DMS-1193.V1 VIVA Nursing and Health Sciences Resources.pdf

Virtual Library of Virginia Request for Proposal

RFP# DMS-1193.V1

Nursing and Health Sciences Resources

(REPOSTING RFP# DMS-1193 – NO CHANGE

IN CONTENT)

February 15, 2024

Note: This public body does not discriminate against faith-based organizations in accordance with the Code of Virginia, § 2.2-4343.1 or against an offeror because of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other basis prohibited by state law relating to discrimination in employment.

Rev. 6/8/23

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP# DMS-1193.V1

Issue Date: February 15, 2024

Title: Nursing and Health Sciences Resources

Issuing Agency: Commonwealth of Virginia VIVA/James Madison University Procurement Services MSC 5720 752 Ott Street, Wine Price Building First Floor, Suite 1023 Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Period of Contract: From Date of Award Through One Year (Renewable)

Sealed Proposals Will Be Received Until 2:00 PM on February 27, 2024 for Furnishing The Services Described Herein.

SEALED PROPOSALS MAY BE MAILED, EXPRESS MAILED, OR HAND DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO

THE ISSUING AGENCY SHOWN ABOVE.

All Inquiries For Information And Clarification Should Be Directed To: Dana Simmers, Buyer Senior, Procurement Services, simmerdm@jmu.edu; 540-568-5113; (Fax) 540-568-7935 not later than five business days before the proposal closing date.

NOTE: THE SIGNED PROPOSAL AND ALL ATTACHMENTS SHALL BE RETURNED.

In compliance with this Request for Proposal and to all the conditions imposed herein, the undersigned offers and agrees to furnish the goods/services in accordance with the attached signed proposal or as mutually agreed upon by subsequent negotiation.

Name and Address of Firm:

By:

(Signature in Ink)

Name:

(Please Print)

Date: Title:

Web Address: Phone:

Email: Fax #:

ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF ADDENDUM: #1_____ #2_____ #3_____ #4_____ #5_____ (please initial)

SMALL, WOMAN OR MINORITY OWNED BUSINESS:

YES; NO; IF YES ⇒⇒ SMALL; WOMAN; MINORITY IF MINORITY: AA; HA; AsA; NW; Micro

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP # DMS-1193.V1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. PURPOSE Page 1

1 II. BACKGROUND Page

1 III. SMALL, WOMAN-OWNED, AND MINORITY PARTICIPATION Page

2 - 9 IV. STATEMENT OF NEEDS Page

9 - 12 V. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION Page

12 - 13 VI. EVALUATION AND AWARD CRITERIA Page

13 - 20 VII. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS Page

20 - 26 VIII. SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS Page

26 IX. METHOD OF PAYMENT Page

26 - 27 X. PRICING SCHEDULE Page

27 XI. ATTACHMENTS Page

A. Offeror Data Sheet – RETURN OF THIS PAGE IS REQUIRED

B. SWaM Utilization Plan – RETURN OF THIS PAGE IS REQUIRED

C. Sample of Standard Contract

D. Commonwealth of Virginia Agency Contract Form Addendum To Contractor’s Form –

RETURN OF THIS PAGE IS REQUIRED

E. VIVA Participants

I. PURPOSE

The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to solicit sealed proposals from qualified sources to enter into a contract through competitive negotiations to provide nursing and health sciences resources for the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA). Initial contract shall be for one (1) year with an option to renew for nine (9) additional one-year periods.

II. BACKGROUND

VIVA is the academic library consortium of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s nonprofit higher education institutions. Members include both the state-assisted (public) and the independent nonprofit (private) colleges and universities. VIVA's mission is to build an equitable, accessible, and robust infrastructure of library resources and services for Virginia higher education students and faculty.

Three high-priority services provided by VIVA include: 1) shared access to online library resources, 2) activities that enhance support of interlibrary lending among the libraries, and 3) initiatives that support the development and adoption of open and affordable course content. Since 1994, VIVA has acquired content that has included, but is not limited to, databases, ejournals, ebooks, and streaming media for the academic libraries of Virginia. Since 2018, VIVA has provided grants to support the adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER for use in the classroom.

VIVA negotiates purchases on behalf of its members: all 39 public colleges and universities, all 31 nonprofit private colleges and universities, and The Library of Virginia. See Attachment E:

VIVA Members for a list of participating institutions, including total numbers of FTE students.

VIVA member institutions include all of the following:

● Public Institutions: These consist of all 39 state-assisted colleges and universities within the

Commonwealth of Virginia, including all eight (8) doctoral universities, seven (7) four-year comprehensive institutions, and 24 community and two-year branch colleges (including Richard Bland College and the 23 community colleges of the Virginia Community College System).

