RFP 27-05 ERP Software and Services 9.8.26.pdf

Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 27-05 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software and Services

Date of Issue: September 8, 2026

Pre-Proposal Meeting: September 16, 2026 at 11:00 AM ET

Proposal Due Date: October 27, 2026 at or before 2:00 PM ET

RFP 27-05: Enterprise Resource Planning Software and Services

Section 1. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

RFP No.: 27-05

RFP Project Name: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software and Services

Columbia Association (CA) has issued this Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit responses from qualified vendors offering proven, integrated solutions to replace CA’s current financial management system/enterprise resource planning solution, Infor Lawson, which is phasing out by mid calendar year, 2027.

CA seeks a qualified vendor that can demonstrate organizational, functional, and technical capabilities, as well as experience, expertise, and qualification necessary to provide and support a fully integrated and proven ERP solution to include both implementation and ongoing maintenance and support.

This RFP has been published on the PlanetBids e-Procurement system. All interested vendors must register on the PlanetBids portal in order to view the RFP documents and submit a response.

Registration is free and can be completed by visiting the URL below.

https://vendors.planetbids.com/portal/77636/portal-home

Vendors are strongly encouraged to register and become familiar with the system well in advance of the submission deadline.

Proposals submitted must include the pricing schedule, any explanatory comments or materials and other attachments as required.

Any modifications to this RFP or addenda will be published to PlanetBids and all Vendors are responsible for periodically checking the PlanetBids website for relevant updates prior to the submittal of a Proposal.

Late submissions will not be accepted. Please allow ample time for system registration, document upload, technical difficulties, unexpected delays and submission prior to the deadline. Proposals delivered by any other means will not be considered.

PRE-PROPOSAL MEETING

A pre-proposal meeting will be held at 11:00 AM ET on September 16, 2026 via Microsoft Teams video conference. If you wish to participate, please email the name of your firm, attendee name(s) and email address to Michael.Bost@ColumbiaAssociation.org and a link to the meeting will be provided. Attendance at the pre-proposal meeting is strongly encouraged but is not mandatory.

The format of the pre-proposal meeting will be an overview presentation of the RFP, its contents, the RFP Schedule of Events, and additional topics. Firms will be allowed the opportunity to ask questions at this time. CA will attempt to answer all questions at that time, but answers provided shall not be binding. Following the pre-proposal meeting, CA will post online the material questions asked and their respective answers in an addendum on the PlanetBids platform.

Additional questions following the pre-proposal meeting may be submitted via the PlanetBids platform until October 16, 2026 by 4:00 PM ET. Questions and answers will be issued in accordance with Amendments and Addenda.

Section 2. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

PRE-SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Examination of Proposal Documents

Vendors must examine all the RFP documents very carefully and must make their proposal after examination of the location and/or nature of the proposed work. The submission of a proposal indicates that the Vendor thoroughly understands all the terms and conditions, instructions, notices, and specifications of the proposal.

Assistance in Proposal Preparation

CA staff will not assist any Vendor or Vendor's agent in the actual preparation of the proposal.

Interpretation of Proposal Documents and Correction of Proposal Documents

Should a Vendor require an interpretation or clarification of any provisions of the RFP documents or related information provided by CA, or believe that there is an ambiguity, error, inconsistency or discrepancy in these documents or information, the Vendor must notify CA in writing by October 16, 2026 4:00 PM ET.

A Vendor who fails to request any such interpretation or clarification waives any claim for additional cost or time spent addressing any ambiguity, error, inconsistency or discrepancy in any such documents or information which is found to have been apparent at the time of receipt of proposals.

All interpretations, clarifications, corrections, changes or other directions related to these requests will be provided in writing by CA and sent to all prospective Vendors who obtained copies of the documents and information from CA.

Extension of Proposal Due Date

CA may extend the proposal due date at its option. If the date is extended, CA will notify all prospective Vendors via the PlanetBids platform.

Response to Solicitations

In the event a Vendor does not submit a proposal on this solicitation, they should respond with an explanation as to why they were unable to do so. The return of a “No Proposal” is not considered a failure to respond.

PREPARATION and SUBMISSION of PROPOSALS

Received on or before the time and date via PlanetBids eProcurement platform.

Fully completed by the firm, including all information requested and any attachments that may be required.

RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS

Proposals received after the date and time specified for receipt of proposals will not be considered for award.

WITHDRAWAL OF PROPOSALS

All proposals shall be valid for a minimum period of one hundred eighty (180) calendar days following the due date and time specified for receipt, unless otherwise stated in Section 4, Scope of Services.

LATE PROPOSALS, MODIFICATIONS AND WITHDRAWALS

If a Vendor submits a proposal or request for withdrawal is made after the time set for receipt of proposals, the following applies.

• A late proposal, late modification or late request for withdrawal will not be considered.

• Any proposal or modification to a proposal received after the time set for receipt of proposals is late and will not be considered for award.

