RFP_2026-12_Sasquatch_Apportionment.pdf

STATE OF WASHINGTON

OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON

PRE-BID CONFERENCE: 1:00 p.m., Pacific Time (PT) on December 9, 2025 | Zoom

PROPOSAL DUE DATE: 3:00 p.m., Pacific Time (PT) on February 13, 2026

ESTIMATED CONTRACT PERIOD: July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. Amendments extending the period of performance, if any, shall be at the sole discretion of OSPI.

CONSULTANT ELIGIBILITY: This solicitation is open to those Consultants who satisfy the minimum qualifications stated herein and that are available for work in Washington State.

SUBMIT PROPOSAL TO: contracts@k12.wa.us

All communications concerning this RFP must be directed only to the RFP Coordinator via email.

Any other communication will be considered unofficial and non-binding on OSPI. Consultants are to rely on written statements issued by the RFP Coordinator. Communication directed to parties other than the RFP Coordinator may result in disqualification of the Consultant.

This RFP is available at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) website and at the

Department of Enterprise Services, Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) Procurement website. All RFP amendments and/or Consultant questions and OSPI answers will be posted to these sites. All interested Consultants must be registered with WEBS under the following commodity codes to receive automatic notifications: All codes under 208; All codes under 209;

958-23; 961-56; 918-29; 920-03; 920-04; 920-05; 920-40; 920-46; 920-64

OSPI, and its Consultants and subcontractors, must not discriminate in any programs or services based on sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, marital status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability, and must comply with state and federal nondiscrimination laws, including

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Questions and complaints of alleged discrimination should be directed to the Equity and Civil Rights Director at 360-725-6162/TTY: 360-664-3631;

or P.O. Box 47200, Olympia, WA 98504-7200; or equity@k12.wa.us.

Request for Proposals No. 2026-12

School Apportionment Modernization https://zoom.us/j/94382947860 mailto:contracts@k12.wa.us https://www.k12.wa.us/about-ospi/contracting-ospi/competitive-procurements https://des.wa.gov/sell/how-work-state https://des.wa.gov/sell/how-work-state mailto:equity@k12.wa.us

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 2 of 105

Rev. 05/24

Contents

SECTION A: SCOPE and REQUIREMENTS

A.1 DEFINITIONS

A.2 PURPOSE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

A.3. BACKGROUND

A.4. VISION, GOALS, AND OBJECTIVES

WaTech Strategic Plan

SASQUATCH Key Objectives

Estimated Project Period

Place of Work Performance

A.5. SCOPE OF WORK

Work Sections

Project Governance

OCM Change Management

Consultant Governance and Reporting

Data Handling and Migration Strategy

Training and Knowledge Transfer

Business Continuity and Transition Implementation

Work Requirements

Acceptance Criteria

Adherence to Policy and Standards

Accessibility and Branding Requirements

Failure to Comply

A.6. CONTRACT AWARDS

Work Section

Collaboration and Work Management

A.7. BIDDER QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Qualifications

Desirable Qualifications

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 3 of 105

A.8. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

A.9. FUNDING

A.10. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

SECTION B: GENERAL INFORMATION FOR BIDDERS

B.1. RFP COORDINATOR

B.2. QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

B.3. ESTIMATED SCHEDULE OF PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIES

B.4. LETTER OF INTENT

B.5. PRE-BID CONFERENCE

B.6. COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

B.7. PROPRIETARY INFORMATION/PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS

B.8. ADDENDUMS AND AMENDMENTS TO THE RFP

B.9. SMALL BUSINESS, MINORITY and WOMEN’S BUSINESS ENTERPRISES (MWBE), AND

VETERAN-OWNED BUSINESS PARTICIPATION

B.10. ETHICS, POLICIES, and LAW

B.11. ACCEPTANCE PERIOD

B.12. RESPONSIVENESS

B.13. MOST FAVORABLE TERMS

B.14. CONTRACT AND GENERAL TERMS and CONDITIONS

B.15. COSTS TO PROPOSE

B.16. NO OBLIGATION TO CONTRACT

B.17. REJECTION OF PROPOSALS

B.18. COMMITMENT OF FUNDS

B.19. STATEWIDE VENDOR PAYMENT REGISTRATION

B.20. WASHINGTON STATE BUSINESS REGISTRATION

B.21. INSURANCE COVERAGE

SECTION C: PROPOSAL CONTENTS

C.1. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

C.2. PROPOSAL OVERVIEW

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 4 of 105

C.3. LETTER OF SUBMITTAL

File Expectations

C.4. MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL

Experience of the Consultant/Staff

Subcontractors

Project Management/Team Structure/Internal Governance Controls

Organizational Change Management

References, Past Performance

File Expectations

C.5. TECHNICAL APPROACH

Project Approach/Methodology

Risk Management

WaTech Compliance

Data Handling Strategy

Outcomes and Performance Measurement (KPI)

File Expectations

C.6. PROPOSED BUSINESS SOLUTION (PROJECT PLAN)