● Private Nonprofit Institutions: From the beginning of the VIVA consortium, the libraries of the Commonwealth's publicly assisted higher education institutions have been joined by the majority of the private, nonprofit colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

● Other Research Institutions: The Library of Virginia is a full member of VIVA, participating in licenses relevant to its work at its facility in Richmond and as its funds allow. An additional five (5) research facilities are VIVA members. These facilities (e.g. The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and the Roanoke Higher Education Center) do not generate any additional annualized full-time equivalent (FTE) and are included in VIVA with the public institutions at no additional cost.

III. SMALL, WOMAN-OWNED AND MINORITY PARTICIPATION

It is the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia to contribute to the establishment, preservation, and strengthening of small businesses and businesses owned by women and minorities, and to encourage their participation in State procurement activities. The Commonwealth encourages contractors to provide for the participation of small businesses and businesses owned by women and minorities through partnerships, joint ventures, subcontracts, and other contractual opportunities. Attachment B contains information on reporting spend data with subcontractors.

IV. STATEMENT OF NEEDS

The offeror shall have available and be able to demonstrate the use and functions of the following components and/or features of the proposed nursing and health sciences resources. The offeror shall describe in detail the way each of the following items are addressed by the proposed database, platform, and/or offeror’s services.

A. Database Description and Coverage

1. Provide license agreements for offered resources, with the electronic copy, in WORD format response per V., A., 1., b.

2. Provide an executive summary of the proposed products and services.

3. Provide a thorough description of the contents of each of the proposed products and services, including, as appropriate, uniqueness to the field, years of coverage, frequency of updates, whether coverage is ongoing or based on rolling access that deletes earlier years, any upcoming anticipated content changes, full text format(s) (html, pdf, etc.), and completeness and quality of a full-text collection (e.g., cover-to-cover content, handling of special issues, retracted articles, missing materials, corrections, quality of images, cultural representation, bibliodiversity, etc.). Subject coverage should include such topics as nursing, nursing education, nursing research, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health, interprofessionalism, and allied health disciplines.

4. Provide a list of all other resources that would be offered to VIVA for acquisition and provide detailed descriptions of each (specify associated cost in Section X. Pricing Schedule, F.).

5. Specify whether the offeror is the resource publisher or a third-party resource provider. If your firm is not the resource publisher, describe all contractual relationships to the resource publisher.

6. Describe the method of indexing, depth of the indexing provided for each of the resources, and any exclusions from indexing.

7. Provide a description of related open access initiatives or open content indexed or available within the database and included resources.

8. Provide a current, accurate list of available resources, including but not limited to full text journals and ebooks, streaming media, datasets, image sets, for databases that include full text, type of coverage (e.g., complete or partial), dates of coverage, peer-review status, ISSNs, and persistent URLs, and specify format(s) of such list. The offeror shall include embargoed titles specifying exact embargo period for each title. In addition to including this list in the RFP, the offeror should be willing to provide the list electronically upon request.

9. Describe rights to purchased full text content (i.e., perpetual access) and the method of providing archival access, such as the LOCKSS model (specify if associated costs in Section X. Pricing Schedule, A.).

10. Confirm that subcontractors or other entities named in this proposal to provide content or services, will be governed by this agreement, and will not require additional agreements between VIVA and a third party.

11. Confirm that unlimited simultaneous users are permitted.

12. Confirm that walk-in users are permitted without additional authentication.

B. Technical Requirements

13. General

a. Describe the procedures for making library-specific customizations, including user interface and library branding, and indicate whether changes can be made online by library staff or must be submitted to the offeror for implementation.

b. Describe in detail the use of all cookies, plug-ins, extensions, and embedded applications required for full product functionality.

c. Specify the version of XHTML with which the offeror's system complies or specify the use of XML.

14. Maintenance and Uptime

a. Describe uptime for the system for the previous year and specify how often the system failed and the duration of the average and longest system failure.

b. Confirm that the resources are available seven (7) days per week, twenty-four (24) hours per day.

c. Describe the mechanism for systematic, advance notification of changes in the resources, (e.g., notices of changes in system design, scheduled downtime, unscheduled downtime, additions and deletions of titles, full-text coverage, etc.) and for the reporting of current problems as they develop.

d. Describe technical support, including contact(s) for VIVA, mechanisms for submitting support requests, response time for service requests, the availability of a technician to answer requests, and the availability of a system status web page.

e. Describe policies and timing for notifying VIVA of any changes to the design of the offeror’s system requiring changes by VIVA member institutions in order to maintain access to the database.

f. Describe system monitoring and measures, such as server redundancy, to prevent disruptions in service in the case of system failure, problems with Internet service provider, or other such issues.