• Any request for withdrawal or request for modification received after the due date for proposals is late.

• A late proposal will not be considered for award.

• Exceptions to these rules may be made when a late proposal, modification, or withdrawal would have been timely but for the action or inaction of procurement personnel directing the procurement activity.

MISTAKES IN PROPOSAL

After receipt of Proposal, CA staff shall examine all proposals for mistakes. In cases of apparent mistakes, other than those involving extension of unit prices or other arithmetic errors, when CA staff has reason to believe that a mistake may have been made, staff shall request from the Vendor a verification of the Proposal. If the Vendor alleges a mistake, the matter shall be brought to the attention of the Director of Purchasing. Such actions shall be taken prior to award.

The Director of Purchasing is required to make the administrative determinations necessary in cases of alleged proposal mistakes. The authority permitting correction of proposals is limited to proposals which are responsive as submitted and shall not be used to permit correction of proposals to make them responsive.

If the Director of Purchasing knows or has reason to conclude that a mistake in proposal may have been made, the Director of Purchasing shall require the Vendor to confirm the proposal. Confirmation by the Vendor of the proposal will be requested when the proposal reflects either an obvious, apparent error on its face or the proposal amount is unreasonably lower than those of either the other proposals submitted or CA’s estimate.

If the Vendor fails to respond to a request for confirmation of an apparent mistake within the time allotted by the Director of Purchasing, the proposal may be considered as originally submitted or may be rejected as non-responsive at the discretion of the Director of Purchasing. If the Vendor confirms his/her proposal, the Director of Purchasing shall consider it as originally submitted.

If the Vendor alleges a mistake, the Director of Purchasing shall advise him/her to support the allegation by statements concerning the alleged mistake and by all pertinent evidence, such as the Vendor’s file copy of the proposal, original worksheets and other data used in preparing the proposal, such as subcontractor’s and supplier’s quotations, if any, published price lists, and any other evidence which will serve to establish the mistake, the manner in which it occurred, and the proposal actually intended.

Additionally:

• A determination may be made permitting the Vendor to correct his/her proposal if the Vendor requests permission to do so and clear and convincing evidence establishes both the existence of a mistake and the proposal actually intended. In lieu of proposal correction, CA may permit a Vendor alleging a material mistake of fact to withdraw the proposal if there is reasonable proof that a mistake was made and the intended proposal cannot be ascertained.

• A determination may be made permitting the Vendor to withdraw his proposal if the

Vendor requests permission to do so and clear and convincing evidence establishes the existence of a mistake. However, if the evidence is clear and convincing both as to the existence of a mistake and as to the proposal actually intended, a determination may be made to correct the proposal and not permit withdrawal.

• If the evidence does not warrant a determination under the two paragraphs above, a determination may be made by the Director of Purchasing that a Vendor may neither withdraw nor correct his/her proposal.

• Any clerical mistake, apparent on the face of a proposal, may be corrected by CA prior to award, if the staff member has first obtained from the Vendor verification of what was actually intended. Examples of such apparent mistakes are: obvious misplacement of a decimal point, typographical errors, and mistakes in the designation of the unit of measure. Correction shall be reflected in the award document.

• After proposal receipt, Vendors shall not be permitted to delete exceptions to the proposal conditions or specifications, which affect price or substantive obligations.

• Nothing in this section is intended to prohibit CA from accepting a proposal correction resulting in a reduction in price from a Vendor after the proposal due date, provided that such reduction is not conditioned on or does not result in, the modification or deletion of any condition contained in the Request for Proposals.

AWARD OF CONTRACT

The award will be made to the Vendor(s) whose proposal is most advantageous to CA.

Discussions after proposals have been opened are permitted to allow clarification and changes in proposals. Judgment factors may be used not only to determine if the service offered meets the required criteria, as stated in this RFP, but also to evaluate competing proposals. Thus the quality of the service may be used as a trade-off against the price of the service and awards can then be made to the responsive and responsible Vendor whose proposal is most advantageous to CA.

Failure to enclose and submit requested data or comply with the requests as stated herein may be cause for rejection of the proposal as non-responsive.

A proposal from a non-responsible Vendor may be rejected. “Responsible” means the Vendor is capable to fully perform the contract requirements and has demonstrated integrity and reliability that assure good faith performance.

If the highest ranked Vendor(s) should fail to execute the contract or deliver any insurance certificates within the time specified:

1. The project will be awarded to the Vendor(s) ranked next under the evaluation criteria, who shall be required to fulfill all stipulations, or

2. CA may reject all remaining proposals.

CA reserves the right, when reviewing proposals for award, to waive minor informalities or irregularities. The Vendor to whom the award is made will be notified at the earliest possible date.

CA reserves the right to reject any or all proposals, and to reject any or all optional items included in the proposal.