Work Plan (Proposed Solution)

Requirements Review

Project Schedule

Performance Based Contracting Deliverables Schedule

Business Continuity Plan

Training and Knowledge Transfer

Project Risks

File Expectation:

C.7. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Section 701 Compliance

Cost Proposal Verification

C.8. TECHNICAL INTEGRATION PLAN

File Expectations

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 5 of 105

SECTION D: EVALUATION AND AWARD

D.1. EVALUATION PROCEDURE

Evaluation Gates

Scoring Notes

Responsiveness – Pass/Fail; points not awarded

Responsibility – Pass/Fail; points not awarded

Management Proposal – Pass/Fail; points awarded

Technical Approach – Pass/Fail; points awarded

Proposed Business Solution/Project Plan - Pass/Fail; points awarded

Financial Proposal; points awarded

Project Demonstrations – points awarded

Technical Integration Plan – points awarded

B.22. D.2. EVALUATION AND SCORING

D.3. SCORING PREFERENCES

D.4. SELECTION OF APPARENT SUCCESSFUL BIDDER

D.5. NOTIFICATION OF BIDDERS

D.6. DEBRIEFING WITH UNSUCCESSFUL BIDDERS

D.7. PROTEST PROCEDURE

D.8. ADDITIONAL AWARDS

SECTION E: RFP EXHIBITS

EXHIBIT A: CERTIFICATIONS AND ASSURANCES

EXHIBIT B: QUALIFICATION AFFIRMATIONS

EXHIBIT C: SAMPLE CONTRACT

EXHIBIT D: GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

EXHIBIT E: DATASHARE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

EXHIBIT F: CONTRACT ISSUES LIST

EXHIBIT G: OSPI AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMPLIANCE: GRAPHICS AND COLORS .. 101

EXHIBIT H: CONSULTANT INTAKE FORM

EXHIBIT I: PROPOSAL CHECKLIST

SECTION F: ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A: Sasquatch System Requirements

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 6 of 105

Attachment B: High Level AS-IS Workflows

Attachment C: Sasquatch Demonstration Scenarios

Attachment D: COST PROPOSAL BREAKDOWN WORKBOOK

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 7 of 105

SECTION A: SCOPE and REQUIREMENTS

This section describes the purpose of the RFP and provides information about this procurement, including the potential scope of the opportunity and requirements.

A.1 DEFINITIONS

Definitions for the purposes of this RFP include:

Agency or OSPI – The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction; the entity issuing this RFP.

Amendment – A unilateral change to the Solicitation that is issued by OSPI at its sole discretion and posted on WEBS and OSPI’s website.

Apparent Successful Bidder (ASB) – A Bidder submitting a response to this Solicitation that is evaluated and is identified and announced by OSPI as providing the best value to the Agency.

Upon execution of a Contract, the ASB is referred to as the successful Bidder or the Contractor.

Apportionment – The process in which funding allocated by the state legislature is calculated and distributed to fund Public Schools in Washington. Apportionment is also the final system within the SAFS suite of systems used to calculate funding.

Bid – An offer, proposal, or quote for goods or services submitted in response to this RFP.

Bidder – Individual organization, public or private agency submitting a proposal to attain a contract with OSPI. For purposes of this Solicitation, the terms Bidder, Consultant, and Vendor are interchangeable.

Competitive Solicitation – A documented formal process providing an equal and open opportunity to Bidders or Consultants culminating in a selection based on predetermined criteria.

Complaint – A process that may be followed by a Consultant prior to the deadline for bid submission to alert OSPI of certain types of asserted deficiencies in the Solicitation.

Consultant – Individual organization, public or private agency submitting a proposal to attain a contract with OSPI. For purposes of this Solicitation, the terms Bidder, Consultant, and Vendor are interchangeable.

Contractor – Individual or company whose proposal has been accepted by OSPI and is awarded a fully executed, written contract.

Debriefing – A short meeting an unsuccessful Bidder may request with the Coordinator or evaluation team member, following the announcement of the Apparent Successful Bidder for the purpose of receiving information regarding the review and evaluation of that Bidder’s Response.

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 8 of 105

Fiscal Year – In Washington State, a 12-month period extending from July 1 of one calendar year to June 30 of the next calendar year.

Proposal – A formal offer submitted in response to this RFP.

Proprietary Information – Information such as patents, technological information or other related information that the Bidder or Consultant does not want released or shared with the public.

Protest – A process that may be followed by a Bidder after the announcement of the Apparent

Successful Bidder to alert OSPI to certain types of alleged errors in the evaluation of the

Solicitation.

Request for Proposals (RFP) – Formal procurement document in which a service or need is identified but no specific method to achieve it has been chosen. The purpose of an RFP is to permit the Consultant community to suggest various approaches to meet the need at a given price.

RCW – The Revised Code of Washington. A compilation of all permanent laws now in force in

Washington state.