3. Authentication

a. Confirm that the primary means of access control shall be via IP authentication. The offeror shall detail the handling of access control, including any special requirements for access through campus proxy servers. Additional methods of access control may be included.

b. Specify the standard remote authentication mechanisms (e.g., Proxy servers such as EZproxy, OpenAthens, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Kerberos, and Shibboleth) available to VIVA institutions for passing valid users to the service. The user should not be required to have a personal account in order to access the resource.

c. Describe ability to control access to collections and track database usage by means that supplement IP authentication, such that an institution’s unique subscriptions can be differentiated when both VIVA and non-VIVA resources are being authenticated using the same IP address. An example of this is the inclusion of an institution or campus identifier in the database URL. The intent of this provision is to avoid IP overlap between products for access and use accounting when the same IP address set may have different collections of products.

4. Search Capabilities Provide detailed information regarding the proposed system's search capabilities by describing the system’s functionality. Details should include, but are not limited to, functionality in the following areas:

a. Options for “basic,” “advanced,” and “expert” searching modes, including default search fields.

b. Author, title, and subject searching.

c. Keyword searching in all conventional database records fields (including but not limited to author, article title, journal title, abstract, descriptor, language, and year of publication) and full text (if available). List any elements not searchable by keyword.

d. Natural language queries (define and describe).

e. Describe any advanced searching capabilities available to users (e.g. boolean operators, proximity searching, phrase searching).

f. Thesaurus or controlled vocabulary, specifying source.

g. Ability to limit searches, before or after the user has submitted the search, including but not limited to date range, full text (if available), document type such as refereed/peer reviewed, source type, or materials held by the local library.

h. Suggestions of alternative search strategies for too few or too many search results.

i. Identification of misspellings in search terms and alternative suggestions.

j. Search history feature that allows users to reselect previous search statements.

k. The option to display highlighted terms in search results.

l. The system’s functionality of displaying records in the following ways:

i. Date (reverse chronological order)

ii. Relevancy ranking (describe the criteria used)

iii. Selected field (e.g., author, source)

m. Setting up search alerts.

n. Ability to print, email, download, save, and export specific records.

o. Linking to a list of resources (including, but not limited to, full-text journals, ebooks, and media) indexed in the database directly from the search interface.

p. Browsing of specific titles by date, subject, volume, or collection.

q. Cross database searching (including but not limited to, searching multiple databases simultaneously, elimination of duplicates.

r. Linking to resources (e.g. full text journal articles, ebooks, media) in other products offered by the vendor that are subscribed to independently of this proposal.

s. Citation linking, both to references within a resource, as well as to articles that cite the record being viewed.

5. User Interface and Functionality

a. Describe ability to customize the default user interface, search mode, sorting options and display of search results at each of the following levels: VIVA consortium, individual member institution, and individual user.

b. Describe the procedures for setting up personal user accounts and available customization options within these accounts, including saving search histories and results, specifying updating intervals, and user notification. Describe security and privacy measures for individual accounts and system management of user accounts.

c. Specify the date(s) of the last usability testing and accessibility testing and describe how results were integrated into design changes. If no testing has been done, describe how the designers receive feedback.

d. Describe current usability testing and accessibility testing support and procedures (e.g., use of formal usability testing lab, support personnel, selection and experience of people participating in testing, etc.). Include the frequency of testing for each.

e. Describe the system’s functionality for use on mobile devices. Indicate the supported mobile operating systems (i.e. iOS, Android). Describe technical assistance available to mobile users.

f. Indicate if a specific app is provided for downloading resource content. If it is, provide a URL so that the app can be downloaded and tested.

g. Provide documentation that assess the success criteria of WCAG 2.2 (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/) and any additional documentation regarding Section 508 (https://www.section508.gov/) compliance, such as conformance to 508’s Functional Performance Criteria.

h. Describe accessibility features (e.g., closed captioning, transcripts, text-to-speech, tagged and OCR’d pdfs, image captioning, ability to download visualization separate from text, language translation).

i. Provide the most recent Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) for those products being offered.

j. Describe security and privacy measures for individual accounts and system management of user accounts.

k. Describe existing accessibility issues and plans to address them and compliance with standard federal accessibility guidelines.

l. Describe your process for gathering and incorporating user feedback in product design and updates.

m. Describe your process for identification and remediation of harmful language found in metadata.

n. Briefly describe any interface changes planned for implementation within the next year.

6. Open URL Compliance

a. Detail compliance with the OpenURL standard for context-sensitive, open linking technology, including but not limited to: version supported, linking services supported, ability to control URL parameters, customization such as use of library-specific graphics, and activation methods.

b. Specify which OpenURL link resolver products currently interface with the offeror’s product.

c. Describe the capability of indicating local library holdings information using URL resolver technology.

7. Capturing Content

a. Describe any digital rights management (DRM) restrictions placed on the available content.

b. Describe the system’s ability to display, download, export, and print graphical materials.

c. Describe ability to link to commercial document delivery services.

d. Describe ability to display file size when downloading records and display of number of printed pages when printing records, and whether these are controlled by the search interface or the Web browser.

e. Describe ability to create persistent links.

f. Describe compatibility with citation management software.

