ESBD_409659_1744312633768_CIO-25-215 Course Survey Tools RFP.pdf

THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Office of Procurement and HUB Program

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP NUMBER: RFP01-CIO-25-215

COURSE SURVEY TOOL

PROPOSAL MUST BE RECEIVED PRIOR TO:

2:00 P.M. Central Time on May 12, 2025

EMAIL RFP RESPONSES TO:

soprocurement@tamus.edu

SUBJECT LINE: CIO-25-215 Course Survey Tool

NOTE: Proposal response must be received by The Texas A&M University System Office of Procurement and HUB Program before the date and time specified for receipt of proposal as stated within Section 2.3 of this RFP. After the due date and time, only the names of respondents will be made public.

REFER INQUIRIES TO:

Jeff Zimmermann, Executive Director

Procurement and Business Services | HUB Program The Texas A&M University System Email: soprocurement@tamus.edu

All proposals shall become the property of The Texas A&M University System and the State of Texas upon receipt.

Proposals may be subject to public review after contracts have been executed. Refer to Section 5G for more information regarding confidential and proprietary information.

mailto:soprocurement@tamus.edu

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION

SECTION 2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDENTS

SECTION 3. SCOPE & SUPPORT

SECTION 4. PROPOSAL RESPONSE

SECTION 5. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Exhibit A – Execution of Offer

Exhibit B – Non-Collusion Affidavit

Exhibit C – Insurance

Exhibit D –Services Agreement (Draft)

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SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 Scope

The Texas A&M University System (“A&M System”) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors for a Course Survey Tool that is TX-RAMP certified to provide faculty members with constructive feedback on their teaching and course evaluations.

It is the intent of A&M System to establish a master services agreement (“Agreement”) with one or more vendors (referred to as “Respondent” or “Vendor”) to meet the needs of its member universities and agencies (referred to as “Members”) per the requirements listed in Section 3.

By submitting responses, each Respondent certifies that it understands this Request for Proposal (“RFP”) and has full knowledge of the scope and nature of the opportunity described herein. Each Respondent also certifies that it understands that all costs relating to preparing and responding to this RFP will be the sole responsibility of the Respondent. Proposals shall be in accordance with the terms, conditions, and requirements set forth in this RFP.

1.2 About The A&M System

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $7.3 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, a comprehensive health science center, eight state agencies, Texas A&M-Fort Worth and Texas A&M-RELLIS, the Texas A&M System educates more than 165,000 students and makes more than 25.3 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceed $1.5 billion and help drive the state’s economy.

More information about the A&M System and all its Members can be found in the A&M System About page (https://www.tamus.edu/system/about/).

1.3 Priorities/Expectations

Respondents should note the following priorities/expectations with regard to the possibility of A&M System establishing a contractual relationship with any Respondent:

(a) Ensuring a Quality Level of Service. This priority encompasses the quality of the level of service that can be provided to all A&M System Members in a timely, cost-effective manner. A&M System is seeking a Respondent or Respondents that will ensure the provision of such quality in its delivery of service through proven techniques and established metrics.

(b) Level of Experience and Expertise. Respondent must demonstrate capabilities in providing the utmost level of experience and expertise to ensure successful completion and implementation of services as determined by the A&M System.

(c) Delivery Efficiency as it Relates to Total Costs. Respondent must demonstrate its ability to deliver the required services in a cost-effective and timely manner while not sacrificing the quality required by the A&M System.

1.4 Calendar of Events

Activity Date

Release of Request for Proposal April 10, 2025

Deadline to Submit Questions April 25, 2025

Release of Addendum (if applicable) April 30, 2025

Responses Due May 12, 2025 https://www.tamus.edu/system/about/ https://www.tamus.edu/system/about/

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Presentation (at A&M System’s option) anticipated the week of June 2, 2025

Selection of Respondents TBD

A&M System will make every effort to adhere to the above schedule. The schedule, however, is subject to change. This may be in the event that further clarification of responses or terms of contract are in the best interest of A&M System and/or in the event A&M System requires more time to ensure that the selection of the Respondent is in accordance with its policies, rules and regulations, as well as actual timing needs.

1.5 Performance Period

Should the A&M System, in its sole discretion, enter into an Agreement with one or more successful Respondents as a result of this RFP, the resultant Agreement shall be effective upon execution for an initial period of three (3) years. Agreement may be extended for one (1) additional two (2) year term providing all parties mutually agree in writing on the extension. Any extensions shall be at the same terms and conditions plus any approved changes to be determined by the A&M System and negotiated in writing with the successful Respondent.

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SECTION 2 - INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDENTS

2.1 General Information

The A&M System is seeking proposals from qualified vendors interested in providing a Course Survey Tool to the A&M System. This RFP outlines the scope and requirements within Section 3. While it is the intent of the A&M System to establish an Agreement with a pool of qualified providers for the services stated within this RFP, there is no guarantee that an award will be made or any agreement executed. If a pool of providers is established as a result of this RFP, Members will have the option to choose services and providers from the pool at their discretion.