Responsible Bidder – An individual, organization, public or private agency, or other entity that has demonstrated the capability to meet all the requirements of the Solicitation and meets the elements of responsibility. (See RCW 39.26.160 (2))

Responsive Bidder – An individual, organization, public or private agency, or other entity who has submitted a Bid that fully conforms in all material respects to the Solicitation and all its requirements, in both form and substance.

RFP Coordinator – An individual or designee who is employed by OSPI and who is responsible for conducting this Solicitation.

SAFS – School Apportionment Financial System: The collection of systems and processes used to calculate funding for each public school district. SAFS is the system for which a replacement (to be called SASQUATCH) is being sought via this RFP.

SASQUATCH – The system to be developed by the successful bidder to replace SAFS.

Solicitation – A formal process providing an equal and open opportunity for Bidders culminating in a selection based upon predetermined criteria.

Subcontractor – An individual or other entity contracted by a Consultant to perform part of the services or to provide goods under the Contract resulting from this Solicitation. Subcontractors, if allowed, are subject to the advance approval of OSPI.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 9 of 105

Vendor – Individual organization, public or private agency submitting a proposal to attain a contract with OSPI. For purposes of this Solicitation, the terms Bidder, Consultant, and Vendor are interchangeable.

WAC – Washington Administrative Code. A compilation of regulations affecting executive branch agencies that are issued by authority of statutes (i.e., legislative action or the state constitution).

WEBS – Washington’s Electronic Business Solution, the Consultant notification system found at

Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) Procurement website and maintained by the

Washington State Department of Enterprise Services. Consultants are encouraged to register with

WEBS to receive automatic notifications about this and other procurements.

A.2 PURPOSE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The purpose of this Competitive Procurement is to receive competitive bids to evaluate and, as appropriate, award a Contract for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to procure goods and/or services as set forth herein. Pursuant to Washington’s Procurement Code for

Goods and Services, RCW chap. 39.26, state agency purchases of goods and services must be based on a competitive solicitation.

Therefore, OSPI is initiating this Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit proposals from Consultants interested in participating in a project to modernize and transform the School Apportionment

Financial Systems (SAFS) into the School Apportionment System for Quality, Accountability, Transparency, and Calculations Hub (SASQUATCH).

A.3. BACKGROUND

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is the primary agency charged with overseeing K–12 public education in Washington state. The agency is led by State School

Superintendent Chris Reykdal, who serves in a directly elected position. OSPI works with and distributes funds to the State’s two hundred and ninety-five (295) public school districts, to administer basic education programs and implement education reform on behalf of more than one million public school students. State law related to the allocation and calculation of funds for public education can be found in RCW Title 28A: Title 28A RCW: COMMON SCHOOL PROVISIONS

(wa.gov). The most significant elements of the funding formula can be found in RCW 28A.150.260, the annual omnibus appropriations acts, and WAC Title 392 Chapters 392-121 through 392-140.

OSPI is housed in the Old Capitol Building in Olympia.

OSPI’s School Apportionment Division uses the School Apportionment and Financial Systems

(SAFS) system as its primary tool to allocate operating revenue across the state’s public K-12 education system. It was developed in house, using C#. SAFS includes 11 data input "forms" used by school districts, and interacts with 18 internal systems to collect and manage data concerning partners’ budgets, expenditures, student enrollment and school district staffing. Using an extensive https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/ https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/webs/ https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?Cite=28A https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?Cite=28A

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 10 of 105 collection of sequenced formulae, this data is used to calculate and distribute payments of over

$27,307,000,000 per year in state and federal education funding to 380 educational entities.

The SAFS system acts as a critical data repository and reporting mechanism, providing critical information for school district budget development, enrollment and personnel reporting, legislative reporting, policy development, and school district financial statements used for local, state and federal accountability and financial reporting purposes. Data must be accessible and, in some cases, updateable for several years to support projections and auditing. As such, the new system must be capable of financial reporting in accordance with state established financial reporting requirements and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Due to annual legislative updates policies and reporting mandates for education funding, SAFS calculations and reporting have become more complex than the legacy system was designed to handle when it was implemented, more than 20 years ago. Given the increasing complexity and unwieldy nature of the customized legacy system, the legislature requested that OSPI complete a feasibility study to explore and define the future state of apportionment and conduct an

Alternatives Analysis to determine the best fit solution strategy for the SAFS Modernization. This feasibility study has been completed. Additional information related to the feasibility study can be found under Resources and Materials on the School Apportionment webpage.

The feasibility study completed in 2024 confirmed that there is a clear and immediate need to modernize the aging SAFS legacy system with future-state capabilities addressing deficits in its front-end data collection, data repository, business rule and/or calculation engines, validation and auditing, and reporting. OSPI seeks to transform the legacy SAFS system using secure, modern technologies to establish an efficient, user-friendly, secure platform for education data collection, funding and enrollment calculation, payment distribution and data, budgeting, and financial reporting. Guided by principles of maintaining focus on customers and increasing operational efficiency and leveraging modern technology, the SAFS Modernization will address improvement opportunities including greater agility, integrated architecture, data integration, automation, self-service and accurate forecasting.