8. Enabling Discovery

a. Describe thoroughly the interoperability of the offeror’s resources with current discovery tools, such as EBSCO Discovery Service, Ex Libris Primo, and WorldCat Discovery. Describe the level of metadata made available to each discovery vendor and whether or not the metadata is provided directly to the discovery vendor or only through an API.

b. Describe ability to link directly to the resource from external sources (e.g., linking from an institution’s web page directly to the database).

c. Describe provision of MARC records for full-text resources (specify any associated cost in Section X. Pricing Schedule, J.).

d. Describe representation of full-text resources in current knowledge bases (e.g. 360 Core, EBSCO A-to-Z, WorldCat knowledge base, Ex Libris Alma), including collection structure, date of last update, and frequency of updates.

C. Fair Use and Copyright Policy

1. Offeror shall address the following about all resources covered in this RFP:

a. Provide a written statement that the Contractor shall be responsible for maintaining legal copyright to all resources offered throughout the duration of a resulting contract.

b. Confirm that all copyright fees shall be included.

c. Describe your firm’s process for obtaining and maintaining copyright rights.

2. Offeror shall address the following about all full text content and multimedia covered in this

RFP.

a. Describe permitted uses for copying, displaying, printing, downloading, or archiving of content and multimedia.

b. Describe permitted uses for creating and using course packs, electronic reserves, learning objects, and course management systems (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard).

c. Understanding that interlibrary loan rights are a priority for VIVA institutions, confirm that libraries may lend the content through interlibrary loan through electronic transmission or paper means in accordance with Sections 106 and 108 of the U.S.

Copyright Act. Confirm that requests may be fulfilled using electronic, paper, or intermediated means, including but not limited to the prevailing technology of the day.

Confirm that owned eBooks can be loaned in their entirety. Describe any restrictions (e.g. platform or policy) that would hinder VIVA institutions’ abilities to fulfill requests in accordance with the above.

d. Describe permitted uses and technical procedures for text mining (specify if any additional associated cost in Section X. Pricing Schedule, G.).

e. Describe permitted uses for scholarly sharing.

D. Management and Usage Reports- VIVA endorses the COUNTER Code of Practice.

1. Describe the types of use measurement and management reports that can be generated by the VIVA central office and by individual VIVA members by direct access through a vendor-provided website, including, but not limited to, number of searches (queries), number of database result clicks, number of database record views, number of articles downloaded from any full text article products included, number of whole book or section requests for book titles and how section requests are defined, and the number of turnaways or access contention incidents, if applicable.

2. Describe ability to report monthly usage VIVA-wide by consortium, by institution, by database, by title, and any full text reports, if applicable.

3. Provide information on status of compliance with Project COUNTER http://www.projectcounter.org/ and the Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative

(SUSHI).

4. Provide sample consortium management reports for searches conducted and full text downloaded, if applicable. Specify if these report formats will be consistent for all products/databases being offered or if they vary in any cases. In addition to a few pages of a sample report in the proposal submission, the offeror may be requested to send sample XML reports via email.

5. Provide confirmation that the offeror shall maintain confidentiality of institutional and consortial usage and user confidentiality and privacy.

6. Provide a written statement that the offeror shall not release or sell statistical information about specific institutions or the consortium without permission, except to the consortium administrators or member libraries.

7. Describe the schedule for supplying routine management reports.

8. Describe the variety of formats available for management reports, including the maintenance of a website with security restrictions and XML.

9. Describe options for customized management reports available on-demand to VIVA.

10. Detail ability and commitment to provide annual update of full text journals by journal name, ISSN, and URL and of full text book and reference sources by title, ISBN, and URL in electronic format (MS Excel and/or XML preferred). These lists will be shared with VIVA members.

11. Detail quality control measures to guarantee the accuracy and standardization of usage data.

E. Training and Documentation

1. Describe available documentation and/or online tutorials for user support and system administration. Description of documentation shall include type of documentation (e.g., HTML and/or PDF documents that are freely available to all users).

2. Describe training sessions (online & onsite) offered to librarians and other staff at VIVA institutions. Confirm there are no additional costs OR specify limits on number of sessions and/or number of attendees (specify any additional associated cost in Section X. Pricing Schedule, H.).

3. Describe options for facilitating on-going classroom instructional sessions at VIVA institutions for the user community (specify any associated cost in Section X. Pricing Schedule, H.

F. Trial Access and Negotiations

1. Offeror shall provide all VIVA institutions with the opportunity to test the full database(s) via IP-authenticated access from date of proposal submission until award is announced (approximately June 2024)

a. Provide detailed instructions for institutions to gain access to trial database(s).

b. Specify if the trial access is being provided on a server other than the normal production server.

2. VIVA may request select offerors to attend face-to-face negotiations during the week of April 1st. Selected offerors will be given as much advance notice as possible; however, all offerors should maintain flexibility in scheduling during this week.

