Bid Ref.#23-040 ITB

This Invitation to Bid (ITB) 23-040 document pertains to the Henry County Board of Education in Georgia, which issued a Request for Proposals for decodable texts and text sets. The procurement encompasses three product types across multiple grade levels: Type One items for Kindergarten (156 units, 35 titles) and 1st Grade (157 units, 70 titles); Type Two items for Catch-Up Readers (288 units, 12 titles); and Type Three classroom library items for Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade (156, 157, and 131 units respectively, 80 titles each). Digital options were included for certain grade levels. The RFP was released on March 27, 2023, with proposals due on April 27, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. A non-mandatory pre-bid conference was held via Zoom on November 4, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with questions due by November 8, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. The contract was awarded for a one-year term following competitive evaluation by three evaluators.

The combined award value was approximately $1.886 million, with Benchmark Education receiving $1,413,510.25 and BookSource receiving $473,531.54. Other bidders included Scholastic Inc., which submitted a one-year bid at $1,413,510.25 and a six-year alternative at $2,678,355.75, as well as Just Right Reader, Inc. ($1,459,931.30), AKJ Education Express, and The Primary Maven LLC. Evaluation was conducted across reference, proposal, and technical criteria, with final scoring and cost analysis determining the awards. Several vendors submitted no bids for specific item types, and some items, particularly digital components and certain grade-level classroom libraries, received no-bid or zero-cost responses. Inquiries regarding the procurement should be directed to L. Renee Langston, Issuing Officer, at renee.langston@hcbe.net or 478-988-6211, extension 4.