A.4. VISION, GOALS, AND OBJECTIVES

OSPI seeks a technical solution that will transform the legacy SAFS system using secure, modern technologies to establish a uniform, streamlined and user-friendly platform for data collection and analysis, funding and enrollment calculation, payment distribution, and reporting of approximately fifty percent (50%) of Washington’s overall statewide General Fund expenditures per biennium.

This new solution must be adaptable to changing input, output, and calculation requirements without additional coding, and must align with federal and state financial accountability standards.

It is also expected that the new solution will minimize any changes to the current processes of external users, including data input methods and formats, whenever reasonably possible.

https://ospi.k12.wa.us/policy-funding/school-apportionment

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 11 of 105

All new solutions must demonstrate measurable alignment with the following Washington State

Enterprise IT Strategic Plan goals as well as OSPI’s Vision and Priorities:

WaTech Strategic Plan

GOAL 1: Create a government experience that leaves no community behind.

GOAL 2: Better data, better decisions, better government, better Washington.

GOAL 3: Innovative technology solutions create a better Washington.

GOAL 4: Transform how we work. Best Workforce Ever.

OSPI Superintendent’s Priority #4: A Committed, Unified, and Customer-Focused OSPI.

SASQUATCH Key Objectives

OSPI identifies the following key features for high-level future state improvements for the

School Apportionment Systems Replacement:

Agility: Improve responsiveness to frequent, complex Legislative updates.

Integrated Architecture: Leverage modern tools to proactively integrate data collection, calculation and output capabilities.

Projections: Reduce manual effort and enable financial projections for relevant periods such as the 4-year forecast and the final two months of the school year that cross into a separate fiscal year.

Data Integration: Automatically connect SAFS to a variety of related data sources throughout the OSPI enterprise.

Ease of Use: Maintain current import and data collection methods when reasonably practicable to minimize impact on external system users.

Automation: Modernize processes for creating and managing workflows, data, oversight, publishing, and projections.

Self-service Upgrades: Increase accessibility and transparency for OSPI Technical and

Business staff to update information and upgrade the system, reducing reliance on external contractors and developers.

Reporting: Support and enhance legacy end-user reports and implement a custom reporting facility.

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 12 of 105

Figure 1: SAFS Business Capacity Model (BCM) Outlines Future State Requirements

Figure 2: SAFS Future State Workflow

Estimated Project Period

We anticipate being able to begin work on this project on or soon after July 1, 2026.

Development work through implementation and training and other hand-over work is expected to be completed by June 30, 2028. Additionally, the Contractor may be asked at OSPI’s discretion to provide ongoing support and potentially further development up to June 30, 2031.

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Place of Work Performance

The Contractor may perform much or all of the work at their own facility (i.e., offsite). OSPI uses

Microsoft Teams to informally communicate and for most meetings when one or more team members are offsite. If desired, Contractor can perform work at OSPI’s 600 Washington ST NE, Olympia site when the building is open for use. However, Consultants are only required to be on-site to pick up and drop off equipment or attend mandatory meetings which require their presence to provide meaning or understanding, or to complete work that cannot be done remotely. They may be requested to attend in-person status meetings on occasion.

The Contractor will be granted access to OSPI’s servers and necessary IT services. They will also be given temporary accounts, including an OSPI O365 account, which are to be used only for work pertaining to the work defined in this contract. Upon completion of the contract, these accounts will be closed.

When on-site work is required, the Contractor will submit security forms to OSPI for clearance and access badges to the facility. The Contractor will be issued building access identification specifically identifying them as a Contractor. Access identification must always be worn when in the OSPI facility.

For projects that include particularly sensitive data, Contractor may have to complete a

Washington State Patrol/FBI background check, which is initiated by providing fingerprints at a site approved by the State Patrol, before being able to work.

A.5. SCOPE OF WORK

Work Sections

The SAFS Replacement System and its project will be known as SASQUATCH. The body of work can be divided into three work sections: Data Collection and Review; Data Calculations and

Estimations; and Data Reporting.

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These work sections must include the following high-level functionality. Note: cells in the same row are not related to one-another; instead, read by column only.

Data Collection and

Review

Data Calculations and

Estimations

Data

Reporting

Provide a calendar visible to internal and external users showing when various data must be collected

Provide a platform that stores data and permits users to view calculation formulae displayed with plain English field names and operators. Note: OSPI prefers that School

Apportionment is housed in

OSPI’s Azure cloud

Generate district-specific reports that display data corresponding to one or more data sets (e.g., Financial Status, Enrollment, Staffing, etc.)

Provide select internal users the ability to modify

(CRUD) data validations when needed; provide an audit trail of changes

Permit select internal users to modify calculation formulae displayed with plain English field names and operators and apply start and end dates to the changes. For that data submitted prior to the change, use the calculations in effect at the time that they were submitted. If start date is in future, use existing calculation until that date

Generate ESD- and County-oriented reports that display data corresponding to one or more data sets

(e.g., Financial Status, Enrollment, Staffing, etc.)

for each of the districts that the entity contains

Provide select internal users the ability to manually override data collection periods for individual or all districts

Provide a hierarchical approval process and audit trail for changes made by internal users to calculations

Generate reports for legislature to address their particular interests and needs

Alert district-based users when a data collection period opens

Provide a sandbox environment in which select users can create one or more new calculations and compare them to existing calculations, and to other new calculations.