G. Start Date

1. The contractor shall be able to meet a May 1, 2025 contract start date.

2. The contractor shall provide a timeline and plan for service initiation.

H. Offeror Data

1. Experience: Describe offeror’s experience in providing databases to academic libraries, including special reference to nursing and health sciences resources.

2. Longevity: Describe the length of time offeror has been actively engaged in providing databases to academic libraries.

3. Financial Disclosure: Provide full disclosure of financial statements for, at a minimum, the past three (3) business years.

4. Personnel: Provide general descriptions of the educational background and experience of personnel with whom VIVA staff and member institutions will be expected to work with on a regular basis. Specify the total number and general level of experience of professional librarians and/or other technical specialists employed. Provide a specific representative (include name, title, direct contact information, and length of time with the firm) for the initial project and continued customer support and technical assistance during the term of the contract. Contractor shall be responsible for updating VIVA and JMU Procurement with any change in representatives.

V. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

A. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

To ensure timely and adequate consideration of your proposal, offerors are to limit all contact, whether verbal or written, pertaining to this RFP to the James Madison University Procurement Office for the duration of this Proposal process. Failure to do so may jeopardize further consideration of Offeror’s proposal.

1. RFP Response: In order to be considered for selection, the Offeror shall submit a complete response to this RFP; and shall submit to the issuing Purchasing Agency:

a. One (1) original and two (2) copies of the entire proposal, INCLUDING ALL

ATTACHMENTS. Any proprietary information should be clearly marked in accordance with 3.f. below.

b. One (1) electronic copy in WORD format or searchable PDF (CD or flash drive) of the entire proposal, INCLUDING ALL ATTACHMENTS. Any proprietary information should be clearly marked in accordance with 3.f. below.

c. Should the proposal contain proprietary information, provide one (1) redacted hard copy of the proposal and all attachments with proprietary portions removed or blacked out. This copy should be clearly marked “Redacted Copy” on the front cover.

The classification of an entire proposal document, line item prices, and/or total proposal prices as proprietary or trade secrets is not acceptable. JMU shall not be responsible for the Contractor’s failure to exclude proprietary information from this redacted copy.

No other distribution of the proposal shall be made by the Offeror.

2. The version of the solicitation issued by VIVA/JMU Procurement Services, as amended by addenda, is the mandatory controlling version of the document. Any modification of, or additions to, the solicitation by the Offeror shall not modify the official version of the solicitation issued by VIVA/JMU Procurement services unless accepted in writing by the VIVA/James Madison University. Such modifications or additions to the solicitation by the Offeror may be cause for rejection of the proposal; however, VIVA/James Madison University reserves the right to decide, on a case-by-case basis in its sole discretion, whether to reject such a proposal. If the modification or additions are not identified until after the award of the contract, the controlling version of the solicitation document shall still be the official state form issued by Procurement Services.

3. Proposal Preparation

a. Proposals shall be signed by an authorized representative of the Offeror. All information requested should be submitted. Failure to submit all information requested may result in the purchasing agency requiring prompt submissions of missing information and/or giving a lowered evaluation of the proposal. Proposals which are substantially incomplete or lack key information may be rejected by the purchasing agency. Mandatory requirements are those required by law or regulation or are such that they cannot be waived and are not subject to negotiation.

b. Proposals shall be prepared simply and economically, providing a straightforward, concise description of capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Emphasis should be placed on completeness and clarity of content.

c. Proposals should be organized in the order in which the requirements are presented in the RFP. All pages of the proposal should be numbered. Each paragraph in the proposal should reference the paragraph number of the corresponding section of the RFP. It is also helpful to cite the paragraph number, sub letter, and repeat the text of the requirement as it appears in the RFP. If a response covers more than one page, the paragraph number and sub letter should be repeated at the top of the next page. The proposal should contain a table of contents which cross references the RFP requirements. Information which the offeror desires to present that does not fall within any of the requirements of the RFP should be inserted at the appropriate place or be attached at the end of the proposal and designated as additional material. Proposals that are not organized in this manner risk elimination from consideration if the evaluators are unable to find where the RFP requirements are specifically addressed.

d. As used in this RFP, the terms “must”, “shall”, “should” and “may” identify the criticality of requirements. “Must” and “shall” identify requirements whose absence will have a major negative impact on the suitability of the proposed solution. Items labeled as “should” or “may” are highly desirable, although their absence will not have a large impact and would be useful, but are not necessary. Depending on the overall response to the RFP, some individual “must” and “shall” items may not be fully satisfied, but it is the intent to satisfy most, if not all, “must” and “shall” requirements.

The inability of an offeror to satisfy a “must” or “shall” requirement does not automatically remove that offeror from consideration; however, it may seriously affect the overall rating of the offeror’ proposal.

e. Each copy of the proposal should be bound or contained in a single volume where practical. All documentation submitted with the proposal should be contained in that single volume.