GUIDELINES

By virtue of submitting a proposal, interested parties are acknowledging:

This RFP is a request to purchase or otherwise acquire rights to use software and professional services required to install and implement/train users on the software. As such, proposals offering implementation services only or software firms not offering implementation services will not be considered.

Except in the case where software firms also perform implementation services, all others are expected to partner with a firm certified to implement their software. In proposals where the software firm is partnering with a separate implementation firm, a transmittal letter must be submitted stating that the implementation firm is a certified implementer of the proposed software.

CA will consider only the designated person by the software firms, not their implementation partners or third-party partners, to be the primary point of contact and responsibility throughout this proposal process. Following contract negotiations, the primary implementation firm designee will be the prime point of contact for the project, and once the ERP System is implemented, CA will consider the primary implementation firm the single point of contact for service-related issues.

CA will evaluate only one proposal for each ERP software platform. Software publishers and their authorized implementation partners are responsible for coordinating proposal submissions. If multiple proposals are submitted for the same ERP software platform, CA reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to determine which proposal, if any, will be evaluated.

The software firm must be the entity providing the responses to the detailed functional requirements. If the implementation firm disagrees with how a software firm expects to meet a specific requirement, it should use the comment field (or a separate document, if necessary) to note the disagreement. Both the software and implementation firm(s) will be required to warrant the license and services agreement to the requirement responses. For this reason, it is important that the requirement matrix be completed carefully.

All third-party solutions proposed as part of this package are subject to the same guidelines of this RFP, unless otherwise stated.

This RFP, its general provisions, and the terms and conditions therein shall be incorporated in any Agreement resulting from this solicitation, and the RFP and its terms and conditions, plus attachments shall prevail unless the Contract expressly provides otherwise and shall survive award of the contract until satisfactory completion of any and all license terms, warranty terms and guarantee.

TECHNOLOGY REFERENCES AND EQUIVALENT SOLUTIONS

References throughout this RFP and associated exhibits to specific technologies, architectures, protocols, implementation methods, security controls, infrastructure designs, products, or reference architectures are intended to describe CA’s required business, functional, performance, security, operational, and integration outcomes.

Vendors may propose functionally equivalent or superior approaches unless a requirement is expressly designated as a Mandatory Native Requirement, Mandatory Technical Requirement, or Mandatory Gating Requirement.

Where an alternative approach is proposed, the Vendor shall clearly identify the proposed alternative and demonstrate how it meets or exceeds the stated requirement and intended outcome.

References to native functionality apply only where expressly identified as Mandatory Native Requirements; otherwise functionally equivalent or superior approaches are acceptable.

Section 3. GENERAL CONDITIONS

MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE POLICY

Minority Business Enterprises, Women Owned Business Enterprises and Disabled Owned Business Enterprises will be afforded equal opportunity to submit Bids or Proposals in response to this Procurement and will not be subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin in consideration for award.

CA will establish guidelines and document efforts to attain its goal to procure Twenty Three Percent (23%) of the total dollar value in eligible procurements from MBEs, WBEs and DBEs.

CA recognizes Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification from the State of Maryland, Howard County, MD and the City of Baltimore. Please provide with your proposal a copy of your certificate if you are certified with any of these governmental agencies.

ETHICS IN PROCUREMENT

By submitting a proposal, the Vendor agrees to adhere to CA’s policy on ethics in purchasing. This policy prohibits an employee and any immediate family member from receiving incentives, gifts, gratuities or favors of any kind from Vendors seeking business or engaged in business transactions with CA. Neither the employee nor any of the employee’s immediate family had or will have involvement in or influence in any way the selection of a Vendor to do business with CA whereby the employee or the employee’s immediate family will receive personal benefit.

SUSTAINABILITY

CA is committed to the procurement of goods and services that have less detrimental environmental and social impacts than competing goods and services. IFBs and RFPs shall endeavor, to the extent possible, to specify sustainable goods and services, and at the same time consider the value received and benefit to the environment in return for the expenditure. Goods and services should, for example, be more energy efficient, conserve water, reduce the use of fuel, generate less pollution and toxins, use recycled materials, and/or minimize waste.

SPECIFICATIONS

All work must be furnished in accordance with the Scope of Services Section of the RFP.

PAYMENT

Payment for the ERP System and for the implementation services rendered pursuant to any agreement resulting from this RFP shall be made in amounts and at times set forth in the resulting agreement (the “Agreement”). A purchase order will be issued, and all invoices must reference the purchase order number. Payment shall be made within thirty (30) days upon receipt of original invoice(s) in accordance and in conformity with payment dates for bills and claims as established by CA. Prior to payment, the Vendor must submit an original dated itemized invoice for services rendered.

Implementation services will be paid on a not-to-exceed basis as described, only on a deliverable completion basis, meaning CA will pay only when the Vendor has satisfactorily completed mutually agreed upon payment deliverable, as will be defined in the Statement of Work as part of the Implementation Services Agreement (the “Implementation Services Agreement”). In addition, CA will apply a retention rate of ten percent (10%) to all service payments, with such retention being released on final acceptance of the entire system, which will be defined during the contract negotiation phase.

