Request for Information.docx

SAP

State of South Carolina

Request for Information

Solicitation:

Date Issued:

Procurement Officer:

Phone:

E-Mail Address:

Mailing Address:

5400028543 July 18, 2025

KARISHMA BOLAR

803-734-4839 kmbolar@ed.sc.gov SC Department of Education Attn: Procurement Office 849 Learning Lane West Columbia SC 29172-3171

DESCRIPTION: School Counseling Program Review and Professional Learning

USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: SC Department of Education Admin

SUBMIT YOUR RESPONSE ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.procurement.sc.gov

SUBMIT RESPONSE BY (Opening Date/Time): August 1, 2025, 2:00 PM EST (See "Deadline For Submission Of Response" provision)

SUBMIT RFI CLARIFICATION QUESTIONS BY: July 24, 2025, 5:00 PM EST

NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: One (1) plus a redacted copy, if applicable

Table of Contents

SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) is interested in learning more about qualified vendors who can conduct an internal evaluation of state-level school counseling program artifacts, systems, and policies to provide feedback and make recommendations for improvement, provide professional learning in the planning, development, implementation, and assessment of school counseling programs aligned to the South Carolina Comprehensive School Counseling and Career Guidance Model, and lead the development of a South Carolina Comprehensive School Counseling and Career Guidance Model Program Handbook. This work will guide schools and districts in developing and implementing comprehensive school counseling programs as mandated in SC Code Ann. §59-59-40 (2005). All professional learning must include practical tools to assist participants with planning, developing, implementing, and assessing school counseling programs to support pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade students in meeting the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.

GENERAL INFORMATION

This RFI is being issued with the goal of gathering information for market research and planning purposes only. Respondents are responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.

Ownership of all material and documentation originated, prepared, and provided to SCDHHS during this RFI process will belong to SCDE.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

The intent of this RFI is to provide interested contractors with information about current needs, while seeking information for exploratory purposes. The information gathered will be used to determine the availability of contractors capable of providing desired products and services. This RFI is an information gathering and market research tool, not a formal solicitation of a specific requirement (such as in a “Request for Proposals” document) and; therefore, no contract will be awarded by the S.C. Department of Education from this RFI.

BACKGROUND

School counselors and career specialists have a tremendous responsibility to help every student meet the characteristics embedded in the Profile of a South Carolina graduate. As student advocates, each member of the school counseling team works tirelessly to address the needs of all students to ensure they learn to live, learn to learn, and learn to work successfully.

The South Carolina Comprehensive School Counseling and Career Guidance Model (SC Model) establishes the guidelines necessary to ensure a consistent statewide developmental framework that defines standards and competencies needed to deliver a comprehensive school counseling and career guidance program to all students.

The SCDE aims to facilitate systemic transformational change and assist LEAs in implementing data-driven, comprehensive school counseling programs aligned to the SC Model. Program improvement will include enabling a shift of practices from reactive to proactive, using data to drive decision-making, and evaluating the impact of programs and services to improve outcomes for all K-12 students.

The learning outcomes goals of the SCDE are for school counseling personnel to:

· Design, implement, and evaluate effective comprehensive school counseling programs aligned to the SC Model.

· Align data-driven counseling programs to school and district goals in intentional, meaningful, and measurable ways.

· Organize program delivery and collaboration structures utilizing a Multi-Tiered, Multi-Domain System of Supports that aligns with the three school counseling domains of school counseling: academic, college and career, and social/emotional.

· Use evidence-based models and frameworks to assist students in developing the characteristics embedded in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.

· Continually improve efficiency and effectiveness in implementing a proactive (vs reactive) program by partnering with their administrator and district office to make intentional, data-driven decisions about their use of time in alignment with professional and ethical standards of practice.

· Serve as dynamic leaders, advocates, collaborators, and agents of systemic change who actively contribute to developing a highly effective school climate that continually improves its systems for learning to maximize student success.

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS - A. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS (Modified)

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR RESPONSE & SUBMITTING CONFIDENTIAL DATA

(a) According to Section 11-35-410, any person submitting a document in response or with regard to any solicitation or other request must “comply with instructions provided in the solicitation for marking information exempt from public disclosure. Information not marked as required by the applicable instructions may be disclosed to the public.”