Tabs should be provided to delineate these major sections of the response:

● Database Description and Coverage

● Technical Requirements o General o Maintenance and Uptime o Authentication o Search Software Capabilities o User Interface and Functionality o Open URL Compliance o Capturing Contents o Ensuring Discoverability

● Fair Use & Copyright Policy

● Management & Usage Reports

● Training & Documentation, Trial Access, Start Date

● Offeror Data

● Pricing Schedule

● Attachments A – B

f. Ownership of all data, materials and documentation originated and prepared for the State pursuant to the RFP shall belong exclusively to the State and be subject to public inspection in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Trade secrets or proprietary information submitted by the offeror shall not be subject to public disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; however, the offeror must invoke the protection of Section 2.2-4342F of the Code of Virginia, in writing, either before or at the time the data is submitted. The written notice must specifically identify the data or materials to be protected and state the reasons why protection is necessary.

The proprietary or trade secret materials submitted must be identified by some distinct method such as highlighting or underlining and must indicate only the specific words, figures, or paragraphs that constitute trade secret or proprietary information. The classification of an entire proposal document, line item prices and/or total proposal prices as proprietary or trade secrets is not acceptable and will result in rejection and return of the proposal.

4. Demonstration and/or Presentation: A hands-on demonstration or verbal presentation may be required of Offerors submitting proposals. The purpose of demonstration is to allow VIVA to observe the functional aspects and to propose questions to the vendor. If demonstrations are required, VIVA/James Madison University will schedule the time and location. The Offeror may be required to demonstrate specific features or to cover specific topics. Demonstrations and/or verbal presentations are at the sole discretion of VIVA and may not be conducted. Therefore, proposals should be complete.

B. SPECIFIC PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS

Proposals should be as thorough and detailed as possible so that VIVA may properly evaluate your capabilities to provide the required services. Offerors are required to submit the following items as a complete proposal:

1. Return RFP cover sheet and all addenda acknowledgements, if any, signed and filled out as required.

2. Plan and methodology for providing the goods/services as described in Section IV.

Statement of Needs of this Request for Proposal.

3. A written narrative statement to include, but not be limited to, the expertise, qualifications, and experience of the firm and resumes of specific personnel to be assigned to perform the work.

4. Offeror Data Sheet, included as Attachment A to this RFP.

5. Small Business Subcontracting Plan, included as Attachment B to this RFP. Offeror shall provide a Small Business Subcontracting plan which summarizes the planned utilization of Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD)-certified small businesses which include businesses owned by women and minorities, when they have received Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD) small business certification, under the contract to be awarded as a result of this solicitation. This is a requirement for all prime contracts in excess of $100,000 unless no subcontracting opportunities exist.

6. Identify the amount of sales your company had during the last twelve months with each

VASCUPP Member Institution. A list of VASCUPP Members can be found at:

www.VASCUPP.org.

7. Proposed Cost. See Section X. Pricing Schedule of this Request for Proposal.

VI. EVALUATION AND AWARD CRITERIA

A. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals shall be evaluated by James Madison University using the following criteria:

Points

1. Quality of products/services offered and suitability for intended purposes 35

2. Qualifications and experience of Offeror in providing the goods/services 20

3. Specific plans or methodology to be used to perform the services 15

4. Participation of Small, Women-Owned, & Minority (SWaM) Businesses 10

5. Cost 20

B. AWARD TO MULTIPLE OFFERORS: Selection shall be made of two or more offerors deemed to be fully qualified and best suited among those submitting proposals on the basis of the evaluation factors included in the Request for Proposals, including price, if so stated in the Request for Proposals. Negotiations shall be conducted with the offerors so selected. Price shall be considered but need not be the sole determining factor. After negotiations have been conducted with each offeror so selected, the agency shall select the offeror which, in its opinion, has made the best proposal, and shall award the contract to that offeror. The Commonwealth reserves the right to make multiple awards as a result of this solicitation. The Commonwealth may cancel this Request for Proposals or reject proposals at any time prior to an award, and is not required to furnish a statement of the reasons why a particular proposal was not deemed to be the most advantageous. Should the Commonwealth determine in writing and in its sole discretion that only one offeror is fully qualified, or that one offeror is clearly more highly qualified than the others under consideration, a contract may be negotiated and awarded to that offeror. The award document will be a contract incorporating by reference all the requirements, terms and conditions of the solicitation and the contractor’s proposal as negotiated.

VII. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

A. PURCHASING MANUAL: This solicitation is subject to the provisions of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Purchasing Manual for Institutions of Higher Education and Their Vendors and any revisions thereto, which are hereby incorporated into this contract in their entirety. A copy of the manual is available for review at the purchasing office. In addition, the manual may be accessed electronically at http://www.jmu.edu/procurement or a copy can be obtained by calling Procurement Services at (540) 568-3145.