SOFTWARE LICENSE

The Vendor shall grant CA the subscription, license, access, and use rights necessary to operate the proposed solution throughout the contract term. Any perpetual-license components shall be clearly identified separately from subscription-based components.

ADDITIONAL USERS AND MODULES

The Vendor shall maintain all proposed subscription rates, user licensing rates, module pricing, and optional product pricing for a minimum period of twenty-four (24) months following contract execution.

Additional users purchased during this period shall be priced using the same unit rates proposed in the Vendor's response and accepted by CA.

Software modules, functionality, and optional products identified in the Vendor's proposal but not initially purchased shall remain available at the proposed pricing for a minimum of twenty-four (24) months following contract execution.

For subscriptions purchased under the resulting agreement, annual price increases during Years 3 through 5 shall not exceed three percent (3%) per year.

The Vendor shall identify all consumption-based pricing components, including but not limited to API transaction fees, storage growth charges, integration volume fees, AI-related consumption fees, reporting usage fees, sandbox or non-production environment fees, and any other variable charges that are excluded from the foregoing price protection provisions.

Products or services not identified in the Vendor's proposal shall be subject to mutual negotiation and shall not be covered by the pricing protections established herein.

DISENTANGLEMENT

In connection with any expiration or termination of the Project Term of the Agreement or of the provision of any of the Services provided hereunder, Vendor shall take all actions necessary to accomplish a complete and timely transition from Vendor to CA, or to any replacement providers (collectively, the "Consultant") designated by CA, of the Services being terminated (a "Disentanglement"), without material impact on the Services or any other Services provided by third parties. Vendor shall cooperate with CA and the Consultant and otherwise take all steps reasonably required to assist CA in effecting a complete and timely Disentanglement. Vendor shall provide CA and the Consultant with all information regarding the Services or as is otherwise needed for Disentanglement, subject to Consultant agreeing to maintain the confidentiality of Vendor confidential information. Vendor shall provide for the prompt and orderly conclusion of all work, as CA may direct, including completion or partial completion of projects, Documentation of work in process, and other measures to assure an orderly transition to CA or CA's Consultant. Vendor shall provide any additional Disentanglement Services as CA reasonably requests for a period of up to one (1) year, on a time and materials basis, at an hourly rate not to exceed the rate as negotiated in final contract per hour for each Vendor Person that is reasonably required to perform such Disentanglement Services as requested by CA. The Vendor shall return all CA data in a non-proprietary, machine-readable format and, upon CA’s written request, certify in writing the deletion of all remaining copies. The Vendor shall describe all available data extraction mechanisms and procedures for returning CA data upon termination or expiration of the Agreement.

DELIVERY OF THE PROJECT PLAN AND OTHER KEY DELIVERABLES

The Vendor shall deliver the project plan within the timeframe specified in the contract after execution. Failure to meet this deadline may result in liquidated damages of up to $1,000 per day.

These damages are intended to compensate CA for anticipated harm and are not a penalty. Other key deliverables, including solution design or design documentation, Go-Live readiness deliverables, and any other deliverable substantially within the Vendor’s control, may also be subject to liquidated damages of up to $1,000 per day if the Vendor misses the applicable deadline.

DOCUMENTATION AND COPYRIGHT

Collected data, analyses, and any analytical processes, programs and files developed as a contractual requirement are the sole property of CA. To the extent any Vendor pre-existing or generally applicable intellectual property is incorporated into a deliverable, the Vendor grants CA a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use, modify, and reproduce that material as necessary for CA’s use of the deliverable. Programs shall be completely documented, including the file layout of tapes, disks, and so on. CA may, at its sole discretion, waive title to any portion or to all data and analyses. CA has the sole right to copyright any process or program and may license its use by others for a fee or without charge.

COLUMBIA ASSOCIATION PROPERTY

The use of CA property must be approved in advance by the CA’s Project manager. If CA has agreed to provide CA owned property, the following special provisions shall apply:

The amount of CA property to be furnished to the Vendor may be increased or decreased by written direction of the CA’s Project Manager and the contract price shall be adjusted to reflect the change pursuant to the stipulations of the "changes" article.

The Vendor shall ensure all CA property in their possession or control and shall be liable to CA for the fair market value of any damage or loss to CA property, aside from that incurred by normal wear and tear. The Vendor shall maintain the property in operating condition, with the cost being chargeable to the contract.

All CA property shall be returned promptly upon completion of the contract or otherwise disposed of, as directed in writing by CA. All costs of shipment or disposal are a contract cost.

All data provided by CA or generated, collected, processed, or stored in connection with the Services, including employe, member, participant, financial, and payroll data, is and remains the sole property of CA.

