North Dakota University System 4349 James Ray Drive Grand Forks, ND 58203

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

RFP Title: Collection Analysis and Development Tool

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION ONE – INSTRUCTIONS

Purpose of the RFP The Online Dakota Information Network (ODIN), a subdivision of the North Dakota University System – Core Technology Services (collectively “NDUS”) and governed by the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education (SBHE), is soliciting proposals for a library analysis tool. This tool will support all libraries and affiliated branches across academic, public, school, special, and state agency institutions throughout the region.

Cooperative Purchasing/Intergovernmental Language The contract will be cooperative purchasing contract established pursuant to N.D.C.C § 54-44.4-13. The contract will be made available to state entities, institutions under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Higher Education, other government entities (including counties, cities, townships, public primary and secondary educational entities, governmental boards and commissions), nonprofit entities established on behalf of public entities, tribal agencies, transportation providers under N.D.C.C § 39-04.2-02, and the International Peace Garden (hereafter known as “Ordering Agencies”). Ordering Agencies participation in this open-ended contract is not mandated; therefore, the estimated volume of this contract is not known. The contractor may contact the Procurement Officer for assistance in determining whether an entity is eligible to purchase under this contract.

Definitions For the purposes of this RFP, the acronyms and defined terms are as follows:

NDBUYS STATE PROCUREMENT WEBSITE

This RFP and any related amendment and notices will be posted on the North Dakota NDBuys State Procurement System. Offerors are responsible for checking the NDBuys system to obtain all information and documents related to this RFP:

https://public.ndbuys.nd.gov Notices related to this RFP will be sent to the Bidders List for the needed commodity or service and other known potential offerors.

Offerors that are registered for the bidders list and would like to receive notices related to this RFP, locate the solicitation in NDBuys and select the “Participate in RFx” button. If you do not see the “Participate in RFx” button, contact the Procurement Officer to confirm you are already included in the list of offerors to receive notices for the solicitation.

Offerors that have not yet registered for the bidders list and would like to receive notices related to this RFP and must complete the bidders list registration. See NDBuys Quick Reference Guides at https://www.omb.nd.gov/doing-business-state/bidders/bidding-opportunities-and-resources for how to register.

Procurement Officer Contact Information The procurement officer is the point of contact for this RFP. Offerors shall direct all communications regarding this RFP to the procurement officer. Please do not add the procurement officer to any distribution list.

PROCUREMENT OFFICER: April Moser EMAIL: April.moser@ndus.edu

PHONE: 701-969-9207

TTY Users call: 7-1-1

A person or firm interested in submitting a proposal should ensure all communications related to the procurement are only with the designated point of contact. This section does not restrict communication with state officials or any member of the legislative assembly unless the state official or member of the legislative assembly is involved directly with the procurement for which the person is interested or has submitted a bid or proposal (N.D.C.C. § 54-44.4-01.1) Engaging in unauthorized communication or seeking to obtain information about an open solicitation with any state employee or official other than the responsible procurement officer or designee is sufficient grounds for suspension or debarment. [N.D.A.C. § 4-12-05-04(7)] RFP Schedule

SECTION TWO – BACKGROUND

Background Information ODIN member libraries currently lack a centralized collection analysis solution that provides a comprehensive view of library holdings, circulation statistics from multiple sources, and community insights. Without a shared analysis platform, libraries must rely on individual ILS reporting tools, spreadsheets, and other manual processes to evaluate their collections and community outreach efforts. This makes it difficult to consistently analyze collection strengths, identify duplication and gaps, support collection development decisions, evaluate opportunities for collaborative purchasing, retention, and deselection, and identify areas in the service population that are underserved or where library services could be more focused.

A collection analysis tool would provide libraries with greater insight into their individual and collective holdings while supporting more informed, data-driven collection management decisions. To address this need, ODIN is seeking a library collection analysis solution capable of aggregating and analyzing collection information from the main ILS as well as multiple external sources into one, unifying analysis tool. The solution should provide participating libraries with intuitive tools to evaluate their collections, conduct comparative and overlap analyses, identify collection strengths and gaps, and support decisions related to acquisitions, retention, deselection, and cooperative collection development.

Budget The funds for payment of this contract are already appropriated and identified. The anticipated annual cost for the solution is between $16,000 and $20,000. In addition, one-time implementation costs shall not exceed $5,000.

Proposals with annual costs exceeding $20,000 or implementation costs exceeding $5,000 may be rejected.

SECTION THREE – SCOPE OF WORK

Offerors must provide a point-by-point response to explain how the proposed solution will meet all the requirements and achieve the objectives stated in this section. Be sure to complete the Vendor Rating box and provide a full detailed description of how your proposed solution meets this requirement. This description is a very important part of the evaluation process. The offeror’s response should include all additional documentation, such as project management methodology and a draft project schedule.

