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Nebraska Department of Education Response to vendor Questions
NDERFP250530
| It looks like the RFP name is incorrectly stated as “NDERFP250728 - High-Quality IEP Development and Implementation Pilot Project” is all other information under B correct for this solicitation? |
| Correction made to the revised version of the RFP |
| Please confirm the anticipated intent to award date. December 6 is a Saturday. |
| Monday, December 8th |
| Please clarify the following directions regarding how to submit confidential information, “The Solicitation response and Proprietary information should be attached as separate and distinct files.” If a bidder has a confidential paragraph within a narrative response or a confidential attachment, does NDE need to receive the entire proposal twice, once with the confidential information included and once with the confidential information redacted? |
| NDE leaves this up to the bidder to decide regarding how the bidder deals with confidential information in a paragraph within a narrative response or confidential attachment. |
| The instructions state that all documents must be emailed in PDF format. Please confirm NDE requests the NDE Vendor Cost Sheet back as a PDF and that an Excel version is not required. |
| Please fill out the excel sheet. Once completed, submit in a PDF format |
| Can bidders provide a cost narrative along with the vendor cost sheet? |
| Yes |
| The RFP states “each evaluation category will have a maximum point potential.” To ensure transparency and help bidders know areas of greatest concern to NDE, can the point distribution be shared along with NDE’s responses to bidder questions? |
| Corporate Overview: 0-40; Technical Proposal: 0-40; Cost Proposal: 0-20 The responses to bidders questions will be shared. |
| Please clarify if it is NDE’s intent to enforce the 10% retainage policy for the proposed contract. The current college entrance exam contract retains 5% from each monthly invoice and is reconciled in the final annual invoice. If retainage will be required, is “completion of project” defined as the end of the current contract year? Because the term of the contract is one year with the option to renew up to four additional years, it is assumed “completion of project does not refer to the end of the maximum five year contract. |
| NDE has elected to make the following revision that will be reflected in the RFP: NDE may withhold up to ten percent (10%) of each payment for deliverables in a given contract period, payable upon successful completion of such deliverables as determined by NDE. |
| On page 32 of the RFP, it indicates vendor needs to email a certificate of insurance coverage before starting work, so the assumption is nothing needs to be provided within the proposal or emailed to NDE at this time. Is that correct, or do bidders need to provide evidence of insurance now? |
| This is correct. BIdder does not provide evidence of insurance now. |
| The RFP states that the assessment must include “the areas of English, Reading with a writing component, Mathematics, and Science.” Because the assessment is used for both state and federal accountability for these subjects, please confirm, only assessments with separate science and writing sections will be considered. |
| Confirmed: separate science and writing tests must be offered as part of the college admission test |
| Please confirm that costs for all required subject tests for “English, Reading with a writing component, Mathematics, and Science” must be included in the Total Project Costs and should not be separated out into the Optional Supports/Enhancements section of the NDE Vendor Cost Sheet, as they are not optional. |
| Costs for English, Reading, Mathematics, and Science must be included in the Total Project Costs and not be separated out into Optional Supports/Enhancements. They are not optional. |
| The numbering of sections skips from d. Security of Student Data to g. Quality of Work Products and Commitment to Reducing the Burden on School Districts. Please confirm there are no requirements e and f. |
| Confirmed - there are no requirements e and f |
| The requirement to provide “an indication of the internal quality-assurance checks applied to work products” and the “name and title of each reviewer” is not part of the current contract for the Nebraska College Entrance Exam and seems counter to the request to require a “standardized off-the-shelf” assessment. Please clarify if there are specific deliverables this applies to or if it can be omitted given this is an off-the-shelf product. |
| This pertains to VII. DELIVERABLES pg. 61 A.Documentation |
| Where there are disconnects between the instructions for organizing the proposal and more detailed requirements, can bidders use the detailed requirements for organizing their response? For example, on page 50 it lists the following sub-headings under Assessment Design, but only Assessment Frameworks is included under Assessment Design on page 53. The other sub-headings are addressed in later requirements. |
| The organization of the proposal is detailed under F. Scope of Work, 2. Proposal Organization.(pg 60-61). On pg 96-97 are additional requirements that inform bidders on how to prepare the Corporate Overview, Technical Response & Cost Sheet. |
| On page 50 of 85, Interaction Studies is listed as a heading under Item Development, however there are not any other references to “interaction studies” elsewhere in the RFP. Should this heading and requirement be deleted? If not, what is the desired scope and purpose of the interaction studies? |
| This was removed from the RFP and is reflected in the new revised version. |
| Reporting Training is listed as a deliverable on page 51, however it is a heading only. There are no other references to “Reporting Training” in the RFP. Please clarify what the requirements are for the deliverable Reporting Training. |
| Requirements: any professional development/training provided to educators, students, parents to understand reports |
| Can NDE identify the federal requirements and best practices for test security that bidders are required to meet? Are these requirements related specifically to IT security? |
| Best practices include, but are not limited to, policy & training measures, physical & digital security, proctoring & monitoring, identity verification, and auditing & response measures. These requirements are related to IT security, but includes other measures as noted. |
| Please clarify if the second paragraph under 7. Professional Learning/Professional Development (regarding reviewing and revising manuals) belongs under 6. Manuals instead of as part of the response to professional learning. |
| Confirm: The second paragraph "Bidder should outline the process for reviewing and revising the manuals...available to Nebraska educators." should be placed under 6. Manuals. Revison made |
| The RFP requires the two copies of the Individual Student Reports to be delivered to each district’s central office for distribution by the district to the appropriate school. To expedite getting the reports to schools, would NDE prefer shipment directly to schools instead of to the district, as is done for the current program? |
| Yes, ship the reports to schools |
| Please clarify how the preliminary student results will be used and whether multiple-choice and writing scores are expected to be included in the preliminary scores. |
| Preliminary student results will be used to inform students of their scores on each subtest. Writing scores are not expected to be included in the preliminary scores. If preliminary scores are not possible, the bidder will provide a timeline for when scores would be available. |
Is the list of deliverables on page 79 and 80 informational only, or how should bidders incorporate this into their response?