Submittals are to be in accordance with the outline and specifications contained herein, are to remain in effect a minimum of 120 days from the date of submission and may be subject to further extensions as negotiated. A statement to this effect should be contained in the Respondent's cover letter.

This RFP contains specific requests for information. Respondents are encouraged to examine all sections of this RFP carefully, as the degree of interrelationship between sections is critical. In responding to this RFP, Respondents are encouraged to provide any additional information they believe relevant.

Clause headings appearing in this RFP have been inserted for convenience and ready reference. They do not purport to define, limit or extend the scope of intent of the respective clauses. Whenever the terms "must" "shall" "will" "is required” or "are required” are used in the RFP, the subject being referred to is to be a required feature of this RFP and critical to the resulting submittal.

In those cases where mandatory requirements are stated, material failure to meet those requirements could result in disqualification of the Respondent's response. Any deviation or exception from RFP specifications must be clearly identified by the Respondent in its submittal.

Expenses for developing and presenting proposals shall be the entire responsibility of the Respondent and shall not be chargeable to the A&M System. All documentation submitted with the proposal response will become the property of the A&M System.

2.2 Examination of the Request for Proposal

Before submitting, each Respondent will be held to have examined A&M System requirements outlined in Section 3 and satisfied itself as to the existing conditions under which it will be obligated to perform in accordance with specifications of this RFP.

No claim for additional compensation will be allowed due to unfamiliarity with the specifications and/or existing conditions. It shall be understood that the Respondent has full knowledge of all of the existing and/or revised conditions and accepts them "as is."

2.3 Submittal Instructions

All proposals must be received by the A&M System, no later than 2:00:00 p.m. Central Time, May 12, 2025 electronically via email to soprocurement@tamus.edu with the subject line of “CIO-25-215 – Course Survey Tool.” The sent time indicated within the A&M System email server shall be used for the receipt and acceptance of the response. It is each Respondent’s responsibility to ensure that the entire submittal response is received by the A&M System by the deadline stated above regardless of submission method.

Late proposal responses will not be considered under any circumstances.

A file sharing tool may be used to submit the proposal response if large file sizes are an issue. If opting to use a file sharing tool it is recommended that Respondents send a test file prior to the due date.

Submittal File Format: Submission shall be saved as two (2) separate files in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) according to the items listed below and named as such; I) “company name – Proposal” and II) “company name – Forms.”

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2.4 Proposal Components

The following documents and all requirements from noted sections are to be returned as part of your proposal submittal. Failure to include these documents may be basis for response disqualification.

I. Proposal

✔ Cover Letter to include a brief introduction with interest and capability of the Respondent.

✔ Table of Contents

✔ Proposal, to include Sections 4.1 – 4.3

✔ Pricing Proposal, Section 4.4

II. Forms

✔ Signed Execution of Offer (Exhibit A)

✔ Non-Collusion Affidavit (Exhibit B) – signed and notarized

✔ Accessibility documentation (Section 3.5)

✔ HUB Subcontracting Plan (Section 4.6)

Proposal format: The proposal response shall be presented in the order listed above with sections noted accordingly for easy reference. The Table of Contents shall provide page numbers for each section of the proposal.

Note: Additional information regarding the Execution of Offer and Non-Collusion Affidavit.

● Execution of Offer: The signature in the Execution of Offer within the electronic copy shall serve as the official signature of record. Signature can be done electronically with DocuSign, Adobe or another similar tool.

● Non-Collusion Affidavit: The Respondent signature as well as the notarization on this document may be done electronically with DocuSign, Adobe or another similar tool. An agreement may not be executed with the awarded Respondent until this document is fully signed and notarized.

2.5 Inquiries and Interpretations

All questions concerning this RFP are to be directed, in writing, to Jeff Zimmermann, Executive Director, Procurement and Business Services to soprocurement@tamus.edu. Respondent may not contact other individuals at A&M System to discuss any aspect of this RFP, unless expressly authorized by the A&M System Procurement office to do so.

Questions regarding the RFP, including questions for more data or information beyond that included in this RFP and any attachment, should be presented in writing. Deadline for submission of questions is by the end of the day, Friday, April 25, 2025. The A&M System will publish all questions with responses according to the schedule in Section 1.4.

Responses to inquiries which directly affect an interpretation or change to this RFP will be issued in writing by addendum/amendment and posted to the Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD) at the following site;

http://www.txsmartbuy.com/sp. (Input Agency Number “710” and select “Posted” for the Status).

