ESBD_493470_1774280012328_CIO-26-261 Addendum 1.pdf

THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Office of Procurement & HUB Program

ADDENDUM NO. 1

Date: March 23, 2026

RFP Due Date: March 31, 2026

RE: RFP01-CIO-26-261

Respondents shall acknowledge receipt of addendum(s) on the Execution of Offer (Exhibit A).

Clarification:

Section 2.5 of the RFP references an Attachment 8 for submission of questions. Disregard this reference and submit all questions related to this RFP within the text of an email or as an attachment within a Word document to soprocurement@tamus.edu.

Questions/Responses:

1. Please give an example of programs affected by your MA-3 requirement (Attachment 3, Tab 2), "Demonstrate how the proposed solution can automatically calculate grades for students in multiple programs that have different grading scales?"

Response: A&M-Victoria does not have standardized grading scale for their programs. All classes have their own grading/point scales to determine a student’s final letter/numeric grade in a class.

2. Please elaborate on your current state related to the preference collection and lottery components you mentioned in your EN-5 requirement (Attachment 3, Tab 2), "Demonstrate how the proposed solution can support student self-service scheduling and registration (through computers or mobile devices) that will allow students to provide a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd preference for courses (e.g. through a lottery feature), cap the number of students for a specific program or course and manage a waitlist, and support the ability for a faculty member to approve student registration within a course?"

Response: At present A&M-Victoria does not have in place preference collection and/or lottery components.

3. Please give an example of a third party from whom you'd receive degree application information, mentioned in your PAS-3 requirement (Attachment 3, Tab 2).

Response: A&M-Victoria only processes degree applications from our current Student Information System (SIS) – Peoplesoft Campus Solutions.

4. For financial aid processing, do you operate on a Scheduled Aid Year (SAY) or a Borrower-Based Aid Year (BBAY)? If BBAY, could you specify which formula you use (e.g., BBAY1, BBAY2, or

BBAY3)?

Response: A&M-Victoria is SAY.

5. The Application Inventory indicates you are open to evaluating certain solutions. i.e. Scholarships, Advancement In the absence of specific requirements, how will you evaluate alternate solutions?

Response: Our desire is to have the core SIS accomplish as much as possible. For applications that are offered outside of the core SIS, they will be evaluated and considered as a best value as it relates to the needs of the A&M System.

mailto:soprocurement@tamus.edu

6. Which third-party payment processor do you currently use? Are you planning to retain that solution? Would you consider other options?

Response: Velocity is the A&M-Victoria payment processor. Support of additional payment processors shall be communicated within the proposal response for consideration.

7. To ensure we deliver a response that reflects the full depth of our capabilities and is thoughtfully tailored to the University’s requirements, would Texas A&M consider granting a two-week extension to the current submission deadline?

Response: No.

8. What is the target go-live date for Texas A&M University-Victoria?

Response: A&M Victoria needs to be fully off of their current SIS solution in August 2028.

9. Minimum Qualification #7 states that the proposed SIS solution must have been implemented, or have substantially progressed in implementation, within one or more R1-designated institutions.

If a respondent has implemented their SIS solution at institutions outside the United States that are functionally equivalent to R1 in terms of research intensity, enrollment scale, and institutional complexity, will such implementations be considered as satisfying this minimum qualification?

Response: Yes.

10. The RFP describes evaluation based on 'best value' but provides no explicit scoring rubric, evaluation criteria, or weighting percentages. Can A&M System share the evaluation criteria and their relative weights?

Response: The scoring matrix is not available. All information available regarding the selection process is within Section 2.6 of the RFP.

11. What are the top 3 pain points at A&M-Victoria that will determine whether you consider the pilot a success?

Response: This RFP and A&M-Victoria is not a pilot for the A&M System. A&M-Victoria needs to transition off of their current SIS. Other A&M System Members have the option to utilize the awarded Respondent from this RFP as an option at any time.

12. What are the minimum SLA requirements for the SIS solution in terms of uptime percentage, planned maintenance windows, and critical period blackout dates (e.g., registration, financial aid disbursement, end-of-semester grading)?

Response: Please provide your suggestions for SLA requirements for the product that you are proposing within your response.

13. Do we need to respond to the SIS Use Case Scenarios or can we just plan to demonstrate the capabilities live if selected?

Response: Per section 2.4 of the RFP, Scope & Use Case Alignment should be part of your proposal response.

14. Attachment 3 – Use Cases. Provide Academic Support. Provide students with academic counseling to ensure adherence to requirements and prepare the student for the following year/graduation.

This question appears to be related to staffing of academic personnel. Was it meant to be only about the software to support the service?

Response: Yes. This is only in reference to the product’s ability to support the use case scenario.

15. Attachment 3 – Use Cases. Manage Academics. (Grading) Assess Learning Outcomes- Evaluate learner comprehension through examinations and testing by providing educators with the appropriate tools and technologies to conduct testing. Can you please clarify with examples of the types of testing tools this question is referring to?

Response: Academic testing – Canvas LMS. Program level outcomes and/or assessments occur in Helio Campus.

16. Attachment 3 – Use Cases. Engage Learners. Deliver Career Services- Provide students guidance as they select their specialties and help shape the way they conduct themselves as professionals (e.g., goals, objectives, demeaner, etc.). Is this requirement regarding tools for a Career Service professional to use, or for the professionals per se?

Response: This use case is in regards to the tool / product to support the service.

17. Attachment 3 – Use Cases. Enroll Learners. Conduct orientation by introducing students to the school (e.g., its facilities, amenities, etc.) and the curriculum (e.g., class requirements and professors). Manage student access to information (e.g., student portals, identification numbers, etc.) and areas of the campus (e.g., badging and student IDs). Same as above - is the question regarding tools to faciliate orientation - or about professional services, outside the scope of software?

Response: This use case is in regards to the tool / product to support the service.

18. Attachment 4 – Support SLA Tab. Ability to support a notification window, for customer to submit SLA miss claim, that is equal to or greater than two billing cycles. Can you please clarify what is meant by - missing 2 billing cycles on an SLA claim?

Response: It is speaking to the ability of the customer to submit a missed SLA claim after two billing cycles. It is not referencing missed billing cycles.

19. Attachment 4 – Systems Admin Mgmt. Administration. Ability to use A&M System ITSM system for incident, problem, change and configuration management. Can you provide more details about ITSM system integration capabilities and what workflow needs to be implemented?

Response: Item #44 on the System Admin-Mgmt tab of Attachment 4 can be ignored.

20. Attachment 4 – Security Identity Audit. Identity. Solution shall have directory synchronization.

What is meant by Directory Synchronization? Syn with local AD or can it be with Azure AD?

Response: The SIS should be able to synchronize with whatever directory is being used by the institution for their student population, whether that be Active Directory, Azure AD (Entra ID), Google Workspace, or otherwise. So, the respondent should articulate what enterprise identity directories there are able to interact with.

21. Attachment 4 – Aps Dev-Config. Are these questions in Aps Dev Config referring to the standards that the SIS vendor follows in relation to our vendors (Azure for example), or in relation to our customers?

Response: In relation to your customers.

22. Would A&M Victoria be willing to use a 3rd party service provider such as Global Financial Aid for financial aid in conjunction with a SIS vendor that has necessary tools to send them the data?

Response: A multi-product solution is acceptable.

23. Has the staff of A&M-Victoria involved in this solicitation seen any product demos pertinent to this RFP within the past year?

Response: No.

END OF ADDENDUM NO. 1