Amendment 001.rtf

SAP

State of South Carolina

Request for Proposal

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400020069 09/03/2020

BRITTANY SLOAN

(803)737-3410 bsloan@mmo.sc.gov SFAA, Div. of Procurement Services, MMO PO Box 101103 Columbia SC 29211

DESCRIPTION: Text Messaging System USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: Coastal Carolina University

SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov" http://www.procurement.sc.gov SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 09/22/2020 11:00 AM (See "Deadline for Submission of Offer" provision) QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: 08/26/2020 4:00 PM (See "Questions from Offerors" provision) NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: ONLINE BIDDING PREFERRED; If submitting Online in SCEIS please See Online Bidding Instructions in Section II.B. If submitting Hardcopy, submit One (1) Original Hardcopy marked “Original”, and One (1) Electronic (digital) Media Copy marked “Copy” (See “Electronic Copies-Required Media & Format” provision Section II.B.)

CONFERENCE TYPE: Pre-Proposal Tele-conference

DATE & TIME: 08/26/2020 10:00 AM

(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions) LOCATION: Not Applicable

AWARD & AMENDMENTS

Award will be posted on 10/15/2020 . The award, this solicitation, any amendments, and any related notices will be posted at the following web address: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

You must submit a signed copy of this form with Your Offer. By signing, you agree to be bound by the terms of the Solicitation. You agree to hold Your Offer open for a minimum of ninety (90) calendar days after the Opening Date. (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

NAME OF OFFEROR

(full legal name of business submitting the offer) Any award issued will be issued to, and the contract will be formed with, the entity identified as the Offeror. The entity named as the offeror must be a single and distinct legal entity. Do not use the name of a branch office or a division of a larger entity if the branch or division is not a separate legal entity, i.e., a separate corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, etc.

AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE

(Person must be authorized to submit binding offer to contract on behalf of Offeror.)

DATE SIGNED

TITLE

(business title of person signing above)

STATE VENDOR NO.

(Register to Obtain S.C. Vendor No. at www.procurement.sc.gov)

PRINTED NAME

(printed name of person signing above)

STATE OF INCORPORATION

(If you are a corporation, identify the state of incorporation.)

OFFEROR'S TYPE OF ENTITY: (Check one) (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.)

___ Sole Proprietorship ___ Partnership ___ Other_____________________________

___ Corporate entity (not tax-exempt) ___ Corporation (tax-exempt) ___ Government entity (federal, state, or local)

COVER PAGE - ON-LINE ONLY (MAR. 2015)

SAP

SAP

PAGE TWO

(Return Page Two with Your Offer) HOME OFFICE ADDRESS (Address for offeror's home office / principal place of business)

NOTICE ADDRESS (Address to which all procurement and contract related notices should be sent.) (See "Notice" clause)

_________________________________________________ Area Code - Number - Extension Facsimile

_________________________________________________ E-mail Address

PAYMENT ADDRESS (Address to which payments will be sent.) (See "Payment" clause)

____Payment Address same as Home Office Address ____Payment Address same as Notice Address (check only one) ORDER ADDRESS (Address to which purchase orders will be sent) (See "Purchase Orders and "Contract Documents" clauses)

____Order Address same as Home Office Address ____Order Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AMENDMENTS

Offerors acknowledges receipt of amendments by indicating amendment number and its date of issue. (See "Amendments to Solicitation" Provision) Amendment No.

Amendment Issue Date Amendment No.

Amendment Issue Date Amendment No.

Amendment Issue Date Amendment No.

Amendment Issue Date

DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT

(See "Discount for Prompt Payment" clause) 10 Calendar Days (%) 20 Calendar Days (%) 30 Calendar Days (%) _____Calendar Days (%)

PREFERENCES - A NOTICE TO VENDORS (SEP. 2009): Preferences do not apply. See SC Consolidated Procurement Code Reference 11-35-1524 (E) (2)

PREFERENCES - ADDRESS AND PHONE OF IN-STATE OFFICE: Please provide the address and phone number for Preferences do not apply. See SC Consolidated Procurement Code Reference 11-35-1524 (E) (2) ____In-State Office Address same as Home Office Address ____In-State Office Address same as Notice Address (check only one)

PAGE TWO (SEP 2009)

End of PAGE TWO

Page Page

AMENDMENT # 001

Solicitation #5400020069

AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JANUARY 2006): (a) The Solicitation may be amended at any time prior to opening. All actual and prospective Offerors should monitor the following web site for the issuance of Amendments: www.procurement.sc.gov. (b) Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation (1) by signing and returning the amendment, (2) by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two, (3) by letter, or (4) by submitting a bid that indicates in some way that the bidder received the amendment. (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged.