It is the responsibility of all Respondents to check the ESBD for any and all addenda issued for this RFP. All such addenda/amendments issued by the A&M System prior to the time that proposals are received shall be considered part of the RFP, and the Respondent shall consider and acknowledge receipt of such in Exhibit A – Execution of Offer. Only those A&M System inquiries receiving a public reply via formal written addenda shall be binding. Oral and other interpretations or clarifications will be without legal effect.

http://www.txsmartbuy.com/sp

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2.6 Selection Process

The evaluation of the proposals shall be based on the information provided that the A&M System deems to represent the best value to the A&M System. The RFP provides the information necessary to prepare and submit proposals for consideration by the A&M System. All properly submitted proposals will be reviewed, evaluated, and ranked by the A&M System. The A&M System will rank the Respondents in the order that they provide the overall “best value” to the A&M System based on an evaluation of the responses to the RFP. The A&M System may interview one or more of the top ranked Respondents as part of the evaluation process.

The A&M System will base its choice on demonstrated competence, knowledge, and qualifications, ability of the proposed Solution to meet the needs of the A&M System, timeline for implementation of the Solution, on the reasonableness of the proposed fees for the Solution, impact on the ability of A&M System to comply with statutes and objectives relating to utilization of historically underutilized businesses ; and if other considerations are equal, give preference to a Respondent whose principal place of business is in the state of Texas, or who will manage the contract wholly from an office in the state of Texas.

The Respondent(s) selected will be those whose experience and qualifications, as presented in response to this RFP, establish them, in the opinion of A&M System, as well-qualified and offering the greatest benefits, experience and value to A&M System. A&M System may cancel this RFP 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 A&M System determine in its sole discretion that only one Respondent is fully qualified, or that one Respondent is clearly more highly qualified than the others under consideration, a contract may be negotiated and executed with that Respondent. The contract will be an agreement incorporating by reference all the requirements, terms and conditions of the solicitation and the Respondent’s proposal as negotiated.

The most qualified Respondents as determined by A&M System MAY BE REQUIRED to present to the evaluation committee before the final selection(s). If presentations are required, they will be done online through video conferencing, or in person if allowed at the time by A&M System guidelines and agreed to by both parties. A&M System will not provide compensation to Respondents for any expenses incurred by the Respondent(s) for proposal preparation, submission or presentations that may be conducted.

Submission of proposals indicates Respondent's acceptance of the evaluation techniques and the recognition that subjective judgments must be made by A&M System during the evaluation process. The selection of the successful proposal(s) may be made by A&M System on the basis of the proposals initially submitted, without discussion, clarification, or modification. In the alternative, selection of the successful proposal(s) may be made by the A&M System on the basis of negotiation with any of the Respondents.

A&M System shall not disclose any information derived from the proposals submitted by competing Respondents in conducting such discussions.

All proposals must be complete and convey all of the information requested to be considered responsive.

If a proposal fails to conform to the essential requirements of the RFP, A&M System alone will determine whether the variance is significant enough to consider the proposal susceptible to being made acceptable, and therefore a candidate for further consideration, or not susceptible and therefore not considered for award.

A&M System may perform reference checks and seek further information, as needed from all Respondents whose proposals A&M System, at its discretion, considers viable, based on the initial evaluation and scoring.

The Respondent’s response to this requirement officially authorizes A&M System to contact these organizations to discuss the services and other considerations that the Respondent has provided to such organizations and authorizes the organizations to provide such information to A&M System and Respondent shall and hereby does release and hold harmless A&M System, the state of Texas, and the organization of any and all liability whatsoever, in connection with providing and receiving all such

The Texas A&M University System RFP01 CIO-25-215 Page 8 of 37 information. Any negative responses received from reference checks may be grounds for disqualification of the proposal.

A&M System reserves the right to accept or reject any or all offers, to waive informalities and technicalities, to accept the offer considered most advantageous, and/or to make the award to the most responsive Respondent(s).

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SECTION 3 - SCOPE AND SUPPORT

The Course Survey Tool offered must meet the required items stated in each section below. Some sections list desired items as well. Ability to meet each of these required and desired items shall be provided in Section 4.2 – Technical Proposal.

3.1 Integrations

Required

1. Each participating A&M System member will have an independent installation of the Course Evaluation tool. The proposal should include 1 (one) production instance and at least 1 (one) non-production instance with any connectors to other systems and the ability to clone data from production to non-production.

2. Single Sign On - Ability to authenticate using member institution’s login and password (e.g. Island ID, NetID, etc.) via a standards-based approach such as (SAML 2.0 Authentication) ADFS, Shibboleth, and/or

CAS.

3. Ability to acquire course, instructor, and student data smoothly from the Member’s SIS.

4. Ability to distribute or access surveys through the A&M System member’s LMS (currently Blackboard for all participating members).

a. Include list of integrations, functional capabilities, and comparison for Blackboard, Brightspace, and

Canvas Learning Management Systems (LMS).