(b) By submitting a response to this RFI, Respondent (1) agrees to the public disclosure of every page, or portion thereof, of every document regarding this RFI that was submitted, unless the page, or portion thereof, was redacted and conspicuously marked “Trade Secret” or “Confidential” or “Protected”, (2) agrees that any information not redacted and marked, as required by these instructions, as a “Trade Secret” is not a trade secret as defined by the Trade Secrets Act, and (3) agrees that, notwithstanding any claims or markings otherwise, all documents are subject to public disclosure.

(c) If your response includes any information that you claim is exempt from public disclosure, you must submit one complete copy of your response from which you have removed or concealed such information (the redacted copy). Except for the information removed or concealed, the redacted copy must be identical to your original response.

(d) Do not mark your entire response as confidential, trade secret, or protected. If only portions of a page are subject to some protection, do not redact the entire page. The redacted copy must reflect the same pagination as the original and show the empty space from which information was redacted. The Procurement Officer must be able to view, search, copy and print the redacted copy without a password.

e) On the redacted copy, you must identify the basis of your claim by marking each redaction as follows: You must separately mark with the word CONFIDENTIAL” every page, or portion thereof, that you redacted and claim as exempt from public disclosure because it is either (1) a trade secret as defined in Section 30-4-40(a)(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, or (2) privileged and confidential, as that phrase is used in Section 11-35-410. You must separately mark with the words “TRADE SECRET” every page, or portion thereof, that you redacted and claim as exempt from public disclosure as a trade secret pursuant to Section 39-8-20 of the Trade Secrets Act. You must separately mark with the word “PROTECTED” every page, or portion thereof, that you redacted and claim as exempt from public disclosure pursuant to Section 11-35-1810. All markings must be conspicuous; use color, bold, underlining, or some other method in order to conspicuously distinguish the mark from the other text.

(f) In determining whether to release documents, the State will detrimentally rely on your redaction and marking of documents, as required by these instructions, as being either “Confidential” or “Trade Secret” or “Protected”. By submitting a response, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the State of South Carolina, its agencies, officers and employees, from every claim, demand, loss, expense, cost, damage or injury, including attorney’s fees, arising out of or resulting from withholding information by the State of South Carolina or any of its agencies, that you have redacted or marked as “Confidential” or “Trade Secret” or “Protected”. (All references to S.C. Code of Laws.)

VENDOR REGISTRATION MANDATORY (MAR 2024)

You must have a state vendor number to be eligible to submit a response on-line. To obtain a state vendor number, visit www.procurement.sc.gov and select New Vendor Registration. (To determine if your business is already registered, go to "Vendor Search"). Upon registration, you will be assigned a state vendor number. Vendors must keep their vendor information current. If you are already registered, you can update your information by selecting Change Vendor Registration. (Please note that vendor registration does not substitute for any obligation to register with the S.C. Secretary of State or S.C. Department of Revenue. You can register with the agencies at http://www.scbos.com/default.htm)

RFI SUBMISSION FORMAT REQUIREMENT

All respondents must submit their responses using the same order, numbering, and structure as outlined below. Prepare responses simply and economically, using straightforward and concise language and descriptions. All responses should be formatted as a single searchable, not password protected PDF or word document.

You have up to ten (10) single-sided pages to present the information. Pages must be formatted on 8.5" x 11" paper using Verdana, Times New Roman, Calibri, or Aptos font at a minimum size of 11 points. Submissions longer than 10 pages may not be accepted. The only pages that will not count toward the 10-page limit are page 1 and 2 of this document, the cover page we request below and the table of contents if one is included in your response.

Do not include hyperlinks in your response to this RFI. All information you wish to present must be fully contained within the body of your written response. This includes any data, references, explanations, or supporting materials. The reviewing agency will not access external websites or documents linked in your submission, so any content provided via hyperlink will be disregarded.

RESPONSE OUTLINE

I. Cover Letter

Include a cover letter with the following information:

Name, direct phone number and email address of the primary contact person for questions about this submission.