Comparisons can use current or historical data.

Generate and support posting reports to OSPI’s public-facing website reports, including filters so that users can drill down to the districts/regions and data that is of interest to them

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 15 of 105

Data Collection and

Review

Data Calculations and

Estimations

Data

Reporting

Comparisons must provide side-by-side view of the outcome of many calculations. (Typical use case: legislature wants to compare the outcomes for different proposed changes

[including “statewide constraints”] to funding formulae)

Create interfaces for districts to transmit data to

OSPI electronically (e.g., API, .csv) or (at district’s option) via a GUI; provide also paper forms for select data sets

Permit select users to copy a formula from the sandbox to the production environment

Implement a platform for creating custom reports

Save incoming data report;

depending on data type, ‘overwrite’ or ‘add’ a data collection to prior data of the same kind

Calculations can be run against data as a complete group, or as many times as required to include all districts so as to ensure timely payment regardless of when late reporters submit their data

Regenerate reports as new data is added to them, or existing data is edited or removed

Provide validations to district users against the data they have submitted, regardless of how it was collected

Provide a projection sandbox for school district users to estimate state funding for future years using state supplied legislative factors or individually determined factors, allowing for side by side comparisons between estimates and comparison with prior year actual funding.

Alert select internal users when a new version of a report is updated

Alert select internal users when a report is submitted

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Data Collection and

Review

Data Calculations and

Estimations

Data

Reporting

Provide select internal users an interface to review and approve/reject district data, highlighting all data that fail validations

Permit select internal staff to release a group’s data so that districts—aside from those who have failed to submit on time—can be paid. Permit also late reports to be released at a later date

The requirements that add detail to the table above and comprise the project’s scope are included in Attachment A.

Consultants (including, if desired, their subcontractors) are invited to bid on work to implement one, two, or all three work sections of work, to match their area of expertise and staffing or platform limitations. OSPI reserves the right to award contracts for fewer work section than the Consultant has bid on. As such, Consultants must include in their proposal a section describing additional costs and staffing necessary to collaborate with other contractors employed to complete the remaining work sections These amounts will not be included in the final contract price if the contractor is awarded the work on all three work sections.

Apportionment staff members with extensive expertise in the business will be available part-time (in other words, they need to be able to continue their regular work) to answer questions, clarify requirements, and perform end-user testing.

To accomplish the general objective of the RFP, under the resulting contract, the selected

Consultant shall perform the following specific duties to the satisfaction of the OSPI Contract

Manager:

1. Collaborate with OSPI staff to complete business and data analysis.

2. Collaborate with OSPI staff to design, build, and implement a school apportionment system to replace the current legacy system, which accommodates various means by which school districts report data and OSPI staff review these inputs; the extensive and dynamic catalog of business rules and formulas needed to properly calculate and

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 17 of 105 distribute school apportionment funds, and the many canned reports and custom reporting capabilities.

3. Identify and operationalize process improvements to better synchronize agency workflows that interact with the apportionment systems, including new ways to share data to reduce instances of multiple collections of similar or identical data.

4. Create a dashboard that permits authorized users to make annual adjustments to business rules, formulas, schedules, and metadata (such as school names), and a

‘sandbox’ to test such changes. This sandbox must further permit OSPI and

Washington State Legislature to model and compare different funding or enrollment scenarios.

5. Integrate modern security practices that conform to agency and Washington

Technology Solutions (WaTech) guidance in terms of securing the platform, its data, and role-based access.

6. With staff, develop a transition and training plan to support users of the replacement system, including agency staff, Educational Service Districts (ESDs), school districts, tribal compacts, and other external partners. Materials may include, at the discretion of OSPI, training videos, user manuals, and slide decks.

7. Provide training and materials for internal system administrators and IT support.

Materials may include, at the discretion of OSPI, training videos, user manuals, and slide decks.

8. Provide, emulate, or (with the explicit consent of the business) update all forms and reports generated by the system, or used by system users to report data to OSPI.

Ensure all data collected in the SAFS systems can be extracted and generated into standardized and custom reports.

Project Governance

While OSPI’s preferred approach to this project is to engage a single vendor capable of delivering all three work sections of this project (i.e., Data Collection, Data Calculations, and

Data Reporting), we acknowledge that awards may be distributed across multiple vendors. In such cases, the following governance structure will be implemented to ensure cohesive project execution:

1. OSPI Steering Committee: The OSPI Steering Committee will serve as the overarching governance body for the project. It will be responsible for reviewing and approving project change requests, managing risks, and resolving issues that may arise throughout the project lifecycle.