5. Ability to export data to the Member’s faculty portfolio system.

a. Include list of integrations and functional capabilities.

6. Provide a list of direct portal integrations and capabilities that are supported

a. Include list of integrations, functional capabilities, and comparisons.

7. Ability to access surveys directly through tool website.

8. Provide listing of API capabilities and protocols for the Course Evaluation tool (including LTI, etc.)

3.2 Survey Creation

Required

1. Ability to choose from various standard question formats, including Likert scale choice, prose responses, and other formats.

2. Surveys should not limit the number of prose response questions in a survey or the number of characters permitted in a response box.

3. Option to control the order of questions and the format of Likert scale responses at the system administrator level.

4. Ability to control the order of questions, the number of questions added, and the format of Likert scale responses at the instructor level.

5. Ability to insert headings into a survey at specified locations.

6. Ability to specify questions that are to appear on all surveys administered at the A&M System member institution. These would include some demographic questions such as class year, major area, required class or not, expected grade, and others, along with some evaluative questions. These questions cannot be edited except by the system administrator.

7. Mechanism for adding new questions to the database, by the appropriate access role.

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8. Ability for an appropriate course director / administrator to specify questions to appear on all surveys for sections of that course.

9. Ability for a college dean or designee to specify questions to appear on all surveys for courses taught in that college.

10. System must provide ease of independent configuration/customization by faculty and administrative users without involvement of vendor.

Desired

1. Ability to assign questions to specific categories (such as to recognize institutional high impact practices for teaching) and make them available to be selected in subsections of the survey.

2. Ability to generate messages to all instructors, such as to remind them to administer surveys for their current classes. (Might be handled adequately outside the Course Evaluation tool system.)

3. Ability for faculty to include outcomes-based questions on student learning.

4. Survey design should include completeness metric for students so they are able to determine how much longer the response will take them to finish.

5. Ability for instructors to add course specific questions into the evaluation process.

6. Ability to permit ratings of multiple instructors in courses being team-taught.

7. Ability to require answers for select questions

8. Ability to support question branching; i.e. ask “Follow-up Questions” based on answers to previous questions.

a. Capabilities are integrated into the course assessment survey to assist in providing instructors with effective student feedback.

b. Software has the capacity to direct “follow-up” questions to any segment of the class population.

3.3 Survey Administration

Required

1. Ability for the instructor or Course Evaluation tool administrator to specify a start date and end date for course surveys.

2. Ability to limit the last available date across all surveys by system administrator (e.g., surveys not available past course grade submission deadline).

3. Option to send a notification to students when a survey opens and reminders to students who have not completed the survey.

a. Direct Email

b. LMS portal

4. Messages to students that can be customized based on specific criteria.

a. Indicate the level of customization that can be achieved for messages. (Examples: Student name can be incorporated, Instructor name can be incorporated, course name can be incorporated, graphics/headers can be changed). Please provide detailed answer.

5. Ability to use a wide range of mobile devices, including at least iOS and Android, to respond to surveys.

6. Ability for students to use laptops, desktops, and tablets for survey response.

7. A student may submit only one response per course.

8. Students may only submit responses to courses in which they are currently enrolled.

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9. Ability to meet accessibility needs of faculty and student users based on requirements in Section 3.5.

10. Ability to use Course Evaluation tool for midterm evaluation.

11. Option to send a notification to students when a survey opens and reminders to students who have not completed the survey.

a. SMS/Texting

b. university portal

12. System will send notification to instructor when survey reports are available.

13. Anonymity Assurance: Student data is anonymous.

14. Software has the ability to be deployed for an unlimited number of sub terms or part of terms within a long semester (e.g. 4- or 7-week courses in a 15-week semester).

Desired

1. System will send confirmation emails to faculty at the start of surveys.

2. Ability for a real-time, response “tracking” that permits the administrator to see the overall response rate of the survey.

3.4 Reporting

Required

1. Ability to generate reports based on responses for current and past semesters.

2. Ability to prevent instructor access to survey results until a specified date or action (such as after final due date for grades).

3. Ability to include a single section of a course, all sections of a multi-section course, all courses in a department or program, or all courses in a school or college in a report.

4. Ability to output reports in a variety of file formats (e.g. Word, PDF, Excel, csv, etc.)

5. Ability to include accurate comparative means and/or medians along with standard deviations for multiple choice questions. These comparisons should be available per question.

6. Ability to aggregate response data for all questions within a particular category (example: define questions related to high impact practices and report on all questions related to that category).

7. Ability to export prose comments to Excel, Word, pdf, csv or other formats.

8. Identify the length of time between when surveys close and the time when reports are available to faculty.

9. Ability to make comparisons relative to the rest of the department and faculty.

Desired

1. Ability to include accurate comparative means and/or medians along with standard deviations for multiple choice questions. These comparisons could be available per subsection. The basis for comparison could include other sections of the same course, other courses in the department, other courses in the college, or national comparisons, etc.