B. APPLICABLE LAWS AND COURTS: This solicitation and any resulting contract shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and any litigation with respect thereto shall be brought in the courts of the Commonwealth. The Contractor shall comply with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.

C. ANTI-DISCRIMINATION: By submitting their proposals, offerors certify to the

Commonwealth that they will conform to the provisions of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, as well as the Virginia Fair Employment Contracting Act of 1975, as amended, where applicable, the Virginians With Disabilities Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act and §10 of the Rules Governing Procurement, Chapter 2, Exhibit J, Attachment 1 (available for review at http://www.jmu.edu/procurement). If the award is made to a faith-based organization, the organization shall not discriminate against any recipient of goods, services, or disbursements made pursuant to the contract on the basis of the recipient's religion, religious belief, refusal to participate in a religious practice, or on the basis of race, age, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin and shall be subject to the same rules as other organizations that contract with public bodies to account for the use of the funds provided; however, if the faith-based organization segregates public funds into separate accounts, only the accounts and programs funded with public funds shall be subject to audit by the public body. (§6 of the Rules Governing Procurement).

In every contract over $10,000 the provisions in 1. and 2. below apply:

1. During the performance of this contract, the contractor agrees as follows:

a. The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or any other basis prohibited by state law relating to discrimination in employment, except where there is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the contractor. The contractor agrees to post in conspicuous places, available to employees and applicants for employment, notices setting forth the provisions of this nondiscrimination clause.

b. The contractor, in all solicitations or advertisements for employees placed by or on behalf of the contractor, will state that such contractor is an equal opportunity employer.

c. Notices, advertisements, and solicitations placed in accordance with federal law, rule, or regulation shall be deemed sufficient for the purpose of meeting these requirements.

2. The contractor will include the provisions of 1. above in every subcontract or purchase order over $10,000, so that the provisions will be binding upon each subcontractor or vendor.

D. ETHICS IN PUBLIC CONTRACTING: By submitting their proposals, offerors certify that their proposals are made without collusion or fraud and that they have not offered or received any kickbacks or inducements from any other offeror, supplier, manufacturer or subcontractor in connection with their proposal, and that they have not conferred on any public employee having official responsibility for this procurement transaction any payment, loan, subscription, advance, deposit of money, services or anything of more than nominal value, present or promised, unless consideration of substantially equal or greater value was exchanged.

E. IMMIGRATION REFORM AND CONTROL ACT OF 1986: By entering into a written contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Contractor certifies that the Contractor does not, and shall not during the performance of the contract for goods and services in the Commonwealth, knowingly employ an unauthorized alien as defined in the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

F. DEBARMENT STATUS: By submitting their proposals, offerors certify that they are not currently debarred by the Commonwealth of Virginia from submitting proposals on contracts for the type of goods and/or services covered by this solicitation, nor are they an agent of any person or entity that is currently so debarred.

G. ANTITRUST: By entering into a contract, the contractor conveys, sells, assigns, and transfers to the Commonwealth of Virginia all rights, title and interest in and to all causes of action it may now have or hereafter acquire under the antitrust laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia, relating to the particular goods or services purchased or acquired by the Commonwealth of Virginia under said contract.

H. MANDATORY USE OF STATE FORM AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS RFPs: Failure to submit a proposal on the official state form provided for that purpose may be a cause for rejection of the proposal. Modification of or additions to the General Terms and Conditions of the solicitation may be cause for rejection of the proposal; however, the Commonwealth reserves the right to decide, on a case-by-case basis, in its sole discretion, whether to reject such a proposal.

I. CLARIFICATION OF TERMS: If any prospective offeror has questions about the specifications or other solicitation documents, the prospective offeror should contact the buyer whose name appears on the face of the solicitation no later than five working days before the due date. Any revisions to the solicitation will be made only by addendum issued by the buyer.

J. PAYMENT:

1. To Prime Contractor:

a. Invoices for items ordered, delivered and accepted shall be submitted by the contractor directly to the payment address shown on the purchase order/contract. All invoices shall show the state contract number and/or purchase order number; social security number (for individual contractors) or the federal employer identification number (for proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations).

b. Any payment terms requiring payment in less than 30 days will be regarded as requiring payment 30 days after invoice or delivery, whichever occurs last.

This shall not affect offers of discounts for payment in less than 30 days, however.

c. All goods or services provided under this contract or purchase order, that are to be paid for with public funds, shall be billed by the contractor at the contract price, regardless of which public agency is being billed.

d. The following shall be deemed to be the date of payment: the date of postmark in all cases where payment is made by mail, or the date of offset when offset proceedings have been instituted as authorized under the Virginia Debt Collection Act.

e. Unreasonable Charges. Under certain emergency procurements and for most time and material purchases, final job costs cannot be accurately determined at the time orders are placed. In such cases, contractors should be put on notice that final payment in full is contingent on a determination of reasonableness with respect to all invoiced charges. Charges which appear to be unreasonable will be researched and challenged, and that portion of the invoice held in abeyance until a settlement can be reached. Upon determining that invoiced charges are not reasonable, the Commonwealth shall promptly notify the contractor, in writing, as to those charges which it considers unreasonable and the basis for the determination. A contractor may not institute legal action unless a settlement cannot be reached within thirty (30) days of notification.