Unless specifically stated otherwise in writing, CA property may be used only for the performance of this contract. The Vendor shall not sell, license, or otherwise use CA property for any other purpose.

Title to all CA property shall remain in the hands of CA at all times. Title to the property acquired by the Vendor for use under the contract shall vest in CA upon delivery to the Vendor.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

The Vendor will indemnify and hold harmless CA from liability of any kind, including costs and expenses for or on account of any copyrighted service marked, trademarked, patented or un-patented invention, process, article or work manufactured or used in the performance of the contract, including its use by CA. If the Vendor uses any design, device, materials or works covered by letters, service mark, trademark, patent, copyright or any other intellectual property right, it is mutually agreed and understood without exception that the proposal prices will include all royalties or costs arising from the use of such design, device, or materials in any way involved in the work. The Vendor will defend such claims at its expense and will not settle any claim in a manner that imposes obligations on CA without CA’s prior written consent. If the software or any deliverable is enjoined or, in Vendor’s reasonable opinion, is likely to become the subject of an infringement claim, Vendor will, at its expense, procure the right for CA to continue, use, replace or modify the item to be non-infringing without material loss of functionality, or refund all fees paid for the affected item.

WARRANTY

A warranty is sought for both the software and implementation services. It is assumed that Vendors have priced their services to recognize these warranty provisions. The extent of the warranty coverage shall be evaluated as part of the overall procurement process.

Software - The selected software Vendor will warrant that the proposed software will conform in all material respects to the requirements and specifications as stated in this RFP.

That is, the detailed requirements as stated in this RFP and responded to with a positive response (anything except for “NA”) will become part of the selected Vendor’s software license and the software Vendor will warrant to the requirements. The selected Vendor must warrant that the content of its proposal accurately reflects the software's capability to satisfy the functional/technological requirements as included in this RFP. Furthermore, the software warranty, at a minimum, should be valid for the duration of the implementation and until final acceptance (as will be defined during the negotiation process) of all modules/suites/applications included in the implementation.

Implementation Services Firm - CA also requires a warranty for the services (e.g., work products, developed modifications, and system configuration) for a minimum of 24 months after the final acceptance date (as will be defined during the negotiation process) of the respective modules. The Vendor and any implementation services firm must ensure that the implemented software conforms to the requirements with a positive response (any except for “NA”) and warranted by the software vendor.

General – The Vendor warrants that the services will be performed in a professional and workmanlike manner by personnel qualified for their assigned roles; that the software and any deliverables will be free of viruses, malicious code, and any disabling device, time-out, or self-help mechanism permitting Vendor to interrupt CA’s use of the system; and that the software and deliverables do not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.

INSURANCE

The Vendor shall maintain the following insurance policies during the term of this Contract: Broad Form General Liability $1,000,000 combined single limit for property damage and bodily damage;

Business Automobile $1,000,000 combined single limit for property damage and bodily injury;

Workers’ Compensation statutory limits; Umbrella of at least $1,000,000; and professional liability for errors and omissions in the amount of $1,000,000. Vendor shall also maintain Cyber / Privacy Liability and Technology Errors and Omissions coverage with a limit of not less than $5,000,000 per claim, which shall not be sublimited within or shared with the Professional Liability limit. Coverage shall include costs of breach notification, forensic investigation, credit monitoring, and regulatory defense. All policies, excluding Workers’ compensation and professional liability, shall name CA as an additional insured and in the event that the Vendor receives from an insurer any notice of cancellation, non-renewal or any other modification of any of the insurance policies required under this contract, Vendor shall give written notice to CA within 24 hours of receipt of such document.

Certificates of insurance evidencing such coverages are to be supplied to CA at the time of

Vendor’s execution of the Contract. CA requires a Waiver of Subrogation for both General Liability and Workers Compensation.

TAX STATUS

CA is a non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of Maryland. CA is subject to Maryland sales and use tax.

TERMINATION FOR DEFAULT

If the Vendor fails to fulfill its obligations under this contract properly and on time, or otherwise violates any provision of the contract, CA may terminate the contract by written notice to the Vendor. The notice shall specify the acts or omissions relied upon as cause for termination. All finished or unfinished work provided by the Vendor shall, at CA’s option, become CA’s property.

CA shall pay the Vendor fair and equitable compensation for satisfactory performance prior to receipt of notice of termination, less the amount of damages caused by the Vendor’s breach. If the damages are more than the compensation payable to the Vendor, the Vendor will remain liable after termination and CA can affirmatively collect damages.

TERMINATION FOR CONVENIENCE

The performance of work under this contract may be terminated by CA in accordance with this clause in whole, or from time to time in part, whenever CA shall determine that such termination is in the best interest of CA. CA will pay all reasonable costs associated with this contract that the Vendor has incurred up to the date of termination and all reasonable costs associated with termination of the contract. However, the Vendor shall not be reimbursed for any anticipatory profits that have not been earned up to the date of termination.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Vendors should identify those portions of their proposals that they deem to be confidential, proprietary information or trade secrets and provide justification for why such materials, upon request, should not be disclosed.