2. Ability to create reports comparing courses at the same level (100, 200, 300, etc.), among general education courses, non-major courses, and other categories.

3. For a single section, various report formats should be available, including grouping responses as all the responses from a single anonymized individual, all the responses from all anonymized individuals, all

The Texas A&M University System RFP01 CIO-25-215 Page 12 of 37 prose responses organized by question, or a summary statistical report of multiple-choice responses.

4. If used for midterm evaluations, there should be an ability to link surveys of the same course section to see changes in class responses.

5. Completed survey should be time stamped and marked with the IP address from which it was submitted for use in analyzing results attained during a class period but not for identifying the respondent.

6. System administrator should have ability to access and report identifying course response rates while survey is active (i.e., to identify potential problems with distribution or access).

7. Ability for historical analyses of an instructor’s performance metrics over time (longitudinal reporting).

8. Ability for analyses of an instructor’s performance metrics across courses (aggregated reporting).

3.5 Security and Survey Administration

Required

1. TAMU System members will only consider hosted installations. Responses should clearly indicate the type of installation being proposed. For host/SaaS based applications, the following requirements must be met:

a. Vendor warrants that all Customer and End User Data will be encrypted in transmission and storage.

b. Vendor warrants that all Customer data will be stored solely within the continental United States.

2. For Hosted/SaaS systems - Are backup/recovery procedures updated and tested annually? If so, please describe.

3. For Hosted/SaaS systems - What type of testing do you conduct for your business continuity and disaster recovery plan (i.e. simulation drills, walk-through exercises, tabletop exercises, actual drills, etc.)? What is the frequency of that testing?

4. Describe the use of role-based security, including roles such as student, instructor, course director, college dean, and system administrator.

5. Ability to assign designees (e.g., Dean or Department Head could assign assistant the ability to request all surveys or run college-wide reports).

6. Access to data must be limited to approved administrators and must not be available to third parties.

7. Survey administration must have ability to assign appropriate levels of user access and change controls:

a. Student, instructor, and relevant admin login must be secure and by unique university user ID authentication, with appropriate audit trail information available.

b. Student respondents must only be granted response access to the surveys in the courses that they are enrolled in. Students should not be granted viewing or change access.

c. Administrators must be granted limited, pre-administration question change access and granted viewing access to the courses that they are supervisors of but not granted student response change access.

Desired

1. Ability to limit designee functions by course or specific actions / views.

3.6 System Administration and Troubleshooting

Required

1. Configurable roles for system access, such as faculty, broad read-only administrative access, system administrator, student, etc.

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2. Logging of key events such as survey creation, sending of messages, changing survey dissemination dates, granting or revoking permissions, and report generation.

3. Ability to search log for events related to a particular course or instructor.

4. Ability for a system administrator to reset a survey.

5. Ability for a system administrator to adjust course enrollment (such as add students) and change start/end date of live survey for one or multiple courses.

6. Provide reference architecture with response.

7. Must provide technical documentation regarding cloud-based specifications.

Desired

1. Ability to search for potential problems, such as large courses with very few or no respondents.

3.7 Vendor, Longevity and Exit Strategy

Required

1. Ability to export data files in format that can be imported to another survey tool and/or analyzed through non-proprietary statistical software.

2. Vendor responsibility to maintain tool currency, integrations, and backwards compatibility with Learning Management Systems.

3. Vendor stability in services, history of peer school clients.

4. Sufficient vendor support for implementation, changes, and issues.

5. Vendor must have demonstrated track record with product at several peer level institutions, and provide contact information to customers for comparative analysis purposes.

6. Vendor must have demonstrated disaster recovery planning, with redundancy and reliability of system’s product platform hardware and software.

7. Vendor must adhere to all TAMU System contract bid process requirements.

8. Vendor must demonstrate sufficient depth of personnel to anticipate, prepare for, and deliver necessary future platform update changes associated with integrations (e.g., new iOS releases, new Android releases, browser upgrades and Blackboard upgrades).

3.8 Accessibility

Under Texas Government Code Chapter 2054, Subchapter M, Texas Administrative Code Sections 206.70 and 213, Title II of the American with Disabilities Act, and implementing policy of A&M System’s Regulations 29.01.04, the Texas A&M University System must procure Products that comply with the accessibility standards when such products are available in the commercial marketplace or when such Products are developed in response to a procurement solicitation. Accordingly, the Respondent must provide digital information resources and associated Product documentation and technical support that comply with the Accessibility Standards.