GENERAL CHANGES TO THE RFP:

LIVE DEMONSTRATION REQUIREMENTS (modified) (Page 14) D. A demonstration script will be used to assist Greenville Technical College Coastal Carolina University in reviewing your response and to gauge how well your solution meets Greenville Technical College’s Coastal Carolina University’s goals and objectives. Please prepare to present information on the items listed on the demonstration script. The time allotted for the demonstration shall not exceed one (1) hour thirty (30) minutes, which includes the demonstration and further clarifications/questions and answers.

III. SCOPE OF WORK/SPECIFICATIONS

Program Requirements:

The text messaging system must be able to:

Utilize cloud-based data hosting services.

Handle data imports to add or change contact information through SQL Database or csv/excel file.

Support Active Directory Single Sign On or LDAP.

Allow scheduling permissions for the college administrators to schedule mass text campaigns; i.e. be client- managed.

Utilize multi administrative levels.

Schedule notifications to be sent at a future date and time.

Support automatic name inserts for individuals in mass text campaigns.

Support two-way individual texting.

Provide corresponding mobile app for managing campaigns on multiple devices.

Provide text message analytics and tracking.

Provide templates with which to build mass text campaigns.

Provide ability to add or edit recipient and contact information directly within the solution.

Support encryption to transmit data across the internet.

Have key data encryption in the database.

Be cost efficient with set rates.

Allow one administrator to send messages on behalf of multiple employees and the responses come back to that staff member.

Fully integrate with campus systems (ex. Ellucian Colleague, Radius by Campus Management, Beacon, and other campus-wide student databases and/or CRM systems). Native integration is preferred with all campus systems. If native integration is not available, system must be updated nightly with an import of data and status changes. Secure transmission of data is required.

Questions from Offerors - amendment (Jun 2017) The solicitation is amended as provided herein. Information or changes resulting from questions will be shown in a question-and-answer format. All questions received have been reprinted below. The “state’s response” should be read without reference to the questions. The questions are included solely to provide a cross-reference to the potential Offeror that submitted the question. Questions do not form a part of the contract; the “state’s response” does. Any restatement of part or all of an existing provision of the solicitation in an answer does not modify the original provision except as follows: underlined text is added to the original provision. Stricken text is deleted. [02-2a097-1]

VENDOR QUESTIONS

1.Could you provide the target numbers of total students and expected daily or monthly SMS volumes?

From the Admissions area, the University has approximately 50,000 prospective student names, 15,000 to 16,000 applicants, and 11,000 admitted students, and enrolls approximately 3,000 to 3.500 students. The anticipated volume of text messages sent monthly from this area is 50,000. From the Academic side, current student enrollment is approximately 10,000 and anticipated volume would average 10,000 monthly.

2. The Solicitation document's Price proposal section on Page 42 lists "Unlimited Number of student records"

3. Does the text messaging system should have the ability to store all the student information like classes, grades, reports etc.?

The text messaging system would not need to store all information. The Admissions area only needs basic information (student name, admission status, application decision, and cell phone).

4. Does the text messaging system need to provide a portal access for the students ?

Portal access is not needed for students.

5. Solicitation Document's scope of work section Req 10 - Does this refer to sending MMS messages ? SMS with text attachments go out as MMS messages.

Yes.

6. Solicitation Document's scope of work section Req 14 - Does the text messaging system require a Mobile App? Or a browser access via mobile phone to the text messaging system is sufficient?

A mobile app is preferred, but browser access via phone is fine as long as the website for the texting platform is responsive for phones and tablets.

7. Solicitation Document's scope of work section Req 17 - What kind of social media integration is required ? Integration with Twitter, Facebook etc. ?

No social media integration is needed at this time. Specifications will be revised to remove this requirement.

8. Solicitation Document's scope of work section Req 24 - Can standard APIs be provided for integration with the campus systems ? Is the offeror responsible for the integration work with the campus systems?

The integration work will be a collaboration between the contractor and the University’s ITS department.

9. Attachment A : Data Governance and Security Student credit cards, student databases, student records/SSNs/Driving License etc. Is this required that the messaging system needs to have the capability to store all the student information?

The student Colleague ID must be stored.

10. Are the following required for the text messaging system?

The solution must use SC State contract merchant services processor and compatible payment gateway: First Data/SunTrust.

The solution must have the ability to securely export monthly credit card payment details into an Excel worksheet from the solution. The solution must be P2PE certified POS (point-of-sale) devices for in-person credit/debit card transactions with EMV capability.