Scope of Work The North Dakota University System (NDUS) is soliciting proposals for a library collection analysis tool to support participating libraries and affiliated branches across North Dakota. The proposed solution should provide libraries with a centralized, data-driven platform for analyzing individual and shared collections and supporting informed collection development and management decisions.

The proposed solution should address these functions:

· Support the aggregation and analysis of collection data from multiple libraries and integrated library systems (ILS).

· Provide comprehensive analysis of library collections, including collection size, age, usage, subject coverage, and other relevant collection characteristics.

· Identify collection overlap, duplication, unique holdings, strengths, weaknesses, and gaps across participating libraries.

· Support comparison and benchmarking of collections between individual libraries, peer groups, and participating institutions.

· Provide tools to support weeding, deselection, retention, replacement, and acquisition decisions using configurable criteria and available collection and usage data.

· Support collaborative collection development, including identification of opportunities to reduce unnecessary duplication and strengthen shared collections.

· Allow libraries to analyze collections by criteria such as subject, call number/classification range, publication date, format, location, circulation activity, and other available bibliographic or holdings data.

· Provide configurable dashboards, reports, and visualizations that allow staff to identify trends and evaluate collection performance.

· Allow users to create, save, export, and share reports and analysis results.

· Support analysis at multiple organizational levels, including individual branches, libraries, library groups, and the statewide collection, as applicable.

· Provide appropriate user roles and permissions so participating libraries can access their own information while authorized administrators can conduct broader comparative and statewide analyses.

· Provide a secure, web-based interface that does not require locally installed software for routine use.

· Support periodic updates or synchronization of collection data to ensure analyses reflect current library holdings and activity.

· Provide capabilities that assist participating libraries and NDUS/ODIN in making evidence-based decisions regarding acquisitions, retention, deselection, collection investment, and cooperative collection development.

Applicable Directives This project is subject to the following laws and policies. Vendors are required to review and respond to their ability to meet these requirements.

· N.D.C.C. Chapter 44-04 related to North Dakota’s laws that all government records and meetings must be open to the public unless otherwise authorized by a specific law.

· N.D.C.C. § 54-10-28 related to the state auditor’s authority to conduct information technology compliance reviews.

· SBHE Policy 1203.1 Digital Accessibility All products must meet Federal accessibility guidelines. Please see section 3.2 Information Technology Solution-NDUS Accessibility Requirements for more information.

· Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, et seq.

Offeror Response:

Information Technology Solution A. business Requirements (BR) NDUS has developed the following Requirements Matrix Table to describe the requirements for the proposed solution. The solution must be implemented with a minimum of all requirements rated with a priority of Core.

Requirements Matrix Table Definition of ‘Priority’

A product must be delivered with all Core requirements represented.

If the offeror is successful, the offeror agrees that it shall comply with all requirements throughout the full term of the Contract. Offerors must provide a full response to each requirement without cross-referencing other sections of the proposal.

In addition, the offeror Response must include any specific references and supportive materials as described in the offeror Response. The NDUS reserves the right to determine whether the supportive materials submitted by the offeror demonstrate the offeror will be able to comply with the Requirements.

NDUS seeks a solution with the following required and desired features and functionality:

This is a very important part of the evaluation process.

Offerors must provide a detailed response in the Requirements Matrix below explaining how the proposed solution will meet each requirement. Identify any functionality requiring customization (C) and detail how extensive that customization is along with the level of effort needed for the NDUS. For all customizations, include a cost estimate in Cost Proposal.

Be sure to place a rating in the offeror Rating box.

The solution must collect, integrate, and analyze collection data from multiple sources to evaluate collection usage by composition, age, size, genre, performance and other relevant metrics. Describe the data sources supported, frequency and method of updates, and how the solution helps users identify collection trends and opportunities for improvement.

Core

3.

Collection Development The solution must provide data-driven analysis and recommendations to support collection development, including identifying collection gaps, demand, underused materials, and opportunities to purchase, expand, replace, transfer, or remove materials. Describe how the solution provides these capabilities, the data and criteria used to generate recommendations, and what criteria are configurable by library staff.

Core

The solution must provide analysis of circulation, usage, and collection performance over time for physical and electronic collections. Describe how the solution identifies changes in usage and demand, compares performance across collections or categories, and provides metrics to evaluate overall collection health and performance. In addition to the Polaris ILS data, list other sources of circulation data that are supported. (If there is additional cost to connect additional sources of data, please outline in the cost proposal.)