1. Provide your Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) with your RFP response. At a minimum your ACR should address accessibility, keyboard navigation, and screen reader accessibility.

https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/

2. Provide Policy Driven Adoption Vendor Self-Assessment (PDAA) with your RFP response. This Information and Communications Technology (ICT) accessibility assessment is for vendor organizations to describe how they are currently implementing accessibility policy and practices within their organizations. https://dir.texas.gov/resource-library-item/policy-driven-adoption-accessibility-pdaa-https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/ https://dir.texas.gov/resource-library-item/policy-driven-adoption-accessibility-pdaa-vendor-assessment

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3. Are all areas of your application fully Unicode compliant in terms of both data entry and display?

4. Does your application fully support the major world orthographies (i.e., Chinese, Japanese, Arabic), including those with non-English directionality (R-L, or top to bottom)? Can it accommodate any practical orthographic tradition (i.e., Cherokee syllabics) that can be handled within Unicode?

5. How is accessibility incorporated into your product roadmap and feature development?

3.9 TX-RAMP Certification

Should respondent’s product meet the Texas Department of Information Resources (“DIR”) definition of a cloud computing service, respondent shall provide A&M System with evidence of its TX-RAMP compliance and certification at least thirty (30) days prior to the start of any agreement. (See also Exhibit D: Section 10.C Cloud Computing Services). If the product proposed is currently certified, provide your TX-RAMP Certificate ID with your proposal response.

https://dir.texas.gov/resource-library-item/policy-driven-adoption-accessibility-pdaa-vendor-assessment

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SECTION 4 - PROPOSAL RESPONSE

The Respondent recognizes that in its selection process, A&M System will rely, in part, on the answers provided in response to this Section. Accordingly, Respondent warrants to the best of its knowledge that all responses are true, correct and complete.

4.1 Company Profile

A. Provide a contact name for this RFP response, including title, address, telephone number and email address.

B. Number of years in business: ______

C. Number of Employees: ______ (company wide) ______ (relevant branch office(s))

D. Annual Sales Volume: _____________________________(company wide)

E. Is your company currently for sale or involved in any transaction to expend or to become acquired by another business entity? If yes, please explain the impact both in organizational and directional terms.

F. Provide any details of all past or pending litigation or claims filed against your company that would negatively impact your company’s performance under an agreement with the Agencies.

G. Is your company currently in default on any loan agreement or financing agreement with any bank, financial institution, or other entity. If yes, specify date(s), details, circumstances, and prospects for resolution.

4.2 Technical Proposal

Respondent should describe how their services can address the overall needs and requirements of the A&M System as described in SECTION 3 – SCOPE AND SUPPORT (all sections).

In responding to these requirements, Respondent:

A. Shall provide sufficient information to fully demonstrate that the proposed Solution meets the scope and Required items within sub-sections 3.1 through 3.9. For the Desired items listed in those sub-sections, Respondent shall address if the proposed Solution includes those items, or if the Solution will have that ability in the future. Where applicable, include screenshots, process flows, schedules, lists, etc. that help demonstrate the ability of the Solution to meet the scope.

B. Shall provide a timeline for implementation of the proposed Solution. Timeline shall include when implementation can begin upon execution of an Agreement through the date proposed Solution is fully implemented and operational.

C. May provide other documentation and information to demonstrate the overall value of the proposed Solution, and any other services available to support the Solution.

4.3 Vendor Qualifications

Respondent shall provide a response to the following items:

A. Respondent must furnish at least four references from clients from the past three years for services provided similar in scope, size, and complexity to the scope of services described in Section 3 above. If possible, the A&M System requests that two of the references come from institutions of Higher Education and/or other public sector entities and ideally from schools within the A&M System.

● Company/Agency name & address

● Contact person name & title

● Contact phone number

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● Contact email address

● Summary of services provided

B. Has Respondent worked with the A&M System or any of its Members in the past two years? If yes, provide the specific member of the A&M System, point of contact (name, title, phone number, and email address), and a brief description of the work performed.

C. Has Respondent had any work with A&M System Members non-renewed or cancelled for any reason in the past five years? If so, please provide details on work, agency, and time frame.

4.4 Pricing Proposal

Respondent shall provide a complete pricing proposal for the Solution offered to include the following items as applicable.

A. Initial Implementation or Set-Up Fee.

B. Professional service fees required or recommended for implementation and proposed provider for any recommended services (if not the solution provider).

C. Annual recurring license or subscription – include all possible options in the pricing of this support and applicable terms. Provider must also disclose pricing model (i.e. per instance, per user, per data volumes, or some other metric).

D. Any other annual charges.

E. List incentives or price breaks that the System might receive for additional quantities (e.g. collaborative pricing).

F. Identify any training, support or materials costs that may be required for implementation or ongoing usage.

4.5 Proposal Considerations

A. Proposals must include the required A&M System Member resources (People, Processes, Capabilities) to ensure the Solutions success.

B. Any additional costs such as travel must be quoted as a separate line item. Allowed travel expenses must be in compliance with the State of Texas Travel Guidelines as defined by the Comptroller of Public Accounts.