2. Vendor Coordination and Communication: All awarded Contractors will be required to participate in regularly scheduled status meetings, convened at the discretion of

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 18 of 105

OSPI. These meetings will facilitate transparent and timely communication across all parties and ensure alignment to project goals and progress. OSPI retains final authority over decisions related to schedules, timelines, priorities, and any coordination of integration efforts between work sections.

3. Work Section Integration: The Data Calculations work section will serve as the foundational component of the project. The Data Collection and Data Reporting sections will be expected to configure their respective solutions to integrate seamlessly with the Data Calculations solution, based on its defined requirements.

4. Shared Project Artifacts and Documentation: OSPI will maintain a centralized repository for project documentation, requirements, and decisions. All Contractors will have access to relevant materials to ensure alignment and reduce miscommunication.

5. Issue Resolution Process: A formal issue resolution process will be in place to address disputes or misalignments between vendors. Issues will be escalated to the OSPI

Steering Committee for review and resolution, with decisions made in the best interest of the overall project.

6. Defined Requirements: While the project is comprehensive, the requirements have been identified by work section. Overlapping responsibilities will be minimized when appropriate, and any shared dependencies will be managed through OSPI oversight.

7. Integration Protocols and Technical Standards: OSPI will communicate integration protocols, data exchange standards, and technical requirements to ensure compatibility across work sections. Contractors will be expected to adhere to these standards to facilitate seamless interoperability.

OCM Change Management

The Contractor shall provide comprehensive Organizational Change Management (OCM) services throughout the entirety of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for the school apportionment system project. These services are essential to ensure the successful adoption of the new system by all stakeholders--including OSPI staff, Washington State legislators, district users, student’s parents, and other affected entities—and to minimize resistance during the transition to new processes and technologies.

The Contractor’s OCM approach shall include strategies and activities to assess readiness, identify and mitigate resistance, and foster user engagement and adoption. OCM activities must include, but are not limited to, stakeholder analysis and engagement, communication planning and execution, training needs assessment and delivery, user support strategies, and management of feedback loops to monitor adoption and inform continuous improvement.

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The Contractor shall collaborate with OSPI, district leadership, school staff, and other affected parties to develop and implement strategies that address organizational impacts, clarify roles and responsibilities, and support users throughout each phase of the SDLC.

The Contractor shall coordinate OCM activities with the project’s overall schedule, ensuring that change management milestones align with design, development, testing, and deployment phases. OCM deliverables shall include documented plans, communication materials, training artifacts, and post-implementation adoption assessments.

The proposal shall describe the Consultant’s methodology, tools, and prior experience in providing OCM within complex public-sector technology implementations. The response should identify key personnel responsible for OCM, their qualifications, and how OCM will be integrated with project management and technical workstreams.

Consultant Governance and Reporting

The Consultant shall describe in its proposal how they will establish and maintain a comprehensive governance and reporting framework to ensure effective oversight, accountability, and transparency throughout all phases of the Software Development Life Cycle

(SDLC). The Consultant’s governance approach shall clearly define roles, responsibilities, decision-making authorities, and communication protocols to support coordination with the

Agency’s project management and executive oversight structures.

The Consultant shall assume that they will be required to collaborate closely with and accept guidance from the Project Team.

The Contractor shall provide regular, structured reports to the Agency that document project status, progress against approved schedules and deliverables, budget utilization, identified risks and issues, mitigation and corrective actions, change requests, and performance metrics.

Reports shall be submitted in a format and at a frequency approved by the Agency.

The Contractor shall participate in recurring governance meetings, including but not limited to steering committee sessions, project management reviews, and technical workgroup meetings, as directed by the Agency. The Contractor shall be responsible for preparing meeting materials, maintaining records of decisions, and tracking action items to resolution.

The Consultant shall describe in its proposal the tools, systems, and methods to be used for project tracking, documentation, and reporting. The proposed approach shall ensure the

Agency has timely, accurate, and comprehensive visibility into project status and performance throughout the SDLC, in accordance with applicable state and Agency oversight and reporting requirements.

Data Handling and Migration Strategy

The Consultant shall provide a comprehensive Data Strategy that addresses all phases of data transition from existing legacy systems to the new School Apportionment System. This strategy

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 20 of 105 shall include a detailed plan for data assessment, mapping, cleansing, transformation, validation, and reconciliation to ensure accuracy, integrity, and continuity of operations. In collaboration with OSPI staff, the Contractor shall identify data sources, determine and apply rules for retaining and displaying data from prior years, establish data quality standards, and define procedures to manage discrepancies and data anomalies.

The plan must accommodate the expectation that the legacy system and its replacement will be parallel run for some time during the development process.

Throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), the Contractor shall integrate data migration planning and activities with system design, testing, and deployment milestones. The

Consultant shall develop and maintain a Data Migration Plan that outlines key tasks, responsible parties, timelines, and dependencies. The plan shall be updated as the project progresses to reflect findings from data profiling, pilot migrations, and stakeholder feedback.