Each party shall hold in confidence all confidential, proprietary, or non-public information of the other party disclosed in connection with this RFP and any resulting Agreement, shall use such information only for purposes of this Project, and shall not disclose it to third parties without prior written consent or as required by law. These obligations will survive non-award and termination or expiration of any resulting Agreement.

NON-COLLUSION

The Vendor certifies that this proposal is made without any previous understanding, agreement, or connections with any person, firm or corporation making a bid for the same project, without prior knowledge of competitive prices and is in all respects fair, without outside control, collusion, fraud, or other illegal action.

MARYLAND LAW

The laws of the State of Maryland shall govern the interpretation of the contract resulting from this RFP and be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction in Howard County, Maryland.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

Any limitation of liability shall be mutual and shall not apply to breach of confidentiality obligations, unauthorized access to or disclosure of CA data, indemnification obligations including intellectual property indemnification, gross negligence or willful misconduct, or claims covered by insurance required under this RFP. Vendor shall state its proposed limitation in its Proposal. CA expects any cap to be stated as a multiple of total fees payable under this Agreement rather than as fees paid in a trailing twelve-month period.

INDEMNIFICATION

In addition to the intellectual property indemnification set forth above, Vendor shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CA, its directors, officers, employees and agents from third-party claims arising from bodily injury, death, or damage to tangible property caused by Vendor or its personnel, and from Vendor’s breach of its confidentiality or data security obligations.

SUBCONTRACTING, ASSIGNMENT, AND CHANGE OF CONTROL

Vendor shall not subcontract any material portion of the Services, perform or support the Services from outside of the United States, or assign the Agreement, whether by operation of law, merger, or change of control, without CA’s prior written consent.

RENEWAL

The Agreement shall not renew automatically. Any renewal term shall require CA’s affirmative written election.

AUDIT

Any Vendor-initiated license or subscription compliance audit shall require thirty (30) days’ prior written notice, shall occur no more than once in any twelve-month period during normal business hours, shall be conducted at Vendor’s expense, and shall be subject to CA’s confidentiality and site access requirements.

PUBLICITY

Vendor shall not use CA’s name, logo or the existence of any Agreement in any marketing, press release, or client list without CA’s prior written consent.

FEDERAL TAX IDENTIFICATION OR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

CA requires that all invoices be identified with the Vendors Federal Tax Identification number or Social Security Number.

PROJECT STAFFING

CA intends to have functional and technical resources available during Project implementation, though it is noted that CA does not anticipate dedicating staff full-time to the implementation in addition to managing their core job responsibilities. This applies to both functional resources as well as technical resources internal to CA. It is anticipated that some functional leads will serve as the functional lead, or a subject matter expert, across one or more modules – particularly within the financial modules of a future system – during the implementation process.

Staffing allocations are a consideration for CA in terms of both the implementation process as well as supporting the software once in an operations mode. Vendors are encouraged to submit questions to CA during the RFP questions period to solicit such additional information as is necessary to adequately estimate the resource commitments that would be expected of CA during implementation, and post Go-Live for ongoing support of the system(s). Additional resource planning will be performed based upon the selected Vendor(s). Vendors shall clearly indicate in the Proposal responses the estimated level of CA resource involvement in the implementation process, in order to allow CA to perform adequate planning.

BUDGET

CA is committed to funding the one-time and recurring annual costs for the acquisition of the software (whether a licensed model or a subscription model is selected as a result of this process).

CA does not have an established budget in place for this project but intends to use the Proposals received through this process to inform the budget development process. A final budget will be programmed based on the results of this RFP and final contract negotiations. CA is sensitive to the total costs and has listed cost as one of the several evaluation criteria in the RFP. This RFP opportunity is being presented as a best value solicitation, and not a lowest priced bid, opportunity.

Section 4. SCOPE OF SERVICES

BACKGROUND

Columbia Association (CA) is a nonprofit community services corporation that works in the service of Columbia, Maryland, a nationally recognized planned community that’s home to approximately 100,000 people and several thousand businesses. The mission of this unique organization is to enhance the quality of life for people living and working in Columbia. It has grown with the community into a multimillion-dollar operation that is integrated into nearly every aspect of Columbia life.