4.6 Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Requirements

It is the policy of the State of Texas and the A&M System to encourage the use of Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) both directly and indirectly in prime contracting and subcontracting efforts. The goal of the HUB Program is to promote equal access and equitable opportunity in the A&M System contracting and purchasing activities.

A subcontracting opportunity is defined as any portion(s) of the scope contracted with a vendor to work, supply commodities for, or contribute towards completing work for a governmental entity.

The Respondent is required to submit a completed HUB Subcontracting Plan (HSP) form detailing how they will conduct a good faith effort to attract and incorporate State of Texas HUB-certified vendors to perform a percentage of the scope of work defined within this RFP.

The HUB participation goal for this RFP is 15% and the Respondent is required to conduct a good faith effort to achieve this goal through subcontracting opportunities, mentor protégé relationships, or other means of meaningful business relationships to increase the capacity and utilization of HUB firms.

Maximizing meaningful opportunities to HUBs is of the utmost importance to The Texas A&M University

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System. The good faith effort requirement may be met through successful completion of the plans described below.

The Respondent is required to complete and submit a HUB Subcontracting Plan (HSP) form. Failure to submit a comprehensive, acceptable HSP form will be considered a material failure to comply with the requirements of this RFP and may result in rejection of the response. Refer to Section 2.6 for details on the A&M System’s selection process.

HUB Subcontracting Plan (HSP) Form

The Respondent is required to review and complete the A&M System HSP form.

In all cases, the Respondent is required to:

i. Complete Section 1, Section 2, and Section 4 of the HSP form.

ii. Determine whether it is probable that they will subcontract any portion of the scope within this

RFP.

iii. Complete either Method A, Method B, or Section 3 as applicable based on the response to Section 2.

If the Respondent determines it is probable that they will subcontract any portion of the scope within this RPF, the applicable HUB participation goal for this RFP is 15%, and the Respondent is required to conduct and demonstrate a good faith effort to achieve this goal and list all anticipated subcontracting opportunities in Section 2b of the HSP form. Note: In all cases, the HUB goal stated within this RFP takes precedence over the HUB goal stated on the downloaded HSP form.

Please contact The Texas A&M University System HUB Program Office at SO-HUBProgram@tamus.edu for assistance with completing the requirements of this section. Respondents can submit a draft of their HSP form prior to submittal of their response to the RFP for review. All drafts must be submitted at least five business days prior to the RFP due date.

https://www.tamus.edu/business/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/FY21-HSP-fillable-form.pdf mailto:SO-HUBProgram@tamus.edu

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SECTION 5 - GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

A. TERMS AND CONDITIONS: The A&M System reserves the right to accept, reject, modify, and/or negotiate any and all submittals received in conjunction with this RFP. It reserves the right to waive any defect or informality in the submittals on the basis of what it considers to be in its best interests. Any submittal which the A&M System determines to be incomplete, conditional, obscure, or which has irregularities of any kind, may be rejected. The A&M System reserves the right to award to the company, or companies, which in our sole judgment, will best serve our long-term interest.

This RFP in no manner obligates the A&M System to the eventual purchase of any products or services described, implied, or which may be proposed, until confirmed by written agreement, and may be terminated by the A&M System without penalty or obligation at any time prior to the signing of a contract.

The Respondent must include a formal copy of any Respondent terms and conditions applicable to this transaction. Evaluation and acceptance and/or modification of these terms and conditions by the A&M System Office of General Counsel are essential prior to execution of any resultant agreement. In the event the Respondent does not supply terms and conditions with their submittal, A&M System terms and conditions will govern this transaction.

B. GOVERNING LAW: Respondent agrees that, in the event of a dispute, laws of the State of Texas will prevail.

C. NON-DISCRIMINATION: The parties agree that in the performance of any contract they shall not discriminate in any manner on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, religion, sex, genetic information, veteran status or disability protected by law. Such action shall include, but is not limited to, the following: employment, upgrading, demotion, transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising; layoff or termination; rates of pay or other forms of compensation. By submitting a submittal, Respondent certifies that it will conform to the provisions of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

D. CIVIL RIGHTS REQUIREMENTS: All Respondents must comply with applicable civil rights laws.

E. IMMIGRATION REFORM AND CONTROL ACT OF 1986: By submitting a proposal, the Respondent certifies that it does not, and will not, during the performance of any resultant Agreement, employ illegal alien workers or otherwise violate the provisions of the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, as amended.

F. DEBARMENT STATUS: By submitting a proposal, Respondent certifies that it is not currently debarred from submitting submittals on contracts nor is it an agent of any person or entity that is currently debarred from submitting bids on contracts.