The Contractor shall ensure that data migration activities are conducted securely, in compliance with applicable state and federal data protection regulations. Please note that the

Apportionment System’s data includes elements containing “Category 4: ‘Confidential information requiring special handling’”, as defined by WaTech at watech.gov/categorizing-data-state-agency.

The Contractor shall provide documentation and reports verifying data completeness, consistency, and auditability following each migration phase. Additionally, the Consultant shall work closely with the Agency to validate migrated data and resolve any identified issues prior to system go-live.

Finally, the Consultant must describe their method for cross-functional business process mapping and integrated requirements validation prior to final design approval, to ensure alignment and reduce the risk of reinforcing silos.

The Consultant’s proposal shall describe their data migration methodology, tools, quality assurance measures, and experience performing similar migrations for complex, high-volume government or education data systems.

Training and Knowledge Transfer

The Consultant shall provide a comprehensive Training and Knowledge Transfer Plan that ensures that end users and agency staff are equipped to effectively utilize, maintain, and support the School Apportionment System throughout and after implementation. The

Consultant’s approach shall include the design and delivery of role-based training for school district personnel responsible for submitting and validating data and the OSPI staff who support and guide them, and who run calculations and prepare reports. Training shall be tailored to user groups’ Key work section and technical proficiency, incorporating a mix of delivery methods such as instructor-led sessions, virtual workshops, interactive tutorials, and reference

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 21 of 105 documentation. OSPI will lead stakeholder engagement, but Contractor must provide materials, facilitation, and support as directed.

Knowledge transfer shall occur continuously throughout the Software Development Life Cycle

(SDLC) to ensure agency business and IT staff develop sufficient understanding of the system’s architecture, configuration, data structures, integration points, and maintenance procedures.

The Consultant shall embed agency staff in key phases of the project—such as requirements validation, testing, and deployment—to promote hands-on learning and operational readiness.

At project conclusion, the Contractor shall deliver comprehensive system documentation and conduct formal knowledge transfer sessions to support OSPI’s long-term self-sufficiency. These sessions shall include walkthroughs of system administration tools, troubleshooting procedures, and ongoing data management processes. The Contractor shall verify knowledge transfer effectiveness through collaborative exercises, checklists, or assessments prior to project closeout.

Business Continuity and Transition Implementation

The Consultant shall describe a comprehensive Business Continuity and Transition

Implementation approach that ensures uninterrupted operations and data integrity throughout all phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The proposed strategy should identify processes and controls to maintain system functionality during planned and unplanned disruptions, including contingencies for infrastructure failures, cyber incidents, and other events that could impact service delivery or data accessibility.

The Consultant’s response should outline methods for risk identification, impact analysis, and mitigation planning specific to system development, testing, deployment, and ongoing maintenance. This includes defining clear recovery objectives (RTO/RPO), backup and restoration procedures, and escalation protocols. The Consultant should describe how these measures will be validated through regular testing and updates to reflect evolving system configurations and operational requirements, as well as include one or more Business

Continuity Plan crisis recovery scenarios to evaluate appropriate responses to a disruption.

In addition, the Consultant shall provide a Transition Implementation Plan to ensure the smooth and orderly handoff of all project components to State operations or subsequent vendors at project completion. This plan should address continuity of operations during the transition phase, including data migration, environment stabilization, documentation handover, and role delineation to prevent service interruption.

The Consultant’s Business Continuity and Transition Implementation Plan must align with the

State’s security, compliance, and operational standards, and shall demonstrate the Consultant’s ability to sustain reliable service delivery while ensuring a seamless transfer of operational responsibility at the conclusion of the engagement.

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 22 of 105

Work Requirements

As part of completing work for this project, the Contractor will use OSPI’s development standards (to be provided upon contract award) and adhere to OSPI architectural guidance and policies.

OSPI employs the SCRUM development framework for Information Technology Projects. It plans to address the work described in this document in two-week sprints, with each sprint featuring Sprint Planning and Sprint Review meetings, along with occasional Sprint

Retrospective and regular Stand-up meetings.

1. Prior to initiating work, OSPI and the Contractor will meet to review scope, schedule, cost, acceptance criteria, and payment timeframes as part of a formal deliverable composed of work units.

2. The Contractor and OSPI will document their agreement to authorize work on the agreed upon deliverables.

3. An OSPI Product Owner will manage the backlog and collaborate with the team to set priorities for each two-week sprint in Sprint Planning meetings.

4. The Contractor will be asked to provide revised “effort” estimates for work assigned as deliverables, including the estimated cost to complete each two-week sprint.

5. The Contractor will inform OSPI as soon as possible of any blockers to completing his or her work, including (but not limited to) any time he or she will be unavailable.

6. The Contractor must track his or her progress against deliverables within Dev Ops in timely manner.

7. The Contractor will present their code at regular intervals to OSPI IT, who will be responsible for conducting code reviews.

8. The Contractor must demonstrate to team members working software at the end of each two-week sprint.

9. The Contractor must participate in essential OSPI project team activities, especially as they relate to technical requirements, design, development, and implementation activities.