RED keypads or secure device to process telephone payments without inputting credit/debit card numbers into CCU computer keyboards. Possible future integration with solutions such as TouchNet, NelNet, etc.

The University does not need the system to have e-commerce and/or point-of-sale interface capabilities. Questions in the Data Governance and Security questionnaire on these topics may be responded to as not applicable.

11. Can you confirm that this new system will NOT replace the current emergency alert (Omnilert) system?

Yes.

12. Is there an expectation that the new system will integrate with the current emergency alert system?

No.

13. Is there a scoring rubric available for how vendors will be evaluated (i.e. a point system)?

Please refer to Section IV. Award Criteria; subsection:Evaluation Factors- Proposals (Jan 2006) located on page 21 of the solicitation for evaluation criteria.

14. Under Section III Scope of Work, the RFP notes that the service should be packaged for prospective and current students. How many leads/inquiries, admits, current students, and/or alumni does the college expect to message over the first 12 months of the contract?

See response to question #1.

15. How many text messages do you anticipate sending over the first 12 months of the contract?

See response to question #1.

16. What measurable goals would CCU like to achieve through the use of a text messaging system?

Please refer to the first paragraph of Section III located on page 16 of the solicitation

17. Under Section III Scope of Work, the RFP notes that the system should address “... the office’s ability to respond to student concerns in real-time.” Does CCU have a preference for how a vendor assists in increasing the college’s ability to respond to students in real-time? Would CCU be amenable to a chatbot (artificial intelligence) that can answer student concerns - especially during non-business hours - as part of its solution?

Yes.

18. Under Program Requirements #3, it states that the system should support active directory SSO or LDAP. Would you please elaborate on how this feature would be used? Is it for administrators to log into the system, or is it for students to be able to log into a school-related system via text?

It would be nice for staff but not a requirement.

19. Under Program Requirements #7, it states that the text messaging system should be able to set up recurring notifications. Would you elaborate on how a feature like this would be used, and if possible provide a use case example?

Example #1: A student who has been admitted should receive automated “nudge” messages once per month from January - May reminding them to enroll by a particular date. Example #2: A student registered for a campus tour would receive an automated reminder text one week prior to visit, 3 days prior to visits, and day before visit. Example #3: Students who are scheduled to register on a particular day would receive a reminder 2 days prior.

20. Under Program Requirements #14, it states that the system should provide an app for managing campaigns on multiple devices. Would a web-based platform accessible on multiple devices be acceptable, assuming there are no other major differences between the web-based platform and an app?

Yes.

21. Under Program Requirements #15, it states that you’d like the system to provide analytics and tracking. Can you provide examples of the analytics and tracking information you would like to see?

Analytics would include messages sent by staff member (time of day, message content, and follow-up). Analytics can also include deliverable rates, response rates, average response time, etc. Reporting should include ability to export Excel file of texts per staff member or campaign that includes message content.

22. Under Program Requirements #17, it states that the system should provide an intuitive social media integration. What social media platform will need to be integrated into the system, and how do you anticipate it being used?

No social media integration is needed at this time. Specifications will be revised to remove this requirement.

23. There are two web links on page 1 of the Data Security & Governance questionnaire that are broken. Would it be possible to receive updated links or the information that they were meant to provide? The links are:

● https://www.coastal.edu/policies/pdf/univ-its%20450%20general%20usage- %20may%202018.pdf

● https://www.coastal.edu/policies/pdf/univ- its%20483%20data%20privacy,%20classification,%20and%20protection,%20january%20201 7.pdf

The entire document, Data Security and Governance – Information Security and Access Control, has been provided as an attachment to the solicitation and is available from the following link:

http://webprod.cio.sc.gov/SCSolicitationWeb/contractSearch.do?solicitnumber=5400020069

24. In the Data Security & Governance questionnaire, a number of questions appear to be related to e-commerce/point-of-sale systems. Are these relevant for this RFP, or are they not applicable? The questions are:

● Other Requirements (page 2), items L-S

● Technical Interface Data Exchange (page 7), #5, items A-C See response to question #10.

25. Once the award has been announced, will the selected vendor have an opportunity to negotiate and, if agreed upon by both parties, edit portions of the terms & conditions to ensure that the final contract is equitable and fair between both parties?

Please refer to Section II-Instructions to Offerors-A. General Instructions; subsection Responsiveness/Improper Offers (June2015) located on page 12 of the solicitation. As well as Section VII-Terms and Conditions; A General; subsection-Contract Documents and Order of Precedence located on page 23;

All negotiations will be conducted with the highest ranked offeror prior to issuing an award.