Bookstore Operations

City Colleges of Chicago issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on February 26, 2026, for comprehensive bookstore operations services across seven independently accredited colleges and five satellite locations within Cook County, Illinois. The procurement seeks a qualified vendor to provide a full-service online bookstore and spirit store platform with integrated e-commerce capabilities, including a faculty adoption tool for course material selection, library reference copy distribution, student ordering for new, used, digital, and rental books, buy-back services, and an online merchandise store. Key deliverables require establishment of a vouchering payment system enabling students to utilize Financial Aid, Star Scholarships, and third-party funding sources by February 26, 2027, along with monthly performance reporting on adoption rates, delivery times, and fill rates by college. The vendor must comply with W3C WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards, maintain inventory management protocols to minimize backorders, and provide customer service with a one business day target response time and three business day maximum response requirement. Vendor qualifications include a minimum of two years in business, good standing with the Illinois Secretary of State, three professional references from similar projects within the past five years, and provision of audited or non-audited financial statements for three previous fiscal years. A pre-proposal conference is scheduled for March 5, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. Central Time, with questions due by March 10, 2026, and proposals due by April 1, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. Central Time via the EUNA procurement portal. The contract term is thirty-six months with two optional one-year renewal periods, with implementation beginning August 2026 and full operational launch by February 26, 2027.

This procurement includes mandatory set-aside designations requiring Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) participation at 25 percent and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) participation at 7 percent. Vendors must comply with Chicago's Mayoral Executive Order 2014-1 regarding minimum wage requirements for all contract employees and maintain cyber liability insurance at $5 million and professional liability insurance at $5 million. The RFP requires detailed pricing structures for book sales, apparel and merchandise, book buybacks, marketplace purchases, and school supplies, along with cost per student metrics and comparative savings data. City Colleges of Chicago's current annual bookstore sales exceed $7 million with approximately 82,000 units sold annually across spring, summer, and fall semesters, indicating the substantial revenue potential and operational scope of this contract award. The vendor must integrate with existing systems and deliver a Software-as-a-Service cloud-based solution compatible with current infrastructure. No incumbent vendor or specific budget range is identified in the available procurement documents.