10. The Contractor must advise and support OSPI (or other OSPI-contracted) staff responsible for the technical functional and non-functional requirements of the system, systems design, and verification activities.

Acceptance Criteria

The SCRUM team, under the leadership of the Product Owner, will collaboratively view the

Contractor’s demonstration of working software at the close of each two-week sprint.

Simultaneously, the IT Team will conduct code reviews of all updates. Together, they will ensure the scope of work, schedule, quality defect management, and quality attributes (e.g., that

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 23 of 105 functionality meets requirements; all OSPI standards are met; and that the design, data relationships, and coding is error free) before releasing payment for the deliverable.

Adherence to Policy and Standards

1. All Contractor’s team members and/or subcontractors performing work for OSPI are responsible for being aware of and adhering to all data privacy, security, and information technology policies of WaTech and the Agency.

2. The Contractor is expected to hold all data as confidential and will not disclose this data to any other entity or person that is not authorized to receive the data.

3. The Contractor is expected to comply with all appropriate OSPI process standards

(Requirements for Development and Management, Project Management

Methodology, Configuration Management, Solutions Delivery Lifecycle, etc.)

4. The Contractor must comply with all Agency and State policies (ethics, Internet/email usage, security, harassment). In some cases, he or she may be required to complete mandatory training.

Accessibility and Branding Requirements

All documents, videos, audio records, presentations, or other deliverables required under the resulting Contract shall be produced in format, compliant with the Americans With Disabilities

Act and follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, OSPI’s formatting standard specified in Exhibit G – OSPI Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance: Graphics and

Colors, OSPI’s Brand Use Policy, OSPI’s Style Guide, and OSPI’s Videography Style Guide which are hereby incorporated by this reference. For narrative or documentary style videos required under the resulting Contract, the final product and all raw footage shall be mailed to the OSPI

Communication and Digital Media office on a hard drive furnished by the Consultant. In the event that the deliverables are not compliant, OSPI may require Consultant to promptly make modifications that will make the deliverables compliant. Additionally, OSPI shall have the right to modify or copy the deliverables in order to make them accessible and/or compliant.

Failure to Comply

Failure to comply on a continuing basis with the terms stated here and/or in the resulting contract shall result in contract termination. OSPI shall supply a copy of all such policies to the awarded Consultant.

A.6. CONTRACT AWARDS

Work Section

Pursuant to this Competitive Solicitation, OSPI intends to evaluate bids and award Contracts by specified work section:

https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/ https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/communications/pubdocs/Agency-Brand-Use-Policy.pdf https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/communications/pubdocs/StyleGuide.pdf https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/communications/pubdocs/OSPI-Videography-Guidelines.pdf

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 24 of 105

Work Section 1 – Data Collection and Review

Work Section 2 – Data Calculation and Estimations

Work Section 3 – Data Reporting

Collaboration and Work Management

Proposals will be evaluated by work section. Bidders may submit proposals for one, two, or all three specified work sections for which they are eligible for a Contract Award. To support comprehensive proposals across all work sections, bidders are encouraged to engage subcontractors or other qualified resources for any components that fall outside their primary area of expertise. This approach enables bidders to present complete solutions by leveraging specialized capabilities through partnerships.

In cases where a bidder is awarded a contract for only one or two work sections, they must identify how they will collaborate and coordinate with other awarded bidders to ensure seamless integration and delivery across all sections of the work.

Consultants (including, if desired, their subcontractors) are invited to bid on work to implement one, two, or all three work sections of work, to match their area of expertise and staffing or platform limitations. OSPI reserves the right to award contracts for fewer work sections than the contractor has bid on. As such, contractors must include in their proposal a section describing additional costs and staffing necessary to collaborate with other contractors employed to complete the remaining work section. These amounts will not be included in the final contract price if the contractor is awarded the work on all three work sections.

A.7. BIDDER QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Qualifications

• Consultant must be licensed to do business in the State of Washington. If not licensed, provide a written intent to become licensed in Washington within thirty (30) calendar days of being selected as the Apparent Successful Bidder.

• Consultant must demonstrate experience developing at least one (1) sizeable financial system using the architectural approach described in the bidder’s response.

Consultants who do not meet these minimum qualifications will be rejected as non-responsive and will not receive further consideration. Any proposal that is rejected as non-responsive will not be evaluated or scored.

Desirable Qualifications

Consultants with experience, knowledge, or demonstrated abilities in developing school district data collection systems, school district budget and accounting reporting or in school district funding distribution systems are desired.

RFP No. 2026-12 Page 25 of 105

A.8. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance of any contract resulting from this RFP is tentatively scheduled to begin on or about July 1, 2026, and end on or about June 30, 2028. The option to extend any contract resulting from this procurement shall be at the sole discretion of OSPI.

OSPI reserves the right to amend to extend the contract for three (3) additional contract years through June 30, 2031. The decision to amend shall be based on sustained satisfactory performance as decided by the Contract Manager, successful completion of project objectives, and availability of funding.