G. PUBLIC INFORMATION: Respondent is hereby notified that the A&M System strictly adheres to all statutes, court decisions, and the opinions of the Texas Attorney General with respect to disclosure of public information. The A&M System may seek to protect from disclosure all information submitted in response to this RFP until such time as the resultant Agreement is executed. Upon execution of the resultant Agreement, the A&M System will consider all information, documentation, and other materials requested to be submitted in response to this RFP to be of a non-confidential and non-proprietary nature and therefore subject to public disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 552. Respondent will be advised of a request for public information that implicates its materials and will have the opportunity to raise any objections to disclosure to the Texas Attorney General.

H. ALTERNATE PROPOSALS: A&M System reserves the right to consider alternate proposals submitted by Respondents. Alternate proposals shall be clearly marked “Alternate” with the proposed alternates clearly defined and all pricing/cost advantages included, if applicable.

I. ANTITRUST: Respondent hereby assigns to the A&M System, any and all claims for overcharges associated with any contract resulting from this RFP which arise under the antitrust laws of the United States 15 U.S.C.A. Section 1, et seq. (1973) and which arise under the antitrust laws of the State of Texas, Texas

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Business and Commercial Code Ann. Sec. 15.01, et seq. (1967).

J. EXECUTIVE HEAD OF A STATE AGENCY AFFIRMATION: In accordance with Section 669.003 of the Texas Government Code, relating to contracting with the executive head of a state agency, Respondent certifies that it is not (1) the executive head of the A&M System or any of its Members, (2) a person who at any time during the four years before the date of the contract was the executive head of the A&M System or any of its Members, or (3) a person who employs a current or former executive head of the A&M System or any of its Members.

K. INSURANCE: Respondent shall obtain and maintain, for the duration of any resultant Agreement or longer, the minimum insurance coverage set forth on Exhibit C attached hereto.

L. REQUIRED CONTRACT TERMS: The terms and conditions contained in the draft agreement attached as Exhibit D or, in the sole discretion of the A&M System, terms and conditions substantially similar to those contained in the attached agreement, will constitute and govern any Agreement that results from this RFP.

If Respondent takes exception to any terms or conditions set forth in the attached agreement, Respondent will submit a list of the exceptions as part of its proposal. Respondent’s exceptions will be reviewed by the A&M System and may result in disqualification of Respondent’s proposal as non-responsive to this RFP. If Respondent’s exceptions do not result in disqualification of Respondent’s proposal, then the A&M System may consider Respondent’s exceptions when the A&M System evaluates the Respondent’s proposal.

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EXHIBIT A

EXECUTION OF OFFER

RFP01 COI-25-215

In compliance with this RFP, and subject to all the conditions herein, the undersigned offers and agrees to furnish any or all commodities or services at the prices quoted.

A.1 Respondent Affirmation

NOTE TO RESPONDENTS: SUBMIT ENTIRE SECTION WITH RESPONSE.

This execution of offer must be completed, signed, and returned with the Respondent's Proposal. Failure to complete, sign and return this execution of offer with the Proposal may result in rejection of the Proposal.

Signing a false statement may void the submitted Proposal or any agreements or other contractual arrangements, which may result from the submission of Respondent’s Proposal. A false certification shall be deemed a material breach of contract and, at the A&M System's option, may result in termination of any resulting contract or purchase order.

Addenda Acknowledgment:

Receipt is hereby acknowledged of the following addenda to this RFP by entering yes or no in space provided and indicating date acquired. Enter “0" if none received.

No. 1 ______ Date No. 3 ______Date

No. 2 ______ Date No. 4 ______Date

A.2 Signature

By signing below, the Respondent hereby certifies as follows, and acknowledges that such certifications will be included in any resulting contract:

(i) the Response and all statements and information prepared and submitted in response to this RFP are current, complete, true and correct;

(ii) it is not given, nor intends to give at any time hereafter, any economic opportunity, future employment, gift, loan, gratuity, special discount trip, favor or service to a public servant in connection with the submitted response or any subsequent proposal. Failure to sign below, or signing a false statement, may void the response or any resulting contracts at the A&M System’ option, and the Respondent may be removed from all future proposal lists at this state agency;

(iii) the individual signing this document and the documents made part of the RFP is authorized to sign such documents on behalf of the Respondent and to bind the Respondent under any contract which may result from the submission of the Response;

(iv) no relationship, whether as a relative, business associate, by capital funding agreement or by any other such kinship exists between Respondent and an employee of the A&M System;

(v) Respondent has not been an employee of the A&M System within the immediate twelve (12) months prior to the RFP response;

(vi) no compensation has been received for participation in the preparation of this RFP (ref. Section

2155.004 Texas Government Code);

(vii) all services to be provided in response to this RFP will meet or exceed the safety standards established and promulgated under the Federal Occupational Safety and Health law (Public Law 91-596) and its regulations in effect as of the date of this solicitation;

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(viii) Respondent complies…