The deliverables table is a collection of deliverables identified throughout the RFP. It is a resource to bidders and is not expected to be included in the proposal.
Please clarify which third party will be responsible for performing credit checks and confirm that NDE is responsible for the cost of credit checks.
NDE reserves the right to perform credit checks it deems necessary, and the discretion to choose the third-party credit agency. The cost of these checks will be the responsibility of NDE unless otherwise stated in the RFP.
The directions for subsections at the bottom of page 83 does not align with the instructions for headings and numbering on page 50. Will NDE accept the following numbering and headings for the technical response?
Yes, NDE will accept the numbering and headings for the technical response as indicated in the graphic.
What test volumes should bidders assume for each of the five years for the total project costs (line 15) of the Excel? For example, how many students does NDE anticipate will test on paper and online in each year of the contract?
The trend has been 20% online and 80% paper testing. There may be years when it reaches 25%/75%. Approximations would be 6,250 students online and 18,750 paper. It is not expected that Nebraska would move to majority online.
When determining “best value” as mentioned on page 50 of 85 of the RFP, will NDE be comparing bidder’s base bid (line 15 total project costs) or line 22 (total optional supports/enhancements)?
NDE will compare line 22
Please clarify if the bottom portion of the form under the heading, “Vendor Communication with NDE Contact Information” will be used by NDE for clarifications and communications regarding the Vendor’s proposal, or if the contact information should reflect the vendor’s point of contact after the contract execution, to ensure we provide the appropriate point of contact.
The contact information will be used by NDE for clarifications and communcations regarding the Vendor's proposal.
What are the requirements for the Retest Request Log?
A list of student ID numbers with the date that the test was reset. It can be provided in full at the end of the test event/window.
| The Notification of Intent to Award date is December 6, but that is a Saturday. Will the intent to award be posted on a Saturday, or on Friday, December 5? |
| The Intenet to Award will be published on December 8th 2025 |
| Is it the bidder’s responsibility to attend the zoom call on October 28 at 2pm, as it is not marked as required. |
| It is not required |
| It appears that statute refers to “students in the eleventh grade attending a public school in the state,” but the RFP refers to “eligible Third-year Cohort students.” What are the differences between these two groups of students and how will the vendor be able to discriminate? |
| They are generally the same NDE has determined that "students in the eleventh grade..." meant the third year a student was in high school. We test students who are in the 3rd year cohort, which is determined when the student first enrolls in the 9th grade not by credit hours. The NDE provides the list of students who are eligible to test. |
| “payment schedule for this Contract will be monthly with one payment for the services performed and deliverables provided during each month.” - Can we do single payment at EOFY? |
| Our Central Accounting department requests regular invoices with deliverables. |
| The proposal organization outline does not match the sections of the RFP. For example, the outline says c. Technical requirements, 1. Assessment Design, should have subsection i - vi. But there is only subsection i under H.1. Assessment Design, not ii – vi. There are other discrepancies as well. Please clearly advise how to organize the proposal. |
| The organization of the proposal is detailed under F. Scope of Work, 2. Proposal Organization.(pg 60-61). On pg 96-97 are additional requirements that inform bidders on how to prepare the Corporate Overview, Technical Response & Cost Sheet. |
| The Technical response subsections that are listed (Understanding of the project requirements, etc.) do not align with how the questions in the RFP are laid out. They also do not align with the proposal organization instructions on pg. 39. Please clearly advise how to organize the proposal. |
| The organization of the proposal is detailed under F. Scope of Work, 2. Proposal Organization.(pg 60-61). On pg 96-97 are additional requirements that inform bidders on how to prepare the Corporate Overview, Technical Response & Cost Sheet. |
| Section G. Work Plan states, “Within two weeks of the execution of the Contract, Bidder must submit a project plan to the NDE for final approval.” However, the technical response section on pg. 72 requires a “detailed project work plan.” Please advise whether a detailed project work plan is required with the proposal or if it is only required upon award. |
| Confirm: the detailed work plan is required upon the award |
| There are no questions/instructions given with the deliverables table. Should it be included in the proposal, and if so, how? |
| The deliverables table is a collection of deliverables identified throughout the RFP. It is a resource to bidders and is not expected to be included in the proposal. |
| There are no questions/instructions given with the deliverables table. Should it be included in the proposal, and if so, how? |
| The deliverables table is a collection of deliverables identified throughout the RFP. It is a resource to bidders and is not expected to be included in the proposal. |
| There are items in the deliverables table that are not otherwise addressed in the RFP and/or the deliverables section on pg. 61. For example, there are no questions regarding a sandbox. Is the deliverables table accurate? If so, how do we address items that do not have related questions in the RFP? |
| The "sandbox" reference should be removed from the Deliverable table and from the Proposal Organization e. Deliverables, 2. Test Administration v. Training Sandbox. For other items not addressed in the RFP, bidder may disregard. |
| This section states, “The file layouts for exportable reports will be determined in collaboration with ISBE on an annual basis.” Should “ISBE” be NDE or another entity? |
| Yes, it should be NDE |
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