Core

The solution must provide configurable dashboards, reports, and visualizations to monitor and analyze key library and collection metrics over time. Describe how users can customize reports and dashboards, filter and drill down into data, track key performance indicators, and export reports or data in commonly used formats. Provide screenshot examples of commonly used reports, dashboards and visualizations.

Core

The solution must support multiple libraries, institutions, and/or branches within a shared environment while providing both individual and systemwide collection analysis and reporting. Describe how the solution supports multi-library environments, including cross-library comparisons, systemwide reporting, and configurable user access that allows participating libraries to manage and analyze their own collection data.

Core

The solution must provide analytics and visualizations to help the Library understand patron engagement, community usage patterns, and potential gaps in outreach or services. Describe how the solution analyzes and presents this information, including the data used, available visualizations, and how the solution helps Library staff identify community needs, usage trends, and opportunities to improve engagement.

Core

Offeror Response:

The solution must provide an interface that enables Library staff with varying levels of technical expertise to independently access, search, filter, analyze, visualize, and report on library data. Describe how the solution supports ease of use, self-service reporting and analysis, role-based access, and administrative management of authorized users.

Core

Offeror Response:

B. VALUE ADDED FEATURES

The proposed solution may include value-added features. Value-added features include any functionality, products, services, optional modules, or upgrades that are not part of the IT requirements in this RFP. Describe any additional functionality, products, optional modules, upgrades, or services that you offer and are not a part of the RFP requirements that you believe would add value to your proposed work on this project. This is the location where offerors may include their catalog.

The Offeror shall list the cost of value-added features separately in the cost proposal. Vendors offering a catalog should note discount off catalog price in the cost proposal only.

NDUS shall not consider these costs as part of cost evaluation scoring.

All costs must be stated in U.S. currency. Any commodities being imported must be identified, and the price must include any applicable shipping and handling, customs, brokerage agency fees, and duties. Offeror should describe any discount terms for prompt payment. Discounts for prompt payment will not be considered in evaluating costs.

The NDUS reserves the right to include value-added features from the proposals during contract negotiations.

Offeror Response:

C. NDUS ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENT

Offeror shall comply with all current and future applicable federal and state laws, rules, and policies, including those relating to nondiscrimination, accessibility and civil rights, including but not limited to N.D.C.C. Title 34 – Labor and Employment (N.D.C.C. ch. 34-06.1) Equal Pay for Men and Women), the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act (Section 508).

Offeror agrees that all proposed products or services shall comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA (“the accessibility standards”) as set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) no later than April 24, 2026. The offeror shall meet or exceed these accessibility standards and maintain compliance.

Please provide a detailed response to the questions below. These questions can be found as well in the VPAT documentation. Please include VPAT or other documentation certifying compliance with the World Wide Web standards defined in the Federal Rehabilitation Act Section 508, which have been adopted by NDUS’s governing Board. VPAT report format is preferred, in order to improve evaluation consistency.

DOCU-12: Has a VPAT or ACR been created or updated for the product and version under consideration within the past year?

ITAC-01: Has a third-party accessibility expert conducted an accessibility audit of the most recent version of your product?

ITAC-02: Do you have a documented and implemented process for verifying accessibility conformance?

ITAC-08: Can all functions of the application or service be performed using only the keyboard?

ITAC-09: Does your product rely on activating a special "accessibility mode," a "lite version," or accessing an alternate interface for accessibility purposes?

ITAC-10: What is your process for ongoing testing and updates for continuous accessibility improvements?

ITAC-11: What training and/or support do you offer for accessibility issues?

D. NDUS ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURAL REQUIREMENTS

Standards and Guidelines The proposed information technology solution is required to be compatible with the following core existing technology.

E. HOSTING – APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR VENDOR HOSTED SOLUTIONS.

Note: Revise or delete as needed. Include the subsection below unless it is known that it will only be hosted at CTS. Build adequate time into your RFP schedule to accommodate hosting review process as an approved hosting waiver, CTS, is necessary prior to issuing intent to award. Consult with CTS prior to releasing an RFP that includes consideration of a vendor hosted solution. See NDUS Procedure 1200.1 for the process of approval. CTS will require the completion of a HECVAT for those companies who institutions wish to award.

The NDUS will consider a vendor-hosted solution; however, award of a contract for any vendor hosted solution will be contingent upon approval of a hosting exemption. State law, N.D.C.C. § 15-10-44.1 requires institutions to use a SBHE approved vendor to host all information technology systems unless a hosting exemption is granted. If the hosting exemption is not approved, the NDUS reserves the right to reject the proposal as being not responsive to this hosting approval requirement.