The CA team strives each and every day to enrich the quality of life in Columbia by cultivating meaningful experiences and providing unique opportunities in our community, all through the lens of responsible stewardship. CA is committed to offering a wide range of services, programs and facilities that prioritize inclusion, protect the environment and promote wellness in all aspects. CA owns and operates a comprehensive network of community facilities and amenities, many of which are free and accessible to anyone who wishes to utilize them. These spaces ensure we are respecting and protecting the environment while giving people of all ages and backgrounds a place to learn and grow. That includes:

Three lakes and more than 40 ponds;

Nearly 3,600 acres of open space;

165 play areas;

95 miles of pathways;

23 outdoor pools;

An indoor swim center and Splashdown;

Three large fitness/recreation clubs;

Columbia Ice Rink, an indoor Olympic-sized facility;

Columbia Art Center;

Youth & Teen Center;

Two indoor tennis clubs, including the nationally-recognized Long Reach Tennis Club;

Three outdoor tennis clubs;

Two golf clubs;

SportsPark with mini-golf, batting cages, a skate park and picnic pavilions.

In addition to managing these facilities and open space assets, which includes a large selection of classes, workshops, coaching and social leagues, CA provides a wide variety of programming across Columbia, including year-round events at the Downtown Columbia Lakefront, before and after school care, international and multicultural events and a variety of summer camps.

CA is governed by a Board of Directors representing Columbia's ten residential villages and employs approximately 200 full-time and 1,000 part-time staff. The organization operates with an annual Operating budget of approximately $82 million dollars and an annual Capital budget of approximately $24 million dollars.

CA's operations are supported by multiple administrative and business functions, including Finance, Procurement, Information Technology, Human Resources, Open Space, Aquatics, Sports and Fitness, Golf, Tennis, Youth and Family Services, Community Engagement, Marketing and Communications, and other operational departments. These functions require integrated business systems to support financial management, procurement, budgeting, reporting, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.

For additional information about CA, visit our website at ColumbiaAssociation.org.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & STRATEGIC PROCUREMENT OBJECTIVES

This Scope of Services defines the non-negotiable functional, technical, and non-functional requirements to solicit a platform-neutral, modern, cloud-native Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform for the Columbia Association (CA). The overarching business objective is the comprehensive modernization of CA’s back-office application layers, transitioning away from the legacy, private-cloud Infor/Lawson V10 environment, which is over two decades old and has accumulated significant technical debt. Rather than executing a narrow software replacement, CA’s modernization is built around a unified, continuous “Lead-to-Lease-to-Ledger” framework. This architecture connects all front-office membership, billing, and facilities activities directly with backend financial general ledgers via standard iPaaS middleware. By procuring a highly scalable, secure, and modern SaaS ERP platform, CA will eliminate historically time-consuming manual reconciliations, file-splitting workarounds, and unmonitored batch errors, ensuring long-term operational excellence and board-ready reporting compliance.

CRITICAL STRATEGIC MODERNIZATION MANDATE: A non-negotiable directive of this procurement is the re-engineering of the specialized, custom property assessment billing system natively within the core database structures of the target ERP. This specialized sub-system processes approximately 27,000 community accounts and generates approximately $50 million in annual billings, making it one of CA's most critical revenue-generating business processes.

Proposed platforms must natively calculate the board-approved property assessments, cap phase-ins, late fee triggers, and statutory lien schedules without requiring manual offline files or customized COBOL/LID routines, achieving a modern, fully auditable, and automated revenue cycle.

The target Go-Live date for the modernized ecosystem is May 1, 2027. Vendors shall provide an implementation schedule capable of achieving this target date whenever feasible. If the Vendor believes an alternative schedule would materially reduce project risk, improve implementation quality, or increase the likelihood of project success, the Vendor shall identify the recommended Go-Live date, explain the basis for the recommendation, and describe the risks associated with the May 1, 2027 target.

The selected Vendor will architect automated workflows that shift CA from a manual, verification-based ecosystem to a fully integrated, automated platform. This explicitly mandates the systemic elimination of 'human middleware,' including the automation of manual Notepad/WordPad edits of Maryland SDAT files, the replacement of custom COBOL deletion scripts for 'zero-dollar' anomalies, and the systemic elimination of manual 'AutoRev' column additions to Dayforce payroll exports.

CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

CA's current enterprise application environment consists of multiple standalone software platforms that support financial management, budgeting, procurement, document management, human resources, recreation management, customer service, service delivery, and operational workflows.

While these systems adequately support many individual business functions, they have evolved over time into a decentralized technology landscape requiring significant manual intervention, duplicate data entry, custom reporting, and numerous point-to-point integrations.

The current ERP environment includes Infor Lawson Version 10 as the primary financial management system, Questica PowerPlan for budgeting and planning, PlanetBids for procurement and solicitation management, and Ascend/DocuWare for document management. These systems are supplemented by several retained enterprise applications, including Dayforce for Human Resources and Payroll, Club Automation for membership, recreation, and point-of-sale operations, and the Diagenix (8x8) Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system for customer self-service.

CA also utilizes Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access databases, Smartsheet, SQL queries, flat-file exchanges, and other tools to support reporting, workflow automation, service delivery, data reconciliation, and operational processes. Smartsheet supports the CA Support Hub, an enterprise-wide service delivery and workflow platform used to coordinate and manage cross-functional operational processes. Accordingly, Smartsheet should not be considered solely a reporting or offline productivity tool when evaluating the requirements and future-state architecture of the ERP environment.

