procurement T004309 academic program review software apr 2025.pdf

State University of New York Procurement Number T004309

Academic Program Review Software

SUNY System Administration April 2, 2025

Procurement Description

The State University of New York (SUNY) wishes to procure SaaS based software and implementation services to support SUNY System Administrations’ review and approval of academic programs. SUNY System Administration works with SUNY’s 64 campuses to develop academic programs and conducts reviews of academic program proposals to ensure adherence to SUNY policy and to submit them to the New York State Education Department (NYSED) for registration review. SUNY is in the process of streamlining workflows that depend significantly on the exchange of documents (Word and PDF) via email and manual entry of data.

Contract Period

Three Years

Scope of Services

The selected firm will provide software and services to support campus submission of academic program proposal forms and SUNY System Administration processes for review of submitted forms. This is not intended to be a solution for individual campuses to adopt for their internal processes.

The selected solution must provide:

1. Creation and maintenance of web forms and associated workflows.

2. Forms must have the following functionality:

a. Pre-population and drop-down menu selection for selected existing information

b. Ability for users to upload files to forms.

c. Viewable and completable form fields adjust based on user response to identified questions (skip logic).

d. Varied permission levels for viewing/editing form content, including comments added during the review process.

e. Form submission automatically blocked if required fields not completed.

f. Generate PDF of the form at conclusion of review process.

g. Export selected fields for multiple purposes, including generating approval letters at conclusion of review process that draws on specified form fields.

h. Supports multiple form types.

i. Administrative ability to modify/delete without the need for vendor intervention.

3. Workflows must have the following functionality:

a. Tracking of actions by type, decision, date, and entity for individual campuses and reviewers as well as via comprehensive searchable dashboards accessible to SUNY employees.

b. Automatically assign campus submission to appropriate SUNY reviewer.

c. Auto generate emails (e.g., acknowledgement to submitter, notification of action needed to reviewer).

d. Administrative ability to modify/delete without the need for vendor intervention.

4. Capacity for at least 25 users at SUNY System Administration and at least 250 users at SUNY campuses.

5. Support for data migration and integration to and from existing database of approved programs to vendor solution.

6. Ability to integrate with SUNY’s Federated Identity Management systems.

7. Ability to meet SUNY’s SaaS security requirements.

Content of Proposals

Proposals should include the following (proposals that don’t include the following may not be considered):

1. Attestation to the ability to meet each of the required functionalities.

2. Samples (links to or screenshots of forms and workflow screens).

3. A description of the bidder’s experience.

4. Two references.

5. A detailed cost proposal that does not exceed $74,999 for the full term of the engagement.

6. The contractor shall comply with data security requirements and must provide the following with their proposal:

a. A completed Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Tool (HECVAT), or equivalent. To download the document, please click here:

Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit | EDUCAUSE

b. A current SOC 2 Type II report (or equivalent). This report must:

1. Be dated within the last 12 months.

2. Cover the services relevant to this procurement.

3. Be submitted in its complete form, including the auditor's opinion letter.

If a bidder cannot provide a SOC 2 Type II report, they may submit alternative documentation demonstrating equivalent security controls, such as ISO 27001 certification with Statement of Applicability, FedRAMP authorization, or a comprehensive security questionnaire with supporting evidence such an executive summary of a penetration test or compromise assessment.

Both the HECVAT, or equivalent, and SOC 2 Type 2 report, or equivalent, must be completed by the appropriate experts in this area. Failure to provide a comprehensive and technically detailed response may result in disqualification.

7. Certification regarding NYS Executive Order No. 16. All bidders must complete and submit the certification found in the link below.

https://ogs.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/04/eo16_certification.pdf https://www.educause.edu/higher-education-community-vendor-assessment-toolkit https://ogs.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/04/eo16_certification.pdf

Questions

Questions are due by April 16, 2025, at 5:00 pm eastern time. All questions must be submitted by email. Email questions to the primary designated contact indicated below, with a copy to the secondary designated contact. Do not submit questions to any other email address. Do not submit questions as a zip file. Do not password-protect your questions. Answers to all questions received will be provided on approximately April 22, 2025.

Submission of Proposals

Proposals are due by April 30, 2025, at 5:00 pm eastern standard time. Proposals must be submitted by email.

Please email your proposal to:

Jordan Lohre Director of Contract Procurement SUNY System Administration at contract.unit@suny.edu

Do not submit your proposal to any other email address.

Do not submit your proposal as a zip file.

Do not password-protect your proposal.

Contract Award

The State University of New York intends to make this award under its discretionary authority, pursuant to NYS Education Law §355(5)(a). The budget for this procurement is not-to-exceed $74,999. A sealed bid opening will not be held. There is no RFP or IFB. Inquiries are to be made by email only and only to the designated contacts identified below. SUNY will make no reimbursement for travel or travel-related expenses. The University reserves the right to make no award.

Designated Contacts (email questions to both individuals below)

Primary Secondary Jordan Lohre Joseph Portelli Director of Contract Procurement Contract Administrator jordan.lohre@suny.edu joseph.portelli@suny.edu 518-320-1341 518-320-1341

In accordance with NYS Procurement Lobbying Law, the Restricted Period for this procurement has begun and will continue through contract approval. During this time, bidders, potential bidders and interested vendors may only contact the designated contacts identified above. All communication pertaining to this procurement must be directed to the designated contacts.

Do not contact any other SUNY official. Doing so may jeopardize the procurement and/or may lead to disqualification of the bidder’s proposal.

mailto:contract.unit@suny.edu mailto:jordan.lohre@suny.edu mailto:joseph.portelli@suny.edu