

2. Report availability shall be 24 hours/day, except during scheduled maintenance periods.

3. The vendor will support the data migration and validation.

e. SERVICE LEVEL REQUIREMENTS

1. The system’s environment must be Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

(FERPA) compliant.

2. All data collected, analyzed, and/or disseminated by the learning management system remain the sole property of and for the exclusive use of BPS.

3. The BPS requires availability 24 hours/day, except during scheduled maintenance periods.

4. Technical support and services to include:

ii. Integrity of data should the vendor’s server go down

iii. Server down time of less than .03%

iv. Adequate servers and backup to prevent database corruption and to provide restoration within two hours of data loss

v. Product updates for the period of the contract

5. Help Desk Support that will include 24/hour assistance and availability, reliable help desk statistics, online, email, and phone supports, easy to locate up-to-date training resources available online and in hard copy formats, training materials utilizing multimedia (images, video, audio, etc…), availability of help desk logs, a nightly data refresh with access to transmitted data within 24 hours.

f. TRAINING, SUPPORT, and IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS

1. The vendor will assign a primary point of contact as the technical resource to support the BPS account. BPS requires that primary technical support resource will respond to calls or emails within 24 hours to support the resolution of technical issues and troubleshoot all other issues and requests.

2. During the first thirty (30) business days of deployment (“go live” testing period), BPS requires immediate availability. BPS will reserve the right to review changes in the primary point of contract assigned and to concur with the replacement recommendations.

3. The vendor will support the data migration and validation process.

4. The vendor will provide and will manage a separate test and training environment.

5. The vendor will provide a complete Professional Development Plan Outline as well as a Rollout Plan which includes a professional development timeline (in person/ virtual, full/half day, how many days), timeline for software integration, support timeline for implementation throughout each year this should include building and district checks ins for data and product updates.

6. The system training for district staff will incorporate a train the trainer (TOT) model.

7. The vendor shall train district administrators, coaches or building designees on navigation of the reporting suite, test administration, and data analysis. This training may be facilitated remotely or in-person. The coaches must be prepared to turn-key training in their respective buildings.

8. The vendor must have the capability to support virtual/remote meetings and professional learning (i.e., webinars, e-learning, videos, TEAMS or ZOOM meetings, etc.)

9. The vendor shall provide a digital user guide for all users with comprehensive information related to generating and interpreting reports.

g. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

Content: Program content is based on Science of Reading related to the 5 Pillars of

Literacy; phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Adaptability: Provides evidence that the program begins with a diagnostic assessment and provides a learning pathway for students to intervene based on students’ needs while maintaining age-appropriate content and includes checkpoints throughout the use of the program.

Technology & Data Integration: Provides a plan of how data will be integrated, imported/exported, and protected. Provides a detailed list of technology capabilities needed and available for training and related platforms to run the program.

Professional Development and Rollout Plan: Provides a professional development plan that shows the options and rollout plan for training. Provides a Rollout Plan which includes a professional development timeline (in person/ virtual, full/half day, how many days), timeline for software integration, support timeline for implementation throughout each year this should include building and district checks ins for data and product updates.

Cost Proposal: Any cost not listed will not be paid.

Training - Per Day - In person

Training - Per Day – Virtual

Training - Per ½ Day - In person

Training - Per ½ Day – Virtual

(Specify training costs provided as lump sum yearly or per session. Specify training cost for teachers, TOTs, or administrators.)

Cost of district license – if not available, Cost of site license

Cost of District support

3) EVALUATION PROCEDURES

a. Review of Responses

Responses will be evaluated by a cross functional team consisting of subject matter experts and a Purchasing representative.

i. Director of Reading

ii. Director of ELA

iii. Supervisor of Reading

iv. Director of Special Education or Curriculum, Assessment, and Instructional (CAI)

Administrator(s)

b. Respondent’s Presentations

Respondents may be required to present once, at the District’s discretion, which will include a question and answer session with the evaluation team. Questions and specific requests to be addressed during the presentation will be forwarded to the respondents.

c. Evaluation Criteria

Responses will be evaluated on a 100 point scale as defined in the table below. Cost will be calculated proportionally compared to lowest cost response. The minimum non-cost score is 60/70 points.

CRITERIA VALUE

COST 30

Content - Science of Reading related to the 5 Pillars of Literacy 20

Adaptability 20

Technology & Data Integration 20

Professional Development and Rollout Plan 10

d. Final Selection

The Board of Education and its representatives will select a firm based upon the recommendations of the evaluation team. It is anticipated that a firm will be selected by the date listed in the offering summary. Following notification of the firm selected, it is expected that a contract will be executed between both parties. The selected firm must be prepared to begin work upon execution of the BPS contract. The contract will not necessarily be awarded to the response with the lowest cost projection.