The provisions of this section do not relieve an agency of its prompt payment obligations with respect to those charges which are not in dispute (Rules Governing Procurement, Chapter 2, Exhibit J, Attachment 1 § 53; available for review at http://www.jmu.edu/procurement).

2. To Subcontractors:

a. A contractor awarded a contract under this solicitation is hereby obligated:

(1) To pay the subcontractor(s) within seven (7) days of the contractor’s receipt of payment from the Commonwealth for the proportionate share of the payment received for work performed by the subcontractor(s) under the contract; or

(2) To notify the agency and the subcontractors, in writing, of the contractor’s intention to withhold payment and the reason.

b. The contractor is obligated to pay the subcontractor(s) interest at the rate of one percent per month (unless otherwise provided under the terms of the contract) on all amounts owed by the contractor that remain unpaid seven (7) days following receipt of payment from the Commonwealth, except for amounts withheld as stated in (2) above. The date of mailing of any payment by U. S. Mail is deemed to be payment to the addressee.

These provisions apply to each sub-tier contractor performing under the primary contract. A contractor’s obligation to pay an interest charge to a subcontractor may not be construed to be an obligation of the Commonwealth.

3. Each prime contractor who wins an award in which provision of a SWAM procurement plan is a condition to the award, shall deliver to the contracting agency or institution, on or before request for final payment, evidence and certification of compliance (subject only to insubstantial shortfalls and to shortfalls arising from subcontractor default) with the SWAM procurement plan. Final payment under the contract in question may be withheld until such certification is delivered and, if necessary, confirmed by the agency or institution, or other appropriate penalties may be assessed in lieu of withholding such payment.

4. The Commonwealth of Virginia encourages contractors and subcontractors to accept electronic and credit card payments.

K. PRECEDENCE OF TERMS: Paragraphs A through J of these General Terms and Conditions and the Commonwealth of Virginia Purchasing Manual for Institutions of Higher Education and their Vendors, shall apply in all instances. In the event there is a conflict between any of the other General Terms and Conditions and any Special Terms and Conditions in this solicitation, the Special Terms and Conditions shall apply.

L. QUALIFICATIONS OF OFFERORS: The Commonwealth may make such reasonable investigations as deemed proper and necessary to determine the ability of the offeror to perform the services/furnish the goods and the offeror shall furnish to the Commonwealth all such information and data for this purpose as may be requested. The Commonwealth reserves the right to inspect offeror’s physical facilities prior to award to satisfy questions regarding the offeror’s capabilities. The Commonwealth further reserves the right to reject any proposal if the evidence submitted by, or investigations of, such offeror fails to satisfy the Commonwealth that such offeror is properly qualified to carry out the obligations of the contract and to provide the services and/or furnish the goods contemplated therein.

M. TESTING AND INSPECTION: The Commonwealth reserves the right to conduct any test/inspection it may deem advisable to assure goods and services conform to the specifications.

N. ASSIGNMENT OF CONTRACT: A contract shall not be assignable by the contractor in whole or in part without the written consent of the Commonwealth.

O. CHANGES TO THE CONTRACT: Changes can be made to the contract in any of the following ways:

1. The parties may agree in writing to modify the scope of the contract. An increase or decrease in the price of the contract resulting from such modification shall be agreed to by the parties as a part of their written agreement to modify the scope of the contract.

2. The Purchasing Agency may order changes within the general scope of the contract at any time by written notice to the contractor. Changes within the scope of the contract include, but are not limited to, things such as services to be performed, the method of packing or shipment, and the place of delivery or installation. The contractor shall comply with the notice upon receipt. The contractor shall be compensated for any additional costs incurred as the result of such order and shall give the Purchasing Agency a credit for any savings.

Said compensation shall be determined by one of the following methods:

a. By mutual agreement between the parties in writing; or

b. By agreeing upon a unit price or using a unit price set forth in the contract, if the work to be done can be expressed in units, and the contractor accounts for the number of units of work performed, subject to the Purchasing Agency’s right to audit the contractor’s records and/or to determine the correct number of units independently; or

c. By ordering the contractor to proceed with the work and keep a record of all costs incurred and savings realized. A markup for overhead and profit may be allowed if provided by the contract. The same markup shall be used for determining a decrease in price as the result of savings realized. The contractor shall present the Purchasing Agency with all vouchers and records of expenses incurred and savings realized.