In addition, all vendor hosted solutions will be required to complete the HECVAT4. The HECVAT4 can be downloaded from here: Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit

Offeror acknowledges hosting exemption requirements.

Offeror’s susceptible to award will be required to submit a HECVAT.

F. LICENSING

The contractor will provide NDUS with all applicable licenses related to the proposed solution.

The following information may be helpful for determining licensing costs.

15,853

9,477

20,296

3,319

108,578

1,213

513,699

7,511

5,220

3,113

38,719

3,021

35,487

2,327

Please describe the licensing scheme, including third-party licensing, if applicable, and the pass-through of such licenses. The costs should be identified by the institution(s) in the Cost Proposal. It is NDUS’s expectation that the vendor will use the total purchase to determine any tiered pricing.

Offeror Response:

G. LOCATION OF WORK – TRAVEL

No on-site work is required.

Offeror Response:

H. NDUS-FURNISHED PROPERTY AND SERVICES

The NDUS will provide access to Polaris ILS and Overdrive APIs.

Please provide any additional property or services you require NDUS to provide.

Offeror Response:

I. RISK MANAGEMENT

The contractor will take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of its employees, state employees, the public, and property. The contractor must identify any additional safety risks associated with the project.

Offeror Response:

Describe any risks you feel could impact a fully successful completion of the project. Describe what measures will be taken to avoid or minimize these risks. Identify any additional measures the NDUS can take to mitigate these risks.

Offeror Response:

J. CONTRACT DELIVERABLES AND ESTIMATED SCHEDULE

Offeror must provide a proposed project schedule in their response. The schedule should be based upon previous deployments of similar size and scope and should be customized to this procurement.

Offerors should include any additional information that would be helpful in evaluating their proposed schedule. The proposed project schedule must cover both offeror and NDUS tasks and responsibilities. Describe any expectations from the NDUS related to each deliverable or milestone. Please describe your go-live approach i.e., staged, big bang, etc. that you have found to be best for your solution in a multicampus deployment.

The schedule must contain a timeline in the number of days or weeks with start and stop milestones for key project phases. The schedule must also include the number of NDUS staff required to perform work in the proposed schedule.

Upon award, the successful offeror’s proposed project schedule will be reviewed and refined during the planning phase of the implementation project.

Offeror Response:

Product Support and Customer Service Requirements All items listed in this section are product support and customer service requirements. If the offeror is successful, the offeror agrees that it shall comply with all product support and customer service requirements throughout the full term of the contract.

Offerors must provide a full response to each requirement without cross-referencing other sections of the proposal. Offerors must use the table format and maintain numbering provided by the NDUS to respond to each requirement.

A. WARRANTY

CONTRACTOR must provide a minimum 30-day warranty for the proposed solution. The Technology Contract includes provisions related to warranties. The NDUS will consider options for additional warranty coverage.

All costs associated with warranties must be clearly outlined in the cost proposal.

B. SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE

The Technology Contract includes provisions related to Software Support – Service Level Requirements. NDUS will consider the offeror’s options for technical support.

Describe your service level agreement (SLA), including such items as call-back time, response time for fixes, methods of contact, and escalation processes. Offerors may submit their standard SLA as an attachment to their proposal. Some items to consider in your response that may be relevant:

• your major and minor release cycles

• patching/emergency maintenance

• the typical downtime required for major and minor upgrades

C. TECHNICAL SUPPORT

The Technology Contract includes provisions related to Software Support – Service Level Requirement. The NDUS will consider options for additional levels of technical support. Describe in detail the following:

a. Offeror should anticipate that service level agreements shall be required and specified by the NDUS prior to final contract award.

b. Offeror to propose its recommended Service Levels and describe the value to the NDUS.

D. CUSTOMER SERVICE, SALES SUPPORT

The NDUS requires contractor to provide customer service and sales support.

Describe the related customer service and sales support that your firm provides in conjunction with the products and/or services you are proposing. Some items to consider in your response that may be relevant:

Offeror Experience and Qualifications Mandatory Requirements

A. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Offerors must meet the following mandatory experience and qualifications requirements. Provide a statement on how your company meets the mandatory items listed below.

B. REFERENCES

Provide three references for similar projects the offeror has completed. Offerors must include the name of a contact person, address, e-mail, and telephone number. Offerors are instructed to notify the reference that the NDUS will be contacting them. Evaluation will be impacted if the NDUS is unable to contact the reference or the reference does not timely provide the requested information.

C. PROJECT TEAM

Please provide the following information about the proposed project team you will use to deliver your proposed solution.

· Description of anticipated work they will perform and approximate estimated hours.

· Resume or description of the relevant education, training, experience, skills, and qualifications.

KEY PROJECT TEAM ORGANIZATION AND RESUMES