The existing Diagenix IVR environment also has limited backend accessibility and visibility to CA.

The IVR integration includes dependencies on legacy Lawson data queries and proprietary Diagenix configuration information that may need to be obtained from Diagenix support to support the transition to the replacement ERP environment. Vendors shall account for these dependencies in their proposed implementation approach, integration design, project schedule, and pricing.

These applications and supporting tools have developed over time to address business requirements across multiple functional areas. As part of the ERP modernization, vendors shall evaluate the capabilities currently provided by these systems and clearly identify which capabilities will be replaced by the proposed ERP, which will remain in retained systems, and which will require integration with the proposed ERP.

Business Function Current Application Future State

General Ledger & Financial Management

Infor Lawson V10 Replace

Budgeting & Planning Questica PowerPlan Replace

Procurement & Strategic Sourcing

PlanetBids Evaluate for Replacement or Integration

Document Management Ascend / DocuWare Evaluate for Replacement or Integration

Human Resources & Payroll Dayforce Retain and Integrate

Membership, Recreation & POS Club Automation Retain and Integrate

Interactive Voice Response

(IVR)

Diagenix (8x8) Retain and Integrate

GIS Locations for Assets ESRI Retain and Integrate

Reporting & Analytics Excel, Access, SQL Replace with Native ERP Reporting

Enterprise Service Delivery/Support Hub

Smartsheet (CA Support Hub) Evaluate for ERP-native replacement or integration

User Type Estimated Users

Inquiry Users (Utilize the system for inquiry and standard reporting purposes (e.g., looking up account balances, invoice status, work order status, vendor payments, etc.)

Financial Users (Includes General Ledger, Procurement, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Project Accounting, Grant Accounting, Inventory)

Budget Managers 50

Asset Management 10

Work Orders 100

Data Type Estimated Volume

General Ledger Accounts 36,000

Vendors 4,800

Annual Assessment Transactions 27,000

Assessment Revenue (Annual) $50M

CA Overall Revenue $86M

Purchase Orders (Annual) 1,500

Invoices (Annual) 16,000

Journal Entries (Annual) 3,700

Fixed Assets 5,600

Net Book Value of Property, Facilities & Equipment $120.8M

Contracts 300

Historical Financial Data 3-7 Years

Documents/Attachments 70GB (DocuWare)

CURRENT CHALLENGES

CA's current enterprise application environment has evolved over many years to support the organization's diverse business operations. While the existing systems continue to support core business functions, they present operational and technical challenges that limit efficiency, increase administrative effort, and reduce the organization's ability to leverage data for strategic decision-making.

The primary challenges driving this ERP initiative include the following:

Fragmented Enterprise Systems

CA's core business functions are supported by multiple independent software applications that have been implemented over time to address specific operational needs. Financial management, budgeting, procurement, human resources, recreation management, document management, and customer services are performed across separate systems, requiring users to navigate multiple applications to complete business processes.

Manual Business Processes

Many cross-functional business processes require manual data entry, spreadsheet-based tracking, duplicate record maintenance, and manual reconciliation between systems. These activities increase administrative effort, introduce opportunities for error, and reduce overall operational efficiency.

Limited System Integration

The current application environment relies on numerous point-to-point integrations, file transfers, and manual data exchanges to synchronize information between enterprise applications. These integrations require ongoing maintenance and limit the ability to provide real-time access to accurate enterprise information.

Reporting and Data Visibility

Operational and financial information is distributed across multiple systems, making enterprise reporting complex and time-consuming. Staff frequently rely on manual report consolidation, SQL queries, spreadsheets, and other external tools to produce management reports, financial analyses, and operational dashboards.

Workflow and Process Automation

Many business processes continue to rely on manual routing, email approvals, paper-based documentation, and other non-standardized workflows. The organization seeks to increase efficiency through configurable workflows, automated approvals, electronic document management, and standardized business processes.

Diverse Business Operations

CA operates a diverse portfolio of recreational facilities, community services, environmental assets, and administrative functions. The organization requires an integrated ERP solution capable of supporting multiple business units while maintaining standardized financial controls, reporting, and enterprise-wide visibility.

KEY PROJECT OUTCOMES

CA is seeking a strategic technology partner that can successfully deliver a modern ERP platform and help achieve the following key business outcomes:

Modernize and Simplify the Enterprise Application Landscape

Retire the legacy Infor/Lawson environment and establish a secure, cloud-native ERP platform that reduces technical debt, minimizes reliance on custom legacy solutions, and provides a scalable foundation for future growth.

Transform Annual Charge Billing Operations

Modernize and automate the Annual Charge billing process supporting approximately 27,000 accounts and more than $50 million in annual revenue through a fully integrated, auditable, and sustainable solution that eliminates manual processing and legacy custom programs.

Im…