II. Information Requested

Respondents must provide the following information that demonstrate their experience, subject matter expertise, and capacity to successfully deliver a project of this nature.

General Information

1. Provide a brief overview of your organization.

2. Describe your experience in designing and delivering professional learning in comprehensive school counseling programs for state departments of education, districts, and schools nationwide.

3. Describe your professional and technical expertise in creating, reviewing, and evaluating comprehensive school counseling programs.

4. Please provide contact information for two to three clients for whom you have successfully delivered these kinds of services. Include contact name, direct phone number and email address.

Evaluation and Planning

Describe your ability to:

1. Evaluate state-level school counseling program artifacts, systems, and policies to provide written and verbal feedback and recommendations for improvement.

2. Become familiar with relevant laws, regulations, and state documents affecting school counseling programs. These may include, but are not limited to:

· Education and Economic Development Act

· Career Specialist Job Description

· ADEPT for School Counselors

· Profile of the South Carolina Graduate Competency Framework

· 24-25 EOC Accountability Manual

3. Create a School Counseling Program Assessment for statewide use to establish a baseline program implementation level and measure shifts throughout the partnership.

4. Engage in consultation and strategic planning with SCDE staff to co-design a professional learning plan using the findings of the state-level artifacts evaluation and School Counseling Program Assessment to:

· Improve state-level school counseling program artifacts (if needed.)

· Identify meaningful and measurable success measures.

· Develop the professional learning scope and sequence.

· Develop the implementation calendar.

· Design participation and engagement strategies.

· Identify and establish necessary systems to support implementation fidelity and sustainability.

· Determine outline and structure for the South Carolina Comprehensive School Counseling and Career Guidance Model Program Handbook.

Professional Learning

Describe your ability to:

1. Provide professional learning opportunities that include pre-training consultation with SCDE, ongoing access to participant training resources, extension activities, evaluations, and follow-up reports.

2. Deliver training grounded in professional learning standards while taking into special consideration each audience and their unique needs.

3. Provide professional learning in different modalities (in-person, virtual, hybrid) that could include:

· Facilitated, tailored in-person professional learning.

· Facilitated, tailored virtual professional learning, including the use of a virtual meeting platform.

· Virtual ‘Office Hours’ to address individual questions from participants.

· Robust asynchronous learning opportunities.

4. Allow participants to join structured, sequential training by cohorts with the ability to facilitate several cohorts simultaneously.

5. Embed practical activities and tools that will demonstrate ‘how’ to deliver the components of the SC Model. Participants should be able to use these tools immediately in their programs.

6. Provide training specifically for different stakeholder audiences. These audiences may include, but are not limited to:

· School Counselors

· Career Specialists

· School Counseling Supervisors

· Administrators

· District Leaders

· Other Educational Staff

7. Provide access to an interactive Virtual New School Counselor Institute dedicated to meeting the needs of school counselors new to the profession (school counselors within their first three years of practice) with practical strategies regarding comprehensive school counseling programs aligned with the SC Model.

8. Provide asynchronous learning modules for school counselors, administrators, district leaders, and other educational staff that deliver high-quality online courses designed by school counseling experts.

Additional Information Requested

1. Describe any innovative solutions, delivery models and outcome or completed projects of similar size and scope currently used.

2. Describe your general pricing model, such as whether you charge a fixed fee for defined deliverables, bill hourly based on time spent, or use a hybrid approach combining both. Include typical price ranges for services commonly associated with projects of this size and scope. You may express pricing as a “not to exceed” amount for a full engagement or provide estimated ranges based on similar past projects. In addition, identify any factors that may influence your pricing.

INTERPRETATIONS/CORRECTIONS/AMENDMENTS

If you find an ambiguity, conflict, discrepancy, omission, error or if you have any questions related to this RFI, please notify the Procurement Manager indicated herein. ANY CHANGES TO THIS RFI WILL BE MADE ONLY BY WRITTEN AMENDMENT, ISSUED BY THE SCDE PROCUREMENT OFFICE AND SHALL BE INCORPORATED INTO THIS RFI.

DO NOT SEND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, SUCH AS BROCHURES, ETC UNLESS REQUESTED BY THE PROCUREMENT MANAGER.

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