Barracuda Email Security and Backup Solution RFP 21. 2526B

Chippewa Valley Schools, a K-12 public school district located in Clinton Township, Michigan (Macomb County), is issuing Request for Proposal 21.2526B for a comprehensive Barracuda Email Security and Backup Solution. The procurement seeks sealed bids for Barracuda Email Protection – Premium Plus for 1,800 users, a Barracuda Scalable Backup 3200 appliance with 48TB usable capacity (or approved equivalents), and professional installation and configuration services. The vendor must provide a complete turnkey implementation including all hardware, software, licensing, configuration, migration services, testing, validation, documentation, and administrative training, with all archive data migrated from the district's on-premise Barracuda Message Archiver 850 to the cloud email archive solution. The contract term is three years with firm pricing for the entire period, and all installation and migration activities must be completed by August 1, 2026. Key evaluation criteria include conformance with RFP requirements, total cost of ownership, technical qualifications and certifications, vendor experience with K-12 or comparable public-sector organizations, implementation approach and timeline adherence, customer support model, and references and past performance. The virtual pre-bid meeting is scheduled for March 4, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EST, written clarification questions must be submitted by March 6, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. EST, and sealed bids are due by March 20, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EST at the purchasing office, 19120 Cass Avenue, Clinton Township, Michigan. The District Board of Education will review and approve bids on April 13 and May 11, 2026, with contract commencement scheduled for June 2026.

All bidders are required to provide a sworn and notarized Iran Linked Business disclosure in compliance with Michigan Public Act 517 of 2012 and a Familial Relationship Disclosure Statement certifying no connections to Iran-linked entities or familial relationships with district board members or administration; bids submitted without these disclosures will not be considered. The district currently operates one email domain using global rules and uses VMware as its hypervisor with plans to transition to Nutanix in the near future, while maintaining a focus on on-premise server recovery capabilities; the district also currently uses DMARCLY for email authentication. No current incumbent vendor is identified in the RFP documentation. The awarded vendor must maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including Commercial General Liability ($1,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 aggregate), Commercial Automobile Liability ($1,000,000 combined single limit), Workers' Compensation per Michigan statutory requirements, and Cyber/Network Security Liability ($1,000,000 per claim/$1,000,000 aggregate). Proposals must remain firm for ninety days from the bid opening date, and all bidders must submit one original and two copies of bid documentation in sealed envelopes. The District reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, split awards among multiple bidders, waive informalities, or award to other than the lowest bidder. No specific budget range or award value is disclosed in the available documentation.